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.
MARCO AURÉLIO ESPARZ…, CC BY-SA 3.0 , via Wikimedia Commons
Freedom of Speech – Today 29th of June will be a busy day in the Assembly of the Republic. The parliament and the government will discuss the Czech presidency of the EU Council and other central European Union matters. One of those affairs is freedom of expression, and for that, there are going to be discussed three important bills that can (if passed) protect, check, and/or ensure freedom of speech in Portugal. More specifically, these bills aim to amend the Portuguese Charter of Fundamental Rights in the Digital Age (Carta de Direitos Fundamentais na Era Digital), a bill ratified into law on May 17th, 2021.
The chart was inspired by the 2018 EU’s Action Plan against Disinformation, which aims to combat propaganda that can destabilize European institutions as well as member states’ institutions. Accordingly, the charter states:
“All citizens […] have the right to freedom of opportunity of access, utilization, creation, and sharing in the Digital world.”
As the Liberal Initiative (Iniciativa Liberal, party member of the Renew Europe political group) bill says, the “law guarantees free access to the internet, the right to be forgotten”, etc. However, the liberal parliamentary group considers that article 6 of the chart promotes “censorial mechanisms”, relating to the “freedom to protection against disinformation”.
This is because, as the liberals say, the term “disinformation” is not well defined and that the current definition is inadequate. The definition of “information that is fake, […] or that may be considered fake by any official institution” can be very dangerous, the liberals claim, because it can mean censorship by the government. “Defining what is ‘true’ or ‘false’ in politics, […], and the power to censor political discourse only by agents authorized by the government is unacceptable”.
The deputies who wrote the bill, therefore, admit that political discourse will always be filled with logical fallacies, half-truths, factoids, etc. And that’s because that shouldn’t be regulated by any entity. For that reason, the liberal bill proposes the revocation of article 6 (of the Portuguese Charter of Fundamental Rights in the Digital Age).
The bill that the populist party, CHEGA, will propose is similar in its objective (the revocation of article 6), but on a different foundation. First, the proposal cites the Ombudswoman Maria Lúcia Amaral “request for inspection in relation to article 6 of the law”.
The deputies of CHEGA mention the 2nd and 37th articles of the Portuguese Constitution to express a question of constitutionality regarding article 6 of the Charter. Both of the articles, regarding freedom of expression, clearly state that there are no limitations to the rights to freedom of speech, and so, no exceptions regarding censorship of disinformation. Hence, CHEGA! proposes the revocation of article 6, and a slight alteration to article 5 of the Charter.
The Socialist Party (PS), however, clearly states that it has a different view on the matter. As it is written in the bill:
“Between us, the quarrel recently centered around one of the many articles in the Portuguese Charter of Human Rights in the Digital Age has diverted attention from the most difficult points in managing the media agenda of the digital age. From the authors’ rights of journalistic pieces, competition rules, and the regulatory system manifestly conceived for the pre-digital world. Contributing very little to the essential question that the fight against disinformation itself calls for.”
PS, thus, opts for just simplifying the article (article 6, of course), by revoking the numbers 2 to 6 of article 6.
Amidst a new wave in recent days of missile and airstrikes in Kyiv, Chernihiv, Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv and other cities far from the frontlines, the senior UN official drew attention to the missile strike in Kremenchuk on a shopping mall, reportedly by Russia, that killed at least 18 civilians and injured 59 others.
She warned though that “the final toll may be much higher”.
The most intense fighting now is in and around the towns of Sievierodonetsk, Lysychansk and Sloviansk in the Donbas, and also reportedly around the cities of Kharkiv and Kherson.
“In scenes reminiscent of the World Wars, large-scale artillery duels are devastating industrial areas, with thousands of civilians forced to hide in basements or to flee for their lives,” said Ms. DiCarlo.
“Large military casualties are claimed on both sides”.
‘Too high a price’
“Civilians continue to pay too high a price in this war,” she continued, telling ambassadors that as of 26 June, the UN human rights office (OHCHR), has recorded 10,631 civilian casualties in the country – 4,731 dead and 5,900 injured.
She said that these figures are based on verified incidents and the actual numbers are “considerably higher”.
Most were caused by explosive weapons with a wide impact area, many of which are inherently indiscriminate when used in populated areas increasing casualties and devastating humanitarian impacts, she added.
Probing crimes
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine reported back earlier this month its first mission to the country, including to Bucha, Irpin, Kharkiv and Sumy.
Though only in the initial stages of its work, she said that the Commission received information and visited sites that “may support claims that serious violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, perhaps reaching war crimes and crimes against humanity, have been committed”.
The Commission, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and other fact-finding efforts, are “essential” for establishing accountability for the crimes and atrocities being committed.
“This work must lead to justice…if we hope to be able to prevent such violations in the future, wherever they threaten to occur,” underscored Ms. DiCarlo.
Perilous conditions
Although more than 8.8 million people across Ukraine have received some form of humanitarian assistance and protection services, at least 16 million need aid.
Meanwhile, humanitarian partners are working on a winterization assistance plan and extending the Flash Appeal to provide support until the end of 2022.
And when it comes to health, safety, and access to food, the political affairs chief said that women in particular, were facing immense hardship.
She cited a Rapid Gender Analysis by UN Women and anti-poverty and injustice NGO, CARE, that explained how they are increasingly becoming heads of households and leaders in their communities as men are conscripted.
“They must be included in formal decision-making processes related to humanitarian efforts, peace-making, and other areas that directly impact their lives,” she spelled out.
At the same time, the World Health Organization (WHO) has now recorded 323 attacks on healthcare facilities and personnel, resulting in 76 deaths.
“We strongly remind all parties of their obligations under international humanitarian law: All adequate measures must be taken to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure,” underscored Ms. DiCarlo, in her first briefing to the Council for ten weeks.
Homes destroyed by conflict in Novoselivka, on the outskirts of Chernihiv in Ukraine.
Displacement
Since the start of the Russian invasion, more than a quarter of Ukrainians, or 12 million people, have been forced from their homes.
And within the country, over 7.1 million remain displaced.
The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, estimates that over 5.2 million have taken refuge across Europe and over 3.5 million Ukrainian refugees have registered for temporary protection or similar national protection schemes on the continent.
Long-term recovery
Given the conflict’s increasingly protracted nature, Ukraine’s long-term recovery and rebuilding needs must also be considered now, she urged.
She said the Council that the UN Development Programme (UNDP) has launched a Resilience and Recovery Programme to support the Government’s emergency response, help keep the economy running and help assess priority needs.
Beyond the borders
The war is having devastating consequences on Ukraine, the immediate region, and far beyond its borders.
On top of the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change, price shocks in the global food, energy and fertilizer markets are escalating.
“To address this multi-dimensional threat, strong political will across the multilateral community and a comprehensive approach is foremost necessary,” said the political affairs chief. “For the sake of Ukraine, Russia, and the entire world”.
Expel Russia from UN urges Zelenskyy
Speaking via video teleconference, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy argued that Russia’s actions in his country had now made it a “terrorist State” that should be expelled from the United Nations.
Acknowledging that the Organization does not have a legal definition of what constitutes a “terrorist State” he stressed that the Russian invasion of Ukraine “demonstrates not only the meaning of this notion, but also the urgent need to enshrine it legally”.
“Russia has no right to take part in discussions and votes on the war against Ukraine” in the Security Council, he said, urging ambassadors “to rid the delegation of the terrorist State”.
UN Photo/Rick Bajornas
Volodymyr Zelenskyy (on screen), President of Ukraine, addresses the Security Council meeting on maintenance of peace and security of Ukraine.
Full-scale aggression
President Zelensky highlighted Russia’s “full-scale war of aggression”, saying that in the Kremenchuk shopping centre blast, dozens were still missing, and that it was inconceivable that the Russians could have been unaware it was “a regular shopping centre”.
He invoked the names of several dozen civilians killed he said by Russian fire, ranging in age from three months to 68, all across Ukraine, and concluded by asking for a moment of silence to commemorate the tens of thousands of innocent people killed.
He said it was essential, to prosecute Russia at the “global level”.
Russian rebuttal
Russia’s First Deputy Permanent Representative, Dmitry Polyanskiy argued that his country simply was not striking civilians or civilian infrastructure, during its special military operation in Ukraine.
He urged the Council to take heed of what he said were eyewitness accounts, which would confirm that a strike on an apartment building in Kyiv on Monday, was not the result of a Russian cruise missile, but of two unsuccessful Ukrainian operations that led to the shooting down of “their own anti-aircraft missiles”.
Moreover, the Russian ambassador argued that the West supplying weapons to Ukraine, only serves to prolong the “criminal regime” in Kyiv.
ARIYALUR: Bookstall owners and publishers, whop are upset over poor sales at the book fair being held in Ariyalur Government Higher Secondary School, have urged the district administration for better promotion. The footfall is low as not many people are aware of the fair, they said.
Organised by Tamil Cultural Academy, the fair began on June 24 and will be on till July 4. It starts at 11 am and ends at 10 pm. Various art shows, seminars and awareness programmes are held as part of the fair. School Education Minister Anbil Mahesh Poyyamozhi inaugurated the fair.
However, the turnout has been low, stall owners said. Speaking to TNIE, a stall owner, who did not want his name disclosed, said, “This year’s fair was held well in advance of schedule and that might be a reason why enough awareness was not created among public. School and college-going students should be encouraged to visit the stalls. We usually receive help from the administration. Panchayat officials used to purchase the books required for the panchayat library. However, the fair has not attracted enough crowd until now.”
Another stall owner said, “The book fair held in 2019 earned us good revenue. This year, I am not even able to earn 2,000, and the stall rent itself is 9,000. Promotion of the fair should be taken up more actively. Also, the Collector should issue an order to the panchayat and schools to visit the stalls.
When contacted, Collector P Ramana Saraswathi said, “They (stall owners) spoke to me about the issue on Tuesday. I have asked the chief education officer to do the needful.”
The European Union is increasing its cooperation with Taiwan. It is an essential economic partner, particularly (but not only) in the field of semiconductors.
It is also a geopolitical partner for a Europe increasingly concerned with the expansionism of non-democratic superpowers.
Although we are now witnessing in Ukraine a return of traditional boots-on-the-ground warfare, it is still true that modern wars are also fought in the arena of propaganda and public relations.
Taiwan may be a reliable partner for Europe only if it maintains an image as a beacon of democracy in a region plagued by non-democratic regimes.
For reasons we all know, Taiwan is not a member state of the United Nations, but it affirmed its commitment to the U.N. human rights principles when it incorporated into its domestic law in 2009 the “two Covenants,” the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
In all countries, not in Taiwan only, achieving a full respect of the two Covenants is not easy. Again, Taiwan gave a positive signal when it devised a system for reviewing its achievements in complying with the two Covenants, which involved independent international experts.
In 2011, Taiwan’s government initiated the process of preparing reports on the rights protected by both Covenants, and in 2013, an independent Review Committee with experts from nine different countries was invited to review these reports. In 2013 and 2017, the experts examined the government’s reports and formulated their observations and recommendations. A review by the experts of the government’s 2020 answers to the second report was delayed because of COVID-19 until, from 9 to 13 May 2022, a Review Committee consisting of nine independent experts convened in Taipei.
On 13 May 2022, the Review Committee adopted a third set of Concluding Observations and Recommendations (COR 3), after an International Review Conference to which representatives of Taiwan’s civil society also participated. It was the first such review since the National Human Rights Commission was established in 2020.
The COR 3 show that work remains to be done to fully implement the two Covenants in Taiwan. In fact, despite the government’s claims, the two Covenants still do not play a significant role in court cases. According to the government itself, only some 100 cases mentioned them between 2015 and 2019. Clearly, more should be done.
On the other hand, the absence in the COR 3 of any reference to freedom of religion or belief (FORB) and taxpayers’ rights is surprising. As one of the scholars who has studied and lectured extensively on the Tai Ji Men case, I would have expected that both subjects would have been discussed in the COR 3. Time and again, those who have studied the Tai Ji Men case have noted that it is not an isolated incident and that both FORB and tax justice seem to be problems worth of the most serious consideration when assessing the situation of human rights in Taiwan.
During the five-day discussion, several NGO representatives and scholars pointed out to the above problems and referred to the Tai Ji Men case.
Three main problems emerged.
First, Taiwan has a National Human Rights Commission but how it exactly works remains unclear, particularly when confronted with cases involving the National Taxation Bureau and the Administrative Enforcement Agency. In the Tai Ji Men case, a complaint was treated by the Commission by simply asking the accused executive branch to prepare a letter, and then using that letter to answer the complainants. Second, human rights problems connected with tax justice remain unaddressed by the Commission and by COR 3. A traffic fine of NT$18,000, resulted in a seizure and foreclosure of the offender’s house, valued at NT$2.5 million.
A taxpayer was restricted from leaving the country indefinitely, and had to remain abroad for nine years, resulting in a divorce. While the Ministry of Finance has subsequently reduced the period of restriction of leaving the country to five years, the Administrative Enforcement Agency is still allowed to place residence restrictions on people whose tax debt reached about US $3,500, with no limitation on duration.
Another example is the case of Dr. L. He is a renowned scientist who returned to Taiwan and applied for a patent worth $10 million as the company’s capital, with the approval of the authorities, and was then taxed as if the capital contribution was income. He went bankrupt and lost his patents and business.
The number of interpretations of the tax law that have been declared unconstitutional is so high that it evidences a systemic lack of application of the two Covenants. The Taxpayer Protection Act of 2017 created the Taxpayer Protection Officer, but these officers are not really independent.
They are tax bureaucrats who serve part-time and return to their original positions after two years. In general, the system of bonuses given to tax bureaucrats incentives them to issue ill-founded tax bills and to violate taxpayers’ human rights. It should be deeply reformed or eliminated.
The system also allows the tax authorities to maintain the original tax bills indefinitely, even after court decisions have established that they are ill-founded. In the Interpretation Letter Orders issued by Ministry of Finance in 1961, 1978, and 1979, the original tax bill and the new double-reviewed tax bill issued by the National Taxation Bureau following the review coexist.
The revocation of the original sanction in a subsequent petition or an administrative court decision is a “revocation of the re-examined tax bill,” but does not revoke the “original tax bill.”
The consequence is that, even if the taxpayer wins the case several times, the original tax bill remains.
Additionally, the citizens’ right to request a tax refund has been subject to a time limit of 15 years, when there was previously no time limit for requesting a refund for an incorrect taxation by tax agencies.
The laws on disqualifying judges who have already served in previous stages of a case also needs to be amended, and they have created serious problems in tax cases. Tax injustice is not a technical problem but a serious violation of human rights and of the two Covenants.
A second area discussed in the conference is transitional justice, i.e., the restoration of rights violated by the previous non-democratic regime after a transition to democracy. The current President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-Wen, made transitional justice for victims of past Taiwanese authoritarian and post-authoritarian regimes a priority of her administration. This is commendable, but provisions on transitional justice only refer to human rights violations perpetrated until November 6, 1992.
However, these violations continued even after that date, as the Tai Ji Men case demonstrates.
A third area concerns the laws regulating the rights of assembly and to hold peaceful demonstrations.
While amendments have been promised, the current laws still give the police a broad scope to deny authorizations.
Contrary to what the government reports, such denials are frequent. In general, freedom of speech and of peaceful protest continues to be unduly restricted.
Foreign scholars have commented on the case of Ms. Huang, a protester on the Tai Ji Men tax case, who was detained in 2020 just for holding a sign a bureaucrat regarded as offensive.
The Tai Ji Men case is a blatant and unresolved case of human rights violations, on which a significant scholarly literature exists both in Taiwan and internationally.
Tai Ji Men is a “menpai” (similar to a school) teaching qigong, martial arts, and self-cultivation whose master, his wife, and two members were detained in 1996, accused of fraud, tax evasion, and even, absurdly, of “raising goblins” by a prosecutor called Hou Kuan-Jen.
In 2007, a final decision of the court of third instance recognized them as not guilty of any crime, including tax evasion, and they received national compensation for the unjust detention.
However, not only was Prosecutor Hou never punished for his violations of the law in the Tai Ji Men case, but based on his theories that were declared unfounded in 2007, the National Taxation Bureau continued to issue tax bills and finally maintained the one for the year 1992.
Based on this bill, in 2020 the National Enforcement Agency auctioned off unsuccessfully and confiscated land intended for a Tai Ji Men self-cultivation center. This generated mass protests. The case includes several egregious violations of human rights, and any serious assessment of Taiwan’s compliance with the two Covenants should investigate it.
The Tai Ji Men case is not about taxes only. It is a case where rogue bureaucrats and politicians first tried, unsuccessfully, to destroy a spiritual movement accused of not supporting the powers that be, then, frustrated by their legal defeats, continued to harass it through taxes.
The case is at the crossroads of religious liberty and tax justice, and is a crucial test for Taiwan’s democratic achievements.
