More than three hundred Moldovan priests went on a “pilgrimage” to Moscow, with all their expenses covered. The organization of the clergy took place on Viber, and as the sponsor of the entire event, Moldovan media named Ilon Shor – a former Moldovan politician and banker, sentenced to fifteen years in prison for major fraud, who fled to Russia in 2023, and this year received a Russian citizenship. In each diocese of the small Moldovan Metropolitanate (MP), there were several trusted persons – from metropolitan to deacons, who gathered participants.
The priests travel with their wives and parishioners in three groups – in the months of August and September, with the first of one hundred and twenty people leaving at the end of August. The first group of over a hundred people was photographed by Moldovan television at the airport in Chisinau and thus it becomes clear about the event organized by the Moscow Patriarchate.
In Moscow, the priests participated in “several religious conferences and had a meeting with high-ranking officials of the Moscow Patriarchate.” The center of the conversations were the problems of the Russian Orthodox Church and the “persecution against the Ukrainian Church”. Guests from Moldova were impressed with “royal receptions” and rich meals. They also visited the largest plant for church utensils “Sofrino”, where they received gifts for their parishes.
Finally, many of the clerics received MIR bank cards from the sanctioned Promsvyazbank for supporting the Russian war in Ukraine. The priests received the bank cards at a ceremony at the Theological Academy in Moscow. Each priest has signed a contract with the bank, and the card does not have his name on it, but the bank account is his. They were promised that they would receive 1,000 euros in “temple aid” each month.
Moscow Patriarchate spokesman Vladimir Legoida said “pilgrimages can have a very big impact.”
Hundreds of priests have agreed to the “free pilgrimage “, although they admit that the very procedure and form of the organization is strange. “Many priests are confused about the program and purpose of the visit, as the pilgrimage does not fit into any festive or religious context,” noted a source from the Chisinau Metropolitanate, which denied being the organizer.
The purpose of the venture is to buy the clerics under a good pretext to influence public opinion in the upcoming presidential elections in Moldova, in which Ilon Shor is participating through a party from Moscow, and for the October 20 referendum on the country’s accession to the European Union.
The visits of the priests were not supposed to become public, but after local media revealed that the hundreds of tickets were bought at once by a Russian agency, and the clerics are expected to exert political influence after their return at a critical moment for the state, the press office of Chisinau The Metropolitanate stated that “the visits have no pre-election or political goals, but aim to acquaint the Moldovan clergy with the spiritual and historical heritage of Orthodox Russia, strengthening the fraternal ties between the two Orthodox churches.”
The press service of the Metropolitanate of Moldova also stated that “the pilgrimages are organized for priests with limited resources, especially from the poor rural areas of Moldova, and do not pursue political goals.”
“The priests who returned from Moscow denied any form of financial support from their hosts. The Metropolitan will closely monitor this case and will take all necessary measures to prevent the participation of clergy in political or pre-election activities” – this is stated in a press release of the Metropolitan of Chisinau.
The EU Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Mr Frans van Daele, is on the eve of carrying out a fact-finding mission in Pakistan. The dates announced two months ago were 8-11 September and it was quite recently confirmed that he would be in Islamabad this week. At this stage, it is not known who will be his interlocutors as there was no official announcement about his mission, his program and his objectives.
However, it can be expected that he will raise a number of issues concerning the egregious human rights violations particularly affecting local religious minorities and it is to be hoped that he will collect useful and concrete information for the European Commission in relation with the commercial privileges of the GSP+ status granted by the EU to Pakistan. Last but not least, we would recommend him that hevisit a person imprisoned on blasphemy allegations. This would be an encouragement to all the religious prisoners of conscience – over 50 of them, according to the Database of documented cases of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom – and to Pakistani civil society.
Human Rights Without Frontiers has contacted representatives of the Roman Catholic Church, Catholic associations, Ahmadi groups, lawyers and human rights activists in Pakistan but they were unaware of that visit or said they had not received any invitation for a meeting. A number of talks will certainly take place in the premises of the EU Delegation to Pakistan.
The commercial privileges linked to the GSP+ status
Pakistan is a country of high concern for its systematic and serious religious freedom and other human rights’ violations.
The GSP+ – Generalised System of Preferences – is an EU scheme which grants privileged access (reduced or zero duties) to the EU market to products from certain less developed countries. When the eligible country gets GSP+ status, its products across approximately 66% of all EU tariff lines enter the EU market with 0% duties BUT to become and to remain a beneficiary of the GSP+ status, the beneficiary country must demonstrate a tangible progress on the implementation of27 international treatiesregarding labor rights, good governance, climate and environment, and human rights (including freedom of religion and other rights pertaining to religious minorities and their members).
The GSP+ status, religious freedom and human rights
On 29 April 2021, the European Parliament called on the Commission and the European External Action Service to immediately review Pakistan’s eligibility for GSP+ status in the light of recent human rights abuses, as “the government systematically enforced blasphemy laws and failed to protect religious minorities from abuses by non-state actors, with a sharp rise in targeted killings, blasphemy cases, forced conversions, and hate speech against religious minorities (…); whereas abduction, forced conversion to Islam, rape and forced marriage remained an imminent threat for religious minority women and children in 2020, particularly those from the Hindu and Christian faiths”.
On Jan. 17, 2023, the Pakistan’s National Assembly unanimously voted to expand the country’s laws on blasphemy extending the punishment to those deemed to have insulted the Muhammad ‘s wives, family and companions, with 10 years in prison or life imprisonment. The Supreme Court of Pakistan has asked the Government, through its police, to deal more carefully with blasphemy cases and avoid the misuse of blasphemy laws (*), in a process in August 2022.
About the desperate situation of the Ahmaddiyya community in Pakistan
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Pakistan is enduring an alarming rise in violence and systemic persecution in 2024, with a disturbing trend of targeted murders, desecration of mosques and graves, and the continued denial of basic civil rights.
In January 2024, Punjab police desecrated 65 Ahmadi tombstones in Musay Wala, claiming to act on orders from a local official known for persecuting Ahmadis. These acts of desecration not only violate the sanctity of the community’s religious sites but also send a chilling message that their existence is unwelcome in Pakistan.
This year, up to July 2024 alone, four Ahmadi Muslims have been brutally murdered in religiously motivated attacks. These include the killing of Tahir Iqbal, the president of the local Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Bahawalpur, who was gunned down by motorcyclists in March. In June, a 16-year-old madrassa student murdered two Ahmadi men, Ghulam Sarwar and Rahat Ahmad Bajwa, in separate incidents in Mandi Bahauddin, citing religious motives. The violence continued in July when Zaka ur Rehman, a 53-year-old dentist, was shot dead in his clinic in Lala Musa, Gujrat. These heinous acts reflect the extreme vulnerability of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, who are routinely targeted for their faith, with little accountability for the perpetrators.
The violence against the community extends beyond physical attacks to the systematic desecration of Ahmadi Muslim mosques and graves. In February 2024, extremists armed with guns, hammers, and shovels attacked an Ahmadi mosque in Kotli, Azad Jammu and Kashmir,destroying its minarets and brutally beating worshippers. In June, during Eid celebrations, a mob of 150 people attacked another Ahmadi mosque in Kotli and across Pakistan more than 30 Ahmadis were arrested – including a 13 year old boy – for celebrating the Islamic festival of Eid.
About the desperate situation of Christians, Hindus and Sikhs in Pakistan
Christians have been repeatedly victims of mob violence following blasphemy allegations.
On 16 August 2023, a violent mob of hundreds of people ransacked and torched nearly two dozen churches, attacked the homes and businesses of the Christian community, and the office of the local assistant commissioner in Jaranwala. According to estimates compiled by Faisalabad’s district administration, at least 22 churches and 91 houses were ransacked by mobs.
As per police and local sources, the violence erupted after some locals alleged that several desecrated pages of the Holy Quran were found near a house at Cinema Chowk in Jaranwala, where two Christian brothers resided.
On early July 2024, it was reported that Ehsan Shan, a Christian in his early 20s, had been put put on death row for reposting on his TikTok account an image of the text of the Qu’ran damaged in Jaranwala on 16 August 2023. Ehsan Shan, though not a party to the desecration, was sentenced under numerous articles of the Pakistan Penal Code, to 22 years’ “rigorous imprisonment” and fined 1 million Pakistan Rupees (UK£2,830).
Over the decades, hundreds of people have been falsely accused and many killed in targeted sectarian attacks.
There is no comparison when it comes to deciding which form of violence based on religious intolerance is worse. While forced conversion and targeted sectarian killings have affected millions in the country, misuse of blasphemy laws, vigilantism, lynching, personal vendettas, burning down entire communities, and destroying places of worship are all human rights crises and symptomatic of collective social disorder.
Christians, Sikhs, and Ahmadis have also been killed in sectarian hate crimes outside any accusation of blasphemy and justice is rarely delivered.
According to data compiled by the Centre for Social Justice in Pakistan, 202 cases of abduction, forced marriage and forced conversion were recorded and documented in 2021-2022: 120 Hindu women and girls, 80 Christians and 2 Sikhs. Almost all of them took place within the Sindh and Punjab provinces.
Beyond the data, it is also worth highlighting the concrete case of an 18-year old Hindu woman named Pooja Kumari who resisted an abduction attempt and was shot by her aggressors on 21 March 202 in a city in the Sindh province.
Acts of the Apostles, chapter 6. 1 – 6. The first Christian deacons. 7 – 15. St. Archdeacon Stephen.
Acts 6:1. In those days, when the disciples were multiplying, a murmur arose among the Hellenists against the Jews, because their widows were not looked after in the distribution of the daily rations.
“In these days” – an indefinite chronological indication, giving in any case a reason to conclude that the events described were not so distant from their predecessors.
“among the Hellenists…against the Jews…”. i.e. between the Hellenistic Christians and the Jews. The “Hellenists” are Jews living in the various countries of the pagan (Greco-Roman) world, speaking the then widespread Greek language. Many of them were proselytes, i.e. Gentiles who accepted the Jewish faith. Sometimes the Hellenists migrated from heathen countries to live in Palestine and Jerusalem, and in any case they considered it their duty to travel to Jerusalem for the festivals, staying there for a longer or shorter time, and sometimes staying longer. long because of his commercial and other affairs. Many of them also accepted Christianity, being fully prepared for it.
By the name “Jews” here are understood Christians from the original permanent Jews, local inhabitants of Palestine, who spoke the Hebrew language.
“When dividing the daily rations…”. In the Greek original: ἐν τῇ διακονίᾳ τῇ διακονίᾳ, in the Slavic translation: “in everyday service…”. As the text further shows, this was the service of the “tables,” that is, supplying the needy with food and other necessities during the communal meals (Acts 2:46), which were probably arranged in the various parts of the city, in the public places of the meetings of the Christians. It seemed to the Hellenists that their widows were neglected. This neglect, of course, was not due to the apostles themselves, but evidently to their immediate subordinates in charge of this activity. St. John Chrysostom also suggests that “this was not done out of ill will, but out of inattention to the multitude of people… because in such a case there cannot be difficulties.”
It is possible that here a certain spirit of exaltation manifested itself before the Hellenists, who were in closer contact with the impure heathen environment, which spirit of exaltation could not smooth out, as can be seen, even the high spirit of Christianity in the first community in Jerusalem. Whatever the cause, the neglect of the Hellenistic widows was there, and it caused a discontent which was more dangerous than the persecutions from outsiders, and therefore the apostles so wisely rooted it out at the very beginning.
Acts 6:2. Then the twelve apostles, calling together the whole multitude of disciples, said: it is not good for us to leave the word of God and take care of the tables.
“having called together the whole multitude of the disciples…” i.e. as far as possible the whole Christian community of Jerusalem, and not only its representatives or elect. The apostles proposed to the whole society to remove this turmoil, and did not decide to remove it only through their authority (cf. John Chrysostom and blessed Theophylact).
“it is not good that we…” – οὐκ ἀρεστόν ἐστιν ἡμᾶς, that is, “we do not like, we do not like.”
“to leave the word of God,” i.e. preaching the word of God, which is their main duty.
Acts 6:3. Therefore, brethren, take care to choose from among you seven men of good name, filled with the Holy Spirit and with wisdom, whom we will appoint to this office;
“Choose”. The apostles make available to the whole community of believers to choose from among themselves people to place them in this office.
“seven souls…” Seven is a sacred number.
“filled with the Holy Spirit…”. This ministry also requires the special gifts of the Holy Spirit, because the ministry of the poor is not only dedicated to their physical needs, but also to their spiritual needs.
“and with wisdom…”. In the usual sense of the word, to organize all activity wisely, successfully, carefully – that is, a purely practical life virtue is meant.
Acts 6:4. and we will constantly remain in prayer and in the service of the word.
“in the service of the word,” i. of the preaching of the gospel, as opposed to the care of the table and the food.
Acts 6:5. This proposal pleased the whole multitude; and they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, Philippa and Prochora, Nicanora and Timon, Parmena and Nicholas, a proselyte from Antioch,
“full of faith” – this refers to a miraculous faith (1 Cor. 12:9), a man with a special gift of the Holy Spirit, through which Stephen performed great miracles and signs (Acts 6:8).
After Stephen, the most famous of the others is Philip (Acts 8). Of the rest, nothing more is mentioned in the writings of the apostles. But church tradition has preserved important information about them: Prochorus was a companion at first of the Apostle Peter, then a companion or scribe of the Apostle John the Theologian, and subsequently a bishop of Nicomedia (in Bithynia), and died a martyr in Antioch.
“Nicanor” – this deacon was killed by the Jews on the day of the murder of Archdeacon Stephen. “Timon” according to tradition was a bishop of Bostra (in Arabia) who was also martyred.
“Parmenus” died before the eyes of the apostles and was buried by them.
“Nicolaus” – a proselyte, an Antiochian, whose choice shows the wisdom of the electors, for he undoubtedly belonged to the Hellenists, whose widows were neglected and became an occasion for discontent to arise. It is not known whether he remained at the height of his ministry, only that his name is not recorded as a saint.
Acts 6:6. which they placed before the Apostles, and they, having prayed, laid hands on them.
“which they placed before the Apostles” – for their actual placing in this ministry. It is not the society that elected them itself that appoints them, but grants this to the Apostles, who alone had the right and authority to perform the installation of the elect by the laying on of hands.
“having prayed” that God’s grace, which heals the weak and fills up the deficient, would vouch for the elect for this special ministry of God’s Church.
“laid hands on them.” A way, and with it, an outward symbolic sign of the pouring out upon ordinations of the special gifts of the Holy Spirit. This ordination (cf. Num. 27:18) followed the prayer, as a symbolic act distinct from it, and not merely accompanying the prayer. This was precisely the action of consecrating the elect, or the external side of the sacrament.
“Notice,” says St. John Chrysostom here, “how the writer says nothing superfluous; he does not explain in what way, but simply says that they were ordained by prayer, because that is how ordination is done. A hand is laid upon man, but all things are done by God, and His right hand touches the head of the ordination, if the ordination be done as it should be”…
Acts 6:7. And so the word of God grew, and the number of disciples increased exceedingly in Jerusalem; and a great multitude of priests obeyed the faith.
“And so the word of God grew,” a remark which gives reason to conclude that the Christian community was calmed down, and the apostolic preaching became especially successful, owing to their concentrating entirely on this preaching. The success was especially manifested in the fact that many priests even accepted faith in Jesus the Messiah, defeated in their stubbornness by the persuasiveness of the apostolic preaching.
Actions. 6:8. And Stephen, full of faith and power, performed great miracles and omens among the people.
“filled with faith and power” – faith as the cause or source of miraculous power, and power as the particular manifestation and operation of faith. Here, for the first time, it is mentioned about the performance of great omens and miracles not only by the apostles, but also by other believers – for the more successful spread of Christ’s Church.
Acts 6:9. When there arose some of the synagogue, so called the synagogue of the libertines, and of that of Cyrenes, Alexandrians, and those who were from Cilicia and Asia, entered into a dispute with Stephen;
Acts 6:10. but they could not resist the wisdom and spirit with which he spoke.
“some… entered into a dispute”, ἀνέστησαν δέ τινες… δέμαροῦντες τῷ Στεφάνῳ…, in the Slavic translation: “Vozstasha ze netsyi… contending with Stephen”.
Those who entered into dispute with Stephen were Hellenists, as Stephen himself seems to have been, judging by his name and speech (Acts 7), in which the Old Testament passages are brought to him by the translation of the Septuagint. Tradition says that he was even a relative of Saul, who, as is known, was a native of Tarsus of Cilicia.
Those who disputed with Stephen were, moreover, “of the so-called synagogue of Libertines and Cyreneans and Alexandrians” – and “from Cilicia and Asia.” At that time in Jerusalem, according to the calculation of the rabbis, there were about 500 synagogues, including the mentioned five.
“Libertines” are Jews resettled by the Romans (especially under Pompey in 60 BC) as prisoners of war in Rome, but then released and now free returned to their homeland (many of them, however, they voluntarily preferred to stay in Rome). These conquered (libertini) formed their own synagogue after their return – “of the libertines”.
“Cyreneans and Alexandrians” – these are Jews from Cyrene and Alexandria who moved to Jerusalem or temporarily resided there.
In Cyrene (a city in Libya, west of Egypt), according to the testimony of Josephus, a quarter of its inhabitants were Jews, and in Alexandria (in Lower Egypt) of the five parts of the city – two of them were inhabited entirely by Jews ( Jewish Antiquities (XIV, 6, 1; XIX, 5, 2). In both cities they have lived for a long time, settled there as prisoners of war or moved voluntarily. Alexandria was a center of Jewish-Greek scholarship, the imprint of which was probably borne by the synagogue of the Alexandrians in Jerusalem.
“Cilicia and Asia” – two Asia Minor regions where many of the Jews also lived, and the emigrants or temporary residents of them in Jerusalem also had their own special synagogues.
All these five synagogues rebelled against Stephen in the person of some of their members and tried to challenge him, i.e. his teaching and right to influence the people.
“They could not resist wisdom.” Wisdom not in the sense of Judeo-Hellenic education, but in the sense of true Christian wisdom, in the sense of enlightenment with the truths of the Gospel teaching and with the gifts of the Holy Spirit (I Cor. 12:8).
Actions. 6:11 a.m. Then they taught some men to say: We heard him speak blasphemous words against Moses and against God.
Actions. 6:12 a.m. And they stirred up the people, the elders and the scribes, and, having attacked him, seized him and brought him to the Sanhedrin.
It is remarkable that in the case of Stephen, the enemies of Christianity succeeded in winning over the people who had been on the side of the Christians and the apostles (cf. Acts 5, 13, 26). This is done by accusing Stephen of blasphemy, the most serious crime under the Mosaic Law. As in the judicial accusation of the Lord Himself, the people lightly believed this slander, and were cunningly led to indignation and indignation against the supposed blasphemer and those to whom he belonged.
The deliberateness of the accusation against Stephen, and the indignation of the people against him, is evident from the fact that the Sanhedrin was already fully prepared to try Stephen when they openly seized him and brought him thither.
In this way, the hidden dream of the enemies of Christ was realized – to cause a pogrom in the Christian community by arousing the anger of the people, if not against the apostles personally, then first against one of the newly appointed deacons, and then against the whole community with the apostles at the head .
Acts 6:13. And they presented false witnesses, who said: This man does not stop speaking blasphemous words against this holy place and against the Law,
“They presented false witnesses,” i.e. people who attributed things to Stephen that he did not actually say, twisting his words.
“He, perhaps, spoke very frankly and spoke about the abolition of the law, or, more precisely, he did not speak, but hinted, because if he had spoken clearly, then these “some” would not have needed false witnesses” (blessed Theophylact).
“against this holy place” – κατὰ τοῦ τοπου τοῦ ἁγίου καὶ τοῦ νόμου·, i.e. The Jerusalem temple “and against the law,” i.e. The Mosaic Law, the foundation of all Old Testament life.
Just as during the condemnation of the Lord Jesus, the false witnesses misinterpreted one of His sentences about the destruction of the temple (Matt. 26:61; cf. John 2:19) in order to present Him as a blasphemer, so now the false witnesses against Stephen probably interpreted some his words where he spoke of the transforming action of Christianity in relation to the Old Testament. This became likely in his disputes with the Hellenists, and it happened more than once (“does not cease”).
Acts 6:14. for we have heard him say that Jesus of Nazareth will destroy this place and change the customs that Moses handed down to us.
“we heard him say…”, ἀκηκόαμεν γὰρ αὐτοῦ λέγοντος, We heard him say that…- but the further words are not actually Stephen’s, but were put into his mouth by the false witnesses and interpreted by them in their own way.
“Jesus of Nazareth…”, in the Greek and Slavic text with the addition of the contemptuous “He” (οὗτος).
Actions. 6:15. And all who sat in the Sanhedrin looked at him and saw that his face was like the face of an Angel.
“They saw that his face was like the face of an Angel.” This was all the more surprising, all the more unnatural for an ordinary defendant, whom one would have expected to see frightened, despairing, or at least in the hostile mood of a man offended by slander.
Filled with entirely other feelings, Stephen’s pure soul gave his countenance a manly calmness and a triumphant vitality, which contrasted with the atmosphere of the accusers, with their malice and fury, and imparted to his young countenance a truly angelic light and pleasantness. If earlier Stephen was filled with a special power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 6:8), then at this decisive and solemn moment for him, he was undoubtedly awarded with a special illumination from the Spirit of God, which turned his very appearance into an angel-like one.
Illustrative Photo: Orthodox icon “Martyrdom of St. Stephen”. – The place of St. Archdeacon Stephen’s martyrdom is traditionally identified as being close to the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem, where today there is a church dedicated to the martyred deacon. Christians immediately felt a great devotion to St. Stephen, a devotion that only grew when his relics were re-discovered in the early part of the 5th century. His life and martyrdom are portrayed in countless works of art. Stephen is traditionally pictured with the palm of martyrdom, or with stones that show how he died.
Source in Russian: Explanatory Bible, or Commentaries on all the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments: In 7 volumes / Ed. prof. A. P. Lopukhin. – Ed. 4th. – Moscow: Dar, 2009, 1232 pp.
Russian forces have destroyed ancient burial mounds on the front line in southern Ukraine. In doing so, they potentially violated the Hague and Geneva Conventions, according to a study by the Ukrainian Conflict Observatory published on September 4, the Kyiv Independent reported.
In Ukraine, there are many ancient graves known as kurgans – up to 20 meters high and dating back to 3000 BC. They contain archaeological treasures, including from the Scythian era.
The Conflict Observatory analyzed open geospatial data to find that the two sites in the Vasilovsky district of Zaporozhye Oblast, for example, were damaged during their occupation by the Russian armed forces. In addition, they were used by the Russians for military purposes as military infrastructure was built around them.
Apart from the military constructions, the damage “may mean looting or destruction of the mound-related artifacts and ancient remains,” the report said.
Since cultural heritage is entitled to protection under international law, damage to the sites and their potential looting may constitute a violation of international humanitarian law under the Hague and Geneva Conventions.
Additionally, the limitations of open-source intelligence research suggest that “the true number of archaeological sites affected by Russian fortification construction is likely to be much higher than documented in this report,” the observatory added.
Russia’s war against Ukraine has had a severe impact on Ukrainian cultural heritage, destroying around 2,000 cultural sites and leaving 1.5 million museum artifacts in Russian-occupied territories. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) passed a resolution in late June recognizing Russia’s genocidal intent to destroy Ukraine’s cultural heritage and identity.
Scientists at Australia’s Flinders University have found that healthy soil is a surprisingly noisy place. And deforested places or those with poor soil “sound” much quieter.
Experts draw this conclusion thanks to a new field in science – ecoacoustics, which studies soundscapes.
They listened to sounds made by ants, worms and other creatures living underground in South Australia to assess the relationship between soil sounds and biodiversity.
In the Journal of Applied Ecology, the researchers describe experiments with three different types of forest patches: two deforested patches of land, two forested patches that have been reforested in recent years, and two largely untouched patches of land.
Soil sounds were recorded during daylight hours at all six sites, and were supplemented by recordings of soil samples taken in a soundproof chamber.
The researchers counted the number of invertebrates in each soil sample to determine how many living creatures lived at each location.
The analysis showed greater diversity in both intact and restored sites, both of which have more complex acoustics.
Soil sound recordings at these sites include snaps, gurgles and a variety of other sounds – evidence of the diversity and health of life below the surface. The deforested area was quieter.
“Listening” to the soil could help identify areas in need of restoration or protection, or even warn of environmental disturbances, the researchers wrote.
“All living organisms make sounds, and our preliminary results show that different soil organisms have different sound profiles depending on their activity, shape, limbs and size,” said Jake M. Robinson, an ecologist at Flinders University in Australia, one of the the authors of the study, cited by Besjournals.
Illustrative Photo by Muffin Creatives: https://www.pexels.com/photo/close-up-photo-of-person-holding-sand-2203683/
The head of UN aid coordination office OCHA in the war-torn country Justin Brady said the famine conditions which already prevail in Zamzam camp, in North Darfur, are “very dire” and access has become increasingly difficult.
The UN-partnered IPC Famine Review Committee (FRC) announced last week that famine conditions are ongoing in the Zamzam Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) camp which hosts 500,000 IDPs outside besieged El Fasher.
In an interview with UN News’s Khaled Mohamed, Mr. Brady stressed that an effective response to the famine that is now evident as rival militaries continue to wreak havoc across Sudan, cannot be made on a “shoestring budget.”
“People think famine, and they think food, when in fact, what we need to respond, be it famine or displacement, is a package of assistance”, he said.
Water, sanitation, and hygiene are a crucial part of keeping beleaguered civilians alive, caught between Government troops and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for the past 15 months of brutal fighting: “They need health, protection, shelter, and non-food items.”
More resources critical
He told us that the situation can be reversed, “though it will take more than just humanitarians trying their hardest. We need the resources, political leverage, and advocacy to make the parties come to the table and end this war.”
FAO said a rapid scale up of life-saving food, nutrition and cash assistance must go hand in hand with emergency agricultural aid.
“This is critical in conflict-affected areas to address immediate needs and avert the risk of famine from increasing and affecting other locations across Sudan”, the agency said.
Sudan is facing the worst levels of hunger ever recorded by the IPC in the country, as well as the world’s largest internally displaced crisis, with a staggering 755, 000 people are currently facing catastrophic levels of acute hunger (IPC Phase 5).
Around 25.6 million people are experiencing high levels of acute hunger.
The interview has been edited for length and clarity.
UN News: The IPC Famine Review Committee reported this month that the ongoing conflict in Sudan has pushed communities in North Darfur State into famine, notably the Zamzam camp near the state capital Al Fasher. Have you had the opportunity to get on-the-ground information recently about the current situation in that area? And is that area inaccessible to humanitarian workers?
Justin Brady: The situation in Zamzam particularly is very difficult. As you say, just outside of the state capital, which has been under siege and attacked by the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) for some weeks, if not months now. and access in that general area has become very difficult.
There are some partners on the ground there, such as MSF, who are providing us direct information, “ground truthing” on the situation, which is very dire, obviously given the classification of famine, which is something that, since April, when we launched the famine prevention plan, we were we were trying to avoid.
If we don’t have enough resources and we don’t have enough access, it is going to be very difficult to stop famine conditions from taking hold.
And that’s exactly what happened. we did see a major shift in the Government’s, approach to access. They were much more open to providing visas and travel permissions. That started in about mid-May. A bit late, though, in the process – and then, unfortunately, RSF has actually increased its bureaucratic impediments.
The Famine Review Committee returned a classification of famine for that location [Zamzam]. They did not draw a conclusion or provide recommendations on the other two camps – Abu Shouk and Al Salam – because they said that the data wasn’t sufficient. Think about it. Why wasn’t the data sufficient enough? Getting the data out due to access constraints has been a problem.
If we can’t get data out, how do we get the aid in? it’s just not a manageable situation in that regard. Now, people will then ask, are you going to declare a famine? The United Nations is not going to declare a famine in Sudan. Sudan has an internationally recognized government. In 2011, the United Nations did declare a famine in Somalia at a time when the Federal Transitional Government was not internationally recognized.
however, the Government of Sudan has indicated, through a press conference it recently held, as well as direct meetings I’ve had with them, that they do not recognize the classification of famine. They do not believe the data supports that. So, we should not expect a famine declaration from the Government at this time.
UN News: Which areas are most at risk of entering the famine cycle if the current conditions in Sudan continue?
Justin Brady: Yeah. The FRC (Famine Review Committee) data and this again is based off the integrated phase classification, the IPC, which is the internationally recognized system, for looking at food insecurity. They drew the conclusion that there are 14 localities where conditions similar to ZamZam probably exist. What are those conditions? Heavy displacement, conflict. you know, impacting access not only of humanitarians, but also of the commercial sector to provide goods to the market.
So we’re not even talking about people’s access to food. we’re talking about the availability of food. Is food actually there?
If there is food there, the access to it is quite limited because it is extremely expensive. We’re in a war economy. And we’ve seen prices skyrocket. We’ve seen the value of the Sudanese pound plummet. So those 14 localities, those are in the greater Darfurs, not just in North Darfur, Khartoum state, Kordofan states, and Jazeera, which is the breadbasket of the country.
To think that a famine might take hold there really exposes the nature of this entire conflict. So, we are doing our best to get to those various areas. And in recent weeks, the seasonal rains have started. and those are an impediment themselves that you can’t negotiate with.
The Government in February closed our access as humanitarians to the Adri crossing from Chad. That would lead very quickly, to West Darfur’s capital, Al Jenina, and then give us access to not only West Darfur, but Central and South Darfur as well. and the only opening we had that was authorized by the Government was the Tina crossing in North Darfur. That leads to Al Fasher.
Access continues to be a major problem. And some donors have seen that and said, well, we’ll give you funding when you get access.
I’m afraid, one, there’s a natural lag between funding streams and actual operations on the ground, depending on what one needs to procure, whom you need to recruit, and the activity you’re doing – it could take six, eight weeks, for money that’s received by a donor to translate into activities.
So we need to be ahead of this.
Second of all, when we do get access, we need to take advantage of those openings very quickly. If we don’t, they will close very quickly. So not having enough resources…Our appeal for this year is only a third funded, under $900 million received.
Having been involved with two famine prevention operations and now what is a famine response operation, you can’t do these on a shoestring budget. We need resources and, we are just not receiving them in the quantities required to do this.
And that limitation in resources has also caused us to prioritize. So that we are not really responding to people who are in IPC 3 phase [of the emergency food classification], which is a crisis level…Unfortunately, we’re having to drive right by them as we try to reach, the most, vulnerable cases, those closest to famine, when in fact, we should be helping everybody.
Children collect clean, safe water from a UNICEF-installed station in Al-Serif village in Darfur.
UN News: Could you tell us more about the latest response to displacement from areas across Sudan, including Sennar, the Blue Nile, and Kassala States?
Justin Brady: You have this offensive that RFS have pushed, into Sennar state and White Nile, that has caused quite a bit of displacement from Sinja Town itself, most of that headed north into Government-controlled areas where we already have massive numbers of displaced. This is the largest displacement crisis in the world with 10 million internally displaced.
Another two million-plus have gone over the border into neighboring countries in the region. So, the interesting thing is, when we talk about ZamZam, we’re talking about an IDP camp. And that was sort of the norm. The model in Darfur was that IDPs would be settled into a camp. Whereas in the east and the north, since the war began in April of 2023, the vast majority of these IDPs are residing with host communities.
Now, this has a couple of impacts. Number one, it’s a little bit difficult for us to find them. and we don’t do a status-based response. If you’re an IDP, you don’t, by definition, get assistance. but it’s very difficult for us to assess the condition of those people. But their presence there is also having, a debilitating effect on the resilience of the host communities themselves.
The best we could do there is to pump resources into the basic services, so everybody benefits. But again, we don’t have enough resources to prioritize those caseloads.
I’m not even touching on the education. the fact of the matter is, the education system in Sudan, except for a few locations, has broken down completely over the past year. plus, we were seeing children missing out on another year of education. this is having a debilitating effect on the present, but it will.
The legacy of this conflict is going to be felt for decades and generations to come.
UN News: You mentioned floods and heavy rain, and those are another challenge facing people in Sudan. Can you please tell us more about the humanitarian impact of this and the and response?
Justin Brady: The rains, as I said, are a yearly occurrence. And, you know, when we talk about Al Jazeera State River Nile states in the past and I served here as the Head of Office back in 2022, if we had any activities in those states, it was only related to the flooding. They did not experience humanitarian problems there.
Flooding is causing damage and losses, to people’s, belongings as well as their livelihoods, causing them to displace, if only on a temporary basis in some cases, the bigger concern is that it is going to contribute to waterborne diseases.
Water, sanitation, hygiene is not going to solve it on its own. We need those partners who do those various activities working together in one location to have an impact. And that has been an issue because the funding, as I mentioned, is only a third. but it is unevenly distributed across the areas of work. food security has received over 50 per cent of the funding that they have requested.
Obviously, people think famine and they think food, when in fact, what we need to respond, be it famine or displacement, is a package of assistance. not just food, but people also need, water, sanitation, hygiene. They need health, they need protection. They need shelter and non-food items. and in the case of famine areas, we need nutrition working there very closely.
UN News: The conflict poses a special challenge for women and girls. UNFPA reports that 6.7 million people are at risk of gender-based violence. And 3.5 million women and girls of reproductive age need reproductive health care services. Could you tell us more about this?
Justin Brady: For months now, we’ve been saying this has been a war against women and girls. And rape, sexual violence has been part of the strategy of some of the belligerents.
The reports of that [are] much more prevalent in areas controlled by the RSF or where the RSF is present. The RSF may deny that and say it’s not them, but they have created the conditions where this is possible.
They have removed the rule of law and, unfortunate impunity allows these perpetrators to do the worst thing possible. and we have reports of survivors of these attacks committing suicide thereafter.
The stigma in Sudan is very heavy from sexual based violence. and it’s very difficult to continue, as you did before.
This is something that we are looking to see how we can provide more funding – again, an area of work that has gotten very short shrift from the donors. as far as, the resources go. And this is also part of our approach to have a centrality of protection. This is a concept in the humanitarian field where we have the protection cluster, we have protection actors.
The reality is they only encounter tens of maybe hundreds of thousands of people. because of the reach they have. We’re talking hundreds if not millions of Sudanese. And this is, an approach where those other technical areas of work take on the responsibilities of strengthening the protection environment.
This is particularly important, since the departure of UNITAMS, the political mission, which had a protection pillar, and had people in the field who were reporting, they were working very closely with the High Commissioner for Human rights. When the Government, asked for that mandate to end, we lost a lot of capacity in this field.
I think one great development from the increase in visas allowed by the government, in addition to more humanity and technical staff coming in to help with the work, is the fact that journalists are now getting visas and coming in to not just Port Sudan, but traveling throughout, different portions of Sudan and bringing some accountability…shedding light on what has been a dark area where people, you know, nefarious actors, mostly young men, have gotten away with some of the most horrible acts you can imagine.
A woman who fled her home due to conflict rests at a centre for displaced people in El Fasher, Darfur.
UN News: Finally, what message would you like to send to reverse the deepening humanitarian crisis in Sudan and restore some normalcy to people’s lives?
Justin Brady: I don’t know if this frustration comes through in my voice. we can stop this. We can contain this. We can reverse this. as we’ve been saying for months, though, it will take more than just humanitarians trying their hardest. we need the resources, and we need the political leverage and advocacy to make the parties come to the table and end this war.
If it doesn’t stop, then it is going to be near impossible for us to reach those who need us with the assistance that we have. If we are to do this on a shoestring budget and pass by people who desperately need our assistance but who aren’t on death’s doorstep, we are doing a disservice to the people of Sudan again, not just today, but for generations to come.
This comes just a day after the UN human rights office (OHCHR) issued a statement expressing horror over the reported summary execution of six Israeli hostages who were among those abducted by Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups during the 7 October terror attacks.
Their bodies were recovered by the Israeli military over the weekend, from a tunnel near the border with Egypt, according to news reports.
Following the news, OHCHR’s High Commissioner, Volker Türk called for an “independent, impartial and transparent investigation and for perpetrators to be held to account.”
In his statement on Wednesday at a workshop on the issue in Geneva, Mr. Türk noted an increase in reports of antisemitic attacks and hate speeches globally, with a “sharp rise” occurring following the attacks on southern Israel, which ignited the on-going war in Gaza.
He said both the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) have been guided and strengthened by the fundamental goal of overcoming “hatred and ignorance that drive violence, destruction and dehumanisation.”
Tackling antisemitism
The rights chief noted that “People have been attacked. Lives have been threatened” following the Hamas-led attack on Israel last October.
“Homes and religious buildings have been defaced with messages meant to frighten and provoke hate,” he continued.
The High Commissioner further noted a spike in hateful language toward the Jewish community on social media as well as “inflammatory and toxic rhetoric” used by “irresponsible political leaders.”
“This is unacceptable, and we must tackle it together in all its forms,” Mr. Türk said.
Zero tolerance
Mr. Türk highlighted his recent call for zero tolerance of antisemitism in sports at the Human Rights Council’s panel on promoting human rights through sport and the Olympic ideal.
He also said his office hosted a panel discussion in Berlin, alongside the World Jewish Congress, on combating antisemitism in football during the UEFA European Football Championship.
“It is imperative that States and other actors take steps to address [antisemitism] – as well as all forms of hate speech that weaponise our diversity of origins and beliefs,” he said.
Addressing this issue will require prohibiting the advocacy of forms of hatred that lead to violence and delivering full protection of the law for all communities, the rights chief said.
Mr. Türk is encouraging member states to develop anti-discrimination laws and members of society to have a zero-tolerance approach to antisemitism.
“Antisemitism is not just an affront to Jewish communities; it is an assault on our collective humanity – breeding division, discrimination and violence,” Mr. Türk said. “We all have a duty to eliminate it.”
Patriarch Theodore of Alexandria sent a letter to Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the bishops of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, who are currently gathered in Istanbul.
The Patriarch again calls for support against the anti-canonical actions of the Russian Church in Africa, which has launched a “mission” on the continent, consisting of creating a schism, taking away temples of the Alexandrian Patriarchate and attracting local priests for higher pay. This has also been accompanied by political action with local African governments, many of which Russia maintains close relations with.
The letter-address of the Patriarch of Alexandria is addressed to the Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the hierarchs of the Ecumenical See, asking for their practical support for the just struggle of the Patriarchate of Alexandria to protect the canonical order and the unity of the Church in Africa. Patriarch Theodore calls on the hierarchs to become “angels of light” and to inform every person of good will in detail about the injustice committed in Africa by the Russian Orthodox Church. He calls for pressure from the church body to return the ROC to canonical frameworks and stop its divisive actions.
Patriarch Theodore recalls the historical responsibility of the Ecumenical Patriarchate for the preservation of the Orthodox faith and the unity of the Church and asks for its active and effective intervention in this extremely important matter.
The appeal of the Patriarch of Alexandria also reflects his deep faith in the unity of the Orthodox Church and in the empathy between the Patriarchates, expecting the Ecumenical Patriarchate to play its primary role in resolving this crisis.
Patriarch Theodore expresses his indignation at the “deafening silence” of the other Orthodox prelates, who did not take any action or express a position against this violation of church canons.
This indifference and neutrality – says the patriarch – can be interpreted as tacit support for the Russian Church, thereby encouraging its anti-canonical actions.
The 2024 Athenagoras Human Rights Award will be presented to Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of martyred Russian hero Alexei Navalny
By Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate
With the blessings of His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew and the approval of His Eminence Archbishop Elpidophoros of America, the Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate (AEP) is pleased to announce that the 2024 Athenagoras Human Rights Award will be presented to Yulia Navalnaya, the widow of martyred Russian hero Alexei Navalny and now herself the leader of the Russian opposition. The Award will be presented on Saturday, October 19, 2024 (6 – 11pm EDT) at the AEP’s annual Athenagoras Human Rights Award black-tie banquet at the New York Hilton Midtown Hotel in New York City (1335 6th Avenue New York, NY 10019 United States).
The Archons of the Ecumenical Patriarchate is a 501(c) (3) non-profit corporation. Your donation is tax deductible to the extent it exceeds $100, where $100 represents the cost of the meal.
The event is being held in an in-person format for the first time in 2 years
Ukrainian Fashion Week is back for the first time in two years. The fashion event of the year opened on Sunday, September 1, in Kyiv and continued until September 4, 2024. The spring/summer 2025 collections will be presented at various catwalks and presentations.
Ukrainian Fashion Week is a major fashion forum that has been supporting young and emerging designers at the beginning of their careers for the past 27 years.
One of the famous people and artists, the actress and princess of Belgium, Isabella Orsini, gives her support to Ukrainian designers.
“Fashion is more than just clothing, it is a language that transcends borders. Ukrainian Fashion Week embraces these global trends, positioning Ukraine firmly on the international stage,” said Orsini, quoted by the event’s official page on social networks.
Barbadian beauty and R&B diva Rihanna also trusts Ukrainian talents. The singer chose a voluminous brown scarf by the designer Ruslan Baginski for an advertising photo shoot of her cosmetics brand.
Madonna, Beyoncé, as well as representatives of the British Royal Family, Kate Middleton and Queen Camilla, also trust the taste of stylist Baginsky.
“We are firmly convinced that without the creativity of our designers it is impossible to imagine the essence of modern Ukraine. Our mission is to demonstrate creative power and Ukrainian resilience to the world, support the country’s fashion industry and inspire young artists who are just starting their journey to continue creating. It is important for a new talented generation to have a future in Ukraine,” the founder and CEO of Ukrainian Fashion Week, Irina Danilevska, told the event’s official website.
“Our endurance is a testimony to the strength and indomitable spirit of Ukrainian designers,” adds Danilevska.
This season, some of the most famous Ukrainian designers who continue to work, despite all the challenges, will have a field of expression. Among them are Kseniaschnaide, Frolov and Gunia Project, as well as a number of upcoming designers.
The fashion forum began with the participants of the New Names SS25 platform, who, together with their models, proudly walked through the heart of Kyiv, culminating on the steps of the Ukrainian House on the European Square.
Among the participants in New Names SS25 are the finalists from the “LOOK INTO THE FUTURE” competition, who presented their collections during the Fashion Week in Berlin: Veronika Daniliv, Maria Dobrova, Anastasia Naumenko, Aliona Prodan, Elizaveta Kostenko.
One of the designers in the program will receive an award from the United For Freedom charitable foundation of the entrepreneur and influencer Irina Adonina. This grant will support the winner in creating their next collection or developing an existing product.
“I hope that with the help of our award, everyone in the fashion world will hear about Ukrainian talents,” says the founder of the charity fund “United for Freedom” Irina Adonina.
Among the innovations this year is the “Open Shooting” format — a photo session with the collections of young designers, open to journalists, stylists and fashion activists.
Photo: The eccentric Lady Gaga chose a pink dress by a Ukrainian designer for her concert in Las Vegas. The unique garment was made in just 4 days, especially for the appearance of the singer in the summer of 2024 // instagram.com/ladygaga/.
