President Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s departure came hours before he was due to step down as Head of State.
Protests against the economic crisis in Sri Lanka have rumbled on for months, with people blaming Rajapaksa for runaway inflation, corruption, and a severe lack of fuel and medicines.
They came to a head last weekend when hundreds of thousands of people took over key government buildings in Colombo.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe declared a state of emergency and a curfew in Western Province but then cancelled them. His office said the moves would be announced again later.
The speaker of parliament said Rajapaksa had approved Wickremesinghe acting as president, invoking a section of the constitution dealing with times when the president is unable to fulfill his duties.
However, protesters say the prime minister is allied to the Rajapaksas and have warned of a “decisive fight” if he too does not resign. Police fired tear gas as hundreds of protesters stormed the prime minister’s office in Colombo demanding his ouster.
Rajapaksa was due to step down as president on Wednesday to make way for a unity government.
It’s also reported that the president would send in a letter of resignation later on Wednesday.
Media reports say the president’s brothers, former prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and former finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, were still in Sri Lanka.
Economic turmoil
The Rajapaksa family ruled Sri Lanka for decades but many Sri Lankans blame President Rajapaksa’s administration for the country’s recent economic woes.
The island nation’s tourism-dependent economy suffered greatly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Rajapaksas implemented populist tax cuts in 2019 that affected government finances while decreasing foreign reserves and curtailed imports of fuel, food and medicines.
Amid the economic and political chaos, Sri Lanka’s sovereign bond prices on Wednesday hit fresh record lows.
Collen V. Kelapile, President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), was delivering opening remarks to the ministerial segment of its ongoing High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
Countries are meeting in the General Assembly Hall to examine how recovery policies can reverse the pandemic’s negative impacts on the common goal of creating a more equitable future for all people and the planet.
The current global challenges must not dampen their resolve and determination, said Mr. Kelapile, underscoring that nations must act together in solidarity.
“After two years of a surreal struggle against the pandemic, it is true that we now live in a world of increased conflict, inequality, poverty, and suffering; of economic instability; energy and imminent food crisis; increasing debt levels; of a slowing of progress towards gender equality and the empowerment of women,” he said.
“And yet, one of the key messages that we have heard in the past few days of the High-Level Political Forum is that – despite our grim times – there is a continued air of optimism that the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development provides us a framework for building back better.”
He outlined four areas for immediate action, starting with recovery from the pandemic in every country.
“We must ensure equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapies and tests. And now it is very important to have a serious effort to increase the number of countries that can produce vaccines, diagnostics, and other else technologies thinking about the future,” he said.
Countries must also ramp up efforts to make sure future disease outbreaks are better managed by strengthening health systems and ensuring Universal Health Coverage.
A health worker in Mali prepares one of 396,000 COVID-19 vaccine doses supplied to the West African country through the COVAX Facility.
Food and energy crisis
The UN chief also underscored the need to tackle the food, energy and finance crisis, stating that Ukraine’s food production, and the food and fertilizer produced by Russia, must be brought back to world markets, despite the ongoing war.
“We have been working hard on a plan to allow for the safe and secure exports of Ukrainian produced foods through the Black Sea and Russian foods and fertilizers to global markets,” he said. “I thank the governments involved for your continued cooperation.”
Address economic inequality
However, today’s crises cannot be solved without a solution to the crisis of economic inequality in the developing world, he added, calling for greater resources, “fiscal space”, as well as flexibility and understanding on the part of global financial institutions.
“We should not forget that the majority of poor people do not live in the poorest countries; they live in Middle Income Countries. If they don’t receive the support they need, the development prospects of heavily indebted Middle Income Countries will be seriously compromised,” he added.
The Secretary-General also called for a New Global Deal so that developing countries can have a fair chance at building their own futures, and for reforming the global financial system to one that “works for the vulnerable, not just the powerful.”
Invest in people
The pandemic has revealed glaring inequalities, both within and between countries, and as with all crises, it is the most vulnerable and marginalized who are worst affected.
“It is time to prioritize investment in people; to build a new social contract, based on universal social protection; and to overhaul social support systems established in the aftermath of the Second World War,” said Mr. Guterres.
Any hope of solving the world’s challenges starts with education, he added, but it too is “racked by a crisis of equity, quality and relevance.” The Secretary-General will convene a summit in September for world leaders to recommit to education as a global public good.
UNDP Afghanistan
A health centre in Afghanistan is using renewable energy reducing the reliance on fossil fuels which are contributing to climate change.
‘Renewable energy revolution’
For his final point, the UN chief pushed for ambitious climate action, warning that the battle to keep global temperature rise to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels will be won or lost this decade.
“Ending the global addiction to fossil fuels through a renewable energy revolution is priority number one,” he said. “I have been asking for no new coal plants and no more subsidies to fossil fuels because funding fossil fuels is delusional, and funding renewable energy is rational.”
The President of the UN General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, focused on the importance of hope and solidarity, so that the world will emerge from this period stronger, more resilient, and more sustainable.
“To break the vicious cycle of crises we must do more than ‘look’ towards a more sustainable future, we must put it into practice,” he said.
Learn from the pandemic
Mr. Shahid called for placing greater investments in areas such as social protection, poverty reduction and climate action, in addition to empowering young people as “agents of a sustainable transformation.”
Countries must also learn from the pandemic, particularly where systems and policies proved dysfunctional.
Like the Secretary-General, he also pressed for reforming the international finance system, particularly in regard to debt relief and vulnerabilities, Overseas Development Assistance (ODA), and humanitarian relief.
Common challenges, common solutions
Mr. Shahid also appealed for commitment to address both the situation of the most vulnerable countries and for the sustainable development of Africa, including support for achieving universal vaccination, food security and energy access across the continent.
Although the pandemic tested the limits of international solidarity, “multilateralism prevails and international solidarity persists”, said the General Assembly President, pointing to initiatives such as the COVAX vaccine equity mechanism, and the negotiations on a global pandemic treaty.
“We have seen countries and communities come together to find common solutions to common challenges. We must build on this in every way we can,” he said.
An EU-wide coordinated action week targeting human trafficking for labour exploitation and related offences took place between 15 and 21 June 2022. The action days, supported by Europol, were led by the Netherlands and co-led by France, Italy, Romania and the United Kingdom and involved 29* countries in total as well as the European Labour Authority and the European Commission.
A wide range of law enforcement authorities including police, immigration and border guards, labour inspectorates and tax authorities took part in the coordinated operational activities.
These coordinated actions were implemented as part of the European multidisciplinary platform against criminal threats, known as EMPACT. Established to improve synergies between different institutions fighting serious and organised crime, EMPACT has enabled cooperation between law enforcement and regulatory authorities targeting labour exploitation.
The action week mobilised almost 18 500 officers, who searched more than 10 467 locations, 32 525 vehicles and more than 86 000 persons to detect different administrative infringements and criminal offences. These checks led to the detection of a significant number of companies linked to infringements of employment law.
About 500 individuals who had been working undeclared were identified during the inspections. This means the employers in question did not ensure that their employees had access to healthcare, insurance in case of accidents, or any other social benefits and rights that they were entitled to according to employment law.
487 possible victims of different types of exploitation identified;
About 1 100 workers affected by labour infringements;
514 employers linked to labour infringements;
34 forged documents detected;
~80 new investigations initiated;
715 new inspections/administrative investigations.
Restaurants, healthcare and the mining sector under scrutiny
This year’s inspections focused on a number of labour-intensive sectors such as mining, home healthcare services, nail bars, cleaning services, restaurants and food delivery services. Vietnamese nationals are especially vulnerable to labour exploitation, predominantly in nail bars. Home healthcare is also a sector that is susceptible to exploitation.
This is especially difficult to detect as it happens behind the closed doors of households. Eastern European nationals often fall victim to domestic servitude with reports of cases in Spain, Italy, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Authorities also focused on detecting the possible exploitation of Ukrainian refugees.
*Participating countries
EU Member States: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden. Third party countries: Norway, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom.
Europol coordinated the action days and facilitated the information exchange between the participating countries. Europol provided analytical and operational support on a 24/7 basis and facilitated the real-time exchange of communication between the participating authorities.
Headquartered in The Hague, the Netherlands, Europol supports the 27 EU Member States in their fight against terrorism, cybercrime, and other serious and organized crime forms. Europol also works with many non-EU partner states and international organisations. From its various threat assessments to its intelligence-gathering and operational activities, Europol has the tools and resources it needs to do its part in making Europe safer.
Humanitarian response from the European churches was highlighted by Slovakian Bishop Peter Mihoč at the Article 17 Dialogue Seminar held on 12 July at the European Parliament in Brussels. He shared striking insights about challenges faced by local churches in providing support to those fleeing the war in Ukraine, as well as strengthening efforts aimed at realising peace in the region.
Bishop Mihoč of the Evangelical Church of the Augsburg Confession in Slovakia was representing the Conference of European Churches (CEC) in the seminar hosted by Othmar Karas, First Vice-President, responsible for the implementation of Article 17 Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU). Representatives of other religious, philosophical and non-confessional organisations were also present.
“The situation in Ukraine is unexpected and horrible,” said Bishop Mihoč. “We are trying to respond to the dreadful conditions and serve in the name of love. Openness and closeness, empathy and practical help, in the last months have revealed themselves as precious values in Slovakia, regardless of religious affiliation or social class of those we serve. The churches have offered a helping hand to people on a journey escaping the consequences of the atrocities and bloodshed in Ukraine.”
Bishop Peter Mihoč
Bishop Mihoč comes from a country, which has played a vital role in providing humanitarian help to refugees from Ukraine. He shared that his church is located in Prešov, a city close to the Ukrainian border. Around 600,000 refugees recently have crossed these borders from Ukraine to Slovakia.
“In the last months, overnight stays per person were provided, and at this moment we already have people staying for long terms, who cannot return because their homes were destroyed. We continue to actively provide for these people free accommodation and food, secure social and health care and we strive to create for them a safe and hospitable living environment,” he said.
“As a CEC Member Church I want to assure you that we the churches want to be here for others in these difficult days, especially people from Ukraine. And we believe that also with your active support we can continue our humanitarian efforts,” added Bishop Mihoč.
The seminar was held as part of the Article 17 TFEU, which foresees an open, transparent and regular dialogue between the EU institutions and churches and religious associations or communities.
The event featured opening remarks by Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament, Othmar Karas, Margaritis Schinas, Vice-President of the European Commission for “Promoting our European Way of Life” responsible for Article 17 TFEU, and Witold Jan Waszczykowski, Vice-Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and Chair of the Delegation to the EU-Ukraine Parliamentary Association Committee.
The Ombudsman inquiry into the Commission’s handling of a request for text messages between its President and the CEO of a pharmaceutical company is a wake-up call for all EU institutions about ensuring accountability in an era of instant messaging.
One year after the initial request by a journalist, the Commission has still not clarified whether messages reported to concern major vaccine procurement deals exist and whether the public is entitled to see them.
The Ombudsman had asked the Commission, in a finding of maladministration in January, to conduct a more thorough search for the text messages.
The Commission’s recent response failed to say whether it had looked directly and correctly for the text messages and if not, why not.
While the response recognised that work-related text messages can be EU documents, it reiterated that the Commission’s internal policy is, in effect, not to register text messages.
The Ombudsman has closed the inquiry and upheld her finding of maladministration.
“The Commission’s response to my findings neither answered the basic question of whether the text messages in question exist nor provided any clarity on how the Commission would respond to a specific request for other text messages,” said Emily O’Reilly.
“The handling of this access to documents request leaves the regrettable impression of an EU institution that is not forthcoming on matters of significant public interest.”
“Public access to work-related text messages is a new area for the EU administration and one that needs to be tackled substantively and in good faith. This inquiry is a wake-up call to all EU institutions.”
“The recent revelations about lobbying tactics by an American multinational in Europe, including leaked text messages, shows the urgency of this issue for public administrations.” said the Ombudsman.
Recommendations for recording work-related text messages
Separately, after gathering information on the rules and practices on the recording of text and instant messages across the EU administration, the Ombudsman is today publishing practical recommendations for dealing with this issue.
Work-related text and instant messages should be recognised as EU documents.
Technological solutions should be put in place to enable the easy recording of such messages.
Staff should have clear guidance on how such messages should be recorded.
Requests for public access to documents that could cover text messages should be dealt with in a way that considers all locations where such messages might be stored.
Background
In April 2021, the New York Times published an article in which it reported that the Commission President and the CEO of a pharmaceutical company had exchanged texts related to the procurement of COVID-19 vaccines. This prompted a journalist to request public access to text messages and other documents relating to the exchange. The complainant turned to the Ombudsman after the Commission had not identified any text messages as falling within the scope of his request.
The Ombudsman inquiry revealed that the Commission did not explicitly ask the President’s cabinet to look for text messages. Instead, it asked her cabinet to look for documents that fulfil the Commission’s internal criteria for recording – text messages are not considered to meet these criteria. The Ombudsman found that this amounted to maladministration and asked it to do a more extensive research for the text messages.
Regulation 1049/2001, which sets out the public’s right to access EU documents, defines a document as “any content whatever its medium (written on paper or stored in electronic form or as a sound, visual or audiovisual recording) concerning a matter relating to the policies, activities and decisions falling within the institution’s sphere of responsibility”.
In addition to tackling COVID and the monkeypox outbreak, the UN health agency has also been keeping a close eye on the puzzling spread of hepatitis in previously healthy children, which has left dozens needing lifesaving liver transplants.
According to a new update on Wednesday from the World Health Organization (WHO), 35 countries in five regions of the world have now reported more than 1,010 probable cases of unexplained severe acute hepatitis, or liver inflammation, in youngsters, since the outbreak was first detected on 5 April.
So far, 22 children have died, and almost half of the probable cases have been reported in Europe, where 21 countries have registered a total of 484 cases.
This includes 272 cases in the United Kingdom – 27 per cent of the global total – followed by the Americas, whose regional total of 435 includes 334 cases in the United States, representing a third of cases worldwide.
The next highest caseload is in the Western Pacific Region (70 cases), Southeast Asia (19) and the Eastern Mediterranean (two cases).
Seventeen countries have reported more than five probable cases, but the actual number of cases may be underestimated, in part owing to the limited enhanced surveillance systems in place, said WHO.
According to the UN health agency’s latest assessment, the risk of this paediatric hepatitis outbreak spreading is “moderate”.
Symptoms
Out of 100 probable cases with available clinical data, the most commonly reported symptoms were nausea or vomiting (in 60 per cent of cases), jaundice (53 per cent), general weakness (52 per cent) and abdominal pain (50 per cent).
The average time between the onset of symptoms and hospitalization, was four days.
In laboratory tests, WHO said that hepatitis A to E had not been present in the affected children. Other pathogens such as the coronavirus were detected in a number of cases, but the data is incomplete, the UN health agency said.
Adenovirus lead
Adenoviruses – which cause a wide range of illnesses, such as colds, fever, sore throats and pneumonia – have been “the most frequently detected pathogen” in cases of paediatric hepatitis, WHO said.
In Europe, adenovirus was detected by polymerase chain reaction tests (PCR) in 52 per cent of the child hepatitis cases (193/368) so far; in Japan, it was found in just nine per cent of cases (5/58).
Owing to limited adenovirus surveillance in most countries, it is quite possible that the true number of cases of child hepatitis is higher than currently known.
To promote better understanding of where the outbreak is happening, WHO has launched a global online survey, which will also help to compare current cases with data from the last five years.
WHO has shared the voluntary survey across nine global and regional networks of paediatric hepatologists who specialise in problems associated with the liver and other organs, along with other specialist medics working in major national units, requesting aggregated data as part of the global event investigation.
Presentation of the EU Council's priorities by Czech Ministers
Ministers are outlining the priorities of the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU to parliamentary committees, in a series of meetings.
Czechia holds the Presidency of the Council until the end of 2022. A first series of hearings takes place from 11 to 13 July. A second set of hearings will happen during the first week of September.
Agriculture and Rural Development
The impact of Russian aggression against Ukraine on food security is a key priority, according to Agriculture Minister Zdeněk Nekula on 11 July. The Presidency will seek an early start for the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to provide member states with flexibility and temporary exceptions to handle the crisis. The Presidency will also prioritise negotiations on the sustainable use of plant protection products.
A number of MEPs called for the way in which solidarity corridors for agricultural exports from Ukraine work to be improved and for a balance between EU food production and the proposed reduction in the use of pesticides. Some MEPs agreed that some derogations from CAP rules will be needed, while others warned against weakening the CAP and called for organic farming to be supported instead.
Development
On 12 July, Jiří Kozák, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, highlighted a three-fold challenge caused by Russia’s war against Ukraine: the distribution of grain from Ukraine; securing sufficient humanitarian relief; and breaking the Russian narrative that the food security crisis is the EU’s fault. Mr Kozák also said that, for the Post-Cotonou Agreement, the Presidency is determined to conclude the remaining steps as fast as possible.
MEPs agreed on the importance of dealing with the immediate and longer-term impacts of the war on global food security. They also raised the question of refugees in Ukraine and its neighbours. Others questioned the Presidency on their priorities in the Sahel, on the migration issue on the EU’s southern border, and the integration of humanitarian relief and long-term development policy.
Transport and Tourism
On 12 July, Transport MinisterMartin Kupka, and Deputy Prime Minister for Digitisation and Minister of Regional DevelopmentIvan Bartoš, stressed that the Presidency will focus on measures to decarbonise transport, promote railways, make sure solidarity lanes for Ukraine are working and increase the resilience of the tourism sector. Minister Kupka promised MEPs that the work on new rules on the Single European Sky, alternative fuel infrastructure, sustainable fuels for aviation and maritime sectors, intelligent transport systems and TEN-T revision would advance.
Transport Committee MEPs urged the Presidency to put more efforts into addressing mobility poverty and road safety, make sure EU countries would unite in response to any possible new COVID-19 pandemic and asked for the option of providing EU financial support for solidarity lanes in Ukraine to be explored.
Fisheries
On 12 July, Zdeněk Nekula, Minister of Agriculture, said that the Presidency’s top priority will be to ensure food security in the EU and improve the competitiveness of the sector compared to third countries. Despite being a landlocked country, the Czech Presidency will also focus on fishing quotas, reaching agreements on EU fishing possibilities with third countries, as well as fisheries-relevant initiatives related to the Green Deal.
MEPs stressed the need to help fishers due to the impact of the war in Ukraine. They welcomed the intention to make fisheries more competitive but stressed the need to strike a balance between the socio-economic and environmental aspects of the initiative. Finally, some reaffirmed the idea of reforming the Common Fisheries Policy, even if the Commission is reluctant to do so.
Internal Market and Consumer Protection
Industry and Trade Minister Jozef Síkela told MEPs that the Presidency will pay special attention to better enforcement of Single Market tools and services, deeper market integration and high consumer protection, including raising consumer awareness on sustainable consumption and online risks. The Presidency will work to move forward on negotiations with MEPs on machinery products and consumer credits and to reach a common position in the Council on the General Product Safety Regulation, the Artificial Intelligence Act, and Transparency and Targeting of Political Advertising.
MEPs quizzed the Presidency on empowering consumers in light of the twin transition, the implementation of rules on dual quality of products, the update of travel package rules in light of the pandemic and the ongoing digital priorities (including the new Chips Act and European Digital Identity).
Women’s Rights and Gender Equality
Marian Jurečka, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, said the Czech Presidency will strive to achieve progress on the pay transparency directive. On an EU strategy for care, they will focus on long-term care and providing refugees from Ukraine with high-quality care. Member states’ diverse positions on preventing violence against women need to be respected, he said, although the definition of online sexual violence will be discussed in November. There will be Council conclusions on gender equality, and the Presidency will look into economic parity for men and women with a focus on youth.
Several MEPs asked if Czechia is planning to ratify the Istanbul Convention. Many welcomed the objective to reach a deal on pay transparency, stressed that LGBTI rights and sexual and reproductive health and rights must be protected, and highlighted Parliament’s call to add the right to abortion to the EU Charter of fundamental rights.
To fight climate change and biodiversity loss globally, Environment MEPs want only deforestation-free products to be allowed on the EU market.
The Environment, Public Health and Food Safety Committee today adopted its position with 60 votes to 2 and 13 abstentions on the Commission proposal for a regulation on deforestation-free products to halt EU-driven global deforestation.
The new law would make it obligatory for companies to verify (so-called “due diligence”) that goods sold in the EU have not been produced on deforested or degraded land. This would assure consumers that the products they buy do not contribute to the destruction of forests outside the EU, including of irreplaceable tropical forests, and hence reduce the EU’s contribution to climate change and biodiversity loss globally.
MEPs also want companies to verify that goods are produced in accordance with human rights protected under international law and the rights of indigenous people in addition to the relevant laws and standards in the country where the products are produced.
Enlarging the scope
The Commission’s proposal covers cattle, cocoa, coffee, palm-oil, soya and wood, including products that contain, have been fed with or have been made using these commodities (such as leather, chocolate and furniture). Parliament wants to include pigmeat, sheep and goats, poultry, maize and rubber, as well as charcoal and printed paper products, and bring the cut-off date one year forward, to 31 December 2019.
The Commission would have to evaluate, no later than two years after the entry into force, whether the rules need to be extended to other goods such as sugar cane, ethanol and mining products, and how feasible this is. MEPs also want them to cover other natural ecosystems such as grasslands, peatlands and wetlands, if deemed appropriate by the Commission, within one year after the entry into force. Finally, MEPs also want financial institutions to be subject to additional requirements to ensure that their activities do not contribute to deforestation.
Due diligence and control
While no country or commodity will be banned, companies placing products on the EU market would be obliged to exercise due diligence to evaluate risks in their supply chain. They can for example use satellite monitoring tools, field audits, capacity building of suppliers or isotope testing to check where products come from. EU authorities would have access to relevant information, such as geographic coordinates. Anonymised data would be available to the public.
Based on a transparent assessment, the Commission would have to classify countries, or part thereof, into low, standard or high risk within six months of entry into force of this regulation. Imports from low risk countries will be subject to fewer obligations.
Quote
After the vote, the rapporteur Christophe Hansen (EPP, LU) said: “We are serious about fighting climate change and biodiversity loss. Acknowledging that the EU is responsible for around 10% of global deforestation, we don’t have a choice but to ramp up our efforts to halt global deforestation. If we get the balance right between ambition, applicability and WTO compatibility, this new tool has the potential to pave the way to deforestation-free supply chains.”
Next steps
Plenary is expected to adopt Parliament’s position in September, after which negotiations on the final law can begin with member states.
Military experts from Ukraine, Russia and Turkey are discussing the possibility of exporting grain from Ukrainian ports under a Russian blockade in Istanbul on Wednesday. The Turkish defence ministry said it would keep the talks “confidential”, telling AFP that they would be held behind closed doors and in the presence of a UN delegation.
Neither the place nor the time of the meeting was made public by the ministry but the Russian delegation reached Istanbul late this morning and, according to the Russian agency Ria Novosti, the talks will start at 11am GMT. A press statement will be issued at the end of the meeting, according to the same source.
Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)
Russian and Ukrainian delegates are meeting in Istanbul to prevent a reduction in grain supplies from causing fatal price hikes in some countries.
The dialogue, which will include UN representatives, will be the second in a few weeks. The aim is to prevent a reduction in the supply of cereals such as wheat from causing a price increase that would be fatal for some countries.
“Military delegations from Turkey, Russia and Ukraine and a UN delegation will hold talks in Istanbul tomorrow on the safe transit of grain stored in Ukrainian ports to international markets by sea,” Akar said. The minister did not elaborate on the agenda of the meeting. It is understood to be a continuation of negotiations that Russian delegates held with Turkish military representatives in Moscow on 21 June.
Turkey, which after the invasion did not sever ties with Russia but continued to export combat drones to Ukraine, has sought to mediate between the two warring countries. In early June, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Çavusoglu received his Russian counterpart in Ankara to discuss a UN plan to export at least 25 million tonnes of Ukrainian grain across the Black Sea. The Turks described the UN proposal as ‘reasonable’.
Following that meeting, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov favoured some kind of measure, although he put forward conditions that Ukraine rejects: inspecting the cargo of cargo ships leaving Ukraine. Further, Lavrov accused Kiev of hiding behind the export problem in order to import arms across the sea, and of having hindered its own exports by mining the area around the port of Odessa.
Since then, as reflected in the newly announced meeting, talks are understood to have been held at a technical level to create a mechanism for grain exports. According to some reports referring to drafts of the proposed plan, Turkish frigates would provide security for Ukrainian vessels along part of the route. In addition, Russians and Turks would work on demining the Black Sea waters.
Ukraine, for its part, has demanded “effective security guarantees”. The Ukrainians are not happy with Turkey, after last week a Russian cargo ship allegedly detained in a Turkish port and said by Kiev to be carrying plundered grain proceeded unhindered. The Ukrainian Foreign Ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador to the Ukrainian capital to ask for an explanation. Contrary to the Ukrainian version, Turkey denies having received stolen grain.
Since the beginning of the invasion, Ukrainian grain exports, vital for many countries in North Africa and the Middle East, have fallen to minimal levels. To make matters worse, with the arrival of summer and new harvests, Ukraine is faced with the problem of storing cereals and sunflower products that it cannot export. Its silos are full. At the same time, Ukraine is unable to access goods harvested in areas occupied by Russia.
Western financial aid
In this context, the United States announced on Tuesday that it would pay an additional $1.7 billion in aid to Ukraine.
This will bring the total amount paid by the Americans to the Ukrainians since the outbreak of the war to four billion.
The new contribution is part of the $7.5 billion pledged to Kiev by US President Joe Biden in May.
In Brussels, EU finance ministers gave the green light for the payment of €1 billion to Ukraine, bringing the total financial assistance from the EU-27 to the country to €2.2 billion since the start of the Russian invasion on 24 February.
CEC’s work on human rights and the project Safer and Stronger Communities in Europe (SASCE) was presented at a House of Lords event hosted by Lord John Alderdice in London. The event held on 6 July launched the UNESCO Inclusion, Rights and Dialogue Section Youth Academy for Transformative Leadership.
CEC Executive Secretary Dr Elizabeta Kitanovic contributed to the discussion, sharing about CEC’s work for human rights, including CEC Summer School on Human Rights.
Kitanovic shared how the SASCE project is developing training on security protection of the worship places. “This is a first European project where interreligious dialogue was transformed into an interfaith cooperation to protect worship places and religious communities,” she said.
She shared that SASCE is raising awareness about issues of security and safety of the worship places in 14 European countries, and is bringing religious communities together. It is strengthening interreligious cooperation on daily basis by giving an example to young people to work together for the protection of dignity, integrity and identity of religious communities in Europe.
The UNESCO initiative encourages meaningful youth engagement in collective healing, human rights, peace and justice issues. This initiative gained support from various stakeholders including Guerrand-Hermès Foundation for Peace, Global Humanity for Peace Institute at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David, KAICIID Dialogue Centre, Fetzer Institute, Pontifical Foundation Scholas Occurentes, Fratelli Tutti Political School, and other institutions.
At the event, Lord Alderdice joined by Anna Maria Majlof, chief of UNESCO Rights, Inclusion and Dialogue Section, in speaking about dialogue on the importance of learning to engage with diverse cultures, religions [with room for improvement in CEC], and traditional practices. It was stressed that such projects should be valued and systematically included in schooling, higher education, or young leadership programmes.
