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.
Storm Poly unleashed chaos upon air travel operations at Schiphol Airport, resulting in significant disruptions for hundreds of flights to and from Amsterdam on Wednesday. As the storm continued to intensify throughout the morning, the number of flight delays and cancellations escalated, causing frustration among travellers.
To keep residents informed and safe, the Dutch government promptly issued three NL-Alert bulletins to residents of Noord-Holland province around 9 a.m., providing essential updates in both Dutch and English.
Situated within Noord-Holland province, Schiphol Airport faced the brunt of the extreme weather conditions caused by Storm Poly. The NL-Alert message urgently advised residents to prioritize their safety by staying indoors and emphasized that the emergency number 112 should only be dialled in life-threatening situations.
Meteorologists had predicted powerful wind gusts of up to 120 kilometres per hour across the entire country, with southern regions expected to experience gusts of up to 90 kilometres per hour.
Throughout Wednesday morning, Schiphol Airport’s website encountered intermittent accessibility issues, making it challenging for travellers to obtain real-time information. A prior warning issued by Schiphol Airport on Tuesday had already alerted passengers to the impending delays and cancellations. In fact, even before the storm made landfall, KLM alone had proactively cancelled more than 200 flights in anticipation of the severe weather conditions. The airport management, in a statement, highlighted the expected combination of strong winds, heavy rainfall, and poor visibility, which would severely hamper air traffic between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., leading to a cascade of further cancellations and delays for both incoming and outgoing flights.
In a recent update, Eurocontrol, the European air traffic control organization, warned of significant delays due to adverse wind conditions. As a result, arriving flights were regulated to ensure safe operations. According to the latest NOTAM bulletin addressed to pilots, it was projected that normal flight operations at Schiphol Airport and the surrounding airspace would not resume until 5 p.m. Given these circumstances, airlines were strongly advised to proactively cancel flights in accordance with the situation.
Despite the turmoil, some regional airports managed to mitigate the impact of Storm Poly. At Eindhoven Airport, the first five arriving flights were fortunate enough to land relatively on schedule, providing a glimmer of relief for passengers. Only two subsequent flights experienced minor delays during the morning.
Similarly, Rotterdam The Hague Airport remained relatively unaffected, with no significant disruptions reported. However, British Airways decided to cancel its roundtrip service between the regional airport and London City, recognizing the need for caution during the prevailing weather conditions.
Number of severe storms (minimum wind force 10), per month since 1910 | Storm Poly is the first ‘very severe’ summer storm (minimum wind force 11) ever in the Netherlands
Maastricht Aachen Airport, with only a one-morning departure scheduled, successfully took off on time, evading the chaos caused by Storm Poly. Additionally, no delays were announced for the two departing flights or the arrivals scheduled for the afternoon and evening, offering a sense of respite for those utilizing the airport’s services.
As Storm Poly continued to rampage across the region, travellers were advised to stay updated with the latest information and adhere to any instructions or alerts issued by authorities. It is crucial to remain patient and understanding during such challenging circumstances, as safety remains the top priority for both airlines and airports. Keep track of the developing situation and consult official sources for the most accurate and up-to-date information.
In conclusion, Storm Poly’s impact on air travel at Schiphol Airport caused widespread flight cancellations and delays, affecting hundreds of passengers. The Dutch government promptly issued NL-Alert messages for Noord-Holland province, urging residents to prioritize their safety.
While Schiphol Airport faced significant disruptions, other regional airports like Eindhoven, Rotterdam The Hague, and Maastricht Aachen managed to navigate the storm with relative success. Stay informed, exercise patience, and prioritize safety during this challenging time.
Higher education institutions are deeply worried about the new idea of the country’s Ministry of Education
Even after the exit of Great Britain from the European Union, many of the people who looked to the Island to complete a prestigious higher education, turned their heads to another country – the Netherlands.
Dutch universities enjoy a very good reputation, and they also offer a large number of courses in the increasingly universal English language for the global world.
Thus, at one point the flow of European (and not only) candidate students was redirected to Amsterdam, Leiden, Utrecht, Tilburg, Eindhoven and Göringen. Now, however, the Dutch government wants to put an end to this and severely limit the teaching of English in the country’s universities.
Dutch Education Minister Robert Dijkgraaf plans to limit the percentage of hours universities teach in foreign languages, arguing that the current situation has overburdened the country’s higher education institutions and could lead to a decline in quality of education.
For 2022 alone, the country has welcomed over 115,000 international students, which represents about 35% of the total number of all students studying in higher education institutions there. The tendency is for their share to grow over the last decade.
The desire of the authorities is to reduce the teaching of foreign languages in the country to about 1/3 of the courses offered in the universities.
This restriction comes after last December the Ministry of Education asked higher education institutions to stop actively recruiting foreign students. The minister motivated the decision with the fact that the internationalization of Dutch education leads to an overload of the teaching staff and a lack of accommodation for students.
At the moment, there is still no clear plan on how the new changes will happen with the teaching of a foreign language, and according to the spokesperson of the line ministry, the idea in this case is not so much directed against foreign students as it aims to minimize the negative consequences on the quality of the education offered.
“The current growth will lead to overcrowded lecture halls, overburdening teachers, a lack of student accommodation and reduced access to curricula,” the department said in a statement to Euronews.
The Netherlands has always been famous for its good higher education institutions, attracting students from all over the world.
Therefore, they are of the opinion that the reduction of courses in English will help to restore the balance in the system, so that the leading international position of the Dutch universities is not threatened.
Minister Dijkgraaf, for his part, is currently betting on a serious reduction of foreign languages at the expense of stimulating Dutch-language programs.
One idea is to cut English-language programs entirely to leave more in the local language. The other is that only some courses remain in English, not entire programs.
In both options, it is possible to make exceptions for some specialties where there is a priority need to attract foreign personnel. However, experts comment that Dijkgraaf’s new plans contradict the entire philosophy of Dutch higher education in recent years.
According to Nuffic, the Dutch organization for internationalization in education, in the Netherlands a total of 28% of bachelor’s and 77% of master’s programs are taught entirely in English.
These figures show that it is no wonder that universities are in a tight spot right now. This is fully true of the Eindhoven University of Technology, which teaches all of its undergraduate and graduate programs in English.
“There is a lot of tension about exactly what these new measures will include in detail. For us, this is a problem because for specific courses such as artificial intelligence or electrical engineering, we do not find enough professors who can teach in Dutch,” explains Robert -Jan Smits from the Graduate School Management.
According to him, the Netherlands has always had the reputation of being an open, tolerant and liberal country, and all its success historically is based on these principles.
The University of Eindhoven is not the only one to raise its voice against the proposal to reduce the English language in universities.
“This policy will be very damaging to the Dutch economy. It will have a negative impact on innovation and growth. The Dutch have always emphasized how important it is to maintain a ‘knowledge economy’, but now I see that this is under threat as talent can to leave us,” explains Associate Professor of Economics David Schindler from Tilburg University.
“There is no doubt that international students are paying more than they are worth. They make up a significant proportion of all students and keep the doors of many universities open. Without them, entire disciplines will shrink dramatically and potentially even collapse when this funding disappears “, he adds.
According to the latest study by the Dutch Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, foreign students contribute up to €17,000 to the Dutch economy for a student from the European Union and up to €96,300 for non-EU students.
The Ministry of Education also does not want to lose all their foreign students – on the contrary. However, according to them, it is important to motivate these students to learn the Dutch language so that they can then realize themselves better in the labor market.
According to Smits of the Eindhoven University of Technology, this is not really such a factor. According to him, 65% of the graduates of the educational institution stay in the Netherlands, although the programs at the university are only in English.
He is of the opinion that the changes will actually have the opposite effect – students will simply no longer consider the Netherlands as an option for their higher education.
Smits sees political overtones in the decision to cut English courses.
“There is a big debate in parliament about the influx of migrants. There is a nationalist movement all over Europe. Debates are starting to happen even in the academic system. Populist parties are starting to ask why we are going to fund the education of foreigners, better to use the money for our own people,” he says.
For him, this is the bigger problem – this rhetoric of extreme nationalism is becoming a trend that is affecting even the academic system.
Photo by BBFotoj: https://www.pexels.com/photo/grayscale-photo-of-concrete-buildings-near-the-river-12297499/
RUSSIA, A Jehovah’s Witness to serve two years of forced labor
On June 30, 2023, the judge of the Leninskiy District Court of Novosibirsk, Olga Kovalenko, found 45-year-old Dmitriy Dolzhikov guilty of extremism, sentenced him to three years in prison and a year of restriction of freedom, but his imprisonment was replaced with forced labor. Taking into account the period of detention of Dmitriy under arrest, he will in fact have to serve about two years of forced labor.
Dmitriy Dolzhikov and his wife Marina on the day of the verdict. Photo credit: JW
Dmitry Dolzhikov did not plead guilty: “
I carefully read the decision of the Supreme Court of the Russian Federation dated April 20, 2017 [on the liquidation of legal entities of Jehovah’s Witnesses in Russia], but I have not seen anywhere that the court imposed a ban on practicing the religion of Jehovah’s Witnesses and believers would be banned worship God, perform religious services, pray and sing religious songs. There has never been such a ban.”
The criminal case against Dmitriy Dolzhikov was initiated in May 2020. According to law enforcement officers, the believer
“intentionally, out of extremist motives, took part in the activities of a religious association … in the form of participation in religious meetings and meetings of an extremist organization, holding conversations with residents of Chelyabinsk, showing and watching educational videos.”
This is how the security forces regarded the peaceful services, at which believers read and discussed the Bible. Two years after the initiation of the case, a search was carried out in Dolzhikov’s house, the FSB officers brought Dmitriy from Chelyabinsk to Novosibirsk, where he was imprisoned in a pre-trial detention center, where he spent 2.5 months. The security forces persuaded the man to cooperate, threatening to “ruin his life.” The believer spent more than 6 months under house arrest.
In November 2022, the case went to trial. The defense has repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that the documents from the case materials are dated mainly from 2007-2016, which does not apply to the imputed Dolzhikov period. The whole accusation was based on the testimony of a secret witness and two Orthodox activists who openly expressed hostility towards the Jehovah’s Witnesses’ confession and, according to Dmitriy, told lies, misleading the court.
Friends of the Dolzhikovs on the day of the verdict
In a statement from his spokesperson on Monday, Mr. Guterres affirmed that all military operations must be conducted with full respect for international humanitarian law.
The incursion follows another operation in the camp on 19 June, which left four Palestinians killed and 91 others injured.
The UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said on Tuesday that as a result of the air and ground operations taking place in the West Bank town, 10 Palestinians including three children were killed, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health.
At least 100 others have been injured, of whom 20 are reportedly in critical condition, OCHA said. Thousands of residents have reportedly left the camp since the operation began.
In an apparent retaliatory attack in the Israeli city of Tel Aviv on Tuesday, seven people were injured, three seriously, when a Palestinian man drove into pedestrians standing outside a shopping centre, according to news reports.
The attacker was shot and killed by an Israeli citizen at the scene. Palestinian militant group Hamas reportedly described the attack as a direct response to the military operation in Jenin.
Lack of basic essentials
Airstrikes in Jenin “significantly damaged” structures in which people were living in both the camp and surrounding neighbourhoods. The agency warned that due to damage to infrastructure, most of the Jenin camp has lost access to drinking water and electricity.
The UN agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA), which runs four schools, one health centre and other facilities in the Jenin camp, said that many residents were in urgent need of food, drinking water and milk powder for children.
As of Monday, all UNRWA installations in the camp, operated by 90 staff members, were out of service due to the heavy exchanges of fire, the agency reported.
Ambulances denied access
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday that the extent of people’s injuries was placing strain on the “fragile and underfunded” health system and that it was working with partners to deliver more life-saving medical supplies to Jenin Hospital.
UN humanitarians said that the destruction of roads in the refugee camp was restricting access for medical teams and ambulances, and Israeli forces were conducting checks on vehicles, including ambulances, at the entrance of the camp.
According to the UN health agency, ambulances with medical teams have been prevented from entering parts of the refugee camp and reaching persons who have been critically injured.
Attacks on healthcare
At least two hospitals have also been affected by attacks involving use of ammunition and gas canisters.
“Attacks against healthcare, including prevention of access to persons injured, are extremely concerning”, WHO said, calling for “respect and protection of healthcare”, including safe passage to health services in Jenin and across Palestine.
The agency recalled that there had been a “significant increase” in attacks on healthcare in the West Bank this year. The first five months of 2023 saw “at least” 124 WHO-documented attacks, resulting in 39 health worker injuries and affecting 117 ambulances.
One of the most interesting, strangest and most startling bets in the world since the beginning of this year – a case from Uganda that happened four months ago. Then worried parishioners of Pastor David Ochieng were stunned to see the church door padlocked for several days.
This raises doubts about the priest’s fate and his emirs turn to the police. It turns out that Ochieng won 100 million Ugandan shillings. The news became public knowledge after the pastor contacted a local newspaper, aware of the concern he had caused with his absence.
“One day I received an offer on the phone to bet on certain matches. It seemed like a bargain and I decided to give it a shot with a large chunk of my savings. I bet 1 million shillings. There was no answer for a long time and I started writing to the people who tricked me. I wrote to them that they are scammers. A few weeks later they replied that I won 100 million and transferred the money to me. It turned out that the matches were fixed and because of that there was a delay in the payout. The check has shown that there is no violation on my part. I closed the church as it was my way of supporting myself until now. Now I have made more money than I ever dreamed of and there is no point in working,” David Ochieng admitted.
It should be noted that the amount actually won is not large. His bet of 1 million Ugandan shillings is equal to 250 euros, and the winning of 100 million is actually 25,000 euros.
On the occasion of the visit of the Pope’s special envoy to Moscow and Kiev
According to official reports, the content of Italian Cardinal Matteo Zuppi’s talks in Moscow on June 28-28 included “humanitarian issues”. Therefore, after the much-anticipated meeting with Yuri Ushakov, assistant to the Russian president on international affairs, the special envoy of the Pope visited the children’s ombudsman Maria Lvova-Belova. According to the Vatican’s official website, the focus of the conversation was “the issue of over 19,000 Ukrainian children who ended up in Russia” – an issue on which President Zelensky sought help from the Holy See during the audience with Pope Francis in May this year.
Many of these children lost contact with their parents as they were taken to children’s camps, and some ended up in Russian foster families. Lvova-Belova herself adopted the teenager Philip from Mariupol, shortly after which the famous order from the International Criminal Court appeared.
According to Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov Dzyupi has not reached concrete agreements in Moscow, but there is reason to continue the dialogue.
It is worth noting that the papal legate’s visit to Moscow took place on the feast of the founders of the Roman Catholic Church, the apostles Peter and Paul, which Roman Catholics celebrate as “Pope’s Day”. Perhaps there is some symbolism in this…
Not an ultimatum, but a negotiating position
The Vatican has traditionally been tight-lipped on details when it comes to attempts to engage in the reconciliation of warring states or peoples. Vatican diplomacy has a reputation for being one of the most secretive and mysterious, even more so in an age when an experienced Jesuit occupies the papal throne. What is known is that Francis’s “peace plan,” unlike other such initiatives, does not include a ceasefire request as a precondition for negotiations. What is usually interpreted as an “ultimatum” from the Russian or Ukrainian side is seen in the Vatican as “negotiating positions” from which to move towards a compromise.
Perhaps this approach is now perceived more favorably in Moscow than in Kiev. On June 19, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Alexander Grushko, stated: “We appreciate the balanced position of the Vatican.”
Although Dzupi’s visit to Kyiv on June 5-6 was at a higher level (he was received by President Zelensky), Ukrainian elites and society are skeptical of the Vatican’s efforts.
Many Ukrainians are offended by Francis’ words, which they see as a remnant of his “left” Latin American experience (before he was elected pope, he served in Argentina).
But, for example, Leonid Sevastianov, the head of the World Union of Old Believers, who is in constant contact with Pope Francis and was appointed by him as an “ambassador of peace”, is sure that in the conditions of the helplessness of the major international institutions, only the Vatican can provide the necessary conditions and format for starting negotiations. According to his information, thanks to Dzupi’s mission, the contours of the negotiating groups have begun to take shape. In this regard, it should be noted that, unlike the heads of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Yuriy Ushakov is not subject to Western sanctions.
Sevastianov himself was forced to go to the police instead of the meeting scheduled for June 28 with the cardinal, where he was taken to testify about “collaboration with the Vatican.” The Old Believer leader insists that he does not cooperate with the Vatican, but communicates personally with the Pope as a person who gives the world hope for reconciliation, bypassing any state institutions.
A chance for the Russian Orthodox Church
Contacts with the Vatican are an important (if not the only) tool to restore the international legitimacy of the Moscow Patriarchate, which was almost destroyed after February 24, 2022. The Vatican is aware of this – and the ecclesiastical part of Zuppi’s visit to Moscow was more colorful than the secular.
The cardinal stopped at the Apostolic Nunciature (Vatican embassy), and in the early morning of June 28, he went to the miraculous Vladimir Icon of the Mother of God, exhibited in the temple at the Tretyakov Gallery (“St. Nicholas” in Tolmach). Previously, the Rublev icon of the Mother of God was also periodically transferred to the same church, which provides museum premises, but now it ended up in the precarious conditions of the Christ the Savior temple. Cardinal Zuppi wisely did not go there.
According to the rector of the church “St. Nicholas” he did not even notice the cardinal’s visit – he came to the temple without any pomp and in civilian clothes.
Metropolitan Antony (Sevryuk), head of the Department of External Church Relations of the Moscow Patriarchate, flew to Rome on June 16 to prepare the meeting between Dzuppi and Patriarch Cyril. He discussed the agenda of the meeting not only with Pope Francis and the Secretary of State of the Holy See, but also with the community “St. Egidius”, whose representatives accompanied Card. Dzupi to the Danilovsky Monastery, where they were received by His All-Holiness Patriarch Cyril on June 29.
Leonid Sevastianov calls on the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church to appreciate the favor of Francis: “The current pope is loyal, but we don’t know who will be next. If the Moscow Patriarchate is not set on complete isolation, it will have to accept the idea of a papal visit to Russia – even if only in transit. For example, the option of Cyril and Francis meeting at the airport where the papal plane will land for refueling in early September on its way to Mongolia is being discussed. It was at an airport – in Havana – that the heads of the Russian Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church met for the first time in history.
Of course, the Russian Orthodox Church has its turbo-radicals who declare themselves completely isolated from the West, such as the “exarch of Africa” Leonid (Gorbachev), who claims: “Russia does not need any pope… We have a mother – the Motherland!”
However, such a position is in clear contradiction with the patriarchal position. “In the current conditions, which are marked by many risks and many dangers – he said at the meeting with Card. Dzupi, – [our] churches can work together to prevent the negative development of political circumstances and serve the cause of peace.
However, the patriarch’s rhetoric during the meeting in the Danilovsky Monastery reminds of the “language of double standards”.
On the one hand, Kirill exclaimed: “The suffering of the Ukrainian and Russian people deeply hurts my heart!” – and stated that a large part of his congregation lives in Ukraine. On the other hand, in the last sixteen months, he has not once expressed his condolences to the Ukrainians. Patr. Kirill assured Dzupi that “… in all our churches we offer special, unceasing prayers for peace in Ukraine.” Only a day before, however, the Patriarchate of Constantinople reinstated the Moscow priest Ioan Koval, whose “guilt” came down to the fact that the word “victory” was replaced by the word “peace” in the patriarchal prayer.
However, the cardinal invited the patriarch to visit Bologna and Rome – after the beginning of the Special Military Operation, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church has made only one foreign visit to Belarus.
Before Dzupi’s visit to Moscow, Pope Francis also worked on the Ukrainian issue. He received in the Vatican the presidents of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, and of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez. Both have invitations to visit Moscow, but are in contact with Western leaders and are offering their own options for ending the Special Military Operation (SMO). Despite his advanced age, Francis shows remarkable diplomatic adaptability and is prone to changing tactics. His initial “equal distance” from the parties to the conflict has been replaced by vacillations perceived as either “pro-Moscow” or “pro-Ukrainian”.
Today, he avoids the mistakes of the first months of the SMO and sets out on the path of building an international humanitarian coalition. Who knows, maybe it is the “humanitarian” notes that will be heard by the leaders who have become hostages of unfulfilled geopolitical fantasies.
Reference
Card. Matteo Maria Zuppi is sixty-six years old, born in Rome and a graduate of the Pontifical Lateran University. He became a priest at the age of twenty-five and served in the archdiocese of Rome. Since the 1980s, it has been working closely with the community “St. Aegidius”, which carries out delicate orders of the Holy See to settle international conflicts. He was one of four mediators in the negotiations between rival factions in Mozambique that achieved peace and ended the country’s civil war in 1992. He also participated in negotiations between Kurdish rebels and the Turkish government and between Basque separatists and the Spanish government. On January 31, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Zuppi as auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Rome. On October 27, 2015, Pope Francis appointed him Archbishop of Bologna. In 2019, Zuppi became a cardinal, and in May of this year he headed the Italian Roman Catholic Bishops’ Conference. In May of this year, Francis appointed him as his special representative for the peaceful settlement of the conflict in Ukraine.
