Every 24 seconds someone is killed in traffic, making safety on the world’s roads a global development challenge for all societies, especially for the most vulnerable, a senior UN official has said, ahead of the first ever High-level General Assembly Meeting on Improving Road Safety.
Nneka Henry, who heads the United Nations Road Safety Fund (UNRSF) Secretariat, noted that 500 children die in crashes every day, and that of the older population, women are 17 times more likely to be killed during a car crash than men, even when wearing seatbelts.
Despite these statistics, road safety is not just a challenge for women or for young people. It is “for each and every one of us who walk, ride, cycle or drive on our roads,” Ms. Henry told Diedra Sealey, a young diplomat in the President of the General Assembly’s HOPE Fellowship programme.
The interview took place ahead of the High-level Meeting of the General Assembly on Improving Road Safety, which gets underway at UN Headquarters in New York on Thursday and Friday, organized by the President of the General Assembly, Abdulla Shahid, and the World Health Organization (WHO).
Coinciding with the meeting, is the UN Road Safety Fund pledging conference. The Fund was established in 2018 with a vision to “to build a world where roads are safe for every road user, everywhere.” It specially finances projects in low- and middle- income countries, where some 93 per cent of road deaths and injuries take place.
“I am here in New York to remind all 193 Member States of their commitment to the Fund’s mandate and success,” Ms. Henry said.
Those successes include the announcement that as of 1 July, all vehicles imported in East Africa need to be below the Euro 4/IV emission standard and no more than eight years old.
The Fund has been working with the Economic Community of West African States’ 15 members, to harmonize vehicle standard resolutions.
Nneka Henry, Head of the UN Road Safety Fund speaks to Diedra Sealey, a HOPE Fellow in the Office of the President of the General Assembly.
Major benefits
“This will have major air quality and road safety benefits,” Ms. Henry said about the latest announcement.
Some of the other achievements by the Fund include legislation in Azerbaijan to help emergency post-crash response, help to increase enforcement of the speed limits and other road traffic rules in Brazil and Jordan, as well as improving data collection in Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal, and training urban planners on making safer school zones in Paraguay.
Vision for the future
As part of the High-level meeting this week, UN Member States will adopt a political declaration, to lay out a “vision for the future of mobility as one that promotes health and well-being, protects the environment, and benefits all people,” according to a press release.
The interconnected targets are part of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that show how road safety is also integrated into the SDGs, from allowing safer access to education, to allowing people access to groceries and reducing carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
Halving traffic deaths and injuries by 2030 is a target under the third SDG, on good health and well-being.
The large-scale flight from major cities in the early stages of the pandemic to the perceived safety of the countryside, or smaller towns, was a short-term response that will not alter the course of global urbanization, according to the UN-Habitat’s flagship World Cities Report 2022 – Envisaging the Future of Cities.
The biannual report was officially launched at the 11thWorld Urban Forum (WUF11) on 29 June in Katowice, Poland.
“Urbanization remains a powerful 21st century mega-trend,” said Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat – the UN agency for building a better urban future, that is hosting the Forum.
“That entails numerous challenges, which were further exposed and exacerbated by the pandemic. But there is a sense of optimism that COVID-19 has provided us with the opportunity to build back differently. With the right policies and the right commitment from governments, our children can inherit an urban future that is more inclusive, greener, safer and healthier.”
Three scenarios
The report identified three potential scenarios for the world’s cities. In theworst-case or “high damage” scenario, the number of people living in poverty could increase by more than 200 million by 2050.
The“pessimistic” scenario foresees a reversion to the status quo before the pandemic, a business-as-usual approach which would lockin cycles of poverty, poor productivity, inequality and unhealthy living for decades.
In the optimistic vision, by2050 there could be 260 million people lifted out of poverty compared to the pre-COVID baseline.Governments and donors would invest in urban development sufficiently to create just, resilient, healthy and prosperous cities everywhere.
Getting it right
Ms. Sharifadded: “If we don’t get cities right, then 68 per cent of the global population will face serious problems or challenges.
“We need to accelerate. We only have 90 months, or 2700 days, until we reach 2030, the target for the Global Goals. This report is a very timely wake-up call.”
Welcoming the report,Małgorzata Jarosińska-Jedynak,Secretary of State in Poland’s Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy, said:“I urge everyone to read the World Cities Report and follow its recommendations. It talks about coherent policy and coordinated urban planning, which is extremely important.”
Katowice was chosen as the location for WUF11 in recognition of its transition from a heavily polluted city in Poland’s Soviet-era industrial heartland to a centre of culture and technology. That transformation was assisted by UN-Habitat in the mid-1990s.
UN Habitat/Monika Wcislak
Maimunah Mohd Sharif, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, signs a copy of the World Cities Report 2022 at the World Urban Forum in Katowice, Poland.
Ukraine factor
Its proximity to Ukraine led to major revisions to the original programme to include discussions on how urban areas can better cope with and recover from conflict and disaster.
A special session on those issues heard from Igor Terekhov, the Mayor of Kharkhiv, Ukraine’s second largest city, who said that preparations were underway to “rebuild a new, better Kharkiv”, even as the bombs continued to fall on his city.
Mr. Terekhov said talks had begun with the United Nations on plans for post-war reconstruction that would have a “new public transport network with electric buses, industrial parks, a dynamic IT sector and energy efficient housing”.
Mr. Terekhov addressed the World Urban Forum in Katowice virtually, at a Special Session on Rebuilding Communities and Neighbourhoods after War or Natural Disaster.
The frontline role of mayors and city leaders in conflict and disaster emerged as a prominent theme throughout the forum’s sessions. Opinions and insight from panel discussions at the forum will be used to inform future policy direction.
Ms. Sharif said that reconstruction efforts after conflict and disasters globally needed to move “beyond just talking about damage assessment, but focus on the damage done to communities, the damage done to people and living environment”.
“This is not just about rebuilding buildings but rebuilding communities.”
UN-Habitat/Marius Ogonowsk
Mayor of Kharkhiv, Igor Terekhov, in a virtual address to a Special Session on Rebuilding Communities and Neighbourhoods After War and Natural Disasters.
Mayors as ‘first responders’
Filiep Decorte, Emergency Response Director at UN-Habitat, said: “Mayors are first responders. They are very well placed to work with local communities and the private sector. They know that reconstruction is not a dream for the future but should start now.”
Raouf Mazou, Assistant High Commissioner for Operations at UNHCR, said that around the world displaced people were increasingly concentrated in urban areas, raising a new set of challenges for local authorities, particularly regarding employment and social services.
Gilles Carbonnier, Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that more needed to be done collectively to rebuild essential services, not only after urban warfare subsided but during conflicts.
Every day, tens of thousands of people are returning to their homes in Ukraine – Sergii Mazur, Mayor of Balta
Mr Terekhov said that since the Russian invasion, 3,500 homes and 500 public buildings in Kharkiv had been destroyed or damaged, including nearly 400 schools and kindergartens, 15 hospitals, 14 university buildings and 28 cultural centres.
“Kharkiv is still alive,” said Mr Terekhov. Reconstructing a greener, more accessible city was “necessary for us, Europe and the entire planet”, he added. Ukraine was given candidate status last week to join the European Union, which “would undoubtedly be a motivator for us to transform our country”.
Poland has received an estimated four million people from Ukraine, with approximately one million crossing back to their home country as parts have become safer, according toUNHCRdata.
Coming home
The forum also heard from Sergii Mazur, Mayor of Balta, a town near Odesa in Ukraine’s south. He appealed to mayors and city leaders, particularly in the EU and Great Britain, to partner with counterparts in Ukraine to provide badly needed assistance for the reconstruction of towns and cities.
“Contact between mayors from one country to another is very rapid and faster than contacts at central government level,” he said following an Extraordinary Dialogue on Urban Crisis Response and Recovery.
“Every day, tens of thousands of people are returning to their homes in Ukraine. Those homes may be destroyed, but we have already started reconstruction of infrastructure.
“We need to rebuild schools and our hospitals. We need medical equipment. We need to reconstruct our infrastructure, we need vehicles – new fleets of vans and light trucks for utility services, to reconstruct the power grid, to start delivering basic services in de-occupied territories and also in occupied zones.”
In a world poisoned by the toxins of selfishness, individualism, by a culture of indifference and waste, Pope Francis praised the beauty of the family and said “today more than ever” we feel compelled to defend it.
The Pope was speaking during the homily at a Mass of thanksgiving on Saturday at the end of the 10th World Meeting of Families that has been unfolding in the Vatican on the theme “Family Love: a Vocation and a Path to Holiness”.
The five-day event, organized by the Dicastery for Laity, Family and Life, concludes on Sunday when Pope Francis is scheduled to address families during the Angelus.
He described the moments of reflection and sharing, with their rich variety of experiences, plans and dreams, concerns and uncertainties, which have taken place during the World Meeting of Families, describing it as “a kind of vast constellation.” He told all those present: “Fathers, mothers and children, grandparents, uncles and aunts, adults and children, young and old,” each bringing a different experience of family, but with one hope and prayer.
“May God bless and keep your families and all the families of the world.”
Pope Francis then reflected on the liturgical readings of the day that all shine light on different aspects of marital and family love.
In Saint Paul’s Letter to the Galatians, he said the Apostle tells us that the freedom given to us by God is completely directed to love, so that “through love you may become slaves of one another” (Gal. 5:13).
Turning to married couples, he praised their courageous decision to build a family and “to use your freedom not for yourselves, but to love the persons that God has put at your side.”
Instead of living like little islands, he said, you became “servants of one another”.
That is how freedom is exercised in the family, Pope Francis explained, there are no “planets” or “satellites”, each travelling on its own orbit. The family is the place of encounter, of sharing, of going forth from ourselves in order to welcome others and stand beside them.
“The family is the first place where we learn to love.”
Even as we reaffirm this with profound conviction, he said, we know full well “that it is not always the case, for any number of reasons and a variety of situations.”
“And so, in praising the beauty of the family, we also feel compelled, today more than ever, to defend the family. Let us not allow the family to be poisoned by the toxins of selfishness, individualism, today’s culture of indifference and waste, and as a result lose its very DNA, which is the spirit of acceptance and service.”
Relationship between generations
The Second Book of Kings tells of the relationship between the prophets Elijah and Elisha. It reminds us, the Pope said, of the relationship between generations, the “passing on of witness” from parents to children.
He said in a world in which everything seems chaotic and precarious, some parents fear “that children will not be able to find their way amid the complexity and confusion of our societies.” This fear, he added, makes some parents anxious and others overprotective.
“At times, it even ends up thwarting the desire to bring new lives into the world.”
But reflecting on the relationship between Elijah and Elisha in which God shows us that he has confidence in the new generation, Pope Francis said: “How important it is for parents to reflect on God’s way of acting!”
“God loves young people, but that does not mean that He preserves them from all risk, from every challenge and from all suffering.”
“God is not anxious and overprotective; on the contrary, He trusts young people and He calls each of them to scale the heights of lifeand of mission,” he said.
And he encouraged parents not to shield their children “from the slightest hardship and suffering, but to try to communicate to them a passion for life, to arouse in them the desire to discover their vocation and embrace the great mission that God has in mind for them.”
“Dear parents,” he said, “if you help your children to discover and to accept their vocation, you will see that they too will be ‘gripped’ by this mission; and they will find the strength they need to confront and overcome the difficulties of life.”
A never-ending journey
Finally, the Gospel of Luke tells us that “To follow Jesus means to set out on a never-ending “trip” with him through the events of life.
“How true this is for you married couples!”
The Pope said that our Christian vocation calls us to experience “marriage and family life as a mission, demonstrating fidelity and patience despite difficulties, moments of sadness and times of trial.”
Inevitably, he said, there will be moments of “resistance, opposition, rejection and misunderstanding born of human hearts,” but with the grace of Christ, we are called to “transform these into acceptance of others and gratuitous love.”
By accepting the call to marriage and family, couples set out on a trip, “without knowing beforehand where exactly it would lead, and what new situations, unexpected events and surprises would eventually lie in store,” he said.
“That is what it means to journey with the Lord. It is a lively, unpredictable and marvellous voyage of discovery.”
The Church was born of a family
Pope Francis concluded by inviting families to keep looking ahead “as Jesus always precedes us on the way in love and service; He encouraged them to share the joy of family love that must always be open, directed outwards, capable of ‘touching’ the weak and wounded, the frail in body and the frail in spirit, and all whom you meet along the way”; and by assuring them that the Church is with them and in them!
“For the Church was born of a family, the Holy Family of Nazareth, and is made up mostly of families.”
The Chinese ambassador to Australia has extended an olive branch to the Albanese government.
Xiao Qian gave an address to the Australia-China Relations Institute at the University of Technology in Sydney on Friday.
Mr Xiao, who was appointed to his diplomatic post in January, used his speech to reframe the relationship between the two nations.
He said there was “good potential for co-operation” between Canberra and Beijing in the near future following the change in government.
“After the recent federal election, Australia has a new Labor government. This is a choice for the Australian people and it’s a domestic affair of this country,” he said.
“Nonetheless, it has provided with an opportunity of possible improvement of our bilateral relations.”
The ambassador’s speech comes after months of mounting uneasiness in the Pacific over China’s expansion into the region, fuelled by the signing of a controversial security pact with Solomon Islands.
Mr Xiao did not in his speech address the Solomon Islands directly but said China’s development should be viewed as an “opportunity” rather than a “so-called threat to Australia”.
“And there is every reason for China and Australia to be friends and partners rather than adversaries or even so-called enemies,” he said.
Dhongdue carried a placard that read, “Free Tibet, Free East Turkestan, Free Hong Kong” as she shouted the same slogans while being ushered out of the hall by security personnel.
“This is the representative of a dictatorship with one million Muslims in concentration camps. Uyghur Muslims are being raped and tortured as we speak. [It is the same dictatorship] that commits genocide against Tibetans,” vocal Australian activist Drew Pavlou shouted. Another protestor shouted, “This is disgraceful! How about freedom of speech in China?” as he walked out of the room.
Activist Drew Pavlou holds sign and shouts ‘Free Uyghurs’ during the ambassador Xiao’s speech on Friday (Photo/ABC News)Both Kyinzom Dhongdue and Drew Pavlou are founders and members of a new political party in Australia, the Democratic Alliance. Dhongdue and Pavlou both ran for Senate but did not to win enough votes for office.
As a snide remark in response, Xiao said that it was his pleasure to address the event “although there are different views” which “should be expressed in a way that is appropriate”. He went on to say that the audience members “should respect the law and order” and “keep quiet while we’re speaking”.
China’s ambassador to Australia, however, said that there is “no such thing as absolute freedom” as he defended his country’s human rights violations. As he was facing repeated interruptions from activists, the envoy also said both the countries, China and Australia, should respect each other’s “sovereignty and territorial integrity”.
The diplomatic suspension between the Canberra and Beijing governments started during the pandemic when PM Scott Morrison called for the initial international investigation into the origins of Covid-19 in 2020. The Chinese government was outraged due to the probe, which eventually led to the trade barriers being enforced on Australian imports, including meat, wine and coal.
Protesters also raised the large-scale detention of the Uyghur ethnic minority group in China’s northwestern province of Xinjiang.
Mr Xiao said what was happening in Xianjang was a question of “national unity” rather than one of separatism and that “necessary measures have been taken”.
Xiao Qian said there was potential to improve relations between China and Australia.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has called on Beijing to remove sanctions and tariffs placed on Australian goods. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Luis Enrique Ascui
Following his speech, the ambassador took part in a Q+A-style discussion with Australia-China Relations Institute director, James Laurenceson.
Professor Laurenceson was effusive when thanking Mr Xiao for his participation in Friday’s event.
“The easiest thing in the world for the ambassador to have done today would have been to not accept our invitation to attend a public event,” he said.
“He could have stayed in the walls of the Chinese Embassy in Canberra comfortably.”
At least ten people have reportedly been killed by what Ukrainian authorities have said was a Russian missile strike on a crowded shopping centre, and attack which the UN condemned on Monday as “utterly deplorable”.
The mall in the eastern city of Kremenchuk – a city which has largely escaped being targeted – was hit in the late afternoon, with reportedly 1,000 or more shoppers inside.
At least 40 were injured in the strike, said authorities, and the number of dead and injured is likely to rise. Footage from the scene showed buildings on fire and widespread destruction.
United Nations Spokesperson, Stéphane Dujarric, told correspondents at the daily briefing in New York that although casualties still had to be verified, “whatever the number is any attack that hits a shopping mall, is utterly deplorable.”
“Any sort of civilian infrastructure, which includes obviously shopping malls, and civilians, should never ever be targeted”, he added.
Mr. Dujarric said there had been “disturbing reports of a new wave of airstrikes and shelling over the weekend and again today, with civilians having been killed or injured. Homes, health facilities and other civilian infrastructure were reportedly damaged.”
Kyiv hit
During the weekend, the capital, Kyiv, was hit again, and a residential building was damaged, with some people trapped in the debris, he added.
“Loss of life, injury, destruction of homes across Ukraine, wreak havoc in the lives of individuals, families, communities”, said UN Resident Coordinator in the country, Osnat Lubrani, in a tweet on Sunday. “Civilians must be protected wherever they are.”
Desperation in the Donbas
Meanwhile in the Donbas region on the front lines between the invading Russian forces and Ukrainian defenders, fighting has continued, with UN humanitarians facing “tremendous challenges” reaching civilians, “who are facing increasing needs”, said Mr. Dujarric.
“The challenges are not only due to insecurity, but also to lack of access due to administrative restrictions imposed by the parties.
We once again stress that the parties are obliged under international humanitarian law to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure.”
The UN Crisis Coordinator for Ukraine, Amin Awad, tweeted at the weekend that as humanitarian needs grew, the UN would “continue to scale up and work side by side, with the Ukrainian Government and its people.”
The news follows investment of €2.3m in late 2021 and a raft of new hires in H1, with more to follow in H2
MILAN, ITALY, June 28, 2022 /EINPresswire.com/ — Award-winning, Copenhagen-based email ad server and SSP Passendo has gone live with new integrations in Italy and Germany as it continues on its journey of rapid growth – building out a growing number of strategic integrations and further positioning itself as the leading global email ad serving platform.As it continues on its mission to enable publishers worldwide to realise the full value of in-email advertising, Passendo has also appointed Kristian Nielsen to the role of VP of Product and Harry Charalambous as Head of Demand & International Growth.
The company onboarded 13 new hires in H1 across the product, engineering, customer success, sales, finance and HR teams, and has already appointed three new board members earlier this year – Frédéric Lachaud, Cecilie Sofie Anker Andersen and Christoffer Feilberg – following fresh investment of €2.3m late last year.
As the leading dedicated email ad server, Passendo continues to enable the next generation of advertising for email for newsrooms globally. It offers publishers and marketers unique email ad delivery and measurement capabilities, boosting client revenues whilst enabling greater control over ad content and quality as it continues to build out a global category winner.
With its global go-to-market strategy developing fast as the company enters new markets across Europe, the US and APAC, Passendo is already helping an increasing number of publishers worldwide to boost their commercial potential within newsletters.
Andreas Jürgensen, CEO and co-founder of Passendo, says: “Germany and Italy have always been on our roadmap and we are very pleased to go live in these markets now as we continue on our exciting and fast-paced journey.”
Cesare Romano, the account executive overseeing Passendo’s Italian growth, adds: “The publishing landscape is gradually beginning to understand the true commercial potential of selling direct campaigns inside newsletters. At a time when the advertising industry is being revolutionised by cookieless policies, a premium advertising channel with the main goal of preserving users’ privacy can only thrive. Our goal is to help marketers capitalise on this channel quickly given that there is a lot of money left on the table in the email industry – particularly in markets such as Italy, where most newsletters don’t currently include any ads.”
Publishing houses such as Politico Euronews, Archant and Groupon are already making use of Passendo’s email ad serving platform to increase direct revenues and to efficiently manage newsletter advertising campaigns at scale.
About Passendo
Passendo is the leading European platform commercialising newsletter inventory. Founded in 2016 by two digital advertising pioneers, its award-winning email ad server and SSP provides value for publishers and advertisers worldwide. By partnering with some of the world’s largest media businesses, Passendo helps them to activate new, incremental revenues in an existing and yet untapped media channel – in-email advertising – thereby reaching new audiences to unlock exciting opportunities.
The founder of the charity Talk To Loop, which provides an open platform for feedback on experiences of humanitarian aid, has responded to the BBC documentary and related articles about whistleblowers’ experiences within the United Nations system: The Whistleblowers: Inside the UN.
Alex Ross, founder and Managing Director of Talk To Loop, said in response to the documentary:
“The Loop team around the world was saddened to watch the BBC documentary and related articles about whistleblowers’ experiences within the United Nations system. It is very disturbing to learn of this scale of abuse and dysfunction. Sadly, we continue to see these types of behaviours and abuse in all countries and all types of organisations, profitable or not.
“Humanitarian and development workers enjoy a level of trust vis a vis the communities where they serve. Their sole purpose is to help people in crisis and they are expected to work for the benefit of people, and not to cause further harm. This inherent vulnerability of the situation and the consolidated power around access to essential services or goods puts people at even greater risk of abuse.”
The Talk To Loop founder, who is a former international program director for British Red Cross, added:
“Within the humanitarian and development sectors there has been a lot of talk, and commitments made, to address these risks and to provide access to services, support and accountability to any possible survivors of abuse. Clearly we are not doing enough; leaving organisations themselves to find solutions is not working, and we continue to see perpetrators not being held to account and survivors and whistleblowers not being treated with respect and dignity. As long as we continue down this same path, accountability will remain elusive and abuse will be ever-present.”
Ms Ross pointed out that there have been numerous initiatives to train staff, create a safe working environment and hold perpetrators to account. Some include tools developed by the CHS Alliance, the Resource Support Hub and INTERPOL, among others.
Whilst the Talk To Loop founder acknowledges that these are all important efforts, she argues that there also needs to be an independent, safe place to report if there is not sufficient action being taken or a lack of trust in organisational and institutional systems.
Such a provision needs to be independent yet integrated into the existing ecosystem, to ensure the safety of survivors and whistleblowers, and to give organisations the opportunity to listen, learn, respond and act to bring about accountability and provide assistance.
Loop has been designed to do just that, says Ross. The Talk To Loop platform, launched in October 2021, has already helped victims of trafficking, survivors of Gender-Based Violence, people reporting fraud, and others, to channel their stories to the relevant duty-bearers.
Ross explains:
“We can scale to be an integral part of all organisations’ responsibilities to local populations, providing a way for people to report abuse, first or second hand. Loop then refers this on to the appropriate actors and also shares real time aggregate anonymised data on patterns of reporting and patterns of organisational response. This will help to inform funding of assistance, identify risk areas which require attention and to show the scale of concerns in any place.
“Maybe your organisation already has strong tools and systems and processes, but also using Loop ensures that when your project finishes or a community member has experienced abuse from a different, less accountable organisation, they will know about Loop and how to report. Loop provides a direct feedback mechanism so that local people don’t have to report to the organisation that may be causing the harm, thereby removing a barrier to reporting abuse.”
Ross argues that is takes a whole community to protect the most vulnerable and that all in the community have a role. Her hope is that Loop can play its part in addressing the deeply rooted exploitation, abuse and fraud that is too prevalent in the humanitarian sector.
She concludes:
“We simply cannot continue to rely on culture-change within organisations alone. There are many good people within organisations doing good work but this is not always resulting in a safe environment. To truly be accountable to affected populations, we must have many different avenues depending on how a Survivor or Whistleblower feels safe to raise their concerns and that must include a locally adapted independent mechanism.”
Press release distributed by Pressat on behalf of Loop, on Tuesday 28 June, 2022. For more information subscribe and follow https://pressat.co.uk/
The official Logo of the upcoming Jubilee due to be held in 2025 has been unveiled.
In a press conference held on Tuesday in the Sala Regia of the Vatican’s Apostolic Palace, the Vatican revealed the official Logo for the upcoming Jubilee year.
The then-Pontifical Council for the New Evangelization, now contained within the new Dicastery for Evangelization, was entrusted with coordinating the Holy See’s preparations for the Holy Year 2025 with the motto: “Pilgrims of Hope.”
The former Council’s President, Archbishop Rino Fisichella, revealed the logo and reminded that as preparations begin within the Church for the Holy Year, their Dicastery launched a competition, open to all, for the Logo’s creation.
A total of 294 entries were received from 213 cities and 48 different countries, he said, noting participants ranged in age from 6 to 83.
“In fact, many hand-drawn designs were received from children from all over the world, and it was really moving to go through these drawings which were the fruit of imagination and simple faith.”
During the judging, the works were identified only by a number so that the author remained anonymous.
On June 11th, Archbishop Fisichella submitted the three final projects to Pope Francis to select the one that struck him the most.
“After looking at the projects several times and expressing his preference, the project of Giacomo Travisani was chosen,” Archbishop Fisichella said.
Giacomo Travisani, present this evening, reflected on what motivated his submission. He said how he had imagined all people moving forward together, able to push ahead “thanks to the wind of Hope that is the Cross of Christ and Christ himself. ”
The Logo shows four stylized figures to indicate all of humanity from the four corners of the earth. They each embrace one another, indicating the solidarity and brotherhood that must unite peoples. The first figure is clinging to the Cross. The underlying waves are choppy to indicate that the pilgrimage of life is not always on calm waters.
Because often personal circumstances and world events call for a greater sense of hope, a description of the Logo says, the lower part of the Cross is elongated turning into an anchor, which dominates the movement of the waves.
Anchors often have been used as metaphors for hope.
The image shows how the pilgrim’s journey is not individual, but rather communal, with the signs of a growing dynamism that moves more and more toward the Cross.
“The Cross is not static,” Fisichella suggested, “but dynamic, bending toward and meeting humanity as if not to leave it alone, but rather offering the certainty of its presence and the reassurance of hope.”
The Jubilee 2025 Motto, Peregrinantes in Spem is also clearly visible in the color green.
Urgency to live Jubilee in light of hope
Archbishop Fisichella reflected on Jubilees and why the upcoming one is significant.
“Every Holy Year in the history of the Church,” he said, “has taken on its full meaning when it is placed within the historical context that humanity is experiencing at that time and particularly when it is able to read the signs of anxiety and unrest combined with people’s perceived expectations.
“The vulnerability experienced in recent years, together with the fear of the violence of wars,” he continued, “only makes the human condition more paradoxical: on the one hand, to feel the overwhelming power of technology which determines their days; on the other hand, to feel uncertain and confused about their future.”
“This has given rise to the urgency to live the upcoming Jubilee in the light of hope.”
In this context, Archbishop Fisichella reminded, “Pilgrims of Hope” was chosen for the Jubilee’s theme.
“It expresses the need to make sense of the present so that it can be preparatory for a real thrust into the future in order to embrace and respond to the various challenges that arise from time to time.”
Jubilees’ importance to life of the Church
In a recent letter addressed to Archbishop Fisichella, Pope Francis noted that “the Jubilee has always been an event of great spiritual, ecclesial, and social significance in the life of the Church.”
He recalled that ever since the year 1300, which marked the first Holy Year, “God’s holy and faithful people has experienced this celebration as a special gift of grace, characterized by the forgiveness of sins and in particular by the indulgence, which is a full expression of the mercy of God.”
In the Church, a Jubilee, or Holy Year, is a great religious event.
A Jubilee is “ordinary” if it falls after the customary 25-year period, and “extraordinary” when it is proclaimed by for some outstanding event.
The last ordinary Jubilee took place in the year 2000 during the pontificate of Pope St. John Paul I. In 2015, Pope Francis proclaimed an Extraordinary Holy Year of Mercy.
What to expect soon
After the summer, Archbishop Fisichella noted, the official Jubilee website and related app will be available.
“Both will be tools to help pilgrims participate fully in the proposed events, facilitating the spiritual and cultural experience of the city of Rome. In fact, in addition to the important Pilgrim’s Charter, the Jubilee portal will contain news, historical notes, practical information, services and multimedia tools, in ten languages available to the pilgrim and easily accessible for people with disabilities.”
The Dicastery is already envisioning major events, and highlighted that special attention will be given to the following categories: “Families, Children, Youth, Movements and Associations, Elderly, Grandparents, Disabled, Sports, Sick and Health Care, Universities, World of Work, Choirs and Choruses, Confraternities, Priests, Consecrated Persons, Eastern Catholics, Catechists, the Poor, Prisoners, and many others…”
A calendar will be ready by the end of the year so as to allow adequate organizational time for pilgrims and related agencies.
The world’s coastal populations contribute significantly to the global economy – an estimated $1.5 trillion per year – with expectations pointing to some $3 trillion by 2030.
Ensuring ocean ecosystem health, supporting livelihoods and driving economic growth requires targeted support for key sectors, including fisheries and aquaculture, tourism, energy, shipping and port activities, and seabed mining, as well as innovative areas such as renewable energy and marine biotechnology.
This is particularly important to small island developing states (SIDS), for whom marine resources are critical assets, providing them with food security, nutrition, employment, foreign exchange, and recreation.
Further, through evidence-based policy interventions, these assets can also make enhanced and sustained contributions to the economic growth, and prosperity of SIDS and least developed countries (LDCs).
Participating in the main interactive dialogue of the second-day of the Conference, former President of Seychelles, Danny Faure, explained to UN News that it is “extremely important that small States have a place at the table, to ensure that they can put forward their aspirations and move in the right direction”.
Acknowledging that climate change continues to affect his own country, and several SIDS, Mr. Faure called on the international community to continue to support countries like Seychelles.
“The blue economy is essential for the livelihoods of our people and nations. I see [investment] coming very slowly and I believe it is very important that, internationally, we continue to maintain the focus, so we can build partnerships between civil society and private sector,” he stated.
Fish is sun dried at a landing site in Kigoma, Tanzania.
What does a truly sustainable blue economy mean?
Despite of the lack of a universally accepted definition of the term blue economy, the World Bank defines it as “the sustainable use of ocean resources for economic growth, improved livelihoods, and jobs while preserving the health of the ocean ecosystem.
A blue economy prioritizes all three pillars of sustainability: environmental, economic, and social. When talking about sustainable development, it is important to understand the difference between a blue economy and an ocean economy. The term implies that the initiative is environmentally sustainable, inclusive and climate resilient.
In addition to providing goods and services measurable in monetary terms, coral reefs, mangroves, seagrass meadows and wetlands deliver critical ecosystem services such as coastal protection and carbon sequestration.
Seagrass, which evolved over 70 million years ago from terrestrial grass, is one of the most diverse and valuable marine ecosystems on the planet.
Action now
Small island developing states control 30 per cent of all oceans and seas. But how can SIDS and the private sector build equitable and accountable partnerships for sustainable ocean?
Calling for the implementation of the promises set out in the SIDS Accelerated Modalities of Action, known by the shorthand SAMOA Pathway and the ambitions of Sustainable Development Goal 14 (SDG14), on conservation and sustainable use of the oceans, experts on the second day of the Conference reiterated the importance of harnessing private sector collaboration to make it possible.
Impacts of climate change
Speaking to UN News, the Secretary to Government of Tuvalu, Tapugao Falefou, said that his country was “not just beginning to understand what climate change is and how impacts [the world] but also physically understanding how it impacts [us].”
Describing major coastal erosion, drought and inland inundated by seawater, Mr. Falefou said “that didn’t happen 20 years back. These are the impacts of climate change that I can attest to, that larger countries may not experience.”
The path of multilateralism
With millions employed worldwide in fishing and fish farming, most in developing countries, healthy and resilient marine and coastal ecosystems are fundamental to sustainable development.
Other sectors that are critical to the resilience of developing countries include the coastal tourism sector, which contributes up to 40 per cent or more of the global gross domestic product (GDP) in some SIDS, and the marine fisheries sector, which provides nearly 20 per cent of the average intake of animal protein consumed by 3.2 billion people, and more than 50 per cent of the average intake in some least developed countries.
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, World Trade Organization (WTO) Director-General, added that without multilateralism, no one can solve the problem of the Ocean.
“SIDS have the potential to be large ocean economies (…) if we do so sustainably, we can unlock development prospects”, she added, emphasizing the blue economy path.
A fisherwoman on her way to sell the fish she caught at Joal port in Senegal.
Women and the ocean
Focusing on the interlinkage between the SDG14 and SDG 5 (gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls) a panel of experts advocated for increasing women’s participation and leadership at all levels.
With women critically under-represented in the field of ocean actions, particularly in decision-making roles in ocean science, policy-making, and blue economy, the panel called for more action and a radical change in society.
“We have an enormous responsibility to do whatever we can to ensure the sustainability of our planet, and an event like this [Conference] is probably one of the most important in terms of the future of life,” said Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry, President of the World Maritime University, based in Sweden.
Reiterating the importance of looking into women’s working conditions and pay-gap in fisheries, Ms. Doumbia-Henry added: “We need to focus on some of these questions, and what I am tired of is the lip service, we need to make the changes, and implement, to take it forward.”
Mainstream women’s participation
For Maria Damanaki, founder of Leading Women for the Ocean, concrete action plan is needed, along with legislation.
“We need to see women as part of the blue economy, we need to see them everywhere, to mainstream their participation, because without their leadership, humanity as a whole is going to lose a lot,” Ms. Damanaki said.
With the expected participation of over 12 thousand ocean advocates, including world leaders, entrepreneurs, youth, influencers, and scientists, the Conference will continue to ignite fresh impetus for advancing SDG14, at the heart of global action to protect life under water. Concrete measures will be adopted to build ocean resilience and more sustainable communities, underpinned by a new wave of commitments to restore the ocean’s health.
During the week, UN News will bring you daily coverage on the Conference as well as interviews, podcasts, and features, which you can access here.
World Drug Report 2022 was launched to the public with an expert forum discussing findings in-person and online
UNODC/TheEuropeanTimes – Vienna (Austria), 29 June 2022 — World Drug Report 2022 – The 2022 edition of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)’s World Drug Report was released and launched to the public on Monday alongside a round table discussion featuring some leading experts in the field of drug prevention and treatment.
The report details record rises in the manufacturing of cocaine, the impact of increased permissiveness toward cannabis legalization, the expansion of synthetic drugs to new markets, potential futures for the global opiates market given the recent changes in Afghanistan, and continued gaps in the availability of drug treatments, especially for women.
UNODC has included several calls to action in the World Drug Report 2022 in order to help save lives affected by drug misuse. Of these, some relate to providing care in crises and conflict situations – in line with the focus of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking, 26 June 2022, which was “Addressing drug challenges in health and humanitarian crises”. Ensuring access to controlled medicines, guaranteeing evidence-based care, treatment and services, and preventing negative coping behaviours through support are among the calls to action highlighted.
Others are based around leaving no one behind in drug use prevention, treatment and recovery, including tailoring interventions to women, youth and at-risk groups and improving data collection disaggregated by gender and age. Others still call for strengthened cross-border cooperation in order to contain criminal markets.
During the round table discussion held to launch the World Drug Report to an audience of media and civil society, panellists opened up on the major topics contained within the report.
Among the online interventions from the panel, Sara Esmizade, head of the women’s department at Iranian treatment and harm reduction charity Rebirth Charity Society, spoke to the gender disparity in non-medical drug use and the underrepresentation of women in treatment. Esmizade outlined that more could be done to improve gender-sensitive services for drug treatment:
“Any gender-sensitive treatment should offer a solution for covering the treatment expenses. Investing in qualitative research on the lived experience of women is also fundamental; we don’t know enough about the root causes of their drug use, such as domestic violence and the basic need for childcare that many women can’t meet,” she said.
Abel Basutu, Senior Drug Programme Officer at the African Union Commission, outlined the impact of new record highs in cocaine manufacture and drug use across Africa, as well as the continent’s status as a cocaine transit hub. Governments on the continent, he said, should work to adopt “balanced drug policy emphasising both drug supply and demand reduction in equal measure”, “strengthen the criminal justice and law enforcement systems to interdict maritime crime and drug trafficking”, and “ramp up prevention efforts, working also with families and traditional communities”.
Because of the “prevention efforts” mentioned by Basatu, The European Times asked a European expert on the matter, Dr Christian Mirre, former CNRS and currently Spokesperson of the Foundation for a Drug Free Europe, who said that “one of the best programs on prevention is called ‘The Truth About Drugs‘. There is no way we can stop the demand, if we do not teach the facts to the younger generations; we have to work not only on the present, but on the future, and we can do this working with our children“
Drug policy researcher John Caulkins, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, U.S., provided a recommendation for governments considering or adapting cannabis legislation, which has impacted consumption, public health and safety, market dynamics, and criminal justice responses in various world jurisdictions.
John Caulkins said: “Legalized commercial production has led to more frequent use and greater amounts of THC consumed in daily use, increasing the intensity of use rather than prevalence. The recommendation is to be cautious on the legalization of commercial supply, which is a risky and impactful policy path, as a powerful private cannabis sector looks for profits and not to protect public health interests,” he said.
Daniel Brombacher, who heads the global drug policy partnership at the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ), elaborated upon the impact of drugs on the environment at local and community levels: “In countries with the major share of illicit drug crop cultivation, the environmental impact is high. For example, illicit crop cultivation is directly and indirectly linked to deforestation as forest land is converted into agricultural land for illicit cultivation, or as an indirect result of it. There are also measurable ‘harm pathway’ impacts on waterways, soils, and biodiversity”, Brombacher explained. “The carbon footprint of cocaine is many times higher than that of sugar cane or even of cocoa beans, so alternative development has a role to play to mitigate the climate impact as well,” he added.
UNODC’s research and trend analysis chief Angela Me reflected on the connection between armed conflicts and drugs, particularly how the drug situation may have changed in Ukraine since the conflict intensified:
“Conflict can disrupt drug routes and can become a magnet for synthetic drug production. We must monitor the impact of the conflict to ensure Ukraine doesn’t become such a magnet and see how the war in Ukraine could impact the countries around it. Conflict also exacerbates vulnerabilities that lead to some drug users to move towards drug dependence, so we must ensure everyone has access to treatment and prevention tools.”
Further information
The 2022 World Drug Report provides a global overview of the supply and demand of opiates, cocaine, cannabis, amphetamine-type stimulants and new psychoactive substances (NPS), as well as their impact on health. This year’s edition of the report spotlights trends on cannabis post-legalization, the environmental impacts of illicit drugs, and drug use among women and youth.
