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Human rights breaches in Algeria, Belarus and Myanmar

By
European Parliament
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Human rights breaches in Algeria, Belarus and Myanmar

The European Parliament adopted three resolutions on human rights breaches in Algeria, Belarus and Myanmar.

Media freedom and freedom of expression in Algeria, the case of journalist Ihsane El-Kadi

Parliament urges the Algerian authorities to immediately release all those arbitrarily detained and charged for exercising their right to freedom of expression, including prominent journalist Ihsane El-Kadi, who was convicted in April to a five-year sentence and hefty fines on unfounded charges related to him allegedly having received funds for “political propaganda” and “harming the security of the state”. Mr El-Kadi was also ordered to dissolve his media company.

The resolution calls on the Algerian authorities to amend security-related charges in the country’s Penal Code used to criminalise the right to freedom of expression. It notes that, ever since the so-called Hirak protests in 2019, the situation of media freedom has taken a substantial turn for the worse in Algeria, with the authorities blocking more news sites and publications critical of the government.

Parliament urges all EU institutions and member states to openly condemn the crackdown on media freedom in Algeria, while calling on the EU delegation and EU countries’ embassies on site to request access to imprisoned journalists and observe their trials. Finally, MEPs want the Algerian authorities to guarantee visa and accreditation authorisation to foreign journalists and their freedom to operate.

The resolution was adopted by 536 votes in favour, 4 against and 18 abstentions. For more details, the full text will be available here. (11.05.2023)

Belarus: the inhumane treatment and hospitalisation of prominent opposition leader Viktar Babaryka

Parliament urges authorities in Belarus to cease the mistreatment of former presidential candidate Viktar Babaryka and other political prisoners and release them immediately and unconditionally. MEPs strongly condemn the “inhumane treatment of political prisoners and their family members” in the country and call on Belarus to ensure that those detained have access to proper medical assistance, lawyers, family, diplomats and international organisations to assess their condition and provide aid.

Mr Babaryka was sentenced in July 2021 to 14 years in prison on politically motivated charges, and was hospitalised in April this year with traces of beatings leaving him in need of surgery. As part of the repression of the political opposition and civil society, the Belarusian regime is keeping around 1500 political prisoners in detention conditions amounting to cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and torture, with some of them dying in detention, according to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

MEPs reiterate their solidarity with the people of Belarus in their struggle for a free, sovereign and democratic government and against Belarus’ involvement in Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. They reiterate their call from a resolution adopted on 15 March for the EU and member states to broaden the sanctions against individuals and entities responsible for the repression in Belarus, and to hold all perpetrators of the systematic human rights violations under the regime of dictator Aliaksandr Lukashenka accountable.

The text was adopted by 533 votes in favour, 9 against and 27 abstentions. For more details, it will be available in full here. (11.05.2023)

Myanmar, notably the dissolution of democratic political parties

MEPs strongly condemn the Myanmar military junta’s continued violent and illegitimate rule, which has plunged the country into a human rights and humanitarian crisis. They condemn the military-appointed Union Election Commission’s recent decision to dissolve forty political parties, the arrests and imprisonment of politicians, the use of rape as a weapon and the regular airstrikes on civilian targets by the military.

As a result of the latest developments, Parliament calls for the dissolved parties in Myanmar to be reinstated and urges the junta to immediately and unconditionally release all political prisoners. MEPs call for the unlawful state of emergency in the country to end immediately, for the military’s indiscriminate use of force to stop, for the civilian government and parliament to be restored, and for a path towards democracy to be re-established.

In addition, the resolution calls on the EU and member states to substantially increase humanitarian aid to the people and refugees of Myanmar, including the Rohingya. MEPs also want the EU to introduce additional targeted sanctions against the Burmese military and its business interests. Any engagement with Myanmar, including by private companies, must be subject to strengthened human rights due diligence processes to protect and guarantee workers’ rights.

The resolution was adopted by 454 votes in favour, 5 against and 39 abstentions. For more details, the full text will be available here. (11.05.2023)

European Charlemagne Youth Prize: meet the 2023 winners

By
EuropeanTimes
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European Charlemagne Youth Prize: meet the 2023 winners

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:

  • Climate change – causes and impact
  • The EU green deal
  • Sustainable farming and healthy food
  • Practical tips on cutting consumption


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.

National winners

Find out more about the 2023 national winners.

European Charlemagne Youth Prize

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.

30,000 new viruses discovered in the DNA of microbes

By
Newsdesk
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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/

Europe needs to step up circular economy efforts, including on waste prevention

By
Newsdesk
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