The date was proposed by Great Britain and was officially recognized by the United Nations in 1988. The holiday quickly gained popularity and began to be celebrated in different parts of the world.
1. 37% of men keep their eyes open while kissing, while 97% of women close theirs.
Here are some fun facts about kissing.
2. With just one kiss that lasts a minute, you can burn more than 26 calories. Imagine how many calories that makes if you and your man kiss all night, and day, and night, and day…
3. A study shows that while two people are kissing, almost every muscle in the body works.
4. Did you know that if you kiss someone with the same color as your hair, the experience will be much more passionate?
5. According to studies, a person receives about 25,000 kisses in a lifetime! Not bad, right? This includes all kinds, from the cheeky innocent to the knee-scratching rocking. Also, it turns out that on average, a person spends about 14 days of their life just kissing!
6. Imagine! There are special neurons in our brains that help us find each other’s lips even in the dark!
7. A kiss can be ten times more effective than morphine in reducing pain! This is because it activates the release of natural painkillers in the body.
8. The ancient Egyptians kissed only with their noses – without the involvement of the lips, let alone the tongue. What a waste, we would say! And if someone saw a couple kissing in medieval Italy, the lovebirds were forced to marry.
9. The longest kiss lasted 17 days, 10 hours and 30 minutes. It happened in Chicago in 1984.
10. And here’s something for the ladies – a kiss has an extraordinary beautifying effect! It makes the eyes sparkle and the skin glow!
11. And something for you moms and dads – babies who have been showered with kisses grow up to be more loving people.
Photo by Anya Juárez Tenorio : https://www.pexels.com/photo/a-portrait-of-a-happy-siblings-16823173/
Three months after the expiry of a Commission deadline for the payments of settlements to foreign university language lecturers(Lettori) for decades of discriminatory treatment, Italy last Monday published a lengthy interministerial decree law to put in place administrative arrangements to make eventual payments. The deadline was issued by the Commission to Italy in a reasoned opinion of 26 January in the context of infringement proceedings N.2021/4055, which seek to compel Italy to enforce a 2006 ruling of the Court of Justice of the European Union(CJEU) in Case C-119/04, the last of four Lettori victories in a line of litigation which extends back to the seminal Allué rulingof 1989.
A decree 3000 words longer than the decision
At 6,440 words, the interministerial decree is almost 3,000 words longer than the sentence in Case C-119/04 , to which it purports to give effect. The bulk of the decree is given over to administrative arrangements and procedures for the co-financing of settlements to Lettori by the state and the universities. These include provisions on eligibility for co-financing, how and by when the universities must apply to the ministry for funds, eventual corrections of errors in the application, penalties for non-cooperation,
Additionally, there is a requirement that each university open an online Census where Lettori record their years of service, information, which as their employer, one would expect the universities to already possess. The extensive bureaucracy put in place suggests that the mindset of the legislator is that the withheld justice to Lettori is mostly due to a failure of administration.
The decree in no way yields on the legal position that Italy has maintained throughout the infringement proceedings. The same inconsistent menu of solutions remains in place. If anything, the decree further entrenches Italian intransigence in its repeated insistence that Italy’s law of March 2004, which was approved by the Grand Chamber of the CJEU on the grounds that it awarded Lettori an uninterrupted reconstruction of career from the date of first employment, must be interpreted in accordance with the restrictive provisions of article 26 of the so-called Gelmini law of 30 December 2010. All references to the March 2004 law approved by the CJEU are followed and qualified by the wording “as interpreted by Article 26, paragraph 3, of law no.240 of 30 December 2010”.
As the decree had circulated freely for weeks before its publication, both the university administrations and the Lettori were aware in advance of its content. Many administrations held that its provisions were so confusing as to be unworkable. Less interested in administrative detail and more in legal import, Lettori unions rejected the decree outright. A national one-day strike was agreed on by FLC CGIL and UIL RUA, Italy’s largest and third largest union respectively, in protest against its provisions.
In accordance with Italian labour law, before a national strike can be officially proclaimed, the Ministry of Labour is obliged to hold an advance meeting to attempt to arrive at a conciliation between the contending parties. Although the Commission took the infringement proceedings on their behalf, the Lettori are not party to the proceedings, which are exclusively between the Commission and Italy. The mediation meeting constituted a unique opportunity for the Lettori representatives to meet face-to-face with and question the representatives of the Ministry of Universities.
The report of the meeting subsequently sent out to the Lettori reads like the transcript of a courtroom cross-examination. At issue is whether Italy intends to reconstruct Lettori careers on the basis of the March 2004 law as interpreted by the CJEU in its ruling in Case C-119/04, or as interpreted by the retrospective Gelmini law of 2010.
The Ministry representatives repeatedly tried to sidestep this question. Pressed by the Lettori representatives, they stated that the decree respected all pertinent national and European jurisprudence. Revealingly, the word order in this response places national law ahead of EU law. Recalling to the Ministry that EU law prevails over domestic law, the Lettori representatives probed further and asked the Ministry representatives to which fount the interministerial decree gives precedence. At this juncture, the Ministry officials repeated that the Decree respects all national and European jurisprudence but added that the Gelmini Law was still valid. It was conceded by both parties at this point that mediation had failed. Hence, the national strike would go ahead.
FLC CGIL’s concerns over the correct implementation of the 2006 ruling in Case C-119/04 carried over into a letter sent a few days after the failed mediation to Commissioner for Jobs and Social Rights, Nicolas Schmit. The letter pulls no punches. FLC CGIL recalls to the Commission that in its depositions in Case C-119/04, Italy assured the Court that it had correctly implemented the law of March 2004. The letter further recalls that following firm assurances from Italy to the then Commissioner Vladimír Špidla that the 2004 law would continue to be correctly applied, the Commission announced in a press release
that its infringement proceedings against Italy would be closed. The worth of these assurances, the letter wryly comments, is that in 2023 new infringement proceedings remain open for non-implementation of the C-119/04 ruling.
In its review of the 6.440-word interministerial decree, FLC CGIL, in a mere 40 words, throws down a gauntlet and interprets the decree in its letter to the Commission as follows:
“In the position taken in the interministerial decree, Italy is effectively asking the Commission, guardian of the Treaty, to overrule the Court of Justice and the findings of its own national courts and give interpretative precedence to the “Gelmini Law”.
Parallel representations to the Commission by Asso.CEL.L, a “La Sapienza” University of Rome-based union point out the implications at stake:
“That a member state would be allowed to retrospectively interpret legislation on which the CJEU has already ruled, and to its own advantage, would set a precedent with very serious implications for the rule of law in the EU….. Ultimately only the Court itself can decide on the legitimacy of a retrospective interpretation of its rulings, should a member state insist on the validity of its interpretation.”
Following protests held outside the Ministry of Universities in Rome on December 13 last and subsequently on April 20, Friday’s national strike held was the third industrial action taken by trade unions this academic year, and the most successful. On campuses across Italy Lettori, retired and in service, were joined by their CEL colleagues. A category of university teachers doing exactly the same work as the Lettori, the CELs under Italian law should consequently be entitled to similar pay.
Lettori, Italy's Foreign Language Lecturers Throw Down The Gauntlet 7Lettori, Italy's Foreign Language Lecturers Throw Down The Gauntlet 8Lettori, Italy's Foreign Language Lecturers Throw Down The Gauntlet 9Lettori, Italy's Foreign Language Lecturers Throw Down The Gauntlet 10Lettori, Italy's Foreign Language Lecturers Throw Down The Gauntlet 11Lettori, Italy's Foreign Language Lecturers Throw Down The Gauntlet 12
In Padova , Florence(1), Perugia (2), Sassari and other university towns across Italy local TV and press were generous in their coverage of the Lettori strike. Accurately documenting the long-running discrimination, the stories also record student support for their Lettori teachers and the high esteem in which they hold their courses. Initiatives such as meetings with rectors are covered too.
Kurt Rollin is Asso.CEL.L representative for retired Lettori. The open letter he drafted to Minister for Universities, Anna Maria Bernini, documents how retired Lettori live close to the poverty line as a result of the discriminatory pensions they receive. Speaking outside the rector’s office on the campus of “La Sapienza” University of Rome, Mr. Rollin said:
“The interministerial decree is a blatant attempt to escape the Court of Justice ruling in Case C-119/04. Mantra-like the decree repeats that the ruling must be interpreted in accordance with the retrospective Gelmini Law of 2010 as though to preclude all other interpretations. In the circumstances the Commission should now immediately refer the Lettori case to the Court of Justice and thus allow the Court itself to interpret the retrospective Gelmini interpretation of its C-119/04 ruling.”
Dublin MEP Clare Daly recently denounced the discrimination against Lettori in a speech before the European Parliament. Simultaneously she drafted a Rule 138 parliamentary question to the Commission on the case, co-signed by six other Irish MEPs.
MEP Daly said:
“The Lettori case is the longest-running breach of the parity of treatment provision of the Treaty in the history of the EU. Italian universities receive very generous EU funding. The ethic of reciprocation demands that Italy now obey the rule of law and pay settlements to the Lettori, retired and in-service, for the uninterrupted and full reconstruction of career due to them from the date of their first employment.”
A man arrested by the Greek authorities on Friday for trafficking in women is suspected of Islamic terrorism, reported the electronic edition of Kathimerini.
On Friday, with the help of international police cooperation channels, Greek police broke up a women’s trafficking ring consisting of two criminal organizations. During the large-scale operation, authorities arrested 22 people in Athens and Thessaloniki, including 11 members of the organization and 11 brothel staff. 51 women were rescued from the site, of which 48 Colombians, 2 Venezuelans and 1 Albanian, who were then given help and protection.
The suspected man is a foreigner from the Middle East, who in recent years has been at the center of an investigation by Greek security services following information implicating him in links to the activities of the Islamic State. The man co-owns a night club in Athens with an Albanian, also accused in the women’s trafficking case.
According to the newspaper, the Middle Eastern man arrived in Greece after escaping from prison, but this has not been confirmed by Greek police.
The proceeds of the criminal network were laundered through restaurants and a real estate firm owned by a 71-year-old woman with a long criminal history of human trafficking, known in the underworld as “Marina.”
Associates of the organization persuaded young girls to work in Greece with the promise of high wages, but instead took away their travel documents and sold them, keeping their share of the proceeds.
The authorities estimate that the profits reached 160,000 euros per month, reports the Greek television “Sky”.
Illustrative Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/santorinni-greece-during-daytime-161275/
Due to the unrest for the 77th edition of the festival, the national and municipal police are deploying a “coordinated system” with additional forces and security measures in the pedestrian areas.
The Avignon Festival, one of the largest theater events in the world, begins today with a new director – Thiago Rodriguez, and increased security measures due to the unrest in France, AFP reported.
Every year in July, the City of the Popes becomes a city of theater, divided into an “inside” part – the official festival, and an “outside” part – the largest market for live performances in France.
Due to the unrest for the 77th edition of the festival, the national and municipal police are deploying a “coordinated system” with additional forces and security measures in the pedestrian areas. A jamming system will be in place in the air to enforce the ban on drone flights over Avignon.
The Avignon Festival has around 40 stages in the city and beyond, and the festival outside the city has 140 locations and welcomes nearly 1,200 theater companies.
Thiago Rodríguez, who succeeded Olivier Pi, chose to open his first edition with Prosperity, a social spectacle by Julie Delique, the second director to present a play in the Court of Honor of the Papal Palace after Ariane Mnushkin.
The other performance that opens the festival is “G.R.O.O.V.E” by French hip-hop pioneer Bintu Dembele, who organizes a dance walk.
Thiago Rodríguez has decided to invite one language to each edition. This year, the honor is given to English “in response to Brexit”.
“At a time when walls are being built to keep us away from our British friends, we need to build bridges. It’s a kind of cultural diplomacy,” says Rodriguez, noting that after years of absence, the Edinburgh Festival management will be on place to trace French achievements.
Even before the festival started, the new director had to deal with two unpleasant surprises. A long-awaited performance was removed from the program, and the cost of reopening one of the legendary stages of the festival – the “Carrier de Bulbon”, about fifteen kilometers from Avignon, turned out to be very high.
Polish director Christian Lupa’s Emigrants, co-produced by the festival, was canceled a month ago by the Comédie de Genève, where it was due to premiere, due to a confrontation between the director, accused of bad treatment, and the technical team. It was replaced by a play directed by Thiago Rodríguez.
“We have seen across the world, and time, how social media has become a major vehicle in spreading hate speech at an unprecedented speed, threatening freedom of expression and a thriving public debate,” said Alice Wairimu Nderitu, Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide, who is the global focal point on the issue.
“We saw how the perpetrators in the incidents of identity-based violence used online hate to target, dehumanize and attack others, many of whom are already the most marginalized in society, including ethnic, religious, national or racial minorities, refugees and migrants, women and people with diverse sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, and sex characteristics,” said Ms. Nderitu.
Key recommendations include:
The need to ensure respect for human rights and the rule of law when countering online hate speech, and apply these standards to content moderation, content curation and regulation.
Enhancing transparency of content moderation, content curation and regulation.
Promoting positive narratives to counter online hate speech, and foster user engagement and empowerment.
Ensuring accountability, strengthen judicial mechanisms and enhance independent oversight mechanisms.
Strengthening multilateral and multi-stakeholder cooperation.
Advancing community-based voices and formulating context-sensitive and knowledge-based policymaking and good practice to protect and empower vulnerable groups and populations to counter online hate speech.
The policy paper builds upon earlier initiatives, including The UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech, which seeks to enhance the UN’s response to the global spread and impact of hate speech.
The Strategy makes a firm commitment to step up coordinated action to tackle hate speech, both at global and national levels, including the use of new technologies and engaging with social media to address online hate speech and promote positive narratives.
Role for tech, social media
“Digital technologies and social media play a crucial role in tackling hate speech, through outreach, awareness-raising, providing access to information, and education,” noted the Special Adviser.
“The transformation of our lives into a hybrid format, with the share of our life spent online ever increasing, ensuring that we all enjoy the same rights online as we do offline has become ever more important,” noted Dr. Ahmed Shaheed, Deputy Director, Essex Human Rights, Big Data and Technology Project and former UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.
‘Mass atrocities’
He warned of “the acts of violence that follow from online incitement to violence, including mass atrocities”, beyond the digital divides created by online hate.
“Unfortunately, our investment in countering online hate has not yet matched the reality of its dissemination and impact online. And it remains our responsibility – all relevant stakeholders – to step up our efforts to preserve the hard-won gains achieved to-date in advancing non-discrimination and equality,” concluded Special Adviser Nderitu.
“We have expressed concerns” over the investigation into her death, said Viviana Krsticevic, a member of the Fact-Finding Mission on Iran, speaking at a press conference in Geneva: “in particular over the fact that today her family’s right to truth and justice remains unfulfilled”.
She added that the investigations had “fallen short of international human rights norms, and, moreover, efforts to shed light on the circumstances of her death have been hindered.”
Earlier, the Fact-Finding Mission told the Human Rights Council’s 47 Member States that the overall human rights situation in Iran risked deteriorating further amid reports that new legislation is being considered, that proposes harsher punishments on women and girls not wearing their veil according to strict rules.
The death of 22-year-old Ms. Amini after her arrest by Iran’s so-called morality police sparked mass protests across the country – and condemnation from independent UN human rights experts, who called her a victim of “Iran’s sustained repression and systematic discrimination against women”.
“We have identified major risks of further erosion of women’s and girls’ rights in Iran”, said Ms. Krsticevic. “We have expressed concern about the continuous repression of women and girls opposing forced veiling and their reported use of facial recognition technologies to identify and arrest them.”
The rights expert also pointed to information indicating students were being suspended from classes, “or banned from dormitories for their defiance of the compulsory veiling law”.
Echoing concerns about the proposed use of flogging for those defying compulsory veiling rules, Sara Hossein, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission, said some of the penalties were “clearly what would constitute inhuman punishment under international law”.
The Fact-Finding Mission – established by the Human Rights Council in November 2022 – is also investigating whether alleged poisonings of girls in schools have been orchestrated as a way to punish or deter girls for their involvement in the protests.
“Just two months after the protests occurred, a series of alleged poisonings started in dozens of schools in 28 provinces”, said Ms. Krsticevic. “Reports said this may have been may have been orchestrated to punish girls or to turn them from involvement in the protests and are being duly investigated in the framework of our mandate.”
Ten months after Ms. Amini’s death, no official data has been made publicly available regarding those arrested, detained, charged or convicted in connection with the protests, the experts said.
But reports continue to emerge of arrests and detentions, including women and girls defying the country’s forced veiling law and of family members being harassed.
“The aftermath of those protests in the form of intimidation of families and of reprisals continue unabated,” said Shaheen Sardar Ali, member of the Fact-Finding Mission.
She added that according to the Iranian authorities, 22,000 people had been pardoned in connection with the protests.
“This suggests that many more were detained or charged. Unfortunately, no disaggregated data exists on the nature of the accusations against these people or on those convicted, still detained or charged for their involvement in the protests.”
Those involved in the protests reportedly continue to suffer harsh punishments, including for exercising rights protected under international human rights law, the experts said.
This is despite concerns over a lack transparency in legal proceedings and failure to meet basic fair trial and due process guarantees under international human rights law.
Death penalty surge
“Since November 2022, at least 26 individuals have reportedly been sentenced to death in connection with the protests and dozens more have been charged with offences carrying the death penalty,” said Ms. Sardar Ali.
“Seven men have already been executed following these proceedings marred by serious allegations of fair trial violations, including confessions extracted under torture.”
To date, the Fact-Finding Mission has sent seven letters to the Iranian Government, including repeated requests for a visit to the country to gather information critical to its investigations, which have yet to be answered.
The experts met the lead Iranian officials on Tuesday, who have been appointed to the Government’s Special Committee investigating the protests.
The Fact-Finding Mission is preparing a comprehensive report on its findings to the Human Rights Council for its 55th session in March 2024.
Replying in the Council on Wednesday, Iran refuted the allegations made in the report of a disproportionate response by security forces to the protests.
The violations include conflict-related sexual violence against internally displaced and refugee women and girls forced to flee for their lives.
Agency chiefs from humanitarian coordination office OCHA, the human rights office (OHCHR), the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA), UN Women and the World Health Organization (WHO), called for an immediate end to the violence, including sexual violence as a tactic of war to terrorize people.
They demanded prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigations into all alleged gross violations and abuses of human rights and international humanitarian law; and for perpetrators to be held accountable.
They also stressed that all parties must respect their obligations under international law to protect civilians, including women and girls, including allowing safe passage for survivors to access healthcare.
Health workers also need to be provided access to reach health facilities to carry out their lifesaving work.
The UN chiefs also stressed the need to swiftly scale up gender-based violence prevention and response services in Sudan as well as in neighbouring countries, where those fleeing violence have sought safety as refugees, to meet the soaring needs.
28 refugees killed in Khartoum
On Tuesday the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, urged Sudan’s warring generals to allow safe passage for civilians, after it was confirmed that 28 refugees being hosted by Sudan were killed in Khartoum.
The area where they were living was engulfed by the fighting on 25 June, the agency said in a news release, with other refugees injured during the incident.
“UNHCR is appalled and expresses its deepest condolences to the affected families. We are working to help trace relatives and victims and provide psychosocial and other support.”
Mamadou Dian Balde, UNHCR regional director, said that “once again refugees and other civilians are the innocent victims of this tragic war…Everyone must honour international humanitarian law and human rights law and prioritize the safety and well-being of affected communities, including refugees.”
Healthcare and hunger: Tedros
During his weekly health update, UN health agency chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus addressed the impact of the ongoing conflict in Sudan.
“The health needs of the population are high, access to healthcare remains very difficult, and the conditions created by the conflict in Sudan increase the risk for epidemics to spread and kill,” said the WHO Director General.
There has also been a dramatic increase in the number of people at highest risk of hunger, which has jumped from 11.7 million to 19.1 million.
WHO has also verified 50 attacks against healthcare, including 32 incidents affecting facilities, and 10 deaths and 21 injuries among health workers and patients.
Tedros said he was appalled by attacks on healthcare, as well as increasing gender-based violence. He stressed that health workers and facilities must be protected, and corridors for the delivery of humanitarian and health supplies must be safeguarded.
“Corridors for humanitarian and health supplies to be delivered need to be safeguarded”, said Tedros.
“We urge all parties to the conflict in Sudan to cease hostilities now before the health and hunger crisis gets even worse.”
Ahead of the critical SDG Summit in September, the campaign will amplify an urgent call for ambitious new action, showcase the Goals as the blueprint for sustainable progress globally, and mobilize people everywhere around this shared agenda for our common future.
Halfway towards the 2030 deadline, the promise of the SDGs is in danger. For the first time in decades, progress on development has gone into reverse due to the combined impact of climate disasters, conflict, economic downturn, and lingering COVID-19 effects.
The SDG Summit will bring world leaders together at UN Headquarters in New York on 18-19 September to reaffirm their collective commitments to the Goals and the promise to leave no one behind.
It’s being billed as a defining moment to urgently put the world back on track to achieving the SDGs.
Getting everyone on board
One core campaign component is the call for individual action worldwide on the SDGs through the UN’s ActNow initiative.
“We want to get everyone on board for the SDGs”, said Nanette Braun, Director of Campaigns in the UN Department for Global Communications. “Our hope is that decision-makers and individual citizens alike will feel inspired to join the conversation and contribute to achieving the Goals with new resolve and ambition.”
Starting today, in a major digital activation across platforms and countries worldwide, the UN campaign aims to re-energize the conversation about the Goals.
Stellar circle of supporters
A curated group of high-profile influencers from entertainment, sports and beyond, the Circle of Supporters, will mobilize their social media communities with a combined reach of more than 80 million globally.
Some of the names lending their support are Grammy award winner Ciara, Academy Award winner Michael Douglas, and former captain of the Argentinian national football team, Javier Zanetti.
From advocating for public transport, to fundraising for schools or speaking up for equality, the platform lists steps that everyone can take to accelerate progress on the SDGs and create better lives on a healthier planet for all.
The agency’s emergency food and nutrition assistance operation in the Sahel began in June, focussing on refugees, newly displaced people, malnourished children under five, pregnant women and breastfeeding women and girls.
Food insecurity overall has reached a 10-year high in West and Central Africa, affecting 47.2 million people during the June-August lean season.
Mali and Chad will be hit the hardest said WFP, with 800,000 people at risk of resorting to desperate measures to cope, including engaging in survival sex, early marriage, or joining armed groups.
“We’re in a tragic situation. During this year’s lean season, millions of families will lack sufficient food reserves to sustain them until the next harvests in September and many will receive little to no assistance to tide them through the gruelling months ahead”, said Margot Vandervelden, Regional Director ad interim, for Western Africa.
“We must take immediate action to prevent a massive slide into catastrophic hunger”.
Building resilience
Conflict remains a key driver of hunger in the region, leading to forced population displacements that have emptied out entire villages and limit communities’ access to land for farming.
WFP’s lean season response aims to provide life-saving food and nutrition assistance to families facing acute hunger at a time when food stocks dwindle.
However, proactive investments in prevention and smart longer-term solutions can significantly reduce reliance on such emergency actions.
These solutions include resilience-building activities, social protection programmes and future innovations or investments, such as climate insurance pay-outs.
Life-saving assistance
WFP’s integrated resilience programme in the Sahel focuses on collective watershed planning, land recovery and rehabilitation, and support for smallholder farmers, linking to support such as school meals and other nutrition services.
In Niger, for example, 80 percent of villages that received WFP resilience support did not require humanitarian assistance in 2022, unlike other villages outside the scheme, in the same areas.
This success meant that about half a million people did not need humanitarian food aid thanks to WFP’s long-term investments in resilience strengthening.
Expanding these activities will be crucial in preventing emergency needs from escalating. The programme also contributes to strengthening national capacity to anticipate and respond to climatic and other shocks that are drivers of humanitarian need.
GENEVA (5 July 2023) – UN human rights experts* asked Turkiye last Tuesday not to deport over 100 members of a persecuted religious minority who were seized last month at the Turkish-Bulgarian border. They also urged the government to do an accurate risk assessment of their situation in order to avoid refoulement (the practice of sending refugees or asylum seekers), which could result in serious violations of human rights. Two NGOs (CAP Freedom of Conscience and Human Rights Without Frontiers) also advocated for the same during a conference organized by the OSCE ODIHR.
“Under international law, the Government of Türkiye is called to act in line with its obligation not to deport 101 members of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, who may be at risk of serious human rights violations if they are returned to their countries of origin,” the experts said.
On May 24, 2023, a group of 104 Ahmadis, including 27 women and 22 children, arrived at the Turkish side of the Kapikule border, requesting asylum in Bulgaria. Turkish police allegedly used excessive force to stop them, injuring at least 30 members of the gathering, including nine women. Turkish authorities arrested them at the Edirne police station.
According to the experts, numerous people have been tortured or subjected to cruel, inhuman, or humiliating treatment by police officers, including beatings, sexual harassment, and purposeful sleep deprivation.
The group was subsequently moved to the deportation centre in Edirne, and the Turkish Ministry of Interior issued deportation orders for 101 people.
The UN experts stated:
“Since the inception of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light in 1999, its members have been labelled as heretics and infidels and are often subjected to threats, violence, and illegal detention”.
And further added that these Ahmadis:
“(Ahmadis) are particularly at risk of detention due to blasphemy laws, in violation of their right to freedom of religion or belief,”
The group consists of people who fled to Turkey from various Muslim-majority nations owing to religious persecution.
According to the experts, one of those facing deportation spent six months in jail in his home country after being accused of offences such as insulting Islam and offending the Prophet. Another 15 have recently been released on bond after being arrested for belonging to a ‘deviant cult’ in their country.
“The prohibition of refoulement is absolute and non-derogable under international human rights and refugee law,” the experts said.
“States are obliged not to remove any individual from their territory when there are substantial grounds to believe the person could be subjected to serious human rights violations in the State of destination,” the UN experts said.
“Given the risks of human rights violations this group faces as a religious minority, Türkiye is required to make an individual, impartial and independent assessment of the protection needs of each person and the risks they may face if returned to their countries,” the experts said.
Denouncing the situation at the OSCE
CAP Freedom of Conscience and Human Rights Without Frontiers, two well-known NGOs working to defend Freedom of Religion or Belief inside Europe and abroad, and who have been keeping the UN experts timely informed of the situation, also too the opportunity of the Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting III of the OSCE ODIHR meeting on 27 June 2023 in Hofburg, Vienna, stated that they:
“are deeply concerned about the situation of over 100 members of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light who have been blocked by the Turkish authorities at the Turkish-Bulgarian border since the end of May. Ankara has decided to deport them back to their home countries where they would face imprisonment, torture and even execution in the case of Iran. They were denied entry of the European Union and faced violent treatment by the Turkish authorities, assaulting, kicking, and beating them with batons and firing gunshots in the air. Afterwards, they were transferred to the Edirne detention center where they still are. The Ahmadi Religion minority has been subjected to harsh persecution in numerous Muslim- majority countries such as Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, and Turkey because they are considered heretics. CAP/ Conscience et Liberté and Human Rights Without Frontiers urge Turkey to immediately annul all deportation orders and to grant them asylum in a safer land outside Turkey”.
The Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
