One of the strengths of the Focolare Movement is to combine the theoretical aspect of the themes addressed with practical testimonies. As part of the recent interreligious conference organized by this Movement with vast horizons, six actors from different religions testified to their commitments, after five economists presented their thoughts. (see https://europeantimes.news/2024/06/an-economy-for-peace/ )
The Indonesian Lawrence Chong, from Singapore, member of the Dicastery for Interreligious Dialogue of the Vatican, testifies to his journey in this dialogue and with the Focolare movement. He also had the opportunity to participate in “Religions for Peace” meetings, of which he was the moderator for Asia, as a young leader.
The encounter with the Shanti Ashram changed his life, as well as with the Japanese Risshō Buddhist movement. Kosei Kai. According to him, young people will not advance if we do not give them the opportunity to become leaders. Chiara Lubich inspired him by creating new structures for dialogue. Words are in vain if they do not lead to action and to considering others on an equal level. Fraternity will not happen if we do not change the economy, Pope Francis told him. To do this, we must combat the selfishness that is structural in the current economic system.
He founded a company with a Protestant and a Muslim. What he experienced in Singapore, he also did in other countries. It is possible to carry out projects in other contexts, such as the construction of a new village in Malaysia, called “paradise” (Sarawak), where the economy of communion is practiced.
Live friendship with everyone
Hayat Zitouni recalls the history of the Focolare movement in Algeria, from 1964. A small group of four people started a community with a single goal: to live friendship with everyone, in a country that is more than 99% Muslim. The experience becomes popular among Muslims. The summer meetings (called “Mariapoli ”) even have to refuse people because they are so many. The Imam of Tlemcen then became a great friend of Chiara Lubich and the Focolare.
For her, the dialogue of life is a daily experience that pushes us towards others. During the beatification ceremony of the monks of Thibirine, the Focolare contributed to the smooth running of this important event for the Church of Algeria. But it is above all through charitable actions that the movement works. Through the Focolare, she also had a more positive perception of the Jewish people.
“The Dice of Love”
Santi Wongyai , from Thailand, is a musician and teaches art to very poor Burmese migrant children. He also gives them Thai lessons so that they can integrate. But their parents preferred to make them work in the sugar cane fields.
In the province of Chiangmai, he teaches children who come to the Buddhist temple the “Dice of love”. This charismatic figure takes his guitar and sings a song he composed on this theme.
Empowering children
Vijay Gopal, from India, belongs to Shanti Ashram, and is committed to underprivileged children. Ending child poverty builds a peaceful world. For this, we must give them priority for their well-being. More than 140 thousand young volunteers are involved and come from various social strata and religious traditions.
The approach focuses on children’s leadership. Children play a key role from the start. We respect them, include them and make them responsible. The Focolare collaborated on this programme and made it more operational. In 2024, this programme carried out in sixteen states of India will be replicated in ten others.
A young member of this great movement then testifies that he started working on this project at the age of 15, taking care of a very poor family. “It had a huge impact on my career and helped me understand myself better,” he says. Volunteering plays a key role in fostering inclusion and social resilience. We can overcome poverty…but together.”
Alongside the homeless
Harvey Livschitz is from New Zealand and is involved in the Wellington Interfaith Council. He discovered Focolare during confinement at the time of covid-19. In collaboration with a pastor, he took care of the homeless, through sales of food, belts and jewelry, as well as objects made from recycled objects. “The goal of this action is not only to generate profit, but above all to bring a smile to the faces of people who regain dignity,” he said.
“Dare to care”
Indonesian Sri Safitri Oktaviyanti is involved in “Dare to Care”, a Focolare diaconal programme. Indonesia is made up of 17,000 islands with more than 200 million people, predominantly Muslim. The country’s motto is “unity in diversity”.
This programme wants to take care of the poor, through the distribution of meals and other charitable actions, especially for the homeless and children from disadvantaged families. In a context where ecology is only in its infancy, Dare to Care also takes care of the environment, in order to put into practice the indications of the encyclical “Laudato Si ” on integral ecology, with actions such as cleaning beaches or planting trees.
The third point of attention is the care of the marginalized, such as the elderly, orphans and the disabled. Another point is meeting religious minorities, inviting them to common meals.
18:28. They led Jesus from Caiaphas to the Praetorium. It was dawn; and they did not enter into the praetorium, lest they should defile themselves, that they might eat the passover.
Evangelist John does not write anything about the trial of Christ in the house of Caiaphas, since the synoptic accounts of this event were sufficiently familiar to the readers. He goes directly to a description of the trial of Christ under Pilate.
“It was morning.” It was morning, that is. it was already day (cf. Luke 22:66), about 6 o’clock in the morning.
“in the praetorium.” Christ was taken to the Praetorium, i.e. in the former palace of Herod the Great, where the Roman procurators usually stayed when they came to Jerusalem. From this palace, which was located in the western part of the city, the so-called David’s Tower is still preserved.
The Evangelist notes that the Jews did not enter the Praetorium in order not to defile themselves and to keep themselves clean for the tasting of the Passover. In the home of the pagan Pilate there was leavened bread, and the Jews on the eve of the Passover, on Nisan 13, were obliged to remove from their homes everything that was leavened (Bazhenov, p. 127), as not corresponding to the purity that the Jews were obliged to keep during the Passover.
“so that they may eat the passover” What does this expression mean? Has not the Passover been accomplished yet? It is clear from the Synoptic Gospels that Christ and His disciples had already celebrated the Passover (cf. Matt. 26:17 et seq.) How could it happen that the Jews who brought Christ to Pilate had not yet did the passover? Interpreters give different answers to this question.
Some (e.g. Lambert, The Passover. Journal of Theological Studies, 1903) maintain that among the Jews there was no fixed time for the observance of the Passover, and that Christ observed the Passover at the usual time, while the Jews in question, guided by according to their more accurate calendar calculations, they celebrated Passover a day later than the common people in that year.
Prof. Hvolson (The Last Passover Supper of Jesus Christ. – Christ’s Reading, 1875 and 1878) adds that Christ did perfectly right to celebrate the Passover on Nisan 13, because in the year of Jesus Christ’s death Nisan 14 coincided with Friday, on which it was forbidden to slay the Passover lamb. Therefore, the slaughter of the Passover lamb was postponed for all Jews for 13, i.e. for Thursday night. But the law said that the paschal lamb was to be eaten until morning, and nothing else; the number of that morning was not specified, and Christ, like many other Jews, ate the lamb on the same day it was slain, namely the 13th, while the representatives of the Jews thought it more appropriate to eat the lamb the next day , i.e. at 14 in the evening.
Others (most notably Tsang) try to prove that the verse in question does not refer to the eating of the Passover lamb. The expression “to eat the Passover” means the tasting of the sacrifice which was offered on the morrow of the Passover, the 15th of Nisan (this is the so-called “Haggigah”), and the tasting of the unleavened bread (Kommentar 3. Evangelium des Johannes, S. 621 ff.).
Finally, many of the more recent interpreters (e.g., Loisy, Julicher, etc.) believe that John deliberately deviates here from the correct chronology of the Synoptics in order to convey the idea that our Passover lamb is Christ. According to the description of his Gospel, Christ died on the day and hour when according to the law the Passover lamb was slain.
Of the mentioned explanations, the first seems the most plausible, according to which in the year of Christ’s death, some Jews celebrated Passover on the 13th and others on the 14th of Nisan. Accepting this explanation, confirmed by the calculations of such a connoisseur of Jewish archeology as Prof. Hvolson, we can understand why, on the day after Christ’s tasting of the Passover, the members of the Sanhedrin found it possible to organize the trial and execution of Christ, why Simon of Cyrene only now he returns from work (Mark 15:21) and the women prepare incense (Luke 23:56) and why Joseph of Arimathea finds where to buy a shroud (Mark 15:46). For many, the holiday had not yet begun, and the various shops with goods were still open.
The tradition of the Christian Church also confirms the plausibility of such an explanation. For example, St. Clement of Alexandria directly says that God performed the Passover on Nisan 13 – a day earlier than the legal term (at Bazhenov p. 126). And in the Christian churches of the East in ancient times, until the end of the second century, they celebrated the Passover on the 14th of Nisan, dedicating it to the commemoration of the day of Christ’s death, and therefore they assumed that Christ performed the Passover on the 13th of Nisan.
Finally, Jewish tradition also reports that Jesus was crucified on the eve of the Passover (ibid., p. 135).
Therefore, we have sufficient reason to assert that the evangelist John more accurately determines the chronological sequence here than the synoptics, where things are presented as if Christ ate the passover on the same day as all the Jews.
18:29. Then Pilate came out to them and said: What do you accuse this Man of?
Condescending to the prejudices of the Jews, Pilate went out to them from the palace and stopped on the landing of the stairs that led to the palace. Although he was already known about Christ when the members of the Sanhedrin asked him for a military force to capture Christ in the garden (that Pilate knew about Christ, the account of Pilate’s wife’s dream, Matt. 27:19, testifies), regardless of this, according to the custom of Roman judicial proceedings, Pilate turned to the Jews with a demand that they should accurately formulate their accusation.
18:30. They answered him and said: if He had not been an evildoer, we would not have delivered Him to you.
However, the Jews did not want Pilate to judge a case that they had already decided. According to them, it should be enough for him that they condemned Christ as a villain. All that remained for Pilate to do was to pronounce upon Him the sentence whereby He should be executed.
18:31. Pilate said to them: you take Him and judge Him according to your law. The Jews said to him: it is not lawful for us to kill anyone;
“take Him ye.” Pilate first kept his judicial dignity and refused to do what the Jews asked of him, i.e. to pass judgment on the basis of a wrongful conviction. If the Jews – he thinks – do not recognize his right to judge, let them judge Christ themselves.
“we’re not allowed.” Then the Jews admitted that they had come to Pilate to obtain a sentence of death for Christ, since they themselves had no right to pass such sentences. If they did subsequently execute Archdeacon Stephen under Pontius Pilate (Acts 7), it was done illegally, during a time of popular unrest.
18:32. that the word of Jesus might be fulfilled, which he had spoken when he made it clear what kind of death he would die.
The insistence of the Jews that Pilate should pronounce judgment on Christ, and on the other hand the weakness that Pilate later shows towards them, were to serve to fulfill Christ’s prediction about what kind of death he would die (John 7:32ff. ). If Pilate had resolutely refused to judge Christ and had insisted on his first decision (verse 31), the angry Jews would have executed Christ themselves, but they would have simply stoned Him to death as a blasphemer from their point of view, and thus the prophecy would not have been fulfilled of Christ, that they will raise Him from the earth – that is, on the cross (see the interpretation of John 3:14 and 12:32). Only with the condemnation of Christ by a Roman court was He to be crucified.
18:33. Then Pilate again entered the praetorium and called Jesus and said to him: Are you the King of the Jews?
From the evangelist John it is not clear why Pilate, having called Jesus into the praetorium, asked him: “Are you the King of the Jews?” But from the Gospel of Luke we learn that this question was preceded by an accusation against Christ by the Jews that stirs up the people, calling himself the King of the Jews (Luke 23:2). Pilate, of course, cannot help but remember that he himself gave soldiers to arrest Jesus. Under the influence of the Jewish accusations, he could come to the idea that under the mask of a teacher of religion in the person of Jesus hides a rebel of the people against the Roman rule.
18:34. Jesus answered him: are you speaking this from yourself, or did others tell you about me?
Christ does not directly answer Pilate’s question, but Sam asks him. Let Pilate say what prompted him to ask Christ if he was the king of the Jews? The answer that Christ will give him will also depend on the clarification of Pilate’s motive. It must be answered in one way if the question is asked from the point of view of a Roman, in another way if Pilate repeats the opinion of the Jews.
18:35. Pilate answered: Am I a Jew? Your people and the high priests betrayed You to me; what have you done
Pilate denies any connection to his question with the Jewish opinion of Christ as king. For him personally, there can be no question whether the man in front of him is a king or not. This wretched Jesus, a man without any outward signs of royal majesty, is certainly no king! The thought of the royal dignity of such a wretched man could only occur to a Jew carried away by his religious dreams. “Am I a Jew?” asks Pilate. So, if he put this question to Christ, it was not of himself; he only repeated what he had heard from the Jews. As a prosecutor, he is obliged to investigate the complaint against Christ. “What hast thou done?” That is, by what acts havest thou given occasion to the Jews to accuse thee of plotting to acquire kingly power?
18:36. Jesus answered: My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, My servants would fight that I should not be handed over to the Jews; but now My kingdom is not from here.
Christ answers Pilate that for him, as a representative of the Roman authority, the authority to which Christ asserts His rights poses no danger. Christ’s kingdom or power is not of this world. It is of heavenly origin (cf. John 3:5) and must be established on earth by means different from those by which earthly kingdoms are usually founded and established: Christ has no strong supporters who could carry out a political coup in His benefit. The very delivery of Christ to the Jews could not have been effected without strong opposition on the part of His adherents, if He had had enough of them.
18:37. And Pilate said to Him: so, are You a king? Jesus answered: you say that I am a king. This is why I was born, and this is why I came into the world to testify to the truth; everyone who is of the truth hears My voice.
“So, are you a king?” Pilate realized that Christ had no intention of behaving as a pretender to the Jewish throne. But at the same time he heard that Christ did not give up the idea that he was King. That is why he asks Him: “So, are You a king?” (better translated: “yet you are king”). Perhaps by this question Pilate wanted to make Christ realize that he had better not press his claim to some unknown kingdom that did not belong to this world.
“you say”. Christ answers in the affirmative: “You say” (cf. Christ’s answer to Judas at the Last Supper: “You said” in Matt. 26:25. The expression “you said” as an affirmation is used except in the above verse of chapter 26 of Matthew, also in verse 64 of the same chapter.).
“that”. At the same time, Christ substantiates His affirmative answer with an expression of His self-awareness: “because” (this is how it is more correct to translate the particle ὅτι standing here, translated in the Russian text with the conjunction “che”).
“I am king”. But to make the character of His kingdom better clear to Pilate, Christ now gives a positive description of the Kingdom (previously, in verse 36, only a negative definition of Christ’s kingdom was given). Christ was born, i.e. “proceeded from the Father” (cf. John 16:28) and came into the world, i.e. he appeared in the world not to gain power over people by ordinary earthly means, but to bear witness to the truth, and by preaching the truth to gain subjects for it. The truth that Christ has in mind here is the divine, spiritual, saving truth (cf. John 1:17, 3:11, 32), the true knowledge and revelation of God, which is given by God to men in Christ Himself (cf. John 14:6). Such subjects are to be found not only among the Jews, but also among all nations: anyone who has not lost his desire for the truth, therefore even the heathen Pilate, can understand Christ, the preacher of truth. In this way, Christ extends a hand to Pilate to guide him to the true path, inviting him to familiarize himself with His teaching.
18:38. Pilate said to Him: what is truth? And having said this, he went out again to the Jews and said to them: I find no fault in Him.
Pilate obviously belonged to those Romans who had already lost faith in the existence of truth. He was a skeptical clerk, indifferent to the truth, who was used to seeing only lies, insincerity, and utter contempt for the demands of justice. In his time, bribery and venality reigned in Rome, everyone tried to get rich, and did not consider the means. Philosophy justified this course of action by asserting that there is nothing true in the world: “only this is true – said Pliny – that there is nothing true”. That is why Pilate does not want to hear anything about the truth. “What is truth?”, i.e. truth is only a dream. Is it worth fighting for, going to death for? And Pilate, not expecting an answer (for what could this, in his opinion, an enthusiastic dreamer, answer him?), went out to the Jews and told them that he had found no reason to punish Jesus.
18:39. But you have a custom, that I let you one for Passover; do you want me to release the King of the Jews to you?
What should Pilate do now? Or to demand a more detailed description of the crimes of Christ, or else to take Jesus under his protection. But both the one and the other seemed to him inappropriate: the first, because the Jews had evidently already said all they had to say against Jesus, and the second, because of the danger that the irritated Jews would rebel. That’s why Pilate chose the middle way: let the Jews keep their opinion that Jesus is a criminal, but let them also fulfill the procurator’s wish – that the criminal be pardoned for the holiday. According to their custom, every year at the feast of the Passover they asked for the release of one of those condemned by the Roman authorities. Now Pilate agreed to pardon Jesus, whom he ironically calls the King of the Jews.
18:40. Then they all shouted again, saying: not Him, but Vara’va. Vara’va was a robber.
But the Jews did not accept such a compromise: they asked Pilate to release another criminal for the holiday – the robber Barabbas. John gives the events very briefly. He says that the request for the release of Barabbas was repeated (“again”), and earlier he himself did not mention such a request. It is obvious that he did not wish to convey in detail what had already been described in the synoptics (see Mark 15:6-15; Matt. 27: 15-26), but he could not help but mention the request to release Barabbas : this is necessary to explain Pilate’s further conduct.
Source in Russian: Explanatory Bible, or Commentaries on all the books of the Holy Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments: In 7 volumes / Ed. prof. A. P. Lopukhin. – Ed. 4th. – Moscow: Dar, 2009, 1232 pp.
Briefing the Security Council in New York, UN Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator Joyce Msuya urged the international community to work to end the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, now in its third year.
Ms. Msuya said the civilian toll has continued to mount since her last briefing to the Council three weeks ago.
While few areas have been spared from the hostilities, the Kharkiv region has suffered the heaviest impact after Russia stepped up attacks there on 10 May.
UN human rights monitors in Ukraine reported on Friday that at least 174 people were killed and 690 injured nationwide in May, marking the highest number of civilian casualties in nearly a year.
More than half of them were in Kharkiv, located in the northeast of the country.
“Shopping centres, homes, educational establishments, shops, office buildings, parks and public transport have all been struck in recent weeks,” she said.
An aid worker registers an evacuated woman for multi-purpose cash assistance at the transit centre.
Supporting displaced people
At least 18,000 people in the Kharkiv region have been newly displaced, she added, citing estimates from UN migration agency IOM.
Some 50 humanitarian organizations have been providing food, water, clothes, cash, psychological support and other assistance to more than 12,000 people at a transit centre in Kharkiv city.
Meanwhile, civilians who remain in frontline and border areas with Russia face dire conditions, as many are cut off from access to food, medical care, electricity and gas. Elderly people have been disproportionately affected as they often are unable or reluctant to leave their homes.
“In northern Kharkiv – where the fighting is heaviest – more than half of those killed or injured have been over the age of 60,” she said.
The UN human rights office, OHCHR, has verified that at least 11,000 civilians have been killed in Ukraine, and more than 21,000 injured, since the conflict began on 24 February 2022, although actual figures are likely much higher.
Infrastructure attacks continue
Ms. Msuya noted that a year has passed since the Kakhova Dam disaster, “one of the most significant incidents affecting civilian infrastructure since the start of the full-scale invasion.”
The major dam was destroyed on 6 June 2023, resulting in monumental flooding that left large swathes of the surrounding area under water, destroying homes, displacing thousands of families, and disrupting water supplies for millions.
“It showed just how extensive and long-lasting the humanitarian impacts of a single incident affecting critical infrastructure can be,” she said. “That is why it is deeply concerning that systematic attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure – a feature of this war since February 2022 – continue.”
Since 22 March, the UN and partners have identified six waves of attacks across 15 regions which have impacted healthcare and other social, financial and transport services, and disrupted electricity, gas and water supply for millions.
Energy affected, global food supply threatened
Ms. Msuya said Ukraine’s energy system is now down over 60 per cent of its pre-war generation capacity, according to preliminary estimates from the UN Development Programme (UNDP).
“We note that strikes inside the Russian Federation in recent months, including in the Belgorod region, have also resulted in civilian casualties and damage to residential homes and other civilian infrastructure,” she said.
She also voiced deep concern over the impact of attacks on Ukraine’s transportation and port infrastructure on global food security. Recent weeks have seen “worrying indications of renewed upwards pressure on global grain prices, linked to this damage to infrastructure in Ukraine, among other factors.”
She stressed the need for safe navigation throughout the Black Sea, and the protection of ports and related civilian infrastructure, so that food exports can reach global markets.
A Ukrainian teenager stands in the rubble of her destroyed school in Zhytomyr (file).
‘Vast’ humanitarian needs
Turning to the humanitarian front, Ms. Msuya reported that needs remain “vast” as more than 14.6 million Ukrainians, roughly 40 per cent of the population, require some form of assistance. More than half are women and girls.
A $3.1 billion funding appeal for 2024 has so far netted $856 million, allowing humanitarians to provide assistance to more than four million people during the first quarter of the year.
She pointed to the “many challenges” humanitarians continues to face, chiefly lack of access to some 1.5 million civilians in Russian-occupied areas of Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
“And as the conflict continues to escalate, and we look to kickstart preparations for another winter dominated by war, full funding of the humanitarian response plan is urgently needed to sustain operations,” she stressed.
End the suffering
Ms. Msuya said that fighting continues to rip apart lives, homes and futures in Ukraine more than three years since the escalation of the war, and the UN and partners remain committed to support affected civilians.
She warned, however, that “the longer the violence and destruction continue, the greater the suffering will become, and the bigger the task to rebuild shattered lives and communities.”
Concluding her remarks, she welcomed the Ukraine Recovery Conference that will be held in Berlin next week, calling it a key opportunity to advance the Government’s recovery priorities and leverage financing for critical development in affected areas.
“And we continue to urge the Security Council and all Member States to do everything within their power to ensure respect for the rules of war, pursue peace and bring the suffering of the Ukrainian people to an end.”
Mr. Türk said these “relentless” attacks were deepening the humanitarian crisis in the country, tearing apart infrastructure, and creating a host of socioeconomic challenges.
Between March and May, 436 civilians were killed and 1,760 injured, High Commissioner Türk said.
“These high civilian casualties are largely the result of the ground offensive and aerial attacks, including with powerful air-dropped bombs, that took place in Kharkiv region,” the rights chief said.
The head of OHCHR said Russian forces had been targeting power-generating and distribution systems which has limited Ukraine’s electricity capacity.
Millions of civilians experience power cuts, often for hours at a time, decreasing access to water, internet and public transportation, he said. This was impacting jobs, tax revenues and weakening social protection.
“But the worst is possibly yet to come,” Mr. Türk said, “as energy companies and the Ukrainian authorities caution that repeated strikes have reduced the ability to make the necessary repairs to heat homes during winter.”
Russian citizenship
Mr. Türk said OHCHR has documented a rise in pressure to obtain Russian passports in the occupied territories of Ukraine.
Without Russian citizenship, many older people are reportedly experiencing difficulty accessing healthcare. For parents, they are having challenges sending their children to school without them obtaining a Russian passport.
This, the rights chief said, violates international humanitarian law.
Call for a ceasefire
The High Commissioner for Human Rights said the escalation of war in Ukraine “cannot become the new normal.”
Mr. Türk calls on the Russian Federation to immediately end its use of force against Ukraine and to withdraw troops from occupied territories in the country.
He also calls for the federation to end the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas.
“War is the worst enemy of human rights”, he said. “It has to be shunned and peace must be found in line with the UN Charter and international law.”
On 5 June last, the National Chamber of Cassation for Criminal and Correctional Matters confirmed the nullity of the elevation to trial of the defendants in the case known as the “Buenos Aires Yoga School” (BAYS), accused of “criminal activities.” The decision of the Cassation Court is not the end of the case as it is returned to the judge of first instance but it is clearly a setback for the prosecutors who were twice clearly disavowed.
In August 2022, about 50 spectacular police raids, “mysteriously” leaked to the media, were simultaneously conducted against members of the yoga school on the sole basis of unfounded accusations by one single person, Pablo Salum, that the Office of the Prosecutor for Human Trafficking and Exploitation (PROTEX) instrumentalized to support its controversial concepts of victims of trafficking and abuse of vulnerability. After that, hundreds of media outlets in Argentina and abroad had presented the yoga group headed by Juan Percowicz, now 86, as a “horror cult.”
Salum is a bizarre and megalomaniac anti-cult individual, who sees cults everywhere, even regarding the Catholic Carmelite Order. He publicly said on social media and YouTube that he had lodged a complaint against BAYS. He also inspired PROTEX massive raids against 38 centers of the Evangelical humanitarian organization REMAR, a respected NGO specialized in the rehabilitation of drug addicts and (paradoxically) women victims of real trafficking.
From the beginning of the case, all the alleged victims denied the accusations and denounced that they were being stigmatized as “brainwashed prostitutes” when they had never prostituted themselves, and have never been forced into anything by BAYS. To dispel any doubts, they asked to be examined by forensic experts to confirm their statements.
After that, on November 2022, the Federal Chamber of Appeal ruled the lack of merit of two defendants and, although confirming the prosecutions of the remaining, ruled that scientific psychological and psychiatric examinations be carried out on all the alleged victims in order to investigate whether there are any signs that their wills were unduly influenced or coerced.
On 4 July 2023, without addressing the results of those examinations –which with no exception determined total lack of any characteristics of submission, emotional dependence, lability, manipulation, or the assumption of a merely passive role in the interpersonal relationships of the alleged victims– Judge Ariel Lijo and prosecutors Carlos Stornelli, Marcelo Colombo and Alejandra Mángano tried to elevate the case to trial. However, on 7 December of the same year, the National Court of Appeals for Criminal and Correctional Matters, composed of judges Martin Irurzun, Roberto Boico and Eduardo Farah, annulled that order and commanded Judge Lijo to review that forensic results and to let the defense intervene in the evaluation. This is the decision confirmed by the National Chamber of Cassation.
The fabrication of “victims” of traffickingand the “rescue industry”
Until 2012, trafficking in persons for sexual exploitation was punishable by Law 26.364 on Prevention and Punishment of Human Traficking and Assistance to Victims but on 19 December 2012, this law was amended in such a way that it opened the door to controversial interpretation and implementation. It is now identified as Law 26.842.
In this context, cases of alleged human trafficking linked to spiritual minorities have emerged in Argentina along with the use of anti-cult language in the narratives of anti-trafficking agents in the media, legal and judicial settings. In this regard, decried and obsolete concepts such as “cults”, “brainwashing”, “coercive organization” and “coercive persuasion” are coming back to the front stage and are getting a new life. So, when presumed victims of trafficking deny they are victims, anti-trafficking operators now disqualify their statements because in their eyes, they do not perceive themselves as such as their adhesion to an “ideological or spiritual system” prevents them from recognizing their exploitative situation.
This creates a “victimization paradigm” and leads to a vicious circle according to which they are vulnerable per se and, therefore, victims, who are denied the capacity and the right to intervene in the narrative of events. Their only status is “to be rescued”.
Scholars understand this phenomenon as a “rescue industry” that allows anti-trafficking agencies to generate a large number of cases in order to increase their public visibility and authority. This also makes possible to consider a wide range of legal activities –such as volunteering and donation– as “trafficking.”
Controversies inside and outside the courts
Judge Lijo and PROTEX resolutions raised numerous criticisms in the Chamber of Appeal. Judge Farah has reiterated in his last vote that the alleged victims must be heard, and that not doing so means an act of paternalism alien to the due behavior of a democratic justice sensitive to gender equality. In his opinion, after listening to the personal testimonies of these women, it is clear that none of them is a victim of human trafficking, which is confirmed by the results of the forensic examinations. In Farah’s opinion, the defendants should be acquitted.
Judges Irurzun and Boico consider that these expert opinions are essential to evaluate a change in the procedural status of the defendants. Ultimately, it was the Chamber of Appeal itself that requested their performance and now urges Judge Lijo to evaluate them. Failure to do so is contrary to the right to legitimate defense.
But not only the court has spoken. Numerous researchers, after interviewing BAYS members and studying the legal documents, have questioned the anti-cultist arguments of PROTEX and Judge Lijo. These research results were published in scientific journals and conferences –such as the one held in Bordeaux between June 12 and 16, 2024, by the Center for the Study of New Religions (CESNUR)– as well as at the 53rd session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
The message is clear: denying the credibility of clinically healthy adult women through pseudoscientific arguments is a direct attack on individual liberties protected by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Argentine Constitution.
“WHO is appalled by the recent attack on South Hospital, the only facility with surgical capacity in El Fasher, Darfur,” the UN agency said in a post on X. “The hospital’s closure following the attack has stretched the two other hospitals there beyond capacity, further limiting access to lifesaving services.”
According to reports, the hospital had to close after Rapid Support Forces (RSF) soldiers entered the building and opened fire. The NGO which helps to run the hospital, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), said on X that the armed fighters stole equipment and an ambulance.
In a related social media post, the WHO condemned “another attack” on a health facility in Wad Al-Nura in Al-Jazirah state south of Khartoum, that caused the death of a nurse who was on duty and caring for patients at the time.
“WHO strongly condemns attacks on healthcare. Health workers and patients should not have to risk their lives to provide and access health services,” the UN agency said, days after an attack on the village reportedly by RSF paramilitaries involving heavy artillery left more than 100 dead.
Rights chief’s warning
UN human rights chief Volker Türk added his voice on Friday to widespread international condemnation of that attack in which he cited evidence gathered by his Office which “indicates that the RSF used weapons with wide-area effects, including artillery shells, during the attack”.
Previously, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spoke out against the “deeply devastating impact” on civilians of the clashes between the Sudan Armed Forces and the RSF in El Fasher in the far west of the vast country.
In addition to personal appeals in separate phone calls to the generals of the rival militaries, Mr. Türk warned that more than 1.8 million residents and internally displaced people were besieged in the city “and at imminent risk of famine”.
Any further escalation “would have a catastrophic impact on civilians and would deepen intercommunal conflict with disastrous humanitarian consequences”, the High Commissioner insisted.
Hunger crisis
The humanitarian emergency caused by heavy fighting which erupted across Sudan last April is now close to becoming the world’s largest hunger crisis.
According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), 18 million people in Sudan are acutely food insecure including nearly five million who are now in the grip of emergency levels of hunger.
“This is the highest number ever recorded during the harvest season… Around 90 per cent of those in emergency are in areas where access is extremely limited due to heavy fighting and restriction,” WFP said, in an appeal for urgent funding.
About 1.4 million people are estimated to have been left in dire straits, as heavy rains lashed Sylhet and Sunamganj districts, as well as areas upstream, in India.
“Our priority is to ensure that the most vulnerable families, who were already facing hardships and are now having their lives and livelihoods upended again by the floods, can meet their essential food and nutritional needs,” said Simone Parchment, UN World Food Programme (WFP) Bangladesh Deputy Country Director.
The agency’s field office in Sylhet, is supporting Government-led relief efforts, distributing fortified biscuits to over 23,000 families to help them meet their immediate needs.
WFP also plans to provide cash assistance to these 23,000 and an additional 48,000 households it pre-identified as part of its preparedness efforts.
Further heavy rains are forecast in the affected regions and adjoining catchment areas over the coming days, which could worsen the flood situation, according to reports.
World of sports is not immune from human rights challenges: UN rights chief
Despite the sporting ideal of equality and fair opportunities, athletes encounter many forms of rights violations and abuses, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk warned on Monday.
Speaking at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, just weeks from the beginning of the Paris 2024 Olympics, Mr. Türk insisted that “mega sporting events” with “enormous” reach such as the football World Cup, and the Olympic and Paralympic games should serve as platforms to advocate against inequalities.
“The world of sports is not immune from human rights challenges, including when mega events are organized. And some worrying issues are more visible than others,” Mr. Türk said.
Among these issues, Mr. Türk highlighted racist or sexist incidents, abuse, violence against women, corruption, discrimination on the basis of religion or religious attire, disability, nationality, or sexual orientation and gender identity.
He said that human rights policies and grievance mechanisms are increasingly being included in large-scale sport events, referring to a case in Spain where football fans were punished for racially abusing the Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior.
WHO supports vaccination campaign in Angola
In health news, authorities in Angola, supported by UN agencies, have initiated a vaccination campaign to curb the spread of polio and protect children from childhood paralysis.
Polio is a highly infectious disease caused by a virus that invades the nervous system and can cause total paralysis within hours. While there is no cure for polio, it can be prevented through vaccination.
According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), which is supporting the Government, the central objective of the campaign is to increase the immunity of children under five to quickly interrupt the virus’s transmission in the country.
The programme aims to achieve at least 95 percent vaccination coverage in all districts, identify suspected cases, and raise awareness of routine vaccination.
Vaccination teams will go from house to house to ensure that no child is left unvaccinated, and fixed posts will be available in highly populated areas.
The first round of the vaccination campaign in May 2024 successfully vaccinated over 5.5 million children across the country, covering the entire target group at risk.
In the second round of the vaccination campaign, as in previous initiatives, vaccination teams will continue their house-to-house efforts, and fixed posts will be available in health facilities, markets, churches, schools, nurseries, and other places of high population concentration, WHO said.
When it comes to maximizing your retail store’s potential, you need to blend several factors – such as innovation, strategy, and customer-centric techniques.
As technological advancement is on the rise, wide-ranging strategies can contribute to enhanced operational efficiency and customer satisfaction to the maximum extent.
If you own a retail store and want to make the most out of your efforts, look nowhere else. Below in this informative blog post, you can check out some of the best ways that will help you stand out as a successful retail store owner.
1. Improve Your In-Store & Online Customer Experiences
Providing an excellent shopping experience across all channels is highly significant in the present omni-channel retail setting. You need to improve your store’s physical layout and environment to make it more inviting and conducive to browsing.
Different latest technologies, such as interactive displays or digital signage, provide product details and promotions more effectively.
When we talk about running a retail business online, make sure your website is user-friendly, mobile-responsive, and supports several features such as live chat or AI-powered customer service bots.
So, you can accommodate your customers (both existing and new) instantly, resulting in strengthened brand loyalty and encouraging repeat business.
2. Leverage the Power of AI Technology
Taking advantage of AI solutions can transform the way how you manage inventory, analyze customer behavior, and optimize business processes and other retail operations more efficiently.
Suppose you are using retail ai solutions for demand forecasting purposes. In that case, they can assist in preventing stock-outs and overstocking so that your retail store’s shelves will remain stocked with the right products and goods.
It not only streamlines business operations but also skyrockets sales and customer loyalty, ensuring promising future success for your retail store.
3. Invest Your Time and Efforts in Personalized Marketing
Personalization not only improves conversion rates but also enhances customer satisfaction by showing that you understand and value their needs.
Want to deliver targeted promotions and recommendations through email marketing, personalized ads, or loyalty programs? You need to leverage AI-driven analytics that can segment your customer base more effectively.
Customer data contributes to creating and executing personalized marketing campaigns, resulting in more brand exposure and boosted sales and revenue.
4. Optimize Inventory Management with Automation
Another significant aspect of retail business is optimized inventory management, which can help reduce costs and improve cash flow. Different inventory management tools can analyze historical sales, seasonal trends, and external factors to predict demand accurately.
If you maintain the correct stock levels, you can reduce stock-outs, minimize excessive inventory, and enhance turnover rates. Numerous automated inventory replenishment processes can help ensure your retail store always has the right products on its shelves. Hence, your customer satisfaction and sales opportunities will be enhanced and skyrocket.
5. Prioritize Data-Driven Decision Making
Data-driven analytics are subject to offer significant information about customer preferences, market trends, and operational efficiencies of your retail business. Once you gather and analyze data from different valuable sources, which involves sales records, social media interactions, and website traffic, you can discover actionable insights.
What’s more, AI and machine learning algorithms have the potential to identify patterns and predict upcoming trends. Therefore, you can make well-informed, strategic decisions in terms of inventory management, pricing strategies, and marketing campaigns.
Be sure that this data-driven approach can minimize the chances of risks and elevate new opportunities, resulting in your retail store’s continuous growth.
On July 8, the Orthodox Church honors the memory of the Great Martyr Procopius. In popular belief, the saint is the patron saint of beekeepers and is known as Procopius the Beekeeper.
St. Procopius was born in Jerusalem in the second half of the 3rd century and before he was baptized he bore the name Neanius. His mother was a pagan and raised him in her pagan beliefs, and then put him in the service of Emperor Diocletian. He appointed him governor of the city of Alexandretta in Syria and ordered him to strictly persecute and punish the Christians if they did not renounce their faith and Jesus Christ and did not want to worship idols. Because Diocletian considered the strengthening of pagan religion important in strengthening state power in the vast empire.
Neanius had already been impressed by the kindness and exemplary life of many Christians, and therefore he was not convinced of the rightness of the imperial decree, but he had to carry it out. However, on the way to Alexandretta, a strong storm arose and he saw a bright cross in the air, hearing a voice calling him to faith in Christ. On the other hand, the young warlord was encouraged by his mother to continue with the sacrifices to the idols. And when Neanius finally told her that he was ready to accept Christianity, the mother complained to the emperor about her son. Diocletian got angry and ordered for edification to punish Neanius who had deviated from paganism to Christianity.
He remained firm in his Christian faith, ready to go even to death for Christ’s sake. He was thrown into a dungeon, where torture began, alternating with persuasion to renounce the faith. Local Christians helped him to be baptized in the cell with the name Procopius (“prosperous”). Seeing the faith and courage of the confessor, some soldiers and prominent citizens also turned to Christ. But they too were immediately severely punished by beheading. Finally, the great martyr Procopius was also cut with a sword. This happened in 303.
Illustrative Photo: St. Great martyr Procopius († 303) – patron saint of beekeepers. Fresco by Manuel Panselinos in the Church of the Protata in Kareia, Mount Athos. He is celebrated on July 8 by the Orthodox Church.
Amsterdam, Netherlands – On July 6, 2024, from 15:00 to 17:00, approximately 150 members of the Uyghur community and their supporters gathered at Dam Square in Amsterdam to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the Urumqi Massacre and to raise awareness about the ongoing human rights violations in the occupied Uyghur homeland, East Turkistan (so-called Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region of China).
The peaceful demonstration brought together Uyghur activists, community leaders, human rights advocates, and representatives from various organisations. The event featured poignant speeches and personal testimonies, including those from individuals who lost loved ones in the 2009 massacre. The massacre resulted in an estimated 200 deaths, 1,700 injuries, and tens of thousands of disappearances during mass arrests over the following year, during which the region experienced an internet blackout lasting nearly 12 months.
Protesters called for global action against the reported human rights violations in East Turkistan, where several million Uyghurs are allegedly detained in internment camps. Former detainees have reported widespread abuses, including torture, forced labor, sexual violence, forced sterilisation, and organ harvesting.
The demonstration resonated with powerful slogans that encapsulated the protesters’ demands:
“Free East Turkistan!”
“China, Stop the Genocide!”
“China Lies, Uyghurs Die!”
“Justice for Uyghurs!”
“We Want Freedom!”
“China, Go Home!”
“Release the Detainees!”
“Remember July 5th! China to the ICC!”
These chants emphasised the demonstrators’ call for freedom, justice, and an end to the ongoing genocide. The slogan “China to the ICC” specifically called for holding China accountable at the International Criminal Court for its actions.
The event aimed to keep international attention focused on the plight of the Uyghur people and urged world leaders to take concrete steps to address the situation in East Turkistan. Organisers highlighted the importance of remembering the Urumqi Massacre as a pivotal moment that underscores the ongoing struggle of the Uyghur people.
