WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was delivering his report to the 76th World Health Assembly, the UN agency’s decision-making body, which is meeting this week.
“The end of COVID-19 as a global health emergency is not the end of COVID-19 as a global health threat,” Tedros told Member States.
“The threat of another variant emerging that causes new surges of disease and death remains, and the threat of another pathogen emerging with even deadlier potential remains.”
Furthermore, in the face of overlapping and converging crises, “pandemics are far from the only threat we face”, he added, underscoring the need for effective global mechanisms that address and respond to emergencies of all kinds.
“When the next pandemic comes knocking – and it will – we must be ready to answer decisively, collectively, and equitably,” he advised.
Health targets impacted
Tedros said COVID-19 had significant implications for health-related targets under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which have a deadline of 2030.
The pandemic also affected progress towards the Triple Billion targets, announced at the 2017 World Health Assembly.
The five-year initiative calls for ensuring one billion more people have universal health coverage, a billion more are better protected from health emergencies, and another billion more enjoy better health and wellbeing.
Action on SDGs
Tedros reported that countries have made progress on universal health coverage, with some 477 million people now benefitting. However, he warned that if current trends continue, fewer than half the world’s people will be covered by the end of the decade, “meaning we must at least double the pace”.
COVID-19 also showed that eight billion people – basically everyone on the planet – need to be better protected in emergencies.
“The pandemic has blown us off course, but it has shown us why the SDGs must remain our north star, and why we must pursue them with the same urgency and determination with which we countered the pandemic,” he said.
Promoting health, preventing disease
Tedros also highlighted several achievements that have been made over the past year in what he called the “five Ps”: promoting, providing, protecting, powering, and performing for health.
Countries have taken action to promote health by preventing disease and addressing their root causes, for example. Between 2017 and 2022, 133 governments increased or introduced a new tax on products that harm health, such as tobacco and sugary drinks.
“We also see encouraging progress in eliminating industrially-produced trans-fat from the global food supply,” he said. “Many countries have also made impressive progress in reducing salt intake, a leading risk factor for cardiovascular disease.”
Stamp out polio
On protection, Tedros noted that with the end of COVID-19 and mpox as global public health emergencies, only polio now remains.
Following an all-time low of five wild poliovirus cases in 2021, numbers increased last year, with 20 cases in Pakistan, two in Afghanistan, and eight in Mozambique.
He stressed that WHO and partners “remain steadfastly committed to finishing the job of consigning polio to history”.
The Sustainable Development Goals are a blueprint to achieve a better and more sustainable future for all.
New pandemic accord
Tedros concluded his remarks by urging countries to “pick up the pace of progress” on the Triple Billion and health-related SDG targets.
He called for urgent and constructive negotiations on the new global pandemic accord and the International Health Regulations (IHR), the treaty that governs preparedness and response to health emergencies, “so the world will never again have to face the devastation of a pandemic like COVID-19”.
He also asked countries to support a 20 per cent increase in their contributions to support the work of WHO.
Abyei is a disputed and resource-rich area between Sudan and South Sudan, which is claimed by both sides. The Security Council authorized the deployment of a peacekeeping force there in 2011, as tensions rose ahead of South Sudan’s formal declaration of independence.
UNISFA works to strengthen the capacity of police service, in support of the 2011 agreement, and facilitates the delivery of humanitarian aid, the free movement of aid workers, and provides protection for civilians under threat.
Created in 2016, the Military Gender Advocate of the Year Awardrecognizes the dedication and efforts of an individual military peacekeeper in promoting the principles of the landmark UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace and Security.
“Resolution 1325 reminds us that our women peacekeepers are not only supporting global peace and security. They are leading the way. By every measure, Captain Cecilia Erzuah of Ghana is one of those leaders,” said Secretary-General António Guterres.
“On every front, Captain Erzuah’s work has set the standard for ensuring that the needs and concerns of women are reflected across our peacekeeping operations.”
UNISFA’s Ghanaian Engagement Platoon Commander, Captain Cecilia Erzuah, has been named the UN’s Military Gender Advocate of the Year for 2022.
‘An award for all of us’
Captain Erzuah expressed her gratitude for being selected to receive the prize which she called “an award for all of us,” referring to her platoon members.
An advocate for gender equality and community engagement, Capt. Erzuah made sure that her 22-strong platoon, composed equally of men and women, conducted regular patrols and outreach to local leaders as well as women’s and youth groups, to better understand and address community concerns and needs.
Together with civilian UN colleagues, she has also hosted discussions on domestic violence, gender equality and childcare, resulting in an increase in the number of women enlisted in Community Protection Committees, which were initially male dominated.
The engagement with community members led to improved early warning about threats of violence against civilians and broader security issues.
Monthly walks
The monthly market walks she initiated with her battalion also contributed to building strong and enduring relationships between traders, local residents and the UN.
In January this year, following a spike in community violence in Majbong, a village in southeast Abyei, Captain Erzuah’s platoon stepped up its presence, regularly checking on the plight of displaced people in the volatile area and enabling the Mission to provide necessary support.
Community members, who had sought sanctuary from the fighting in the surrounding bush, gradually began returning to their homes in the village and women reported feeling much safer. “The mixed patrols are…boosting the confidence of members of the community to go about daily activities safely,” said Deng Paul Mankuol, a traditional chief in Majbong.
Captain Erzuah is the first Ghanaian peacekeeper, and the first recipient from a contingent or a unit, to receive this prestigious award.
Ghana is currently the largest contributor of women military peacekeepers to the United Nations with 375 now deployed.
“On the International Day for Biological Diversity, we reflect on our relationship with humanity’s life-support system, from the air we breathe and the food we eat, to the energy that fuels us and the medicines that heal us, our lives are wholly dependent on healthy ecosystems,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said.
“Yet, our actions are devastating every corner of the planet: 1 million species are at risk of extinction, the result of habitat degradation, skyrocketing pollution, and the worsening climate crisis.”
While there is a growing recognition that biological diversity is a global asset of tremendous value to future generations, the number of species is being significantly reduced by certain human activities from illegal logging to poaching wildlife.
Biological diversity is often understood in terms of the wide variety of plants, animals, and microorganisms, but it also includes genetic differences within each species.
In a delicate balance, biodiversity reflects differences between varieties of crops and breeds of livestock as well as the variety of such ecosystems as lakes, forests, deserts, and agricultural landscapes, that host myriad interactions among their human, plant, and animal guests.
But, the loss of biodiversity threatens all, including health. It has been proven that biodiversity loss could expand zoonoses – diseases transmitted from animals to humans. Keeping biodiversity intact offers excellent tools to fight against pandemics like those caused by coronaviruses.
Promises made must be kept
A total of 196 nations have ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity, which is the international legal instrument for “the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising out of the utilization of genetic resources”.
Marking an important step forward, the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, adopted in 2022, saw all parties committing to setting national targets to implement it. At the forthcoming Conference of the Parties in 2024 in Türkiye, the world will take stock of the targets and commitments that have been set.
The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) and partners launched an online platform for non-governmental groups’ commitments from around the world, from a rain forest protection project in Côte d’Ivoire to a marine conservation effort in Cambodia. To date, 212 commitments have been pledged.
The Incredible Dolphin Airlift – Saved by a Helicopter!
Turning agreements into action
“Our actions are devastating every corner of the planet: 1 million species are at risk of extinction, the result of habitat degradation, skyrocketing pollution, and the worsening climate crisis.” – UN Secretary-General António Guterres
“Now is the time to move from agreement to action,” Mr. Guterres said.
It also means recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, the strongest guardians of the world’s biodiversity, and pushing governments and businesses to take stronger and faster action against biodiversity loss and the climate crisis, the UN chief said.
“Let us work together across governments, civil society, and the private sector to secure a sustainable future for all,” he said.
Learn more about what the UN is doing to help the environment here.
Did you know?
🌳 Current negative trends in biodiversity and ecosystems will undermine progress towards 80 per cent of the assessed targets of eight Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
🌳 Three quarters of the land-based environment and about 66 per cent of the marine environment have been significantly altered by human actions.
🌳 1 million animal and plant species are now threatened with extinction.
🌳 Poaching and illegal trade contribute directly to the extinction of many species.
🌳 Illegal logging is estimated to account for between 10 and 30 per cent of the global timber trade.
🌳 Fish provide 20 per cent of animal protein to about 3 billion people.
🌳 More than 80 per cent of the human diet is provided by plants.
🌳 Nearly 80 per cent of people living in rural areas in developing countries rely on traditional plant‐based medicines for basic healthcare.
“#biodiversity is the complex web on which human existence depends” – Inger Andersen, UNEP
More than seven million children under the age of five remain malnourished and in need of urgent nutrition aid, and over 1.9 million boys and girls* are at risk of dying from severe malnutrition.
As the region comes out of one of the worst droughts in 40 years, vulnerable communities have lost cattle, crops, and entire livelihoods over the past three years of failed rains.
“The crisis in the Horn has been devastating for children,” said Mohamed Fall, UNICEF Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa.
“Over the past three years, communities have been forced to take extreme measures to survive, with millions of children and families leaving their homes out of pure desperation in search of food and water. This crisis has deprived children of the essentials of childhood – having enough to eat, a home, safe water, and going to school.”
While the rains postponed the worst, they have also led to floods, as the extremely thirsty ground is unable to absorb large quantities of water, leading to further displacement, increased risk of disease, livestock loss and crop damage.
In Somalia, the rains have caused floods that have damaged homes, farmland, and roads, as well as washed away livestock and led to closures of schools and health facilities.
Initial estimates indicate that the flash and riverine floods across the country have affected at least 460,470 people, of whom nearly 219,000 have been displaced from their homes mainly in flood-prone areas, and 22 killed.
Floods have also caused widespread destruction and displacement in several regions of Ethiopia.
The flooding has deepened the vulnerability of populations already highly affected by the drought as the areas hit hardest by flooding and drought overlap.
The floods have also worsened health risks, including cholera, with the current outbreak among the longest ever recorded in Ethiopia.
“The rains have brought some relief and hope, but also new threats, and recovery doesn’t happen overnight,” said Mr. Fall. “It takes time for crops and herds to grow again, for families to recover from years of hardship. That’s why continued support is still critical.”
Domino effect
Across the region, 23 million people are facing high levels of acute food insecurity in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Somalia. The number of severely malnourished children seeking treatment in the first quarter of this year remains much higher than last year and will likely remain high for quite a while.
On top of nutrition needs, extreme weather, insecurity, and scarcity have also had devastating consequences for women and children, worsening the risk of gender-based violence (GBV), sexual exploitation and abuse.
A path to recovery
Major outbreaks including cholera, measles, malaria, and other diseases are ongoing across the region, worsened by extreme weather conditions and fragile health systems. Food prices remain high in local markets, burdening children, and families. The climate crisis is compounding the severity of the situation, worsening mass displacement, malnutrition, and disease.
Mr. Fall underlined the need for greater funding. Thanks to donor support, UNICEF was able to provide services for the prevention of malnutrition to over 30 million children and mothers in 2022.
“This year, further flexible funding will not just help children recover from a crisis of this magnitude, but also go towards developing more resilient, sustainable systems for children in the region, that can withstand future climate impacts and other shocks,” he said.
“With the extreme weather cycles that we see today in the Horn of Africa, the next crisis may hit before children and families have had a chance to recover,” he added.
The state of emergency was first approved in March 2022, and initially for a month, but has been renewed ever since, generating a wave of mass incarceration.
The experts called for the measure to be lifted immediately and for the Government to review the sweeping new powers introduced to tackle the country’s gang problem.
“The state of emergency was declared following a series of gang-related killings. Despite its obligation to protect citizens from such atrocious acts, the Government cannot trample on fair trial rights in the name of public safety,” they said in a statement.
The UN experts urged the authorities to ensure that people are not arrested on mere suspicion of gang membership or association without sufficient legal authorization.
Detainees should also be afforded all fundamental safeguards required under international human rights law and guaranteed due process.
Many arbitrary detentions
They noted that in September 2022, official figures indicated some 58,000 people had been detained. An Executive Decree issued six months later put the number at “more than 67,000”.
Information received indicates that many of these detentions are arbitrary, and some constitute short-term enforced disappearances, according to the experts.
“The prolonged state of emergency, together with legislation allowing for greater surveillance, broader prosecution, and faster determination of guilt and sentencing carries the risk of mass violations of the right to a fair trial,” they added. “Those caught up in the Government’s dragnet in El Salvador must be given their rights.”
They expressed concern about the Government’s reliance on the concept of “permanent flagrant crime” to influence warrantless arrests of people suspected of being gang members.
Mass hearings, ‘faceless judges’
Initial court hearings were reportedly held in groups of up to 500 people. Furthermore, public defenders have been given some three to four minutes to present the cases of 400 to 500 detainees at a time, and mass trials have also been reported.
“Mass hearings and trials – often conducted virtually – undermine the exercise of the right to defence and the presumption of innocence of detainees,” the experts said.
“The excessive use of pre-trial detention, the prohibition of alternative measures, trials in absentia, and the possibility of using practices such as ‘faceless judges’ and reference witnesses all undermine due process guarantees.”
Families also affected
Thousands of families have also been severely affected economically, the experts added, as they have had to incur additional costs to defend their relatives and provide for their wellbeing, health, and safety.
They said the measures threaten to criminalize people who happen to live in the most impoverished areas and who have themselves been targeted by gangs in the past.
The experts warned that the level of disruption and interference in the justice system risks limiting access to justice for all Salvadorans.
“It leads to undue delays in both civil and criminal cases, has a negative impact on guarantees of due process, protection against torture and of the right to life, and may lead to increased overcrowding in places of detention,” they said.
FECRIS is the European Federation of Centers for Research and Information on Sects and Cults, an umbrella organization funded by the French government, that gathers and coordinates “anti-cult” organizations throughout Europe and beyond. It has been the subject of several of our articles recently, for their support of the Russian propaganda against Ukraine, which had started far before the current invasion of Ukraine, but recently culminated through their Russian representatives.
In France, FECRIS is currently on trial, following a lawsuit filed by an NGO with UN consultative status named CAP Freedom of Conscience. The UN NGO is asking the Court of Marseille to disband FECRIS, due to its illegal activities, which include their support to their Russian members which are rabid attackers of Ukraine.
Feeling under scrutiny since the beginning of the war in Ukraine, FECRIS had first hidden from their website the names of their Russian associations. But that did not prevent 82 Ukrainian prominent scholars to write to President Macron asking for the end of FECRIS funding by the French government. So recently, FECRIS has merely taken off the whole list of its members from its website. Meanwhile, the Russian Orthodox “anticultist” and anti-Ukrainian attacker Alexander Dvorkin was still part of the board of FECRIS, after having been its vice-president for 12 years, a kind of thorn in the side of FECRIS, struggling with its court case and its international catastrophic reputation.
A few days ago, a new list was put on their website, which of course did not mention anymore any Russian member-association. But interestingly enough, the list which contained 57 associations before the war, is now made of only 19 members… It’s a definite downfall. The listing is preceded by a warning: “any association (and its members) not included in this list is not or no longer part of FECRIS”. Does that mean that FECRIS is terminatedly shrinking, or that its 57 members where fake? That is what we wanted to understand.
Members “not authorized” to answer
So, we wrote to all current and “former” members of FECRIS asking a few questions about these new changes. Most of our requests remained unanswered, including with the President of FECRIS Belgian deputy André Frédéric, but we got a very few, but insightful, responses.
An Italian association which had been unlisted, S.O.S. ANTIPLAGIO, answered that they were not aware of having been unlisted and had not been warned in advance about it.
The Treasurer of FECRIS Didier Pachoud refused to answer and said that he would prefer that the answers come from the President of FECRIS. He said that he forwarded him the questions (which I had already sent) but I never heard back from the President.
The former President of FECRIS, Friedrich Griess, started by answering that he was not authorized to answer. Authorized by whom? I insisted politely and asked him what he thought of the numerous statements of Alexander Dvorkin and other Russian members of FECRIS regarding the war in Ukraine and the fact that Ukraine would be run by « cultists » manipulated by the West. He finally told me that he “was aware of the situation”, that he did “not support in any way the politics of Mr. Putin” and was “very unhappy about the actual situation because” he is “a good friend of Mr. Dvorkin”.
Finally the director of A.V.P.I.M. – Association des Victimes des Pratiques Illégales de la Médecine, Belgium, made an interesting answer. He explained to me that he was not in contact with FECRIS for 15 years, so before Alexander Dvorkin became the Vice President of FECRIS, and added that he had never been an active member of FECRIS. As his association was prominently featured as affiliated on FECRIS website in 2022, that triggered some curiosity.
So I randomly assessed some of the 38 associations that have been unlisted.
Fake members or disaffected ones
One of them, a Swedish group called Föreningen Rädda Individen (“Save the Individual Association”), had their website disappear end of 2020, and their last articles at this date were from 2017. So it looks that the association was not active for the last 6 years whilst it stayed on the FECRIS member list until recently.
Another one, NSS, National Spiritual Security of Armenia, had a website address that sends you directly to the National Security Service of Armenia, the main intelligence service of the country. Does that mean that FECRIS is actively working with that intelligence service, as they did with the FSB and other intelligence services in many states? God knows. But for sure, this “member”, whether it never existed or was really the Armenian intelligence service, had a taste of fake.
The association listed under the name S.A.D.K. – Schweizerische Arbeitsgemeinschaft gegen destruktive Kulte, in Switzerland, was in fact an Evangelical Center of Information, which for the French FECRIS, may taste a bit unsecular.
One of the disappeared associations, Sektenberatung Bremen (“Cult Advice of Bremen”), from Germany, seemed to be a one-man operation, has no website and since the late 90s there is no news about it anywhere.
Association of Religious Study Centers, in Kazakhstan, had only a Facebook page which does not exist anymore at least since 2021. It was never scanned by Web.archive.org before.
A French FECRIS association named Attention Enfants (“Beware Children”) had their website vanished after May 2021. At this date, the last article on the website was dated 2006.
A Lithuanian association named C.P.B.- Cult Prevention Bureau never had any website, and no activity of such an association can be found on the internet, even in Lithuanian. Did it ever exist? Here again, God knows.
As we already explained in November, the Dneprpetrovsk City Center for the help to Victims of Destructive Cults “Dialogue”, in Ukraine, “has not published one line on their website since 2011. It looks like this member association stopped its activity more than 10 years ago but still remains on the FECRIS website to increase the number of members.” FECRIS had tried to defend itself against the accusations of being pro-Russian by stating they had Ukrainian members, but in fact one of them was not active for 10 years, and the other one was a pro-Russian Ukrainian operation.
A Norwegian FECRIS association called Foreningen Redd Individet (“Save the Individual Association”) had no website and can’t be found anywhere on Internet, at least with rapid research, besides being listed on FECRIS associated websites. Maybe it existed nevertheless, but before the existence of Internet…
Infosec, in Moldova: No activity, no website. On the website of the unlisted FECRIS group Pancyprian Parents Union, in Cyprus, the last publications are dated 2010. In Sweden, RAM – Riksorganisationen Aktiva mot Manipulering (“National Organization Active Against Manipulation”) has no website and no activity. Then the Ukrainian association named U.N.I.A. – Ukrainian Network “InterAction”, got their website disappearing in 2014, but even then, no article had been posted since June 2010.
Faking the list
No need to continue further. There are in fact two groups that have been unlisted from FECRIS website: one is the group of Russian members, whom FECRIS has supported for more than a decade and only disappeared when the risk for FECRIS reputation became too big for keeping them aboard. Through them, FECRIS has been an active supporter of Russian propaganda against Ukraine. Russian members had their main leader, Alexander Dvorkin, as Vice President of FECRIS until 2021 and he was member of the board until March 2023. FECRIS has never made any public statement to denounce the anti-Ukrainian activities of its members, and on the opposite, they have condoned their propaganda for years, inviting them to speak at their annual symposiums, along with official members of the French and Belgian governments.
The other group, maybe the biggest, is made of associations which in fact had stopped their activity long ago, if they ever had any. FECRIS was keeping them in the member list for one reason: look bigger when they were begging for subsidies from the French government.
In addition, the protocol states a temporary reset of the tariff rate for bananas
Bananas may become a “socially important product” in Russia, and import duties may be temporarily removed, the “Izvestia” newspaper reports, referring to the minutes of a meeting of the Russian government commission on economic development, chaired by the minister of economic development Maxim Reshetnikov.
“The Ministry of Economic Development to ensure the study of the issue of the possibility of classifying bananas as a socially significant commodity under the working group on customs regulation and countermeasures in foreign trade,” said the document, which is available to the publication approved by First Deputy Prime Minister Andrey Belousov.
In addition, the protocol states a temporary reset of the customs rate for bananas, which is now 4%, but not less than 0.015 euros per 1 kg. Imports of bananas to the Russian Federation in recent years amounted to 1.3-1.5 million tons per year, and Ecuador is one of the largest suppliers. However, as the publication notes, its supply to the Russian Federation in 2022 has decreased by 4.54 million boxes (each – 18.14 kg), which provoked an increase in retail prices of bananas.
“Rospotrebnadzor is considering a proposal to classify bananas as a socially significant commodity. This proposal is currently being developed,” the ministry explained.
Photo by Aleksandar Pasaric: https://www.pexels.com/photo/copy-space-photo-of-yellow-bananas-2872755/
The former “Ataturk” airport in Istanbul has opened its doors to visitors as the largest public park in the country, reported “Daily Sabah”.
The new park, built on the territory of the former international airport, covers an area of about two square kilometers. Its construction began in May 2022 and is already 95 percent complete, Minister of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change Murat Kurum said.
The park offers zero waste workshops, playgrounds, libraries, concert halls, places for family activities and more.
The city park also features an area representing the conquest of Constantinople, consisting of over 145,000 trees, including 350-year-old olive trees and 50-60-year-old linden and plane trees.
The former airport-turned-urban park features a 2.5-kilometer man-made stream, observation decks, picnic and rest areas, and bike and pedestrian paths.
The city park will be accessible from nine entry points. Greenhouses have also been created in it, where citizens will be able to benefit from the organic products grown in the park.
The Ministry of Environment, Urban Planning and Climate Change has so far opened 15 national parks in Istanbul, and the construction of another 27 national parks is ongoing. The creation of 314 public gardens is underway across the country, with the ministry aiming to achieve 200 sq km of green space by 2028.
Photo: The original terminal at Yeşilköy in April 1970 by Victor Albert Grigas (1919-2017).
The Berdyansk diocese of the UOC, located in the Russian-occupied Zaporozhye region, was taken away from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church by an official decision of the Synod of the Moscow Patriarchate. The decision states “to accept the Berdyan Diocese in direct canonical and administrative subordination to the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia.” This happened on May 16, when a new ruling bishop was appointed, Bishop Luka of Bronitsa, vicar of Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.
In order to justify the seizure of the diocese and the removal of its Ukrainian metropolitan, a letter-appeal of the local priests of May 1, who pledged their political loyalty to the occupying Russian authorities, was used. They say that they strongly desire to come under direct subordination to the Patriarch of Moscow, as their metropolitan has been unable to care for the diocese and this has led to turmoil in church life. Of the 86 priests, only five did not sign and five were ill.
However, the desire of priests has never been a factor in changing the episcopal jurisdiction of any diocese. Therefore, in the decision of the Russian Synod, “the actual abandonment of the diocese by Metropolitan Ephrem of Berdyan” was used as a reason for the annexation.
However, Metropolitan Ephrem’s last service in the cathedral in Berdyansk was on April 25 for Radonitsa (Easter service for the dead), which shows that the righteous bishop “did not abandon” his diocese, but a canonical pretext was sought. The metropolitan’s sick leave immediately after the holidays was used, which was immediately presented as “abandonment of the diocese”.
The decision is a clear example of ecclesiastical pharisaism, when the canons are used only to give an ecclesiastically acceptable appearance to an injustice that everyone is aware of.
On May 19, Metropolitan Ephrem of Berdyansk and Primorsky from the UOC reacted sharply and placed four priests from the diocese under interdict.
These are the secretary of the Berdyan Diocese, Prot. Sergiy Ilyushchenko and the regional deputy of the Kamian region, Archimandrite Dimitrii (Mikheshkin), for “gross violation of the priest’s oath based on Rule 39 of the Holy Apostles and Rule 57 of the Council of Laodicea.” Father Yevgeny Klimenko and Father Dmytro Lebedchenko, head of the diocesan youth department, were also placed under interdict for “gross violation of the priestly oath based on Rule 39 of the Holy Apostles.”
However, on May 21, the ROC declared the decisions of the Ukrainian metropolitan “invalid”: “With the blessing of the ruler of the Berdyan Diocese, His Eminence Bishop Luka, we announce that by virtue of the decision of St. The Synod of May 16 regarding the management of the Berdyan Diocese, the decrees issued on May 19 of this year by His Eminence Ephrem and subsequent decrees, if any, are considered invalid.”
Berdyansk Diocese was formed by the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in 2007 through the division of the Zaporizhian Diocese into two parts – Zaporizhia and Berdyansk. Since 2012, it has been managed by Metropolitan Efrem.
This is another Ukrainian diocese that broke away from the UOC and joined the Moscow Patriarchate – in this regard, church policy strictly follows the political line of the Russian state, which annexed the occupied territories.
However, this strategy does not prevent Russian church diplomats from presenting themselves internationally as “defenders of the canonical Ukrainian Church.” They have like-minded supporters among the Bulgarian high clergy, who consider these and similar actions to be completely just, pious and in the spirit of the Orthodox faith.
This year’s regular meeting of the Holy Council of Bishops of the Serbian Orthodox Church paid special attention to the people and the Church in Kosovo and Metohija.
In the past year, dozens of attacks against people, shrines, homes and property of Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija have been registered. The events led to a peaceful but determined protest by the Serbs from the Serbian municipalities in northern Kosovo and Metohija to urge the Kosovo institutions to establish a Union of Serbian Municipalities, in accordance with the agreements already reached and signed with Pristina, under the mediation of the European Union in Brussels, in 2013. and 2015
The Serbian Orthodox Church has always taken the position that all problems in Kosovo and Metohija should be solved peacefully and through dialogue, and that there should always be peaceful coexistence of Serbs, Albanians and all other peoples living in this area. At the meetings of the Holy Synod of Bishops of all past years, our Church has clearly and unequivocally indicated, as it indicated at this year’s session, that the acceptance of the self-proclaimed independence of Kosovo and Metohija directly or indirectly, de facto or de jure, would be contrary to international law based on the UN Charter and other acts and principles of general importance. Such a decision does not have the support of either the UN Security Council or the majority of countries in the world, including five countries from the European Union. It would inevitably lead to a more massive exodus among the Serbian population, would fail the attempts for peaceful coexistence of all, regardless of ethnic origin and faith, as well as the very survival of our people in its centuries-old hearths. Therefore, solutions should be sought only in accordance with principles and rules that are valid for all.
Proof of this is the recent aggressive actions of the authorities in Pristina, directed against the Serbian community and our holy church, which have led to the lowest possible level of relations since 1999. And also adopted decisions that deeply divide the citizens of Kosovo and Metohija, cause unprecedented inter-ethnic tension and regional instability and, in the long run, make life difficult for our people and our Church. It is clear that the goal of the Kosovo institutions is to create an ethnic Albanian Kosovo in which the free and normal life of the Serbs is thwarted.
In this regard, the Church condemns all attacks against the Serbian people, their sanctuaries and property, and especially terrorist armed attacks against individual ethnic Serbs, including children, as well as the existence of secret lists on the basis of which Serbs, even former members of the Kosovo Police. It also condemns the illegal confiscation of land owned by Serbs in order to exert additional pressure to force them to emigrate. The Assembly demands that the perpetrators of these crimes be brought to justice, and that all victims be protected.
The Serbian Orthodox Church is in a particularly difficult situation. This is also confirmed in the statements of international officials and respected institutions that deal with the protection of religious rights and freedoms. Besides the series of attacks against our temples, which hinder the normal process of reconstruction of dozens of our sanctuaries, damaged or destroyed mostly in the period 1999-2004, the life of our monasteries and parishes is very difficult. In many ways, the Albanian authorities in Kosovo have begun to change or reinterpret the previous laws, which included guarantees for the protection of property and economic rights, and which enabled the independence and sustainability of our monasteries. The highest Albanian officials, as a rule, do not accept the real and official name of our church, confirmed by the Kosovo law, nor the provided guarantees. All this threatens to turn into new repressive measures that will further threaten the spiritual mission of the church and the preservation of the identity of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija.
Therefore, the Holy Synod of Bishops especially emphasizes the need to pay the greatest attention to the following issues in Kosovo and Metohija: preserving the identity and church organization of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Kosovo and Metohija, preventing historical revisionism, protecting the property of our Church, creation of conditions for the return of confiscated property, preservation of the conditions that allow the normal functioning of our monasteries and the Rashko-Prizren Diocese as a whole. Currently, many monasteries, churches and families are not economically viable and can survive only with the help of the Serbian Orthodox Church, as well as through donations and with the development of agricultural and other activities that financially ensure the life of our sanctuaries and theology in Prizren.
It is especially emphasized that our church in Kosovo and Metohija needs very active international protection from the discriminatory behavior of Kosovo institutions, stronger guarantees and effective supervision are needed to prevent abuses and arbitrary interpretations of laws in judicial acts, of the circumvention or complete non-observance of the law, which is at the expense of our Church.
The Serbian Orthodox Church has for centuries been the main pillar for our people in Kosovo and Metohija and a major factor in its unity, survival and preservation of national, spiritual and cultural identity. Without the special protection of the Church, the survival of our people would not be possible. That is why the concern for the rights of the Serbian people in Kosovo and Metohija is inseparable from the concern for the protection of the basic rights and needs of the Serbian Orthodox Church, which has been living in extremely difficult conditions for twenty-four years, exposed to attacks and various forms of violations of the basic religious, property, civil and human rights.
Supporting dialogue and peaceful resolution of all issues in Kosovo and Metohija, the Serbian Orthodox Church wants to make its own contribution to the development of inter-ethnic relations and cooperation with other churches and religious communities, and actively participate in creating conditions for a free and safe life of Serbs and Albanians, as well as all religious and national communities in Kosovo and Metohija and everywhere in the world.
Reiterating its position that it is against any exclusion of Kosovo and Metohija from Serbia, the Assembly calls on both Albanians and Serbs to resolve their difficulties in the spirit of tolerance and mutual respect. Since it was God’s will for both peoples to share Kosovo and Metohija, and especially the Albanians who are the majority, they should do everything to achieve maximum mutual tolerance and mutual respect in order to create a normal and better life for every citizen of Kosovo and Metohija. All relationship problems can and should be resolved through dialogue.
Sincerely convinced that the coexistence of Serbs and Albanians in Kosovo is not only possible, but also necessary, because God has directed us to each other, we pray to God that peace prevails in Kosovo and Metohija and that a normal life is established with all who live there.
Source: Official Facebook page of Serbian Patriarch Porfiry
