A Belgian language app for refugees has won the 2023 European Charlemagne Youth Prize.
Every year national and European juries select a project from each EU country. 26 national winners were invited to the award ceremony in Aachen on 12 May, where the three EU winners were announced.
European winners
The first prize of €7,500 went to AILEM from Belgium – the first ever language app tailored for refugees and asylum seekers and developed in consultation with them. It uses language to break down intercultural misunderstandings and gaps between refugees and their host country and includes useful phrases, language learning stories and games, as well as ways to connect to other users. The project aims to bring together people from different backgrounds, experiences and social status.
Two projects took joint second place: Mobile Climate Museum from Lithuania and The European Correspondent from the Netherlands. They will both receive €3,750.
The Mobile Climate Museum (Mobili Klimato muziejaus paroda) was set up in May 2022 with the aim of getting people to adopt a climate-friendly lifestyle. It consists of four mobile marine containers representing four themes:
The European Correspondent, founded in 2022, brings together more than 140 young journalists from across Europe with the aim of creating European journalism. They email a daily newsletter, covering a different region each day, with the most relevant European news. They also investigate how big issues play out in different European countries.
The prize, jointly awarded by the European Parliament and the International Charlemagne Prize Foundation, is open to initiatives by young people aged 16-30 involved in projects that promote European and international understanding. Since 2008, 5,000 projects have competed for the prize.
According to the new study, the DNA from the newly discovered viruses is similar to the DNA of virophages, suggesting that microbes may enjoy some protection from giant viruses thanks to “embedded” viruses residing in their genomes
While analyzing the genomes of single-celled microbes, a team of researchers made a startling discovery: thousands of previously unknown viruses were “hidden” in the microbes’ DNA.
The researchers found the DNA of more than 30,000 viruses embedded in the genomes of various single-celled microbes, they report in their new study. They explain that viral DNA can allow a host cell to replicate complete, functional viruses.
“We were very surprised by the amount of viruses we found through this analysis,” said lead author Christopher Bellas, an ecologist who studies viruses at the University of Innsbruck in Austria. “In some cases, up to 10 percent of a microbe’s DNA is found to be made up of hidden viruses.”
“These viruses do not appear to make their hosts sick and may be beneficial,” the researchers added. Some of the new viruses resemble virophages, a type of virus that infects other pathogenic viruses trying to infect a host cell.
“Why so many viruses are found in microbial genomes is still unclear,” says Bellas. “Our most convincing hypothesis is that they protect the cell from being infected with viruses that are dangerous for it.
Living on Earth means fighting viruses – the most common biological entities on the planet, collectively infecting every type of life form. They are very diverse, using many different tactics to exploit their cellular hosts.
Regardless of the semantic debates about whether viruses are alive, they certainly insert themselves into the lives of other living things. Some even replicate by adding their DNA to a host cell and becoming part of its genome.
When this occurs in a germ cell, it can result in endogenous viral elements (EVEs), or viral DNA, passed from one generation to the next in a host species.
Scientists have found EVE in a wide range of organisms, including animals, plants and fungi. For example, mammals carry different viral fragments in their DNA, and about 8 percent of the human genome consists of DNA from ancient viral infections. The study authors explain that most of these are no longer functional and are considered “genomic fossils.”
Research suggests that EVEs may be adaptive in humans and other organisms, possibly helping to fend off modern viruses.
This is true for many single-celled eukaryotes, the researchers point out, noting that these microbes are commonly infected and killed by giant viruses.
If a virophage already inhabits a host cell, it can reprogram a giant virus to build virophages instead of replicating, potentially saving the host.
According to the new study, the DNA from the newly discovered viruses is similar to the DNA of virophages, suggesting that the microbes may enjoy some protection from giant viruses thanks to “embedded” viruses residing in their genomes.
EVE research has so far focused mainly on animals and plants, the researchers wrote, with little attention to protists — eukaryotic organisms that are not animals, plants or fungi.
Discovering thousands of new viruses hidden in microbial DNA was not the original goal of Bellas and his colleagues, who planned to study a new group of viruses found in the waters of Gossenköllese, an alpine lake in the Austrian province of Tyrol.
“Initially with our research, we wanted to discover the origin of the new ‘polinton-like viruses,'” Bellas says.
“However, we didn’t know which organisms were commonly infected by these viruses. That’s why we conducted a large-scale study to test all microbes whose DNA sequences are known.”
To do this, they enlisted the help of Leo, a high-performance computer cluster at the University of Innsbruck that can analyze huge amounts of data.
Noticing genes from virophages and other viruses in many of the microbial genomes, the researchers decided to deepen the study by using Leo to systematically analyze all protist genomes.
They found EVEs “hidden in repetitive, hard-to-connect regions of unicellular eukaryotic genomes,” they write, noting that thousands of integrated viruses show that they make up a significant, previously unstudied portion of protist genomes.
The study also found evidence that many protist EVEs are not just genomic fossils but functional viruses, the researchers added, “suggesting that different arrays of these elements may be part of the host’s antiviral system.”
Source: sciencealert
Note: The study was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.
Photo by Nothing Ahead: https://www.pexels.com/photo/words-in-dictionary-4440721/
The EU’s circular economy action plan aims to double the share of recycled materials used in its economy by 2030. The European Environment Agency’s (EEA) assessment, published today, shows that the pace of progress needs speeding up, requiring both more recycling and less overall material use. A second, in-depth report on waste prevention highlights opportunities for stronger and systemic approach for monitoring progress at EU level.
Enhanced recycling will speed up this progress but it needs to be complemented with reducing the overall material inputs to meet the target of doubling the share of recycled waste in the use of materials by 2030. Getting closer to the target could, for example, be achieved by increasing the recycling rate of all treated waste from current 40% to 70%, decreasing overall material inputs by 15%, and reducing the amount of fossil fuels used by 34%.
Moreover, a special focus should be paid on non-metallic minerals, such as construction materials, as these account for about half of all materials used in the EU. From an environmental perspective, it would also be beneficial to focus efforts on materials with the highest negative impacts in their production, especially fossil fuels and biomass.
Monitoring waste prevention
Waste prevention is one of the key strategies to achieving a circular economy because it can reduce resource use, maximise the useful life of products and materials, and promote demand for more sustainable products. However, it remains difficult to establish a link between waste prevention policies and waste generation in the EU.
The EEA analysis ‘Tracking waste prevention progress’ proposes a new set of indicators dedicated to monitoring long-term trends in waste prevention. The indicators focus on the drivers of waste generation, waste prevention policies enablers, and resulting outcomes in reduced waste and emissions. Putting this monitoring framework in full use, however, requires more specific data and information collected across the EU in a systematic and harmonised way.
Currently, almost all EU Member States have some quantitative targets and indicators on waste prevention but these targets and indicators vary widely, the EEA report notes. Setting EU-level waste prevention targets, such as the food waste reduction target that is currently being developed, can also help to set the direction and an objective for measurement and to strengthen obligations on waste prevention.
Supporting the two assessments, the EEA has also published updated ‘Waste prevention country fact sheets’, which show country-specific data and analysis on waste prevention efforts in EEA member and cooperation countries across Europe.
Revised monitoring framework
The European Commission published a revised Circular Economy monitoring framework earlier this week. The revised framework helps to better track progress in the transition to a circular economy in the EU and considers how it can contribute to climate neutrality, resilience and global sustainability.
The way of using crypto-wallets and analog digital assets in the world has not received the support of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the position remains unchanged today.
Recently, he warned the Zimbabwean government about the introduction of the official digital currency of the Central Bank (CBD), backed by gold. The peculiarity in Zimbabwe is that this country introduces its digital currency as an alternative to the American dollar.
The Central Bank of Zimbabwe started offering digital tokens to investors on Monday at a minimum price of $10 for individuals and $5,000 for corporate and long-term entities. Part of the policy for reducing the pressure on state dollars, which replaces the unit of income, which is the estimated value for transactions. The token will also be used for transactions.
MBF hopes that the new digital asset will not be of use to the economic system of the city. The fund believes that in order to launch a digital wallet backed by gold, Zimbabwe must liberalize its currency reserves. According to an anonymous source familiar with the matter, he has to make a careful assessment of the potential features of the new cars that he benefits from. they must exceed macro-economic figures and payments for financial stability, public, operational and other figures.
It is known that this African company has started to exchange small Zimbabwean dollars for gold-backed digital tokens in order to be able to preserve savings from market turbulence. It is expected that the use of the government coin will contribute to the implementation of partial inflation control in the country.
The representatives of the IMF allegedly contacted the Zimbabwean authorities and warned them not to add “crypto-type” assets to the local financial system. As an alternative, the International Monetary Fund suggested that the Zimbabwean authorities should introduce this kind of monetary policy in addition to the liberalization of the currency reserve, in order to protect the country from market shocks.
MEPs backed draft legislation to improve product labelling and durability and to put a stop to greenwashing.
With 544 votes to 18 and 17 abstentions, plenary approved the proposal for a new directive on empowering consumers for the green transition. Its main aim is to help consumers make environmentally friendly choices and encourage companies to offer them more durable and sustainable products.
Banning misleading ads and generic environmental claims
Parliament’s approved negotiating mandate foresees banning the use of general environmental claims like “environmentally friendly”, “natural”, “biodegradable”, “climate neutral” or “eco” if these do not come with detailed evidence. It also aims to ban environmental claims that are based solely on carbon offsetting schemes. Other misleading practices such as making claims about the whole product if the claim is true only for one part of it, or saying that a product will last a certain amount of time or can be used at a certain level of intensity if that is not true, will also be forbidden.
To simplify product information, MEPs envision allowing only sustainability labels based on official certification schemes or established by public authorities to be used.
Fight against early obsolescence
To make products last longer, Parliament wants to ban the introduction of design features that limit a product’s life or lead to goods malfunctioning prematurely. Additionally, producers should not be allowed to limit a product’s functionality when it is used with consumables, spare parts or accessories (for example chargers or ink cartridges) made by other companies.
In order to help people choose more lasting and repairable goods, buyers would have to be informed of any repair restrictions before making a purchase. Additionally, MEPs propose a new guarantee label indicating not only the length of the legally required guarantee but also the length of any possible guarantee extensions offered by producers. This would help highlight quality goods and motivate companies to focus more on durability.
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After the vote, rapporteur Biljana Borzan (S&D, HR) said: “The industry will no longer profit from making consumer goods that break just as the guarantee period is over. Consumers will have to be provided with information about the options and cost of repairs in a clear manner. Product labels will inform citizens which goods are guaranteed to last longer and producers whose goods are more durable will profit. The jungle of false environmental claims will end as only certified and substantiated ecological claims will be permitted.”
Next steps
The Council of the EU adopted its own negotiating mandate on 3 May. That means negotiations between the Parliament and the member states on the final content and wording of the directive can start soon.
In adopting this legislation, Parliament is responding to citizens’ expectations regarding sustainable consumption, packaging and production as well as sustainable growth and innovation as expressed in Proposals 5 (1), (7) and (10) and 11 (2) of the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe.
Collage of The European Times with photos credit of JW.org
This morning, Tuesday 16 May, Jehovah’s Witness Shamil Khakimov, 72, was released from prison in Tajikistan after serving the full term of his four-year sentence. He had been imprisoned on spurious charges of “inciting religious hatred.” In reality, sharing his faith with others.
His release comes on the heels of an official visit to Tajikistan by the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Nazila Ghanea, last month.
The persecution and the sentencing of Shamil Khakimov to prison
Shamil Khakimov is a widower and a pensioner. He was born in the small village of Koktush, in the district of Rudaki, Tajikistan. In 1976, he married and moved to the capital city of Dushanbe, where for 38 years he worked for OJSC Tajiktelecom as a cable lines engineer. Khakimov had two children, a son and a daughter. In 1989, when his son was 12 and his daughter was 7, his wife died from cancer. He took care of his children and never remarried. He became a Jehovah’s Witness in 1994.
On 4 June 2009, sixteen Jehovah’s Witnesses had a peaceful gathering in a private apartment in Khujand to read and discuss the Bible. Eleven officials, including officers of the State Committee on National Security, forced their way into the apartment, searched it as well as the participants of the gathering, seized their Bibles and other religious publications. Several Jehovah’s Witnesses were subsequently brought to the headquarters of the State Committee on National Security, where they were interrogated for six hours. On an unspecified date, a criminal case was initiated against them.
The case was dismissed in October 2009 after the annual OSCE Human Dimension Implementation Meeting in Warsaw where his imprisonment was made public. However, the prosecutor reopened the criminal case later on other charges.
In September 2019, the Khujand City Court sentenced Khakimov to seven and a half years in prison. The court also imposed a three-year ban on his religious activity after completing his sentence. He lost an appeal on 9 October 2019.
In March 2021, Khakimov’s original 7.5-year sentence was reduced by two years, three months, and ten days. He was informed via letter that his term was commuted as a result of Tajikistan’s amnesty law.
In September 2021, his sentence was reduced another year.
In September 2021, while he was in prison, his son died from a heart attack. He was not allowed to attend his funeral.
In October 2021, it was reported that Khakimov’s health had deteriorated greatly.
State of health
Since 2007, he had suffered from severe circulatory problems in his lower limbs, which required surgery. His condition worsened in 2017, requiring additional surgery, which was performed that year. Owing to poor vascular circulation, his surgical wounds did not heal. He had an open leg ulcer when he was arrested on 26 February 2019, and subsequently placed in pre-trial detention. Despite his health situation, the detention order was extended 3 times, lasting 6 months and 13 days in total.
In detention, Khakimov also suffered from heart disease, atherosclerosis of the legs, varicose veins and gangrene in early stages in his left foot. He also lost vision in his right eye, and he could barely see out of his left eye due to progressive glaucoma. On 31 October 2022, he received a certificate attesting to the fact that he was now identified as having a group two disability.
International outcry
The international community was very active in Khakimov’s case:
USCIRF (United States Commission on International Religious Freedom) published numerous press releases (e.g., link) and adopted him as a FoRB victim (link), see also Twitter (link)
IRFBA (International Religious Freedom or Belief Alliance) Chair (Fiona Bruce) wrote to President Rahmon of Tajikistan (see Twitter link)
UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief, Nazila Ghanea also pleaded in his favor (see link) and her predecessor Ahmed Shaheed as well (see link)
Looking forward to Jehovah’s Witness Shamil Khakimov’s release as planned on May 16. Khakimov has been fighting for his health in a prison in Tajikistan since 2019. His release to seek care and reunite with his faith community is long overdue.
— U.S. Ambassador at Large Rashad Hussain (@IRF_Ambassador) May 12, 2023
UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR): On 19 March 2021, it requested that Tajikistan “ensure, without delay, that [Mr. Khakimov] receives adequate medical treatment in a specialized medical institution in accordance with his health care requirements, and that an alternative to imprisonment is secured for [Mr. Khakimov], while his case is pending before the [CCPR].” This request was repeated on 18 June and 13 September 2021, without result
On 8 November 2022, Khakimov filed a formal petition for his release to the President of Tajikistan. The same petition was filed with the General Prosecutor’s Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ombudsman.
On 10 November, Supervisory filed an appeal with the Supreme Court, requesting that his case be re-opened and reversed, based on 2022 judgment by the UN Human Rights Committee (CCPR) that declared Tajikistan’s ban on Jehovah’s Witnesses unlawful and baseless.
On 11 November, a private complaint/appeal was filed against the trial court decision that refused to release Shamil based on his poor health.
Registration and ban of Jehovah’s Witnesses
Jehovah’s Witnesses have been active in Tajikistan for more than 50 years. In 1994, their organization (RAJW) was granted registration by the then State Committee on Religious Affairs pursuant to the Law “On Religion and Religious Organizations” of 8 December 1990 (the “1990 Religion Law”). On 15 January 1997, the RAJW was re-registered with national status under the amendments to the 1990 Religion Law. On 11 September 2002, the State Committee on Religious Affairs suspended the activities of the RAJW for three months for door-to-door propaganda and propaganda in public places.
On 11 October 2007, the Ministry of Culture banned the RAJW, annulled its charter and determined that the RAJW’s registration of 15 January 1997 was unlawful. It concluded that the RAJW repeatedly violated the national legislation, including the Constitution of Tajikistan and the 1990 Religion Law, by distributing religious publications in public places and door-to-door.
In his speech to MEPs, Portugal’s President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa identified the post-war recovery, enlargement, migration and energy as the main challenges for the EU.
Addressing MEPs during a formal sitting, President Rebelo de Sousa said he considers the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine to be a “shocking mistake of the Russian Federation” to which Europe responded with “firmness, unity, solidarity, and transatlantic and forward-thinking cooperation”. It is urgent, he said, to ensure that “a just and moral peace” will be the result of this war, preventing further wars.
On what comes after the war, which will result in a “new balance of powers”, the President said the EU should play “the biggest, the strongest role possible! If not, it will not end up being the smallest, the weakest possible”.
Mr Rebelo de Sousa also spoke in favour of EU enlargement and stressed the need to accelerate Europe’s economic recovery while taking into account social obligations and rights, as well as impact of inflation.
Speaking about the EU’s global connections, Portugal’s President called for openness and cooperation to collectively tackle challenges like migration and help increase Europe’s influence in the world. EU’s values should, he said, take precedence over national interests.
President Rebelo de Sousa also called on the EU to become a pioneer in climate, energy, and digital policy. If not, it will be “left behind,” he said.
He urged the EU to follow the example of other continents and act when it needs to, and to reinvigorate the EU’s political, economic and social systems. President Rebelo de Sousa warned that not doing so could alienate young people and lead to the emergence of populism and anti-system movements. If this happens, “it is our fault,” he said.
Amid claims and counter claims, the army has been reportedly attempting to cut the supply lines of the Rapid Support Forces and defend its bases from continued attack. The RSF claimed to have captured hundreds of soldiers, following an attack on an army base.
Airstrikes and heavy fighting have left hundreds of thousands of city residents still trapped in their homes, while infrastructure and civilian areas continue to be pounded, according to eyewitness reports.
The UN Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, told correspondents at the regular briefing in New York that the World Health Organization (WHO) had managed to deliver 30 tons of medical supplies to Al-Jazirah state, southeast of the capital, while trauma supplies to treat 2,400 people were delivered yesterday to five hospitals there, and three hospitals in the capital, Khartoum.
“WHO also supports the delivery of critical items to its partners and has additional supplies in the pipeline. Those will be released as soon as the security situation and logistics situation allow”, he said.
Meanwhile, aid organizations have managed to resume operations in parts of Darfur, he confirmed.
“For example, in North Darfur, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has helped deliver some 235,000 liters of clean water to eight healthcare facilities and one nutrition centre. UNICEF is also distributing water, sanitation and health supplies for nearly 15,700 patients at more than a dozen healthcare facilities”, the Spokesperson said.
And in Eastern Darfur, UNICEF has provided clean water to some 40,000 people in the Elneem camp for internally displaced people.
Shock waves spread
Shedding more light on the impact of the month-long crisis on the seven States bordering Sudan, Mr. Dujarric highlight that the UN team in Chad were reporting some 80,000 arrivals, including 60,000 refugees and 20,000 returning home.
Chad was already home to over one million forcibly displaced persons, including about 600,000 refugees, mainly from Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR), Cameroon and Nigeria.
“So far, 3,000 refugee families have received non-food items from the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and UNICEF. UNICEF has also installed water points and distributed water treatment material, ready-to-use therapeutic food, as well as essential medicines to health centres to ensure the treatment of children suffering from severe acute malnutrition.”
The UN emergency food aid agency, WFP, has distributed food and nutrition supplies to more than 20,000 new refugees in eight different locations along the eastern border, while the UN sexual and reproductive health agency UNFPA, is providing dignity kits and other supplies.
“Our team, led by Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator, Violet Kakyomya, is concerned about the imminent start of the rainy season, as thousands of people need transportation from border areas to other locations before roads become obstructed”, added Mr. Dujarric.
The UN emergency fund for education, Education Cannot Wait, has announced a $3 million grant for children seeking safety from the Sudanese conflict in Chad.
“It is imperative to provide immediate access to education for children crossing to neighbouring countries to flee the brutal conflict in Sudan,” Education Cannot Wait’s Executive Director Yasmine Sherif said on Tuesday. “This safety net is crucial to address their needs now, protect them and safeguard their futures. How can we empower new generation if we keep them away from learning.”
The funding injection brings the UN fund’s total investments to support children’s education in Chad to more than $41 million.
With children representing almost 70 per cent of refugees in Chad, “education, protection and security needs grow as people keep arriving,” said Olga Sarrado, UN refugee agency (UNHCR) spokesperson.
Without access to safe and protective learning environments, uprooted girls and boys face a higher risk of child marriage, sexual violence, exploitation, hunger and recruitment by armed groups.
Mentioning this year’s theme in a statement to mark the day, Together Always: United in Diversity, the UN chief called on leaders ‘to speak with one voice” to eliminate stigma and discrimination, that result in sometimes deadly attacks targeting LGBTQI+ communities.
The Secretary-General showed his deep concern over the levels of violence directed towards LGBTQI+ people and how those communities are still vulnerable to multiple forms of attack.
“As we mark the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia, we face a stark fact. In every corner of the world, LGBTQI+ people continue to face violence, persecution, hate speech, injustice, and even outright murder,” said the UN chief.
He called on Member States to stop criminalization of LGBTQI+ people around the world and punishing them for “simply being who they are.”
He said each assault on a LGBTQI+ person was an assault on human rights:
“I renew my call to all Member States to uphold the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and end the criminalization of consensual same-sex relations and transgender people. Being yourself should never be a crime,” said Mr. Guterres.
Calling on States
In a statement on Tuesday, a group of independent human rights experts on Tuesday called on Member States to address racism and stigma against LGBTQI+ people in a joint statement. They called on States to adopt measures to end the various forms of violence and discrimination directed against the community.
“We call on States to uphold the inherent dignity of all persons, without any distinction, by adopting measures to eradicate racial discrimination, exclusion, intolerance, hatred, bigotry, violence, and stigmatisation of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and gender diverse (LGBT) persons,” the human rights experts said.
Racial discrimination
The rights experts also recalled that to end structural violence against LGBTQI+ people, States must take an intersectional approach and consider how different social identities contribute to how communities are affected by different forms of discrimination.
“Racialization, ethnicity, age, colour, disability, national and residential and socio-economic status, expose LGBT persons to different forms of discrimination that affect their ability to enjoy their human rights and fundamental freedoms without distinction of any kind.
“To adequately analyse how structural inequalities lead to violence and exposure to risk, it is a must to adopt an intersectional approach. While some people are privileged, most face discrimination and violence, including arbitrary displacement, because of their multiple intersecting identities,” the experts said.
Independent human rights experts and other UN Human Rights Council-appointed rights experts, work on a voluntary and unpaid basis, are not UN staff, and work independently from any government or organisation.
With coastal winds recorded at up to 250 kilometers per hour making landfall off the Bay of Bengal, the storm tore through villages in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, leaving villagers to piece together their ruined homes while they wait for aid and support.
According to news reports, Mocha ripped off roofs, smashed fishing boats, uprooted trees and brought down power lines and telecommunications, terrifying the population, said the UN aid coordination office, OCHA.
“(Some) 5.4 million people are expected to have been in the path of the cyclone, said Ramanathan Balakrishnan, UN Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for Myanmar. “Of these, we consider 3.1 million people to be most vulnerable to cyclone impacts by taking together indicators of shelter quality, food insecurity and poor coping capacity.
“It really is a nightmare scenario for this cyclone to hit areas with such deep pre-existing needs.”
Torrential rains and devastating floods have also increased the risk of landslides ahead of the monsoon season, the OCHA official warned.
Concerns are high because the affected areas are home to hundreds of thousands people displaced by the protracted conflict in Myanmar – many of them the mostly-Muslim Rohingya of Rakhine – exacerbated by a military coup in February 2021.
Disease threat
The “many thousands” who took refuge in evacuation centres, now face a massive cleanup and huge reconstruction effort ahead.
Both the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and UN World Health Organization (WHO) said that relief items, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene support are urgently needed to tackle the high risk of waterborne diseases.
Health supplies have already been mobilized to treat 200,000 people, along with water purification tablets, WHO’s Dr. Edwin Salvador, Regional Emergency Director at the WHO Regional Office for South-East Asia, told journalists in Geneva.
“As in any flood areas where access to safe drinking water and sanitation is a challenge, there is still a risk of waterborne diseases such as diarrhea, hepatitis and those caused by mosquitoes such as dengue and malaria.”
Funding boost urgently required
Highlighting the urgency of the situation, OCHA appealed for international support, without delay. “We need a huge infusion of funds to respond to the massive needs,” said Mr. Balakrishnan. “Our Humanitarian Response Plan is less than 10 per cent funded as it stands now, and we simply will not be able to respond to the additional needs from Mocha.”
That appeal was echoed by the UNHCR in Bangladesh, where the 2023 funding ask for the Rohingya Refugee Response remains only 16 per cent funded.
Bangladesh camps severely hit
As a result, food assistance for refugees had to be cut by 17 per cent earlier this year, said UNHCR spokesperson Olga Sarrado. Although the impact of the cyclone could have been much worse in Bangladesh, refugee camps there have been severely affected.
Cyclones are a regular and deadly menace on the coast of the northern Indian Ocean. Rising global temperatures contribute to their intensity.
“We are yet to get a full picture of the damage elsewhere in the cyclone’s path, of course, but we fear for the worst given that the majority of the shelters in this very impoverished part of the country are mostly made of bamboo, and they stood still little chance in the face of these winds,” said the UN’s Mr. Balakrishnan.
The Humanitarian Coordinator added that a community leader from one of the camps for internally displaced people in Rakhine’s shattered capital, Sittwe, reported that the storm had left a major trail of destruction and washed away shelters and latrines, leaving thousands lacking even the basics of survival.
“They said the immediate needs are shelter, clean water and sanitation” the UN official added.
