Eurochamber deplores Maduro’s threats to expel EU Ambassador from Caracas
The European Parliament on Friday expressed its rejection of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s threats to expel the European Ambassador from Venezuela, a decision that was eventually rescinded, and called for the European sanctions list to be extended to the regime if the situation continues to worsen.
MEP Hermann Tertsch, on twitter said: “The resolution against Maduro remains a sad cry. The ECR group with Vox as negotiator withdrew from a resolution in which the PP have given themselves to the PSOE, already open and jealous protector of Maduro”.
In a resolution adopted by 487 votes in favour, 119 against and 79 abstentions, MEPs also rejected the violations of the “democratic, constitutional and transparent” functioning of the National Assembly and the acts of violence against its members, as well as the suspension of the parliamentary immunity of several of its members.
PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea — After a recent series of tragic events, public calls for an end to violence against women have intensified in Papua New Guinea. The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the country have issued a statement on the equality of women and men, speaking to a global concern that has been exacerbated during the pandemic.
Published in a national newspaper and on social media, the statement is stimulating constructive conversations in the capital city, Port Moresby, and beyond.
“Gender-based violence has become so deeply entrenched in our country,” the National Assembly writes in the statement. “It is a… manifestation of a chronic disease affecting our society. The Baha’i community believes that this disease, from which our progress and prosperity is so severely crippled, is in part due to the failure to recognize the equality of men and women.”
Reflecting on this statement, the Secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly, Confucius Ikoirere, says, “This is a moment when our society is thinking deeply about how its culture and traditions affect women. Religious communities have a responsibility to be a source of guidance and to help dispel superstitions that harm women. The hope is for this statement to create opportunities for individuals to speak about this important subject, so that this conversation can take root in all homes and penetrate communities.”
The statement highlights several Baha’i principles which it says are essential for a society that is to reflect the equality of women and men. What has drawn particular attention, as the statement circulated on social media, is a passage quoted from the Baha’i writings that likens men and women to the two wings of a bird—both of which need to be strengthened equally for the bird to fly.
“The reality is that some attitudes common in society place women as inferior to men, restricting them to the home and excluding them from decision making,” says Gezina Volmer, Director of the Baha’i Office of External Affairs in Papua New Guinea. “A profound principle of the Baha’i Faith expressed in the statement is that the soul has no gender. Once people come to appreciate this and other related spiritual truths, they see that there is no basis for inequality in society. This leads to a significant change in perception of and conduct toward women. It creates a greater understanding of unity and allows for consultation on equal terms between men and women.”
Slideshow 2 imagesPhotograph taken before the current health crisis. A devotional gathering at the site of the future national Baha’i House of Worship in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea.
Felix Simiha, a member of the National Spiritual Assembly, says, “During the pandemic families are strengthening a habit of coming together to pray, which is essential to the process of Baha’i consultation. When a family makes decisions through consultation, women, men, and children have a voice and violence has no place.”
The statement is a contribution of the country’s Baha’i community to the discourse on equality. The principles it conveys are at the heart of Baha’i community-building and educational efforts in Papua New Guinea.
“Aspects of our culture can change, particularly when we teach new values to our children from a young age,” says Zha Agabe-Granfar of the country’s Baha’i Office of External Affairs. “We see firsthand how girls and boys learn to interact with unity and collaboration, and then bring these lessons home to their families.
“From large cities to the remotest areas, we are seeing positive changes in communities striving to embody the equality of women and men. Women are being encouraged to study, their voices are valued, they are taking on decision-making roles, and barriers that had previously excluded them from full participation are being removed.”
(this is a non revised translation of original here)
Vox is not going to fight the left with the same weapons, in whole or in part. Vox’s weapons are called common sense, and a social and national sense of things.
Since May 68, the parties of the left, throughout Europe, have renounced two banners of attachment: the defence of the interests and needs of the workers, and the conscience of the nation.
They decided at that moment to change their political “hooks” to initiate a policy of “identities and collectives”: feminism, ecology, immigrationism, animalism, and in the last phase, the gender movements; all “transversal” movements where the family, the social and the national are irrelevant circumstances; because in reality their objective is to demolish everything.
In this way, the left became the main ally of the large multinationals that have only one objective: to globalize consumer habits, to globalize production and profits, to save on labor; to eliminate national regulations that protect what is their own, to eliminate the union defense of the workers, to give just one example.
That is why, all over the world, there is no longer a confrontation between left and right in the classical sense; but between patriots and globalists. We have seen this in the George Floyd affair when the multinationals have allied themselves with the anti-fa terrorist movements.
Both want a world without nation-states. Both of them respond to the same concept of human being: an isolated individual, who determines and asserts himself every morning, sexually, in the family, socially; uprooted, without memory and without tradition. That individual who is proposed rejects everything that is given to him: the family and the nation; he is an isolated individual. He is the perfect target for the big corporations that place their products on him, even though he does not need them: the perfect consumer.
In Vox we believe that the person, the human being is something else: he is not an isolated individual but a being in relation to his past, his tradition, his customs, history, family, his democratic institutions, his nation. At VOX we know that the family or the nation is an essential part of who we are, and they are good things, which should be preserved and strengthened. We know, because common sense says so, that happiness is not in self-determination every day and consuming anything even if it’s cheaper, but in being what one is, in feeling like a member of a family or a nation, which is a guarantee of rights and protects you when they go wrong.
The left has deceived the Spanish worker and left him alone, helpless and uprooted, to be a mere consumer. The interests are common: it is in the interest of the left-wing parties to have an uncritical citizen who consumes the intellectual rubbish that they propagate in the media and social networks; and it is in the interest of the large conglomerates to have a citizen who satisfies their thirst for freedom and happiness by consuming things and services that are often unnecessary.
They no longer defend the Spanish worker against his or her real problems: the search for a job; decent jobs, real reconciliation of work and motherhood, housing, safety in the streets, illegal competition from foreign products and services, illegal immigration.
Their banners are far from biological reality (gender), physical reality (global warming versus protection of the natural environment) or historical reality (official truth versus freedom of thought).
And that is why, more than ever, the interests of the worker are intimately linked to those of the self-employed and the small or medium business owner, to the defense of private property, of the primary and industrial sectors, of the rural world, and of the freedom of enterprise; all of them threatened by mundialist movements that globalize ideas destructive of the political order, intellectual misery and social control.
In paying tribute to the thousands of mainly Muslim men and boys brutally murdered in the July 1995 massacre during the Balkan wars, António Guterres pledged that they will never be forgotten.
“A quarter century ago, the United Nations and the international community failed the people of Srebrenica. As former Secretary-General Kofi Annan said, this failure will ‘haunt our history forever’”, he stated.
“Confronting that past is a vital step towards rebuilding trust.”
Reconciliation, he said, must be underpinned by mutual empathy and understanding. It also means rejecting denial of genocide and war crimes, as well as efforts to glorify convicted war criminals.
The Secretary-General called on people in the region and beyond to counter hate speech, divisive rhetoric, and narratives of mistrust and fear.
“On this somber anniversary, we are reminded that peace in Bosnia and Herzegovina is still fragile”, he said.
“We cannot let up in working towards genuine reconciliation. We owe this to the victims of the Srebrenica genocide, the survivors, the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and to all humanity.”
Honour the victims
UN independent human rights experts have echoed the Secretary-General’s message.
They urged governments to honour the victims of the Srebrenica genocide by building peaceful, inclusive and just societies to prevent such atrocities from happening again.
“Genocides are not spontaneous. They are the culmination of unchallenged and unchecked intolerance, discrimination and violence. They are the result of sanctioned hatred, fostered in permissive environments where individuals first spread fear, then hatred for material or political gain, fracturing the pillars of trust and tolerance between communities and resulting in devastation for all”, the experts said in a statement.
The Srebrenica genocide anniversary is also an opportunity to remember other communities that have been subjected to mass atrocities based on their identity, and the experts called on the international community to take urgent action to “fend off the virus of hate and discrimination”, including online.
The 19 experts who signed the statement were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to monitor specific country situations or themes.
They are not UN staff members, nor are they paid by the Organization.
European Commission has renewed the mandate of the Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU
Freedom of religion or belief under increasing threat around the world
By ADF International
BRUSSELS (9 July 2020) – The European Commission has announced that it will reappoint the Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU. Following weeks of mixed communications on the topic, Vice-President Margaritis Schinas has now confirmed the position on Twitter.
“We are encouraged by the reappointment of the Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU. The current health crisis allows limitations on freedom of religion or belief to increase worldwide. The EU has done the right thing in showing renewed commitment to this fundamental human right. We urge the European Commission to strengthen the position of the Special Envoy and build on the important work already achieved. For the mandate to be most effective it should be multi-annual and with a possibility of renewal. With the support of permanent staff and sufficient resources, the Special Envoy should act as a guardian of the EU Guidelines on the promotion of freedom of religion or belief. The victims on the ground are in dire need for a decisive response from the EU. With its Special Envoy, the EU can lead in the international response, and that leadership is needed now more than ever,” said Adina Portaru, Legal Counsel for ADF International in Brussels.
Role of the Special Envoy
The Special Envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the EU was introduced in 2016 in order to protect freedom of religion or belief on behalf of the EU worldwide. Part of the mandate included visits to countries with some of the most violent religious persecution in the world in order to help facilitate dialogue and response plans. The Special Envoy played a decisive role in helping Asia Bibi safely leave Pakistan after she was acquitted of blasphemy charges. There has been robust support for the continuation of the mandate, voiced by the European Parliament Intergroup on Freedom of Religion or Belief and Religious Tolerance, national special envoys, scholars, and civil society.
EPP Group’s Tomáš Zdechovský MEP and Petri Sarvamaa MEP said that “Every Member State that wants to receive EU money must stick to the basic principles of democracy and the rule of law. There must be conditionality. The EU is not a cash machine for countries that disregard fundamental rules”.
The European Parliament will debate a draft law this afternoon which would cut EU funding for countries which threaten the EU’s financial interests by violating the rule of law. Funding, says the press release from the EPP, would be linked, amongst others, to the independence of national courts, the fight against corruption or the fairness of public procurement procedures. The law was proposed in May 2018, approved by Parliament in 2019 and has been blocked by EU Member States ever since.
As per their statements, the EPP Group sees this law as an essential part of the next long-term EU budget. “We were ready to start negotiations last year, but we never heard back from the Council. Instead, we read in the news that Council President Charles Michel plans to water down the plans. I say to the Member States: do not expect the Parliament to rubber stamp a fait accompli. Start the talks with us. Europeans all over the continent are waiting for us to act.” said Sarvamaa, who is negotiating the law on behalf of the Parliament.
“Living up to EU values is a strict condition for all countries when accessing the EU. This condition must also be applied to the later use of EU funds in Member States. If governments decide to disregard this condition by fiddling, for example, with the independence of media or judges, they must stop receiving EU funds”, said Zdechovský, who is the EPP Group’s Spokesman in Parliament’s Budgetary Control Committee
EU leaders must show a clear commitment to women’s rights and gender equality by creating a forum for intergovernmental exchange at the EU-level, progressive gender equality ministers agreed today.
The meeting focused on the importance of creating a truly gender mainstreamed EU recovery strategy, with the necessary funding and institutional structures to stop the backlash against gender equality and ease the burden on women in the wake of COVID-19.
“This is the moment to put gender equality and women’s rights at the heart of the EU’s recovery strategy and to deliver bold and ambitious policies. The work of the European institutions is crucial in this process. While the European Parliament and the European Commission have enshrined gender equality as a key portfolio and priority, the EU still does not have a formal Council configuration for gender equality. We, the PES Ministers for gender equality and women’s rights, have the political will. We are asking the EU leaders to take their responsibility.”
The ministers, state secretaries, Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli and other representatives of the progressive family convened at the invitation of PES Women President Zita Gurmai to mark the start of the German Council Presidency on 1 July.
In addition to the declaration, the participants discussed concrete initiatives to deliver on the EU Gender Equality Strategy and promote a feminist economy for Europe, including the upcoming Commission proposal for a pay transparency directive and the ‘Women on Boards’ directive.
PES Women President Zita Gurmai said:
“To combat threats to the rights of women and girls and to advance gender equality, we need strong leadership from national governments. The creation of a Council configuration for gender equality would show that the EU is taking gender equality seriously and is willing to put women’s rights at the heart of its recovery strategy. The COVID-19 crisis has shown the importance of prioritising women’s issues and mainstreaming gender equality in all EU policies, and a Council configuration is crucial for this.
“The next few months will be vital for gender equality in Europe. I am looking forward to seeing a strong commitment to advancing gender equality during the German Council Presidency and ambitious initiatives spearheaded by Commissioner Dalli. Moreover, PES Women calls on all EU leaders to ensure a gender mainstreamed EU budget and recovery fund as soon as possible.”
At last month’s PES Presidency meeting, PES Women Vice-President Marja Bijl briefed the Presidency members on PES Women’s call for the creation of a formal Council configuration for gender equality.
The meeting was attended by:
Mariana Vieira da Silva, Minister of State for the Presidency (Portugal)
Rosianne Cutajar, Junior Minister for Equality and Reforms (Malta)
Juliane Seifert, State Secretary Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth (Germany)
Helena Dalli, European Commissioner for Equality (Malta)
Heléne Fritzon MEP, S&D Group Vice-President, responsible for Equality (Sweden)
Zita Gurmai, PES Women President (Hungary)
Marja Bijl, PES Women Vice-President (Netherlands)
On Sunday 5 July, ALDE reports on its newsletter, Croatians headed to polls in the country’s snap parliamentary elections, with five ALDE member parties running: Croatian’s People Party (HNS), Istrian Democratic Assembly (IDS), Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS), Civic-Liberal Alliance (GLAS) and Pametno (P).
The governing centre-right party Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) ran together with ALDE member HSLS, reaching a total of 66 seats out of 151 seats. One of these seats will belong to HSLS. While this is the biggest win for HDZ since 1990s, the party still needs a coalition partner to reach majority.
The biggest opposition force, the Restart Coalition led by the Social Democrats (SDP) got a total of 41 seats. Supporting this coalition, three of these seats will go to ALDE member IDS and one to GLAS. The new populist right-wing party led by Miroslav Škoro came third, totalling up to 16 seats.
ALDE members Pametno and HNS will also hold one seat each. This means that liberals will be represented in the new parliament by all ALDE member parties.
The voter turnout of 46.90% is the lowest turnout ever in the Croatian parliamentary history. Possible reason to this include the COVID-19 outbreak as well as the timing of the elections – for the first time, the country held elections at the beginning of summer.
Danius Puras – HRC 44 – Interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health
Madam President,
The European Union would like to thank the Special Rapporteur for his report on “the elements that are needed to set a rights-based global agenda for advancing the right to mental health”. This being your last dialogue with the Council in your current capacity, the EU would like to thank you for your very valuable contributions to the promotion and protection of the right to health and, in particular, for the much needed attention you dedicated to the right to mental health.
The EU agrees that it is essential to adopt and implement a human rights-based approach to mental health. As you rightly point out, there is a need to move towards more humane, compassionate and indeed rights-based support for those experiencing serious psychosocial distress.
At the centre of such an approach are the dignity, autonomy, will and preferences of those persons accessing and using mental health services, as well as core values such as social inclusion, participation, equality and non-discrimination.
In your report you mention the impact on mental health of global challenges such as climate change, the use of digital surveillance technologies and social credit systems, and health crises such as the one related to COVID-19 which the world is currently experiencing.
The EU shares your opinion that solidarity, collective activism and shared commitments help to set up adequate responses to these challenges and that states should take all measures to ensure that the civic space needed for these collective voices to be heard is protected.
Mr. Special Rapporteur,
Could you further elaborate on how best to integrate public health evidence, lived experience and rights-based research to guide decision-making on global and national public policy strategies?
40th anniversary of the Organic Law on Religious Freedom
Delta Publicaciones, a well-known publishing house, has just launched in Spanish their latest “Law and Religion” magazine, the number XV, commemorating the 40th Anniversary of the Spanish Religious Freedom Law.
The magazine, which contains articles by the top full professors of Religious Freedom has been coordinated by Prof. Miguel Rodríguez Blanco and Prof. Marcos González Sánchez, both awardees of the Spanish granted “Religious Freedom Awards” on 2018 and 2019 respectively. The Organic Law 7/1980 of July 5, 1980 on Religious Freedom has reached forty years of validity. This law has contributed to the recognition of the right to religious freedom by all citizens and the absence of serious conflicts or confrontations in this area.
The LOLR was a key element in the transition and consolidation of a democratic state in Spain. It introduced into our legal system a series of novelties that constitute the content in this field of the Constitution in force today: it guarantees and develops equally the rights of all denominations, within the framework of the recognition of the religious freedom of all citizens, of the non-denominational nature of the State, and of the cooperation of the public authorities with religious denominations. 40 years after the entry into force of the LOLR, it is appropriate to analyze its positive and negative aspects.
The analysis and defense of the LOLR is the best tribute we can make in this 40th anniversary of its approval. We thank the professors of the Ecclesiastical Law of the State who with their better availability and dedication have wanted to collaborate to its realization. The result is a very complete volume, which refers to almost all the questions raised by the articles of the LOLR.
Introduction by Prof. Rodríguez Blanco & Prof. González Sánchez
It was clear to the democratic people of Spain 40 years ago that they wanted to live together in peace and that is why the current Spanish Constitution of 1978 sealed “religious peace”. The new constitutional framework demanded a rapid change in the regulation of religious freedom established by the Franco regime, hence the change from a law that established a system of mere religious tolerance – Law 44/1967 of 28 June on Religious Freedom – to the current Organic Law 7/1980 of 5 July on Religious Freedom [LOLR], which has helped to make the religious transition in Spain. It is one of the first laws to be enacted in development of a fundamental right and was approved with great consensus. It consists of eight articles, two transitional provisions, one derogatory and one final. It is a very valid and effective text for the purposes of achieving the proposed goal, a reference for other European and American laws, and which continues to be as useful as it was four decades ago.
The LOLR provides a good service to coexistence, in accordance with the principle of the secularity of the State, by helping to guarantee the effective exercise of the right to religious freedom. This fundamental right is equally held by all individuals and all religious denominations. In general terms, the content of the Law can be summarized as follows: guarantees religious freedom and points out the reporting principles on the regulation of the religious social factor; sets the content of religious freedom and establishes the limits to its exercise and the aspects that fall outside its scope of protection; regulates the judicial protection of recognized rights; creates the Register of Religious Entities – a register that shows that religious entities are a phenomenon distinct from associations and constitutes their main meeting point; recognizes full autonomy for denominations and the capacity for them to establish their own rules of organization, internal rules and staff rules; the possibility for denominations to have access to the signing of cooperation agreements with the State – which create a special legal framework, a specific framework of rights adapted to their own characteristics – and creates the Advisory Commission on Religious Freedom.
The defence and guarantee of religious diversity only goes through the defence and guarantee of religious freedom. Diversity helps progress and societies without diversity are further behind. The LOLR offers solutions to such pressing problems as the very ordering of society, strengthens and develops the religious beliefs of individuals and denominations and, in short, prevents intransigent policies that have characterized authoritarian and anti-democratic regimes throughout history and that today are far from the scope of our freedoms. Freedom requires laws and the LOLR fulfils its objective.
The monographic XV of the Law and Religion Magazine is dedicated to the LOLR when turning 40 years of validity. When a norm lasts so long it is a sign that it is good and has overcome oblivion. In any case, given the time that has passed we consider that it is the opportune moment to make an evaluation of its application and to analyze those questions that possibly require a development, modification or incorporation to the text of the Law. For years there has been talk of its possible reform and it is clear that, like any legal text, it can be modified. However, if the change is not to make it better, it is preferable that it remains as it is. Perhaps, as most representatives of religious denominations claim, what should be done is to comply with its content and apply it fully. In any case, any reform or replacement of the LOLR should be very consensual as it is a norm that develops a particularly sensitive fundamental right in every society.
The analysis and defense of the LOLR is the best tribute we can make in this fortieth anniversary of its approval. We are grateful to the professors of Ecclesiastical Law of the State that with their better availability and dedication have wanted to collaborate to its realization. The result is a very complete volume, which refers to almost all the questions raised by the articles of the LOLR. Likewise, we would like to point out that the Department of Private Law of the University of the Balearic Islands has collaborated in this publication and has been financed by the Research Project “40th Anniversary of the Organic Law of Religious Freedom. Critical analysis” (L3-2019) of the Foundation Pluralism and Coexistence of the Ministry of the Presidency, Relations with the Courts and Democratic Memory. Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
