The only path out of the war in Syria is a political process, which would also help to address the many crises affecting the country, UN Special Envoy Geir Pedersen told the Security Council on Wednesday.
Syrians suffer as political stalemate persists: UN Special Envoy
Mexico: Rights experts ‘outraged’ over attacks on women activists
“We are outraged that those searching for forcibly disappeared family members and loved ones continue to be targeted and face violence in Mexico,” they said in a statement, issued in the wake of two recent incidents.
Brutal killing
Human rights defender Teresa Magueyal was shot dead while riding her bicycle in Celaya, Guanajuato state, on 2 May. Her son, José Luis Apaseo Magueyal, 34, disappeared three years ago.
Ms. Magueyal was part of a group formed by families of people who have disappeared and was the sixth volunteer to be killed since 2021, according to media reports.
Two months earlier, Araceli Rodríguez Nava, who is in a tireless search for her disappeared son, was attacked in Chilpancingo, capital of Guerrero state. The incident took place on 4 March.
Both women were beneficiaries of the federal protection mechanism for human rights defenders and journalists, the UN experts said. Although their cases remain under investigation, information about its effectiveness has been scarce.
Ensure freedom and safety
The UN experts urged the Mexican authorities to ensure human rights defenders working on enforced disappearances can operate freely and safely.
They said enforced disappearances and attacks targeting these activists are linked to the presence of organised crime groups, extortion, human trafficking, kidnapping networks, corruption and collusion with authorities.
Furthermore, operating in a constant environment of fear, threat and insecurity has an intimidating effect on relatives of the victims, civil society, human rights defenders, and organisations.
Investigate and prosecute
They added that many of the rights defenders are women and older persons, increasing their risk of being targeted.
“It is extremely worrying that impunity for crimes against human rights defenders and activists continues despite complaints being filed. Prevention measures and protection for victims and targets of the attacks are either not provided, or not effective,” they said.
“The Government of Mexico needs to promptly investigate, prosecute, and impose appropriate sanctions on any person responsible for the alleged violations”.
Adopt all measures
As their statement was issued on the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the UN expert surged the Mexican Government “to adopt all necessary measures to prevent irreparable damage to the life and personal integrity of those searching for the forcibly disappeared, their family members, civil society movements, organisations and public servants.”
They noted that a presidential campaign called De Frente a la Libertad is underway in Mexico that is giving greater visibility to the risks faced by journalists and human rights activists in the country.
They said it was time for authorities to take effective measures to protect human rights defenders searching for truth and justice.
About UN rights experts
The statement was issued by Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Reem Alsalem, UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls, and Claudia Mahler, Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons.
It was endorsed by a UN Working Group and Committee whose mandates cover enforced or involuntary disappearances.
The experts were appointed by the UN Human Rights Council and work on a voluntary basis.
They are not UN staff and do not receive payment for their work.
More than two million children displaced by Sudan war: UNICEF
The conflict in Sudan has uprooted more than two million children – an average of more than 700 newly displaced every hour, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) reported on Thursday.
Liège, the city of folklore: festivals and traditions enliven its streets
Liège, the city of folklore: festivals and traditions enliven its streets
Located in the Walloon region of Belgium, Liège is a city rich in history and traditions. Known as the “Burning City”, it is renowned for its folklore through the festivals and events that enliven its streets throughout the year. Let’s discover this vibrant and colorful city together.
One of the most famous events in Liège is the famous Carnival of the Cité Ardente. Every year, during the month of February, the city is transformed into a real spectacle of colors, music and dances. The streets are invaded by thousands of costumed people, wearing extravagant masks and original hats. The giants of Liège, colorful characters, parade through the streets, accompanied by brass bands and traditional folk groups. This carnival is a real explosion of joy and creativity that attracts visitors from all over the world.
Another major event in Liège is the August 15 feast, also known as “La fête de l’Assomption”. This day is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and is celebrated with an impressive religious procession. Thousands of Liège residents gather to march through the streets of the city, carrying statues of the Virgin and singing religious hymns. This centuries-old tradition is a highlight of the year when religious fervor and respect for traditions mingle with the architectural beauty of the city.
Liège folklore is not limited only to major annual events. The city is also known for its many folk processions, such as that of Saint-Nicolas in December. The children impatiently await the arrival of Saint-Nicolas and his sidekick, Père Fouettard, who distribute sweets and gifts to the best-behaved. This procession is an opportunity for families to get together and share moments of joy and conviviality.
Liège is also renowned for its unique gastronomic traditions. The city is known for its famous Liège dumpling, a culinary specialty made from minced meat, onions and spices, served with a sweet sauce. The people of Liège are proud of their traditional cuisine and their local products, such as the famous Liège syrup, a thick jam made from slow-cooked apples and pears. The town’s weekly markets provide a unique opportunity to sample these local delicacies and experience the flavors of the region.
In addition to its festivals and traditions, Liège is a dynamic city that offers many tourist attractions. Its historic center is full of old buildings, picturesque alleys and lively squares. Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the Palace of the Prince-Bishops and the famous Bueren staircase are some of the must-see sites to discover. The city’s museums, such as the Museum of Walloon Life and the Boverie Museum, also offer a dive into the region’s history and culture.
In conclusion, Liège is a city that does not lack charm and traditions. Its festivals and folklore events make this city a unique place where celebration and tradition mingle harmoniously. Whether you are a lover of folklore, gastronomy or history, Liège will seduce you with its warm and festive atmosphere. So, come and discover the “Cité Ardente” and immerse yourself in its rich cultural heritage.
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
Refusal to waive IP rights for COVID-19 vaccines violates human rights: Experts
The UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) adopted a decision under its “early warning and urgent action” procedures, stating that developed countries’ “persistent refusal” to waive COVID-19 vaccine IP rights – such as patents and trademarks – violated non-discrimination guarantees under international human rights law.
CERD is one of the UN’s human rights treaty bodies. It monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination by its 182 State parties and is composed of 18 independent experts serving in their personal capacity.
Developing world left behind
The Committee said it was addressing in particular countries such as Germany, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, who were all State parties to the Convention and had developed IP-protected COVID-19 vaccines, treatments and healthcare technologies.
Quoting the latest data from the UN World Health Organization (WHO), the Committee pointed out that while some 32 per cent of the global population have received at least one COVID-19 booster, in developing countries such as Gabon, Papua New Guinea, Burundi and Madagascar, that proportion stands at less than one per cent.
‘Disproportionate impacts’
The Committee insisted that COVID-19 remained a serious public health issue with devastating negative impacts that are falling “disproportionately” on individuals and groups vulnerable to racial discrimination – in particular people of African or Asian descent, ethnic minorities, Roma communities and Indigenous Peoples.
In an interview with UN News, CERD chairperson Verene Shepherd underscored the “high levels of morbidity and mortality” affecting these groups. “We can’t allow this to go unattended”, she said.
Suspend IP rights in health crises
The Committee’s experts urged States to incorporate a mechanism that commits governments to suspend intellectual property rights in a health crisis, in the draft pandemic preparedness treaty currently under negotiation at the WHO.
They called on States parties in the global North to support poorer countries’ healthcare capacity with resources and to enable vaccines, relevant medicines and other necessary equipment and supplies “to be available to all”.
The right to health
The Committee is also in the process of preparing new guidance, under the form of a “general recommendation”, on racial discrimination and the enjoyment of the right to health.
Ms. Shepherd said that the COVID-19 pandemic was a direct trigger for this project. She stressed that a link had to be made between the historic injustices of slavery and colonialism which “remain largely unaccounted for today” and the low level of attention paid to the health of people of African descent, Indigenous Peoples and ethnic minorities.
The issue was an urgent action item for the Committee, she said, and the first draft adopted in April built upon the “evidence-based link between racial discrimination as a structural social determinant – as recognized by WHO – and the right to health”.
The Committee was gathering contributions from a wide variety of stakeholders to prepare a final version of the guidance, she said.
Sudan: ‘lost generation’ of children amid war, hunger, disease: UN humanitarians
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on Friday that the spread of fighting and hunger in Sudan could destroy the country, as the future of a “lost generation” of children lies in the balance.
Press briefing on next week’s plenary session – Friday, 8 September, at 11.00 | News
Key topics next week include:
- State of the European Union debate with Commission President von der Leyen;
- formal sitting with Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya;
- debate and final vote on legislation to boost the use of renewable energy;
- debate and vote on Parliament’s position on the critical raw materials act;
- improving EU air quality: debate and vote on Parliament’s position;
- joint procurement of defence products: debate and final vote;
- violence and discrimination in the world of sports after the FIFA Women’s World Cup: debate;
- vote on Commissioner-designate Iliana Ivanova from Bulgaria.
Interpretation of the press briefing will be available in English and French.
Journalists wishing to actively participate and ask questions, please connect via Interactio by using this: https://ep.interactio.eu/66e2-hy1p-1w4u
You can follow it live from 11.00 on Friday in Parliament’s Anna Politkovskaya press room or via Parliament’s webstreaming and EbS+.
Information for the media – Use Interactio to ask questions
Interactio is only supported on iPad (with the Safari browser) and Mac/Windows (with the Google Chrome browser).
When connecting, enter your name and the media you are representing in the first name / last name fields.
For better sound quality, use headphones and a microphone. Interpretation is only possible for interventions with video.
Journalists who have never used Interactio before are asked to connect 30 minutes before the start of the press conference to perform a connection test. IT assistance can be provided if necessary.
When connected, open the chat window (upper right corner) to be able to see the service messages.
For more details, check the connection guidelines and recommendations for remote speakers.
Syria – UN completes 200th cross-border aid mission since February quakes
The United Nations announced that it has conducted 200 cross-border aid missions into northwest Syria from Türkiye since the devastating earthquakes that struck the two countries in February.
The milestone mission took place on Sunday via the Bab al-Salam crossing, said UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, speaking during his daily briefing in New York.
Once in Syria, personnel from the World Health Organization (WHO) conducted monitoring visits to health facilities and agency warehouses in the cities of Afrin and Azaz. They also met with local partners.
Immense humanitarian needs
Mr. Dujarric said the UN and humanitarian partners are continuing to deliver urgently needed aid through the Bab al-Salam and Al-Ra’ee crossings, which opened earlier this year as part of the emergency response to the earthquakes.
“Today, 17 trucks carrying humanitarian shelter items from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) crossed into the northwest via Bab al-Salam,” he said.
Humanitarian needs in Syria are at record highs after more than 12 years of war and in the aftermath of the double earthquakes on 6 February which left more than 50,000 dead.
Lifeline extended
The UN announced earlier this month that an agreement had been reached with the Government of Syria to re-open the main border crossing, Bab al-Hawa, to allow aid to flow into the northwest, the last opposition stronghold.
More than four million people rely on this lifeline, which was established in 2014 when the UN Security Council authorized cross-border relief deliveries.
However, the crossing closed in July after the Council failed to reach consensus on two competing resolutions on its renewal.
The Bab al-Hawa border crossing will now be accessible for the next six months, following the Syrian Government agreement. The deal also authorizes the UN to use Bab al-Salam and Al-Ra’ee border crossings for an additional three months.
Biodiversity invites itself into primary and secondary school classes
Planet Biodiversity is a free educational platform in Belgium for teachers and organizers, offering practical, fun tools to inform and raise awareness among children and young people.
This morning, Zakia Khattabi took part in the activities offered to students of a technical secondary sixth form class in Leonardo da Vinci Athenaeum in Anderlecht. On the program: lesson on the theme of agriculture and a string game to better understand the importance of soils.
An experience that made the Minister declare: » Biodiversity loss affects us all. This is why we must act. The good news is that each of us can contribute to the conservation of nature and ecosystems, even in our eating habits. This is also the message of Planète Biodiversité. The launch of this educational platform in primary and secondary schools gives me hope. It allows young people to discover, thanks to simple tips, how to protect our biodiversity. Tomorrow, the Minister will participate in the presentation session given at the primary school, Pacheco Basisschool.
Who is Planet Biodiversity for?
This free website provides teachers and facilitators with educational content practical and fun to raise students’ awareness of biodiversity issues, frominformation scientifically validated. All with a timing designed to correspond to the lesson periods and a practical dashboard to ensure personalized follow-up of the class. These tools are intended for students of 3rd primary cycle (10-12 years old) and 3rd secondary cycle (16-18 years old).
Why this educational platform?
The originality of Planète Biodiversité is to offer fun activities that allow integrating biodiversity into various course subjects. Thus, we calculate the surface of deforestation by doing maths or we retrace the route of the foods that make up a spaghetti Bolognese during Dutch lessons.
The objective is to highlight how our models of consumption impact nature, sometimes thousands of kilometers from home.
A quiz with questions about everyday life also allows you to discover thetotem animal corresponding to her consumption profile and thus get an idea of swe have an impact on biodiversity.
Focus on food
This first module deals with food and discusses topics of Llivestock, farming systems, ultra-processed foods and seafood. Others are already planned.
Intensive agriculture and animal husbandry, industrial processes, ultra-processed foods and overfishing weigh heavily on nature. From the origin of food to its method of manufacture, through its processing and packaging, all these steps can have harmful consequences on biodiversity and … on humans. As we depend on nature and food for our health, it is imperative that our cultivation and breeding methods are sound. The state of biodiversity is also our health report!
Who are the promoters of Planète Biodiversité?
This achievement of FPS Health, Food Chain Safety and Environment was carried out in close collaboration with the WWF-Belgium And GoodPlanetBelgium. “For this project, we pooled our expertise to develop fun educational tools allowing students to understand in a very concrete way the impact of their daily eating habits on biodiversity. We have also made sure to give teachers a popularized scientific summary in order to better appropriate these complex subjects and transmit them in turn easily to their students, whatever the subject. »
The Museum of Natural Sciences of Belgium and UC Louvain also contributed to this initiative.
More info on https://planetebiodiversite.be/
A leaflet and an poster also exist. You can consult the video trailer as well as his subtitled version.
Originally published at Almouwatin.com
Haiti violence: ‘Carnage needs to stop’ says UN relief chief
The desperate situation prompted a tweet on Friday from Emergency Relief Coordinator Martin Griffiths calling for an immediate end to the fighting.
“This carnage needs to stop” said the UN relief chief.
Major escalation
In the past two weeks alone, 71 people have been killed and injured in capital Port-au-Prince, marking a major escalation, according to UN humanitarian affairs office, OCHA, which Mr. Griffiths heads.
“Entire families, including children, were executed while others were burned alive. This upsurge in violence has caused unspeakable continued suffering of Haitians,” Philippe Branchat, acting UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the country said in a news release on Thursday.
So far this year, gang violence in the Caribbean country has claimed more than 2,500 lives, with over 1,000 injured.
At least 970 Haitians have been kidnapped, and 10,000 forcibly displaced from their homes.
The latest wave of violence has also resulted in the forced displacement of over ten thousand people who have sought refuge in spontaneous camps and host families.
Brazen human rights violations
Also on Thursday, the UN Integrated Office in Haiti (BINUH) issued a report outlining the dire human rights situation there, including brutal killings and lynchings.
The report noted that frustrated by lack of security and functioning government, residents armed with machetes, rocks, and fuel cans have resorted to brutal measures to prevent gang members and anyone associated with them from entering their neighbourhoods.
Between April and June, nearly 240 alleged gang members were killed by these self-proclaimed “self-defence groups.”
“While some killings appeared to be spontaneous, others were encouraged, supported, or facilitated by high-ranking police officers and gang members belonging to the G-9 and allies,” the report said.
The report also documented horrifying instances of sexual violence, including collective rape and mutilation, perpetrated by gangs to spread fear, punish rivals, and target women and girls under their territorial control.
BINUH expressed concern about the forced recruitment of children by gangs and the severe mental and psychological toll the violence is exacting on the population.
The office reiterated its call to the international community to deploy a specialized international force to address the crisis.
Massive humanitarian needs
According OCHA, nearly half of Haiti’s population needs humanitarian and food assistance.
Despite access challenges due to insecurity, humanitarian partners are reaching the displaced people with immediate aid such as food, water, shelter, sanitation, health, and psychosocial support, particularly for victims of sexual violence.
“The people in Haiti cannot continue to live trapped in their homes, unable to feed their families, find work and live in dignity,” OCHA said.
The relief agency added that humanitarians are committed to stand with the people in Haiti and assist in providing immediate assistance to alleviate human suffering.
