The UN human rights office, OHCHR, and its mandate has become a powerful vehicle for change, progress, dignity, and justice, yet “this is far from enough to meet today’s challenges”, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said in his keynote address at the +30 Symposium, Vienna World Conference: 30 Years On: Our Rights – Our Future.
Convened to mark the third decade of the adoption of the landmark Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, the symposium aims at highlighting achievements and outlining challenges ahead.
“While there have been massive gains in human rights since the Vienna Declaration, today, all around the world, we are seeing dramatic rollbacks”, he said. “The common language of human rights is our compass to guide us towards progress.”
The global agreement remains a “living document that can guide us today in our ambitions”, the High Commissioner said.
Rolling back rights
From Afghanistan to Ukraine, he said, the world is witnessing pushbacks on rights, a rise in hate speech, shrinking civic space, and a changing geopolitical landscape that has revealed a disturbing trend of deepened divisions within and across countries threatening national cohesion, he warned.
The 21st century has also seen the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution alongside digital shifts, including artificial intelligence developments, that are rapidly transforming the world, “moving faster than the regulators who should be setting up careful human rights guardrails to protect us from their dangers”, he said.
Rights foundations
“Today’s emerging human rights challenges will continue to test us,” he said. “It would be naïve to say we can pass all these tests, but it would be dangerous and counter-productive to stop trying.”
Recalling his youth in post-Second World War Austria, he said the “echoes of trauma and of grave human rights violations were palpable”.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which turns 75 this year, was “a powerful unifying force for equality, social progress, justice, and respect” in an era of profound social transformations amid dynamic movements for social justice, feminism, LGBTI rights, anti-apartheid, decolonization, and environmental protection, he said.
When UN Member States adopted the Vienna Declaration in 1993, the agreement had shattered the long-held fallacy that social, economic, and cultural rights have less value than civil and political rights, he said.
The landmark agreement also confirmed the conviction that human rights are universal, indivisible, interdependent, and interrelated, and boldly rejected the view that certain human rights could be considered optional while paving the path for numerous other breakthroughs, from establishing the International Criminal Court, to historical advances on the rights of women, children, and indigenous peoples.
Learning from mistakes
“Anniversaries are arbitrary unless we seize them as meaningful opportunities to reflect on our achievements, learn from our mistakes, and take fearless steps towards progress and transformation,” he said.
“The task before all of us today, this year, and in the future is to apply the Universal Declaration’s visionary words to our current global challenges,” he said, urging all participants to constructively join the symposium with pledges and positive impact stories.
“Restoring faith and certainty in human rights at a time of profound global turmoil is the focus of this symposium, and it must be the focus of our future,” he added.
Water from the reservoir of the Kakhovka dam is also used to cool the nearby Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant (ZNPP), Europe’s largest, which has been under constant threat since being occupied by Russian forces early in the conflict.
The UN Office in Ukraine tweeted that “thousands of people in Ukraine are in peril” following the major breach in the Soviet-era Kakhovka dam and hydroelectric plant, on the country’s largest river, the Dnipro, in the southeast, with video showing torrents of water cascading through.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, told reporters in New York outside the Security Council that the UN had no access to independent information to verify how the catastrophe had occurred.
“But one thing is clear: this is another devastating consequence of the Russian invasion of Ukraine”, he said, whose effects are being seen in dozens of towns and cities along the Dnipro River.
At least 16,000 have already lost their homes he said, assuring that the UN and partners were rushing support to the affected areas, including drinking water, purification tablets, “and other critical assistance.”
He said the tragedy “was yet another example of the horrific price of war on people. The floodgates of suffering have been overflowing for more than a year, and that must stop”, along with all attacks on civilians and infrastructure.
“Above all, I appeal for a just peace, in line with the UN Charter, international law, and the resolutions of the General Assembly”, he concluded.
The Ukrainian and Russian governments blamed each other for launching an attack on the facility – according to news reports – which is under Russian control, on the southern and eastern side of the river, while Ukrainian forces control territory along the opposite bank.
Thousands of people have already been reportedly evacuated, with towns downstream inundated with water.
Misery compounded
Long-term, “many risk being left homeless and in desperate need, compounding the misery Ukrainians face amid Russia’s full-scale invasion”, said the UN Office.
In a tweet, the President of the UN General Assembly, Csaba Kőrösi, said he stood in solidarity with those suffering the effects of the disaster in the Kherson region, adding that “intentional attacks to cause long-term and severe damage to the natural environment, are war crimes.”
Ukraine.” title=”Secretary-General António Guterres (at podium) briefs reporters about the destruction in the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam in Ukraine.” loading=”lazy” width=”1024″ height=”768″/>
Secretary-General António Guterres (at podium) briefs reporters about the destruction in the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant dam in Ukraine.
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, said that civilians’ rights to housing, health and livelihoods, along with access to clean water and a health environment, were all at risk, calling for a full investigation into the disaster, and accountability.
Nuclear plant concerns
According to the UN’s nuclear watchdog, IAEA, the damage to the dam has already led to a “significant” reduction in the level of the reservoir that supplies the ZNPP.
IAEA chief Rafael Grossi warned that the “absence of cooling water in the essential cooling water systems for an extended period of time would cause fuel melt and inoperability of the plant’s emergency diesel generators”.
‘No immediate risk’
While there was no “immediate risk” to the plant’s safety, as the supply of cooling water from the reservoir “should last for a few days”, the agency’s monitors present at Zaporizhzhya, which is occupied by Russia but operated by Ukrainian civilians, continue to monitor closely the rate at which the reservoir level is falling.
Mr. Grossi also said that a “large cooling pond” next to the ZNPP could potentially provide an alternative source of water, which Ukrainian authorities confirmed later, according to news reports. But he insisted that it was “vital” that this cooling pond remains intact.
National leadership structures are critical parts of an effective anti-trafficking strategy, say participants at annual anti-trafficking meeting
STRASBOURG, 6 June 2023 – How to enhance anti-trafficking national leadership structures is the focus of the largest annual meeting of the National Anti-trafficking Co-ordinators and Rapporteurs, which has started today at the headquarters of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France.
The Office of the OSCE Special Representative and Co-ordinator for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (OSR/CTHB) and the Council of Europe (CoE) co-organized the meeting, which concludes tomorrow.
More than 130 participants, representing nearly 60 countries from the Council of Europe and OSCE regions and beyond, are gathered to discuss ways to strengthen the mandates and roles of the National Anti-Trafficking Co-ordinators and Rapporteurs (NACs and NARs), or equivalent mechanisms. NACs and NARs are critical parts of an effective national anti-trafficking strategy, preferably placed in a high-level position in government and in independent human rights bodies, to better leverage, direct, and harmonize the different instruments of the anti-trafficking efforts and maximize their impact.
“The elevated risk for exploitation today means that there is a pressing need and obligation to take action. Success in overcoming the challenges we face requires national leadership,” OSCE Secretary General Helga Maria Schmid stressed in her welcoming remarks.
“Unfortunately, States are still not doing a good enough job at identifying and protecting victims of trafficking when the data tells us that less than 1% of all trafficking victims are ever identified, and far too few of those who are identified receive the services and support they need, tailored to their specific vulnerabilities and circumstances,” added Andrea Salvoni, Acting Co-ordinator of the OSCE OSR/CTHB, in his opening remarks
“Our collective duty is to ensure that the fight against human trafficking remains at the top of the political agenda at the national, regional and international levels,” stated Maria Spassova, Vice-Chair of the Committee of the Parties to the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings. “The Reykjavik Declaration recently adopted by the Heads of State and Government of the Council of Europe emphasized the need to combat human trafficking and foster international co-operation,” she added.
“The annual meetings of national anti-trafficking co-ordinators and rapporteurs provide a platform for exchange of information and ideas, and reinforce their resolve to guide action against human trafficking in the face of new challenges and competing priorities,” concluded Petya Nestorova, Executive Secretary of the Council of Europe Anti-Trafficking Convention.
Better identifying and assisting victims of transnational trafficking, enhancing proactive use of financial investigations, understanding and addressing trafficking in human beings for the purpose of forced criminality, and ways to enhance the mandates and roles of the NACs and NARs are among the topics to be treated during the working sessions of the two-day meeting.
„Chinese Ancient Books Resources Database” is an important achievement of “Chinese Ancient Books Preservation Plan”.
At present, ancient books photocopy resources published online include rare and ancient books collected by the National Library of China (NLC), the Zhaocheng Tripitaka of the Jin Dynasty, Dunhuang Manuscripts collected by the National Library of France (NLF), etc., totaling more than 10 million pages of more than 25000 volumes.
On 28 September 2016, “Chinese Ancient Books Resources Database” was launched officially, and photocopy resources of 10975 volumes of rare books and ancient books were published online; On 28 February 2017, photocopy resources of 6284 volumes of rare books and ancient books were published online; On 28 December 2017, 1281 volumes of Zhaocheng Tripitaka of the Jin Dynasty, and photocopy resources of 1928 volumes of rare books and ancient books were published online; On 5 March, 5300 pieces of Dunhuang Manuscripts collected by the NFC were published online
China made 6,786 sets of ancient books available online, bringing the total number of digitized ancient resources to 130,000, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported at the start of the year.
The uploaded resources, including copies of woodcuts from the Ming and Qing dynasties and ancient manuscripts, were published by the National Library of China in collaboration with five other libraries across the country.
The National Library of China has collected over 100,000 pieces of new and old photos (7,000 titles). These photos can trace back to the court photography of the end of the Qing Dynasty that photography was initially introduced to China. With the era of development and social improvement, photos of different periods vividly recorded the past social events, historical figures, the urban and the rural, attractions, architecture and clothing.
Other resources also available online:
Analytical System for the Complete Song Poetry
It includes 254,240 Song poems, providing full-text search, repeated poems search, poet bibliography search, and advanced search, and supporting strict data search and mixed-mode search. It has the functions of repeated poems extraction, metrical poems annotation, frequency statistics of words and phrases, and metrical analysis of users’ poems.
Chinese Genealogy Database
It has collected 1,124 titles of genealogies of Song, Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties. Each title is made according to the original copy of rare books, with all information reserved, including tables, diagrams, and marks.
From May 29 to June 2, 175 countries reached agreement on an international treaty to combat plastic pollution.
Speaking during the opening on Monday, UNEP chief Inger Andersen bluntly stated that “we cannot recycle our way out of this mess”, adding that “only elimination, reduction, a full life-cycle approach, transparency and a just transition can bring success.”
And in his introductory speech, Emmanuel Macron described plastic pollution as “a time bomb”: “Today, we extract fossil fuels to produce plastic, which we then burn. This is ecological nonsense.
After five days of laborious negotiations, a first version will be examined in November at a meeting in Nairobi (Kenya), with a view to a definitive treaty by the end of 2024.
At the latest meeting, led by France and Brazil, the proposed resolution was adopted in plenary session at Unesco headquarters in Paris on Friday evening.
According to the text, “the International Negotiating Committee (INC) requests its chairman to prepare, with the assistance of the secretariat, a draft of the first version of the legally binding international treaty”. The negotiators, who had been meeting since Monday, were only able to get to the heart of the matter on Wednesday evening, after two days of blocking by Saudi Arabia and several Gulf countries, Russia, China, Brazil and India. This blockage was linked to the question of whether or not to resort to a two-thirds majority vote, in the event of a lack of unanimity during the future examination of a draft treaty. In a five-line statement acknowledging the divergences, the subject was postponed.
The discussions revealed contradictory approaches: on the one hand, the advocates of an ambitious agreement, who want to tackle plastic from production to disposal. The latter, led by Norway and Rwanda and including the European Union and Japan, are betting on binding targets for reducing plastic production, and on banning the most problematic uses (including single-use plastics). On the other hand, a group of countries that are major producers of oil and plastic are focusing on the issue of waste, and advocating recycling or other technological solutions to alleviate the problem. These countries, including China and the United States, are pushing for a less restrictive text.
According to the French newspaper Mediapart, 190 lobbyists tried to put the brakes on progress. They defended the interests of global giants such as Nestlé, Lego, Exxon Mobil and Coca-Cola, and French companies such as Carrefour, Michelin, Danone and Total Energies.
As well as their representatives, notably the European Plastics Europe association, behind seemingly green structures such as the Alliance to End Plastic Waste NGO (founded by the oil industry) were well represented at Unesco. But all the professional, scientific and associative observers who had turned out in force were unable to get in each day, due to lack of space.
Did you know?
More than 400 million tonnes of plastic is produced every year worldwide, half of which is designed to be used only once. Of that, less than 10 per cent is recycled.
An estimated 19-23 million tonnes end up in lakes, rivers and seas annually. That is approximately the weight of 2,200 Eiffel Towers all together.
Some 11 million tonnes of plastic waste flow annually into oceans. This may triple by 2040 and more than 800 marine and coastal species are affected by this pollution through ingestion, entanglement, and other dangers.
Microplastics – tiny plastic particles up to 5mm in diameter – find their way into food, water and air. It is estimated that each person on the planet consumes more than 50,000 plastic particles per year equivalent to a credit card –and many more if inhalation is considered.
Discarded or burnt single-use plastic harms human health and biodiversity and pollutes every ecosystem from mountain tops to the ocean floor.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama walked from the gates to his residence to the Tsuglagkhang, the Main Tibetan Temple, to give a teaching by way of celebration
Dharamsala, HP, India, 4th June 2023
Today is the full-moon day, the principal day, of Saga Dawa, the fourth month of the Tibetan lunar calendar, when Tibetans remember the birth and enlightenment of Buddha Shakyamuni. His Holiness the Dalai Lama walked from the gates to his residence to the Tsuglagkhang, the Main Tibetan Temple, to give a teaching by way of celebration. As he made his way up the middle of the temple courtyard, he walked from side to side to greet and wave to people gathered there.
Reaching the temple, he greeted a group of Theravada monks who were seated to the right of the throne and in the front row of monks before it. From the steps to the throne, His Holiness raised his folded hands to pay his respects to the Buddha and paused a moment in silent prayer. The ‘Heart Sutra’ was recited in Tibetan as he took his seat, followed by a mandala offering. Tea and bread were served.
“Today, my Dharma brothers and sisters,” His Holiness began, “is when we followers of the Buddha remember the Buddha’s attaining enlightenment.
“As it is said, ‘the Sages do not wash unwholesome deeds away with water, nor do they remove the sufferings of beings with their hands. Neither do they transplant their own realization into others. It is by teaching the truth of suchness that they liberate beings.’
“Motivated by compassion, the Buddha’s intention was to teach to lead sentient beings out of suffering. For many aeons he thought of benefiting sentient beings and ultimately became enlightened. He taught that suffering comes about as a result of causes and conditions. Those causes and conditions are not related to an external agent, such as a creator god, but come about because of sentient beings’ unruly minds. Since we tend to be overwhelmed by attachment, anger and hatred, we engage in actions and create karma, which gives rise to suffering.
“Although things are merely designated and have no objective or independent existence, they appear to exist from their own side and we grasp at that appearance of independent existence. That is to say, we grasp at a distorted view. To help beings clarify this distorted view, the Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths, that suffering must be known and its causes eradicated, cessation must be actualized by cultivating the path.
“He also taught that suffering occurs on different levels of subtlety: the suffering of suffering, the suffering of change and existential suffering. The direct causes and conditions of suffering lie in our actions and mental afflictions. Our distorted view that things have an objective, independent existence is at the root of our mental afflictions. The Buddha taught that, contrary to this, all phenomena are devoid of a substantial core or essence—they are empty of inherent existence. Understanding this acts as a counter force, and the better we understand it the more our mental afflictions are reduced.”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama addressing the congregation gathered to attend his Saga Dawa teaching at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, HP, India on June 4, 2023. Photo by Tenzin Choejor
His Holiness took up the ‘Eight Verses for Training the Mind’, He pointed out that most of us are subject to pride and arrogance, but this text advises us not to see ourselves as better or superior to other people. The second verse says: ‘Whenever I’m in the company of others, may I regard myself as inferior to all.’ Other human beings, he pointed out, are just like us; they have faults too, but that’s no reason to dismiss or feel disdain for them. If you think of yourself as lower than everyone else, you’ll sow the seed of greater qualities. Humility leads to high status.
The next verse advises, “Don’t let yourself be overcome by mental afflictions.” The Buddha and the great masters who came after him showed how to overcome negative emotions.
“After Buddhism came to Tibet,” His Holiness remarked, “several different traditions arose, such as the Sakya, Nyingma, Kagyu and the Kadampas following the great Indian master, Atisha. The Kadampa masters were renowned for their humility. One of them, the author of these ‘Eight Verses’, Geshé Langri Thangpa was known as Lang-thang with the long face. He wept at the plight of sentient beings. His cultivation of bodhichitta, the awakening mind, was such that he was determined to be of help to others. I recite these verses of his every day.
“As the third verse says, whatever you’re doing and wherever you are, when negative emotions or mental afflictions arise, counter them. When others criticize or abuse you, don’t think of retaliating, offer the victory to them.
“Where the sixth verse says if someone does great wrong by harming you, see them as an excellent spiritual friend, it means that instead of being angry with them, generate compassion. There are communist leaders in China who criticize me and condemn Tibetan culture, but they act this way out of ignorance, short-sightedness and narrow-mindedness—that’s why I feel compassion for them.
“Verse seven says, ‘may I take all their harm and pain secretly upon myself’ and refers to discreetly engaging in the practice of giving and taking quietly in your heart. Finally, verse eight concludes, ‘May I see all things like illusions and, without attachment, gain freedom from bondage.’”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama commenting on ‘Eight Verses for Training the Mind’, the subject of his Saga Dawa teaching at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, HP, India on June 4, 2023. Photo by Tenzin Choejor
His Holiness asked, “What is the main cause of a Buddha? —bodhichitta, the altruistic mind of enlightenment. On the basis of such a mind, the Buddha accumulated merit and wisdom for three countless aeons. Because of bodhichitta he became enlightened. We too should make bodhichitta our principal practice.
“As soon as I wake in the morning, I generate bodhichitta, which often brings tears to my eyes too. The Buddha’s key message was to cultivate bodhichitta. The point is not just to overcome our mental afflictions, but to reach the end of the path by attaining enlightenment.
“When you have bodhichitta, you feel at ease. Anger, hatred and jealousy subside, consequently you can be relaxed and sleep soundly. As people with faith in Avalokiteshvara, you can think of him at the crown of your head, aspire to develop qualities like his and then fall peacefully asleep.
“The Buddha taught the Four Noble Truths, the Perfection of Wisdom and the nature of the mind, but the essence of all his teachings is the altruistic mind of bodhichitta. If he was to appear among us today, his advice would be the same, develop the awakening mind of bodhichitta. All of us want to be happy and to avoid or to overcome suffering. The way to bring that about is to cultivate bodhichitta. Think of all sentient beings across the expanse of space and aspire to become a Buddha for all of them.”
His Holiness the Dalai Lama joining in prayers at the conclusion of his Saga Dawa teaching at the Main Tibetan Temple in Dharamsala, HP, India on June 4, 2023. Photo by Tenzin Choejor
His Holiness led the congregation in reciting the following verse three times to formally cultivate bodhichitta:
I seek refuge until I am enlightened In the Buddha, the Dharma, and the Supreme Assembly, Through the collection of merit achieved by giving and other (perfections) May I achieve Buddhahood in order to benefit all sentient beings.
“The Buddha is our teacher,” he observed, “and it’s because he had Buddha-nature that he was able to train in the path and become a fully awakened being. We too have Buddha-nature and through study and practice can overcome all obstacles to attain enlightenment as he did. If we cultivate bodhichitta steadily, our lives will become worthwhile, meaningful and we can feel at ease—and that’s all for today.”
The Chant-master led a number of prayers that included the thanksgiving mandala, a prayer to the Dharma protectors, a prayer for the flourishing of the Dharma and the Prayer of the Words of Truth.
Having stepped down from the throne, His Holiness came to the edge of the platform and led a threefold recitation of the verse from the end of Jé Tsongkhapa’s ‘Great Treatise on the Stages to the Path to Enlightenment’:
“Wherever the Buddha’s teaching has not spread And wherever it has spread but has declined May I, moved by great compassion, clearly elucidate This treasury of excellent benefit and happiness for all.
This he followed with the last two verses of the Prayer of the Words of Truth:
Thus, the protector Chenrezig made vast prayers Before the Buddhas and Bodhisattvas To fully embrace the Land of Snows; May the good results of these prayers now quickly appear. By the profound interdependence of emptiness and relative forms,
Together with the force of great compassion in the Three Jewels and their Words of Truth, And through the power of the infallible law of actions and their fruits, May this truthful prayer be unhindered and quickly fulfilled.
Smiling and waving to members of the audience, His Holiness continued to repeat the final verse as he walked from the temple towards his residence.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama greeting a group of Theravada monks as he arrives inside the Main Tibetan Temple for his teaching commemorating the Buddha’s birth and enlightenment in Dharamsala, HP, India on June 4, 2023. Photo by Tenzin Choejor
Organized under the theme, Realizing the dream: A UN declaration on the promotion, protection and full respect of the human rights of people of African descent, the Permanent Forum heard from experts and leaders from around the world, including Ms. Nascimento, explaining the challenges they have faced, and the dreams they have for the future.
Her dream is for Black women to “break away from the madness” and “have the power and possibility to decide”.
Activist Valdecir Nascimento at the second session of the Permanent Forum on People of African Descent.
“My whole life has been dedicated to the racial struggle. My encounter with the Black movement was a turning point for me. I was 19 or 20 years old when I found the movement.
I went looking for a barber shop to cut all my hair because my straight hair no longer fit me. I could not continue with those aesthetics after what the movement told me.
My whole life is attached to this relationship: the existence of the Black movement, as a subject.
I was born in the stilt houses of Alagados in Bahia during the first stilt house occupation in Latin America. What brought me to the global level was essentially being born in that place, and knowing that you are born fighting.
If the real colonized Brazil was born in the northeast, we experienced processes, including the liberation and autonomy struggle, much earlier on than in the southeast.
When the resources come and if resources are limited, they get taken away. Resources are not always distributed based on regional struggles. Resources also get distributed according to narratives folks want to hear. And I used to say, and I used to talk to Nilma Mendes, who is a colleague from Belém do Pará, from those days in the 1980s.
She used to ask me, ‘Val, how many enemies do you make a day?’ I said to her, with my eyes filled with tears, that where I came from, I learned that we can’t just let anyone walk all over us.
Empowering Black Women: Valdecir Nascimento’s Vision for Equality
‘This is my dream’
Part of my dreams for Black women of today, still have not come true the way I would like, but they slowly are.
I want Black women of today to break away from this madness that we are all goddesses, and we need to come up with all solutions for the world.
We are not all goddesses and don’t need to come up with all solutions for the world. We can enjoy life, and life can be the simplest thing in the world, but I want us to have the power and possibility to decide.
This is my dream.”
Poster for a meeting on Black rights in Brazil in 1987.
Of this number, 2.4 million “have needs so severe and complex that their survival and dignity is at risk,” Mohamed Ag Ayoya, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in the CAR, told journalists in Geneva.
The conflict in neighbouring Sudan has further exacerbated needs, and a $465 million humanitarian plan for the country was amended to include support for some 25,000 Sudanese and CAR nationals fleeing the fighting, as well as local communities hosting them.
“Our priority remains assisting the most vulnerable sections of the Central African society,” he said. “In addition, we will continue to support those suffering from the consequences of the conflict in Sudan, both from the displaced and host community.”
Mr. Ag Ayoya provided a background to the humanitarian crisis in the CAR.
Repeated military confrontations between various armed groups have uprooted one in five people from their homes, forcing them to find refuge elsewhere in the country or across the border.
Flooding last year also affected more than 100,000 people, almost three times more than on previous occasions, and more than 6,000 homes were destroyed.
“The country is also marked by decades of lack of investments in adequate socio-economic infrastructures, services and livelihoods,” he added.
“Basic services are often unavailable to the population, worsening people’s living conditions and eroding their resilience to the point that a large majority is forced to adopt negative coping mechanisms.”
A ‘devastating human cost’
As a result, three out of five citizens lack access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and only 55 per cent of children complete elementary school.
There is also a “devastating human cost” as every hour, two women or girls fall victim to gender-based violence. Nearly 5,000 cases were reported in the first quarter of the year alone.
War and pandemic pressures
The humanitarian situation has worsened due to the conflict in neighbouring Sudan, he reported. Vulnerable families were already finding it hard to meet their basic needs due to the combined impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the fallout from the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
“The arrival of nearly 14,000 Sudanese asylum seekers and Central African repatriates in the northeast, as well as the end of commercial traffic across the border, puts additional pressure on the limited resources available to the 130,000 extremely vulnerable people in the region,” Mr. Ag Ayoya said.
Racing against time
He also highlighted the difficulties in delivering humanitarian aid in the CAR, which “is often a race against time and a volatile security situation.”
During the rainy season, large parts of the country are inaccessible by road, requiring air lifts, while “since 2022, approximately every second day, an aid worker experiences violence or a security incident.”
Despite these challenges, humanitarian partners continue to find ways to support vulnerable communities, he said.
Mobilizing for emergencies
They reached nearly two million people in 2022, or more than 90 per cent of those targeted, and 658,000 people during the first three months of this year alone.
Aid partners are also quick to mobilize in the face of emergencies, he added.
“In the first few weeks after the start of to the conflict in Sudan, humanitarian partners prepositioned 155 tons of emergency cargo in the northeast ahead of the start of the rainy season and have since distributed live-saving assistance,” he said.
An addendum to the 2023 Humanitarian Response Plan for the CAR was also developed.
This was done to reflect additional budgetary needs of $69 million to assist some 25,000 people fleeing the fighting – both Sudanese citizens and returning nationals – and roughly 25,000 members of host communities.
Omar Harfouch, leader of the initiative ‘Third Lebanese Republic’ and anti-corruption fighter, has denounced the anti-Semitic decision of the Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, to cancel the Lebanese State’s contract with French lawyers seeking to recover the Lebanese funds looted by the political class, passed illegally and hidden in European banks, recently frozen, because one of the lawyers belonged to the Jewish religion.
The leader of the initiative « the Third Lebanease Republic « and anti-corruption fighter, denounces the anti-Semitic decision of the Lebanese Prime Minister, Najib Mikati, to cancel the Lebanese State’s contract with French lawyers seeking to recover the Lebanese funds looted by the political class, passed illegally and hidden in European banks, recently frozen, because one of the lawyers belonged to the Jewish religion.
For Harfouch, the whole world must shed light on the racist, sectarian and anti-Semitic Lebanese laws which pursue any Lebanese woman or man if he communicates, treats or is by chance next to a Jewess or a Jew anywhere in the world, and it is completely against human rights, according to the UN.
Ahmadi spokesperson interviewed by Willy Fautre for The European Times (about members of the "Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light")
On 24 May, over 100 members of the Ahmadi Religion – women, children and elderly people – from seven Muslim-majority countries, where they are considered heretics, presented themselves at the Turkish-Bulgarian border to lodge a claim for asylum with the Bulgarian Border Police but they were denied access to it by the Turkish authorities.
A few days later, a Turkish court released a deportation order concerning over 100 members of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light from seven countries. Many of them, especially in Iran, will face imprisonment and may be executed if they are sent back to their country of origin. On 2 June, the lawyers of the group lodged an appeal.
Willy Fautré interviewed Ms Hadil El Khouli, the spokesperson of the Ahmadi asylum-seekers, for The European Times. Hadil El Khouli is a member of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light community in London and she is the human rights outreach coordinator at the religion.
European Times: For several days, over 100 Ahmadis from seven countries have been stuck at the border between Turkey and Bulgaria. What is their situation?
Hadil El Khouli: I woke up on horrible news this morning that literally made my stomach turn.
Just as we filed an appeal yesterday against a deportation order by Turkish authorities to return 104 members of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light, reports emerged of physical violence, torture and threats of sexual violence by the Turkish police in Edirne, against our members in detention.
A health report put together by the legal team representing the group shows that 32 out of 104 members in detention reported injuries and bruises from the beating, including 10 women and 3 children.
European Times: How did you get to know the testimony of one of the victims?
Hadil El Khouli: Through a leaked audio recording from inside detention, Puria Lotfiinallou, a 26-year-old Iranian youth, recounts harrowing details of the severe beatings he and other members endured.
Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light – Puria Lotfiinallou is on the right. He was threatened with sexual violence by the Turkish Gendarmerie – Photos provided by Hadil El Khouli
He said:
“They hit me and knocked my head on the ground. They took me to the police station, pulled my hair, hit me on the ground several times and beat me.”
Physical violence was not the only form of abuse the group was exposed to. Puria then proceeded to narrate how Turkish Gendarmerie threatened him with sexual violence, asking him to perform oral sex on him, and saying that they would kill him if he tells anyone.
He said:
“Then they took me to the bathroom and here he told me that you should give me a blow job…they told us to falsely say that we are fine and if we don’t say that we are fine, we will hit you and kill you.”
As Puria’s disturbing account was heard over the phone, I could not get his voice out of my mind, a visible stutter could be heard out of fear and shock of what he witnessed.
European Times: What sort of violence were other Ahmadis subjected to?
Hadil El Khouli: Puria also added how even the most vulnerable people were not spared. Elderly men and women with bad health conditions, were beaten until they fell unconscious.
“They treat us like prisoners. Where I was, they beat a 75-year-old man and bruised his leg, and they didn’t even spare an old man. They even took sister Zahra (51 years old) and beat her. She fell unconscious on the ground and her condition was bad, but no one was even looking at her.”
Puria’s account is just one of many we have been receiving over the past few days from men and women of various ages and nationalities, showing Turkish authorities’ deliberate targeting of our members in detention. It is an outrageous violation of international human rights law, international refugee law and freedom of religion.
European Times:What do the Ahmadi asylum-seekers risk if they are sent back to their country of origin?
Hadil El Khouli: The 104 asylum seekers, including 27 women and 22 children from over seven different countries, come from Muslim-majority countries where they are considered heretics and infidels. They are at risk of cruel and inhumane treatment, imprisonment and even death sentence in a country like Iran if Turkey deports them back to their countries of origin.
European Times: How do the Turkish and foreign media cover this issue?
Hadil El Khouli: The tragedy of this pressing situation is being made worse by the media’s absence on the spot and lack of reporting on this issue. There was however a Scottish journalist who tried to cover the issue. He was beaten by the police and detained.
We have been struggling to get international media’s attention to properly report on such an urgent humanitarian crisis. The Turkish state media is reporting false news accusing the journalist of being an agent and a spy for the UK.
Turkey must be held accountable for these grave human rights abuses, the perpetrators must be prosecuted, reparations must be delivered and justice must be served for the victims.
EDITORIAL NOTE: Shall anyone seek contact with Ms. Hadil El Khouli, her contact are: [email protected] or +44 7443 106804
