Evaluating what has been done to fight against sexual harassment by EU institutions and countries, MEPs call for better reporting procedures and support for victims.
On Thursday, MEPs adopted the report by 468 votes in favour, 17 against and 125 abstentions. The report highlights that, although governments and organisations have made changes to tackle sexual violence and to support victims since the MeToo movement went viral in 2017, in some EU countries there has been little or no progress.
Parliament calls on member states to pro-actively introduce legislation and policies that tackle sexual violence and harassment. These are not currently defined and criminalised at EU level, which means that those affected do not have the same rights across different member states. MEPs want a common EU approach, reiterating their call for the EU to identify gender-based violence as a new area of crime and for sexual harassment to be a criminal offence.
Employers should take measures to provide a safe working environment, taking into account remote working and the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic, say MEPs. Member states should ensure that all workers, at the start of their contract, receive information on anti-harassment procedures and policies in place.
EU institutions need more stringent sanctions and faster procedures
Since 2018, measures to prevent and tackle harassment in the European Parliament have been strengthened, but MEPs say more needs to be done to raise awareness of reporting procedures and support available to victims to prevent all forms of harassment. Sexual and psychological harassment cases in Parliament are still under-reported, MEPs point out, because victims do not use the existing channels for multiple reasons. Procedures in harassment cases can take years, causing unnecessary harm to the victims, they say. Parliament’s two Advisory Committees dealing with harassment complaints should conclude cases brought before them as quickly as possible, and at the latest within six months.
MEPs welcome the anti-harassment training offered in Parliament, but are concerned that only 36.9% of Members have attended so far this term – 260 Members out of 705. They call for a public list on the Parliament’s website of Members that have completed the training and those who have not.
EU institutions should conduct an external audit on the situation of harassment in their institutions, the text notes, including a review of existing procedures and systems that deal with cases of harassment, to make the outcome of the results public and to make reforms based on these recommendations.
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EP Vice-President and lead MEP steering the report through Parliament Michal Šimečka (Renew, Slovakia), said: “I welcome the fact that all the democratic groups in the European Parliament take the issue of sexual harassment in the EU seriously, which has resulted in immense support from MEPs during the vote. We owe it to victims and to all European citizens to lead by example, by adopting better support mechanisms and more efficient anti-harassment policies. This proposal is a testament to the broadly shared vision of a harassment-free EU.”
Japan is preparing technology that will allow it to “harvest” electricity from the Sun and send it to Earth. The technology was tested once in 2015, and in 2025 the first larger-scale test is expected, reports Engadget.
In 2015, scientists from the Japanese space agency JAXA managed to send 1.8 kilowatts of energy over 50 meters away. The small test proved the applicability of the technology, which Japanese scientists have been developing since 2009.
Over time, the project has grown into a public-private partnership, being developed by JAXA scientists, experts from universities and private companies. The test in 2025 envisages putting into orbit a group of small satellites. They will collect solar energy and send it to ground stations.
The satellites will convert the energy into microwaves. This makes it easy to transmit them over long distances and means they can be used 24/7 whether it’s cloudy or not.
The concept dates back to 1968. Several countries are trying to implement it, and so far Japan seems to be at the forefront. Even if the 2025 test is successful, it will only be the beginning of the technology becoming mainstream. Much more work will be needed to perfect the equipment, as it is currently very expensive: generating 1 gigawatt of electricity this way costs about $7 billion.
Photo by Bhupendra Singh: https://www.pexels.com/photo/photography-of-hand-during-sunset-760680/
Egypt has announced plans to build an artificial river 114 kilometers long. The project, estimated at $5.25 billion, will improve food security and increase the country’s agricultural exports.
The national project called “New Delta” is now under construction in the Western Desert. The main objective of the project is to expand the area of agricultural land in Egypt. According to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Said Hussein Khalil Sisi, the New Delta project will be the largest construction project in the history of modern Egypt. The course of the river will pass along the new Rawd Al-Farag-Dabaa road.
On Thursday, Parliament backed a draft bill to increase European production of missiles and ammunition for Ukraine.
The Act in Support of Ammunition Production (ASAP) aims to accelerate the delivery of ammunition and missiles to Ukraine and to help member states restock their arsenals. By introducing targeted measures, including €500 million in financing, ASAP aims to ramp up the EU’s production capacity to address the current shortage of defence products, specifically ground-to-ground and artillery ammunition, missiles and their components.
The European Commission will identify, map, and continuously monitor the availability of these defence products, their components, and the corresponding raw materials inputs. The proposal establishes mechanisms, principles, and temporary rules to secure the timely and lasting availability of these defence products for their buyers within the European Union.
The effectiveness of this regulation will be evaluated by mid-2024, taking into account the evolution of the security context. Based on the results, the extension of these measures and the allocation of additional budget may be considered.
The European Commission tabled the ASAP legislation on 3 May 2023, and MEPs agreed the same month to trigger Parliament’s urgent procedure process to speed up the bill’s approval.
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The EP’s negotiating team leader Cristian Bușoi (EPP, RO) said: “Today’s decision marks a significant step forward for the security and defence of our Union, and particularly in our steadfast support of Ukraine in the face of the ongoing Russian aggression. It will boost our capacity to respond to security challenges. It is a victory for Europe and for our collective security. Parliament is now ready to negotiate with Council and we hope to reach an agreement as soon as possible.”
Next steps
The legislation was adopted with 446 votes to 67, with 112 abstentions. MEPs will now start negotiations with Council, with the aim of reaching a political agreement, which MEPs would then vote on in plenary in July.
Romania creates a consultative scientific and ethical council in the field of artificial intelligence (AI), reports the Ministry of Research, Innovation and Digitization (MCІD), cited by Romania Іnѕіdеr.
The newly created council unites skilled specialists “who can offer their expertise for the benefit of the public, for the development of the AI cloud in Romania”.
Above all, the new world will have the task of controlling and protecting the artificial intelligence, which destroys it before it can be of benefit to society.
The group consists of the Romanian researchers and innovators of leading companies, as well as the specialists in the field of living sheep. Therefore, they have extensive experience in the research and development of AI technologies.
The rapid development of AI could lead to the automation of a quarter of jobs in the US and Europe, which could leave around 300 million people without a job. and their job. This is the reason for the investigation of Goldman Sachs.
The Investment Bank has announced that “genetic” AI systems such as RTG, which can create behavior indistinguishable from human-made ones, will probably A boom in manufacturing that could increase annual global GDP by 7% per year period of 10 years.
Against this background, however, the technology may also lead to “significant job shifts”, exposing about 300 million jobs in Europe and the United States to peak automation.
Illustrative Photo by ThisIsEngineering: https://www.pexels.com/photo/code-projected-over-woman-3861969/
Pride Month provides an opportunity to celebrate the resilience, diversity, and achievements of LGBTQI individuals, UNAIDS said in a press release, while also reflecting on continuing struggle for full equality, dignity and recognition.
This momentous occasion also serves as a reminder of the important collective commitment to human rights, equality, and the urgent need to decriminalize same-sex relationships, the agency continued.
Cleiton Euzebio, Senior Advisor for Communities and Key Populations, UNAIDS said, “As a gay man, and as an activist for social justice for all, I am so proud to work for the UN’s Joint Programme to end AIDS.
“The UN is standing with communities, supporting them in leading the HIV response, confronting stigma, and building societies where every person is valued. This month and every month, may everyone feel pride in who they are.”
Thanks in large part to efforts led by key populations, the world has seen substantial progress in the HIV response, said UNAIDS, creating the real possibility that AIDS can be eradicated once and for all.
But discrimination, violence, and stigma against LGBTQI people persist in many parts of the world, limiting access to essential services, including HIV prevention, treatment, care, and support.
Barrier to justice, equality, health
The agency said that criminalization of same-sex relationships remains a significant barrier to achieving social justice and equality for LGBTQI individuals, and to ensuring health for all.
Laws that criminalize consensual same-sex activity perpetuate stigma, contribute to violence and discrimination, and obstruct access to vital healthcare services, the agency reminded, calling on all governments to urgently repeal discriminatory laws and policies, and to work towards creating an enabling legal and social environment that respects and protects the rights of LGBTQI people.
Decriminalizing same-sex relationships, is a crucial step in the collective push to ends the AIDS pandemic, said UNAIDS.
Progress is real
Significant gains have been won in advancing LGBTQI rights in many parts of the world, including the decriminalization of same-sex relationships in several countries in recent months, from Angola to Singapore to Barbados.
However other countries are imposing harsher criminal laws on same sex relationships, including only this week, Uganda, where the so-called Anti-Homosexuality Act” came into force, with some offences incurring the death penalty, and a sentence of up to 20 years in jail, merely for promoting gay rights.
The High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, added his congratulations in a festive tweet, calling on the whole international community to appreciate the richness and diversity of the LGBTIQ+ community, “and honour their immense contributions to the human rights movement.”
The cuts will reduce the value of rations provided to Rohingya refugees to $8 per month, or 27 cents per day.
At the beginning of the year, refugees were receiving a ration of $12 per person per month, which was just enough to meet daily needs, but on 1 March, that was cut to $10 – due to lack of funding support.
“We are extremely concerned that WFP has been forced to cut food aid for the Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh”, said the UN Resident Coordinator in Bangladesh, Gwyn Lewis.
“The nutrition and health consequences will be devastating, particularly for women and children and the most vulnerable in the community. We urgently appeal for international support.”
The mostly-Muslim Rohingya, fled by the hundreds of thousands after a military crackdown in Myanmar’s Rakhine State in August 2017, that the UN human rights chief at the time described as a text book case of ethnic cleansing.
Those fleeing persecution joined around 300,000 already sheltering in Bangladesh from previous waves of displacement, and close to a million now live in what is, in effect, the largest refugee camp in the world.
Dependent on rations lifeline
Only 24.6 per cent of the response effort for the mostly-Muslim Rohingya, is funding allocated to provide basic health services, nutrition, food, and education for refugees, who do not have any other source of support.
People living in Rohingya camps are barred from working by Bangladeshi authorities, “and they are completely dependent on international community funding,” added Mr. Lewis.
His call was echoed by three of the UN Human Rights Council-appointed independent experts who are monitoring the situation.
Tom Andrews, Michael Fakhri, and Olivier De Schutter, warned that the cuts will have devastating consequences, and urged donors to provide enough funds to restore rations in full.
“In the span of three months, Rohingya refugees have seen their food rations cut by a third, further eroding the health and security of a population already suffering from severe trauma and deprivation,” the experts said.
‘Devastatingly predictable’ consequences
“The consequences of the rations cuts will be devastatingly predictable: spiking rates of acute malnutrition, infant mortality, violence, and even death.
“It also will contribute to increased regional instability, and some Rohingya may decide that it is better to trust their lives to traffickers and smugglers and risk their lives at sea, than to face hunger and even death in the camps,” the independent UN experts warned.
Child development impaired
“The impact on the Rohingya will be severe and long-lasting, stunting the development of children and dimming the hopes of future generations. Vulnerable populations, including pregnant and breastfeeding women, adolescent girls, and children under five will bear the brunt of the cuts and be further exposed to exploitation and abuse,” they said.
Even prior to the first round of rations cuts, health indicators for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh were grim, the experts warned.
Forty-five percent of Rohingya families were not eating a sufficient diet. Forty percent of Rohingya children experienced stunted growth, and more than half suffered from anemia.
Cyclone Mocha, which made landfall in western Myanmar on 14 May, damaged or destroyed the shelters of approximately 40,000 Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh, exacerbating suffering and adding to budgetary needs.
Course reversal essential
“Member States must urgently act to close the $56 million funding shortfall for food rations that has led to these cuts”, calling on those who’ve already scaled back, to reverse course.
“Member States that have not yet provided financial support to the Rohingya should do so without delay,” the experts said.
“The failure to provide Rohingya families in Bangladesh with sustainable levels of food is a stain on the conscience of the international community. They are in Bangladesh not by choice, but because of genocidal attacks by the Myanmar military,” the experts concluded.
Russian attacks overnight, killed three people – including the girl’s mother – and wounded 11 others, according to news reports. It followed a reported 17 strikes on the capital during May, and the fourth this week.
Ms. Brown expressed her sympathy to the families of “over 1,500 children killed and injured in Ukraine” since Russia’s full-scale invasion began 15 months ago.
Ms. Brown added that the UN continued to follow closely reports of Ukrainian children being forcibly sent to Russia.
“Behind every death there is an immeasurable human tragedy. This must stop now,” she said.
According to UN monitors, six children were killed and 34 were wounded in the month of May alone.
Towns and cities under attack
The Mission said that a total 535 children were killed and 1,047 injured since the start of the conflict. A vast majority – 87 per cent – of the casualties were caused by “explosive weapons with wide area effects”, including artillery, missile and air strikes, and “loitering munitions” also known as suicide drones.
The findings align with earlier warnings from the UN-appointed Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine about Russian armed forces carrying out attacks with explosive weapons in populated areas “with an apparent disregard for civilian harm and suffering, failing to take the required precautions”.
“The attacks were indiscriminate and disproportionate, in violation of international humanitarian law”, the Commission wrote in March.
Impact on health
Bringing even more evidence of the suffering of civilians in the war, just two days ago, the World Health Organization (WHO) verified the 1,000th attack on healthcare in Ukraine since the full-scale Russian invasion.
The agency said that this was the highest number it had ever recorded in any humanitarian emergency.
UN humanitarian coordinator Denise Brown also highlighted the “devastating impact” of the war on the mental health and well-being of children, “including millions who have had to flee for their lives”.
She pledged the humanitarian community’s support to Ukraine’s children “for as long as it is necessary.”
Mounting evidence of child deportations
The Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine said in March that cases of transfer and deportation of children which it had examined, amounted to war crimes.
That same month, the UN’s rights monitoring mission released a report documenting cases of children subjected to forced transfers, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment.
The report called on Russia to ensure that any evacuation, including of children, is conducted in full respect of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, and to “adhere to the prohibition of changing the personal status of children displaced from Ukraine, including nationality, and of adoption” during or immediately after an emergency, in line with international standards.
Echoing the allegations, on 17 March, the UN-backed International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova, in connection with possible war crimes concerning the deportation and “illegal transfer” of children from occupied Ukraine.
The number fleeing violence in Sudan since fighting between rival militaries began in mid-April in Khartoum, quickly destabilizing the entire country, has now topped 100,000.
The majority of arrivals in eastern Chad – particularly Ouaddaï, Sila, and Wadi Fira provinces – are from the Darfur region, which has been deeply impacted by violence for decades, reminded UNHCR.
“Reports from our teams on the border indicate that new waves of arrivals are still ongoing”, the agency said in a press release, estimating that up to 200,000 people may be forced to flee to eastern Chad in the coming three months.
UNHCR and its partners have been working closely with the Chadian government, providing support and coordinating the emergency response to address the needs of the newly arrived refugees.
Laura Lo Castro, UNHCR Representative in Chad, said humanitarians had “been working around the clock providing protection services, including specialized assistance to survivors of violence and children at risk, constructing boreholes and well, installing emergency latrines, running mobile clinics, organizing complex relocation convoys, scaling up camps capacity to accommodate newly arrived refugees in existing refugee camps, building family shelters and community infrastructures and we are starting to build new camps.”
The agency said the rainy season was fast approaching, requiring a massive logistical exercise to move refugees from border areas for their safety and protection.
Scrambling to build new camps
“We need to establish immediately new camps and extension of existing camps”, the agency said. “As host populations are gravely affected by the situation in Sudan, some assistance will need to be extended to the most vulnerable among the host population.”
UNHCR stressed that more funding was essential to provide lifesaving interventions.
Long-standing crisis
Prior to this crisis, Chad already hosted nearly 589,000 refugees, including 409,819 Sudanese fleeing conflict in Darfur, as of March 2023.
Nearly 128,000 refugees are in the country from the Central African Republic; 21,287 Nigerians escaping violence by Boko Haram, are present in the Lake region; 28,311 Cameroonians affected by inter-communal tensions, and 1,507 refugees from other nations.
Tens of thousands of refugees have arrived in Chad from Sudan.
Additionally, an estimated 381,289 Chadians are internally displaced, primarily in the Lake Chad Province.
Displaced communities continue to face insecurity in Chad and neighboring countries, compounded by food insecurity, malnutrition, the effects of climate change, and a lack of livelihood opportunities.
The protracted nature of displacement has strained services, natural resources, and social cohesion, said UNHCR.
‘Beacon of hope’
“For families uprooted by the crisis, the humanitarian assistance is their beacon of hope”, added Ms Lo Castro. We rely on the compassion and generosity of our partners to rally together to ensure the provision of critical protection and life-saving support. Together, we can save lives and restore dignity to those in desperate need”.
There is a need for $214.1 million urgently, to provide lifesaving protection and assistance to Chad’s forcibly displaced, which includes $72.4 million for the emergency response for refugees fleeing conflict in Sudan, reiterated UNHCR.
PACE Committee hearing on Detention of "Socially Maladjusted" and the ECHR. Photograph: THIX Photo
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe hearing with experts held last week looked into the discriminatory ideology at the root of why the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) limits the right to liberty and security of persons with psychosocial disabilities. At the same time, the Committee heard what the modern human rights concept promoted by the United Nations lays out.
As the first expert Prof. Dr. Marius Turda, Director of the Centre for Medical Humanities, Oxford Brookes University, UK described the historical context in which the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had been formulated. Historically, the concept of ‘unsound mind’ used as a term in the ECHR Article 5, 1(e) – in all its permutations – played a significant role in shaping eugenic thinking and practice, and not only in Britain where it originated.
Prof. Turda laid out that, “it was deployed in a variety of ways to stigmatise and dehumanise individuals and also to advance discriminatory practices and marginalisation of individuals with learning disabilities. Eugenic discourses as to what constituted normal/abnormal behaviours and attitudes were centrally framed around representations of mentally ‘fit’ and ‘unfit’ individuals, and ultimately led to significant new modes of social, economic, and political disenfranchisement and the erosion of rights for women and men labelled of ‘unsound mind’.”
Ms Boglárka Benko, Registry of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), presented the case law of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). As part of this, she indicated the problem that the Convention text exempts persons deemed of “unsound mind” from the regular protection of rights. She noted that the ECtHR has only very limited regulated its interpretation of the Convention text in regards to the deprivation of liberty of persons with psychosocial disabilities or mental health problems. The courts in general follow the opinions of medical experts.
This practice is in contrast to other chapters of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), where the European court more clearly has considered the human rights violation of cases per the ECHR while also looking at other international human rights instruments. Boglárka Benko noted that the Human rights protection may thus be in danger of fragmentation.
Laura Marchetti, Policy Manager of Mental Health Europe (MHE). Photograph: THIX Photo
Another expert, Laura Marchetti, Policy Manager of Mental Health Europe (MHE) delivered a presentation on the human rights dimension of the detention of persons of psychosocial disabilities. MHE is the largest independent European network organisation working to Promote positive mental health and well-being; Prevent mental health problems; and support and advance the rights of people with mental ill-health or psychosocial disabilities.
“For a long time, people with psychosocial disabilities and mental health problems were often considered to be inferior, inadequate or even dangerous for society. This was the result of a biomedical approach to mental health, which framed the topic as an individual fault or problem,” Laura Marchetti noted.
She expanded on the historical discrimination which had been presented by Prof. Turda. “Policies and legislation developed following this approach notably legitimized exclusion, coercion and the deprivation of liberty,” she told the Committee. And she added that “people with psychosocial disability were framed as a burden or danger to society.”
Psychosocial model of disability
In the past decades, this approach has increasingly been questioned, as public debate and research started to point to the discrimination and flaws coming from a biomedical approach.
Laura Marchetti pointed out, that “Against this background, the so-called psychosocial model to disability posits that the problems and exclusion that persons with psychosocial disability and mental health problems face are not caused by their impairments, but by the way society is organised and understands this topic.”
This model also draws the attention to the fact that human experiences are varied and that there are a series of determinants impacting a person’s life (e.g. socio-economic and environmental factors, challenging or traumatic life events).
“Societal barriers and determinants are therefore the problem that should be addressed by policies and legislation. The focus should be on inclusion and support provision, rather than on exclusion and lack of choice and control,” Laura Marchetti pointed out.
This shift in approaches is enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), which has the objective to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights by all persons with disabilities.
The CRPD has been signed by 164 countries, including the European Union and all its Member States. It enshrines into policies and laws the shift from a bio-medical approach to a psychosocial model of disability. It defined persons with disabilities as people who have long-term physical, mental, intellectual or sensory impairments which in interaction with various barriers may hinder their full and effective participation in society on an equal basis with others.
Slide by MHE used in the Presentation to the Parliamentary Assembly Committee.
Laura Marchetti specified, that “The CRPD stipulates that individuals cannot be discriminated on the basis of their disability, including psychosocial disability. The Convention clearly indicates that any form of coercion, deprivation of legal capacity and forced treatment are human rights violations. Article 14 of the CRPD also clearly states that “the existence of a disability shall in no case justify a deprivation of liberty”.”
Laura Marchetti, Policy Manager of Mental Health Europe (MHE) answering questions from the Parliamentary Committee members. Photograph: THIX Photo
European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), Article 5 § 1 (e)
The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) had been drafted in 1949 and 1950. In its section on the right to liberty and security of person, ECHR Article 5 § 1 (e), it notes an exception of “persons of unsound mind, alcoholics or drug addicts or vagrants.” The singling out of persons considered affected by such social or personal realities, or differences in viewpoints has its roots in widespread discriminatory viewpoints of the first part of the 1900s.
The exception was formulated by representatives of the United Kingdom, Denmark and Sweden, led by the British. It was based on a concern that the then drafted human rights texts sought to implement Universal human rights including for persons with psychosocial disabilities or mental health problems, which conflicted with legislation and social policy in place in these countries. Both the British, Denmark and Sweden were strong proponents of eugenics at the time, and had implemented such principles and viewpoints into legislation and practice.
Mr Stefan Schennach, the Parliamentary Assembly Committee Rapporteur on the investigation Detention of the “Socially Maladjusted” persons, which is looking in to the limitation to the right to liberty included in to the ECHR. Photograph: THIX Photo
Laura Marchetti concluded her presentation stating that
“In light of these changes, the current text of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) Article 5, 1(e) is not in line with international human rights standards, as it still allows for the discrimination on the basis of a psychosocial disability or a mental health problem.”
“It is therefore crucial for the text to be reformed and to remove sections that allow for the perpetuation of discrimination and unequal treatment,” she emphasized in her final statement.
