The theme of World Drug Day 2022 is ‘health and humanitarian crises’. In the lead up to the Day, UNODC is highlighting its work on drug prevention and treatment around the world, particularly in crisis situations.
Building Stronger Families to Prevent Drug Use and Trafficking among Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
Bangladesh, 21 June 2022 – The Rohingya people, a stateless Muslim minority population of Myanmar, can be considered among the most marginalized and vulnerable populations in the world. Denied citizenship in Myanmar, the Rohingyas have long been unable to exercise basic rights, such as the right to vote, travel, marry, access to shelter, food and health services, and many more.
An outbreak of violence in Myanmar in 2017 caused around a million Rohingya to flee across the border to Bangladesh and become refugees. The situation became so dire for the Rohingya that the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, imposed provisional measures ordering Myanmar to “take all measures within its power” to prevent the commission of acts defined in the Genocide Convention.
As of May 2022, over 926,486 Rohingya refugees had sought refuge in Bangladesh, specifically in the country’s Cox’s Bazar district.
The influx of refugees has also reshaped drug prevention challenges in the region, with the Myanmar-Bangladesh border being a historical drug trafficking route. Bangladesh has long been both a destination and transit country for illicit drugs, particularly Yaba (Thai for “crazy medicine”), a combination of methamphetamine and caffeine.
A large number of vulnerable Rohingya refugees have thus become drug users. Others (particularly the young) are entering the drug business as a career path, often without their families’ knowledge or consent, due to limited employment options and livelihood opportunities.
Together with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) supported pre-piloting cycles of the ‘Strong Families’ Programme in four Rohingya refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar. Families are the most powerful social institution in South Asia, meaning that they can be useful tools in raising awareness of the perils of drug smuggling and use.
Strong Families supports caregivers to be better parents and strengthens positive, age-specific, and age-appropriate family functioning and interactions. The programme is broken down into caregiver sessions, child sessions, and family sessions to improve communication and relationships and reduce coercive parenting.
One woman participant endorsed the programme’s lessons, noting that “We need to make the children understand [about the importance of not using drugs]. We should not apply force; but have to make them realize this with patience and care.”
“You are raising the child in a stressful situation,” said Wadih Maalouf, Programme Officer, Prevention, Treatment, and Rehabilitation Section, UNODC, referring to the Rohingya humanitarian crisis. The programme helps you to identify “how can you overcome that stress, realize the stress of the child, and help the child overcome his or her stress.”
A male participant in the programme extolled the benefits of Strong Families, saying that “Actually talking to the children and listening to them will help me to raise my children better…I can also discuss my problems with other parents and how to build trusted relationships with children.”
The Strong Families programme, implemented in 22 countries around the world, has proven to delay initiation of substance abuse, prevent and reduce early aggressive behavior and delinquency, reduce anti-social peer affiliation, and increase peer pressure resistance skills.
The programme included a three-week training of stakeholders to develop a pool of trainers equipped to implement Strong Families, which included a research component to observe how changed behavior among families could help curb drug use among children.
Altogether, over 300 refugee families participated, which included more than 622 caregivers and 620 children. Additional sessions of Strong Families are envisioned to reach more refugees in the future.
The EP Fisheries Committee approved on Monday financial support for EU fisheries and the aquaculture sector in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
MEPs in the Fisheries Committee adopted their position on a Commission proposal to financially compensate EU fisheries and aquaculture hit by Russia’s war in Ukraine, unanimously with 24 votes.
The European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF), according to the text adopted by MEPs, would support companies whose fishing operations have been jeopardised by the war, and fisheries and aquaculture producer organisations and operators whose economic viability is threatened due to market and supply chain problems caused by the Russian military aggression. These include a rise in the price of energy, raw materials and fish feed. EU governments would be able to use their remaining EMFF resources for the 2014-20 programming period to address the war consequences in the fisheries and aquaculture sector.
MEPs amended the proposal to extend the compensation also to those companies whose economic viability has been impacted by the conflict and to the processing sector. 75% of co-financing from the Fund would cover their lost income and additional costs caused by disruption to supply chains after the start of the war on 24 February 2022.
Besides financial compensation, member states would also be allowed to use the state aid rules more flexibly. This would enable them to set up schemes to provide state aid to fisheries and aquaculture companies affected by the crisis.
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Following the vote, EP rapporteur Nuno Melo (EPP, PT) said: “The report calls for specific measures to alleviate the market disruption to the seafood supply chain caused by the Russian aggression. The EU must take urgent action to mitigate the impact of the war, and ensure the survival of companies and jobs in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors.”
Next steps
This draft negotiating position should be submitted to the plenary vote in July. Once Parliament as a whole has approved it, MEPs will be ready to start talks with EU governments on the final shape of the legislation.
Background
In 2019, the EU fishing fleet totalled 73 983 vessels, providing direct employment to 129 540 fishers. Aquaculture employs around 75 000 people, with the processing industry comprising around 3 500 companies. Fuel prices are preventing fishing operators from breaking even and the scarcity of marine fuel keeps many vessels in port. Furthermore, there is a lack of sufficient alternatives for species such as Alaska pollack and Russian cod and the lack of vegetable oil is causing serious difficulties for the canning industry.
As a part of this push, the UN Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is asking the world to join the revolution to unlock innovative ocean science solutions. UN News spoke to experts within and outside the UN system to reveal the importance of ocean literacy.
Ocean literacy is commonly defined as an understanding of the ocean’s influence on you and your influence on the ocean.
Francesca Santoro, who is in charge of ocean literacy at UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), explained however that the definition goes beyond that.
“It is really about empowering people with tools, to better use that ocean knowledge to become more responsible and able to take decisions that involve ocean resources, in a more knowledgeable way. It is really about being capable of understanding how much the oceans influence our life and how much we can influence the ocean in both positive and negative ways.”
Moken children swim in the Myeik Archipelago in Myanmar.
As the focal point for ocean science within the United Nations system, the IOC leads the UN Decade of Ocean Sciences for Sustainable Development (2021 to 2030), and supports ocean research institutions around the world to strengthen public engagement.
“IOC works mainly to strengthen the international collaboration on ocean science and ocean research – as no single country can undertake research on all ocean basins, by itself”, Ms. Santoro continued.
Critical moment
The Decade of Ocean Science is an opportunity to change the state of the ocean for the next 100 years.
Earlier this year, UNESCO launched a campaign to empower people to join the Generation Ocean global movement.
The idea is to use transformative storytelling to connect citizens with ocean knowledge and drive action to restore, protect, and live better with the ocean.
In an interview with UN News, Vinicius Grunberg Lindoso, Communications Officer at UNESCO’S Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission, described how you can be a game changer at this critical moment.
Students as active agents of change
Some of IOC’s flagship programmes examine the particular impacts of climate change on the ocean, and how the ocean can be considered the best ally in fighting climate change.
Working closely with schools, teachers and educators, the UN Scientific agency uses results from its ocean research to develop lesson plans.
Aquarium’s help young children to discover the aquatic realm in an immersive environment.
“We develop a number of resources – booklets, videos or games – and we use them to collaborate with schools all around the world in order to engage people from an early age, from elementary school to high school. We use an approach that doesn’t include only learning objectives, it also includes what we call social emotional learning objectives, and behavioral learning, because we want the students to become active agents of change – so they can take part in initiatives that support ocean protection”, Ms. Santoro highlighted.
Blue schools
In Portugal, co-host along with Kenya of the UN Ocean Conference, which is taking place from 27 June through 1 July, the Oceano Azul Foundation has an important role in developing literacy and conservation practices there.
Working towards children’s climate education in Portugal, the Foundation aims to have more kids learning about ocean issues and their impact on the ocean, so when they grow to be decision makers, no matter what profession they choose, they will have an important role to play.
A Diamond Stingray and a one-eyed Porcupine fish search for a meal in the sand as hundreds of Big Eye Jacks school behind them.
Samuel Collins, Programme Manager at Oceano Azul, explained to UN News how the initiative works: “We must deliver information in a way that is digestible for different age groups. But considering the importance of these issues, and the impact they will have on the near future of the current generations, we have the responsibility to deliver certain information to the youth.”
Together with Oceanario de Lisboa, Oceano Azul has a programme to educate the blue generation, training teachers and providing them with the curriculum and resources to pass the message in the first cycle of education.
“They will do math, but they will speak about fish, they’ll learn French, speaking about the ocean, they’ll do history, but integrating oceanography, so it’s just reinforcing the curriculum, looking through a blue lens. They come to the Oceanario, and they do a lot of fantastic activities, and get excited, because there’s a huge amount of potential in a healthy ocean, and reinforcing that is important.”.
The programme envisages to bring ocean literacy to all children, resident in Portugal, with a special focus on the group between the ages 5 to 9 years old.
According to the Foundation, using Portugal as a starting point in the case of literacy will, nevertheless, allow the replication of actions in other countries, namely in Portuguese speaking countries and developing states.
Kindergarten of the Lagoon
Not so far away in Italy, Venice has for centuries illustrated the dynamic interaction between humankind and nature, underlining its capacity to act as a model for other similar ecosystems.
Due to its ideal characteristics and its designation as a UNESCO World Heritage site, ‘Venice and its Lagoon’ were selected as the implementation site of the pilot edition of the “Kindergarten of the Lagoon” Initiative, which was launched last May.
The new educational programme based on promoting ocean literacy principles and interaction with the environment, aims to foster a close connection between children and nature, using outdoor activities and interactions with the local community.
IOC-UNESCO
Children participate in drawing activities at an ocean awareness event, in Venice, Italy.
Thematic lessons are given to classes of 25 kindergarten students, conducted using outdoor education and aimed at discovering the lagoon ecosystem. This is then followed by creative stimulation and drawing at the end of each lesson.
In partnership with the Prada Group, UNESCO, hopes to empower youth in becoming the future Generation Ocean.
“The international community must make education one of the pillars of its action for the ocean and engage in education to help today’s youth become responsible and aware citizens of tomorrow,” said Ana Luiza M. Thompson-Flores, UNESCO Regional Bureau’s Director.
Lisbon: scale it up
The ocean literacy community will convene in Lisbon, Portugal, for the UN Ocean Conference, ensuring that ocean literacy is seen as a central element of ocean action.
“The last UN Ocean Conference [in 2017, in New York], ocean literacy was in its infancy, but now we can really prove that we have been able to achieve important results such as promoting the presence of ocean literacy in formal education, and we have an increasing network of blue schools around the world. But we need to scale this up, make sure that ocean literacy initiatives are happening around the world, and strengthen the collaboration to share good practices among different actors,” Ms. Santoro told UN News.
In Lisbon, on the first day of the 2022 Conference, there will be a high-level Ocean Decade Alliance Meeting, followed by an Ocean Decade Forum on 30 June, to convey a message of action, partnership, and inclusivity.
“My other expectation is to see our community include more and more stakeholders. Right now, we mainly have scientists and educators, but I think we need, for example, journalists, the media, to help us make sure the ocean is present in media outlets, and that people are more aware of the importance of the ocean for the future of this planet,” she added.
Creative community is ‘crucial’
UNESCO has a series of events lined up for the UN Ocean Conference in Lisbon – which include exhibitions such as the Ocean Decade Creative Exhibition at the city’s main Square, and a Generation Ocean Concert at the Rock in Rio Festival, on 26 June. Those events involve the global creative community, aiming to raise more awareness to ocean science and conservation.
For Ms. Santoro, the collaboration with the creative community is “crucial, especially because we are more aware that our emotions drive action. Working [more in depth] with artists, photographers, enhances the capacity of people to feel more connected to the ocean or to rediscover how much we are connected to it. The creative community is really helping us in finding this emotional part of our connection with it – so we need to work together, scientists and artists, to co-design and co-develop projects. No matter if you are a scientist or a journalist or an artist or a policymaker, or somebody working in the private sector. We should all come together and have a common vision and a common goal,” Ms. Santoro concluded.
Italy is a multicultural and multi-religious country. Over the years both the number and the visibility of religious organizations present on the national territory have grown exponentially.
This event will take place tomorrow jun 21st 13:30h to 15:30, at Plesso Belmeloro, Via Andreatta, 8 | Aula N, in Bologna, as part of the hundreds of conferences organized by the European Academy of Religion.
Chair: Antonio Fuccillo (Università della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”)
Speakers:
Germana Carobene (Università di Napoli Federico II), Reflections on the new religious movements in Italy
Fabrizio D’Agostino (C.S.I.), Church of Scienntology and the Italian legal system
Gianfranco Macrì (Università di Salerno), A new governance of religious freedom in Italy is needed
Guido Morisco (Comunità bahá’í d’Italia), Italian Baha’í Community in the Italian legal context
Giancarlo Anello (Università di Parma), Defining Religion(s) by Legal Terms: A View from the Eastern World
Vincenzo Di Ieso (Chiesa Taoista d’Italia), Enculturation of Religious Identity: Dialogue between Faith and State
Therefore it is necessary to reserve a correct legal treatment, not only to religious denominations with well-established socio-anthropological traditions, but also in favor of recently established religious movements.
Hence the need to reverse the angle of observation, enhancing the point of view, beliefs and values of the religious actors involved in the most recent institutionalization processes in the Italian legal system in an emic perspective.
The panel assuming this particular perspective of analysis, will therefore host a multi-voiced dialogue between representatives of religious groups and jurists on the subject of organizational autonomy and the modalities for regulating relations between the State and religious confessions.
Italian society is pluralist in its constitutional pattern and religions, even with their differences, require equal freedom and equal legal recognition. Further requests are also addressed to the civil law systems by the so-called New Religious Movements (NRM).
This event will take place tomorrow jun 21st 10:15h, at Plesso Belmeloro, Via Andreatta, 8 | Aula L, in Bologna, as part of the hundreds of conferences organized by the European Academy of Religion.
Francesco Sorvillo (Università della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”), Religious denominations without agreement: Re-reading Article 8 of the Italian Constitution
Ludovica Decimo (Università della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”), Religious organizations in the Article 20 of the Italian Constitution
Miriam Abu Salem (Università della Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”), The agreements between State and religious confessions: Present and future
Federico Gravino (Università di Firenze), The principle of equal freedom in the new religious geography
The latter break in consolidated socio-cultural contexts as a result of migration flows, but also to satisfy new needs in the religious field, and therefore as a counteraction to traditional patterns of religious affiliation and participation.
In relation to these circumstances, the re-reading of the art. 8 of the Italian Constitution acquires a fundamental importance, since it provides guarantees to all religions, regardless of their structure, consistency, or adherence to “traditional” conceptual paradigms.
The panel is focused, therefore, on a re-reading of the constitutional protocols, as corollary of the aforementioned art. 8 and of the related process of institutionalization of religious groups within the Italian legal system. This point of view allows us to closely investigate the relationship between the State and religious groups of the most different provenance and traditions, but also to explore the limits and criticalities that spread from the system of recognition to the social context, with important highlights on modern plural, multi-religious and multicultural democracies.
MEPs will vote on plans to cut carbon emissions, boost gas storage and support for countries hosting Ukrainian refugees in the 22-23 June plenary session.
The “Fit for 55” package is part of the EU’s effort to fight climate change, it aims to help the EU lower emissions 55% by 2030 and reach net zero emissions by 2050.
EU gas reserves
Parliament will debate and vote on the plan to refill EU strategic gas reserves faster before winter, to ensure enough gas for heating and industry.
Ukraine
MEPs will discuss Wednesday and vote Thursday on measures aimed at supporting countries that host people fleeing Ukraine. They will also discuss Russia’s relations with extremist political parties in the EU.
EU summit; candidate status of Ukraine and Moldova
MEPs will outline their expectations for the 23-24 June European summit, including the question of whether Ukraine and Moldova should be granted EU candidate status.
EU Digital COVID certificate
Parliament is set to approve the extension of the EU Digital Covid Certificate for another 12 months, on Thursday. The aim is to help ensure free movement in the EU. The certificate expires 30 June.
Zambian president Hakainde Hichilema will address MEPs on Thursday.
Elsewhere in Parliament
On Monday, European Central Bank President Christine Lagarde will answer questions about the implications of the war in Ukraine and Eurozone inflation in the economic affairs committee.
If we look at most of the wars of the last 50 years, we can see that they are not becoming shorter. And even if we look at the full military history of the world, we can observe that wars of the magnitude that we are seeing in Ukraine are usually somewhat long.
Everybody is saying it: “The war in Ukraine will last for years”. The last person to do so was Jens Stoltenberg, the secretary-general of NATO, in an interview with the German newspaper Bild am Sonntag.
However, if we think about it, it’s pretty obvious that this war will last for years. And it isn’t even “because no party involved wants the war to be short”, as some people on the left are becoming used to saying. No, it’s not because of that, mainly since that reasoning has no logic.
For one thing, both parties involved in the conflict (Ukraine and Russia) prefer a brief conflict. Ukraine is fighting in order to limit the damage and suffering caused by this war as much as possible. As well as for many other strategic reasons regarding the war effort. And Russia because it wants to come out of this war as victorious as possible, and a long war doesn’t help that, but also for the reason that it wants to come out of this war with the army and the economy as least affected as possible.
And for the second part, nobody inside the NATO alliance is interested in the economic downfall that this war is causing. As much as some people claim that some countries may benefit from disruption in international commerce, that is simply not true. The cost of the disruption will always surpass the possible gains that one country could have had due to this war. The fact that the USA will start to export more oil and gas to Europe isn’t making Wall Street more confident in the future of the American economy, for example.
So no, I’m not talking about an NATO conspiracy here, to make the war last longer than it should. I will just compare this war with other wars in history. In an effort to explain why, we have no reason to think that this war will be short.
One example that has been brought up recently for obvious reasons is the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979. Although this comparison is faulty, mainly because the mountainous Afghan terrain is almost an antithesis of the mostly flat Ukrainian terrain, we can also see why this war can have basically the same turnout as the one waged by the USSR in 1979. Where there are no mountains where Ukrainian soldiers can defend themselves from air and ground attacks, there are cities. Of course, this leads to a much higher human cost.
And if you want another major example, we have the US invasion of Iraq. This comparison is even a bit better regarding some aspects. One, both the Iraqi and the Ukrainian armies are, well, armies, and not just militias and guerrilla fighters. And second, regarding terrain, Iraq is much more similar to Ukraine than Afghanistan, which is also mostly flat. However, the US invasion played out much differently than the Russian invasion. Even with all the setbacks and mistakes, the US and British forces successfully invaded the country in about a month, fulfilling all their military objectives (regarding the invasion phase, of course). Russian forces have already failed in many of their military objectives. They have been trying to make a decisive offensive on enemy lines for almost 5 months now and have no idea of how this war is going to end.
Yes, most of the wars that I mentioned (Afghanistan and Iraq) were long because of the post-invasion/occupation phase, and now Russia apparently doesn’t have what’s necessary to effectively occupy Ukraine. But even so, if Russia manages a push in the Donbas region, it will have to then advance to Kiev and so on. And that, as we see, will take time (if it happens at all).
But I think that we don’t really need comparisons, or at least detailed comparisons. Because the main fact that I want to express—my main argument for this thesis—is simple: No war of similar magnitude to this one, has been brief. On the contrary, they are becoming longer and longer.
And it is my belief that this is true, at least as long as we don’t see a clear advantage on one side, or a successful offensive, etc.
New genetic study finds a direct link between dementia and a lack of vitamin D.
Dementia is diminished cognitive functioning with a loss of ability to remember, think, solve problems, or make decisions — if it has progressed to the point that it interferes with doing everyday activities. It is a broad term, rather than a specific disease. Alzheimer’s disease is a specific type of dementia and the most common, with 6 million Americans afflicted according to the Alzheimer’s Association.
Dementia is not a normal sign of aging, even though it primarily affects older adults at least 65 years of age. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 14 million Americans will be suffering from dementia by 2060 and there is a link with vitamin D deficiency.
It is one of the major causes of disability and dependency among older people worldwide, affecting thinking and behaviors as you age. But what if you could stop this degenerative disease in its tracks?
A world-first study from the University of South Australia could make this a reality as new genetic research shows a direct link between dementia and a lack of vitamin D.
Investigating the association between vitamin D, neuroimaging features, and the risk of dementia and stroke, the study found:
low levels of vitamin D were associated with lower brain volumes and an increased risk of dementia and stroke.
genetic analyses supported a causal effect of vitamin D deficiency and dementia.
in some populations, as much as 17 percent of dementia cases might be prevented by increasing everyone to normal levels of vitamin D (50 nmol/L).
Dementia is a chronic or progressive syndrome that leads to deterioration in cognitive function. About 487,500 Australians live with dementia and it is the country’s second leading cause of death. Globally, more than 55 million people have dementia with 10 million new cases diagnosed every year.
Supported by the National Health and Medical Research Council, the genetic study analyzed data from 294,514 participants from the UK Biobank, examining the impact of low levels of vitamin D (25 nmol/L) and the risk of dementia and stroke. Nonlinear Mendelian randomization (MR) – a method of using measured variation in genes to examine the causal effect of a modifiable exposure on disease — were used to test for underlying causality for neuroimaging outcomes, dementia, and stroke.
Senior investigator and Director of UniSA’s Australian Centre for Precision Health, Professor Elina Hyppönen, says the findings are important for the prevention of dementia and appreciating the need to abolish vitamin D deficiency.
“Vitamin D is a hormone precursor that is increasingly recognized for widespread effects, including on brain health, but until now it has been very difficult to examine what would happen if we were able to prevent vitamin D deficiency,” Prof Hyppönen says.
“Our study is the first to examine the effect of very low levels of vitamin D on the risks of dementia and stroke, using robust genetic analyses among a large population.
“Our study is the first to examine the effect of very low levels of vitamin D on the risks of dementia and stroke, using robust genetic analyses among a large population.
“In some contexts, where vitamin D deficiency is relatively common, our findings have important implications for dementia risks. Indeed, in this UK population we observed that up to 17 percent of dementia cases might have been avoided by boosting vitamin D levels to be within a normal range.”
The findings are incredibly significant given the high prevalence of dementia around the world.
“Dementia is a progressive and debilitating disease that can devastate individuals and families alike,” Prof Hyppönen says.
“If we’re able to change this reality through ensuring that none of us is severely vitamin D deficient, it would also have further benefits and we could change the health and wellbeing for thousands.”
“Most of us are likely to be ok, but for anyone who for whatever reason may not receive enough vitamin D from the sun, modifications to diet may not be enough, and supplementation may well be needed.”
Reference: “Vitamin D and brain health: an observational and Mendelian randomization study” by Shreeya S Navale, Anwar Mulugeta, Ang Zhou, David J Llewellyn and Elina Hyppönen, 22 April 2022, The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
DOI: 10.1093/ajcn/nqac107
UNESCO says that hate speech is on the rise worldwide.
Hate speech incites violence, undermines diversity and social cohesion and “threatens the common values and principles that bind us together,” the UN chief said in his message for the first-ever International Day for Countering Hate Speech.
“It promotes racism, xenophobia and misogyny; it dehumanizes individuals and communities; and it has a serious impact on our efforts to promote peace and security, human rights, and sustainable development,” underscored Secretary-General António Guterres.
The escalation from hate speech to violence, has played a significant role in the most horrific and tragic crimes of the modern age, from the antisemitism driving the Holocaust, to the 1994 genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda, he said.
“The internet and social media have turbocharged hate speech, enabling it to spread like wildfire across borders,” added the UN chief.
Fighting back
The spread of hate speech against minorities during the COVID-19 pandemic has further shown that many societies are highly vulnerable to the stigma, discrimination and conspiracies it promotes.
In response to this growing threat, three years ago, Mr. Guterres launched the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on Hate Speech – a new framework to support Member States in countering the scourge, while also managing to respect freedom of expression and opinion.
It was undertaken in collaboration with civil society, media, technology companies and social media platforms.
And last year, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution calling for inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue to counter hate speech – and proclaimed the International Day.
“Hate speech is a danger to everyone and fighting it, is a job for everyone,” said the UN chief.
“This first International Day to Counter Hate Speech is a call to action. Let us recommit to doing everything in our power to prevent and end hate speech by promoting respect for diversity and inclusivity”.
Hate fuelling hostilities
In a sign of how the phenomenon is becoming an increasing problem, UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet and UN Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide, Alice Nderitu, expressed their “deep alarm” on Friday, over the hate speech that is fuelling violence against civilians, in long-running clashes between the M23 rebel group and Government forces in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
The two top officials called for the uptick in attacks against civilians to stop immediately.
“We call on all parties to respect international human rights law and international humanitarian law,” they stressed.
The UN senior officials singled out that hate speech and “incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence nationwide” – directed specifically against Kinyarwanda speakers – was an important factor, as the DRC Government has accused Rwanda of supporting the M23.
“Hate speech fuels the conflict by exacerbating mistrust between communities,” they said.
“It focuses on aspects that have previously mattered less, incites a discourse of ‘us vs. them’, and corrodes social cohesion between communities that have previously lived together”.
Spreading hatred
So far, the UN has documented eight cases of hate speech and incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence and it has been spread by political party figures, community leaders, civil society actors, as well as the Congolese diaspora.
“Times of heightened political tensions and armed conflict tend to correlate with increased use of hate speech and incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence,” the two top officials stated.
“Hateful messages heighten the risk of violence, including atrocity crimes targeting specific groups of people [and] should be roundly condemned by the highest national authorities and curbed.”
Both women encouraged Parliament to expedite the adoption of the bill on “racism, xenophobia and tribalism” to strengthen the legal framework to address and counter hate speech.
University of Innsbruck researchers have identified the genetic origin of our senses
Researchers from the University of Innsbruck have determined the genetic origin of our senses. The findings reveal that vertebrate cranial Sensory Ganglia arise from a genetic program shared with their closest living relatives, tunicates.
Tunicates, commonly called sea squirts, are a group of marine animals that spend most of their lives attached to docks, rocks or the undersides of boats, they look like small, colored blobs.
They are actually more closely related to vertebrates like ourselves than to most other invertebrate animals.
It’s definitely beneficial to have a head. This may seem obvious, yet evolution underwent a long journey to test it: Invertebrates dominated the waters at first when animal life began to emerge. Although they already had head features, vertebrates ultimately succeeded because they developed a new, superior head. This “new head” enabled a widespread spatial dispersion and multiplication of sensory cells, leading to a much-improved perception of the surroundings. This was also crucial for the evolution of a predatory lifestyle.
Cranial Sensory Ganglia are critical for transmitting external sensations to the vertebrate brain. You can think of them as nerve nodes that are spread throughout the brain and collect information from the sensory organs. The precise process by which these ganglia were created was unknown to scientists up until this point. These questions have finally been resolved by a study that was published in Nature on May 18, 2022.
Prototype of the vertebrates
The research group of Ute Rothbächer from the Institute of Zoology at the University of Innsbruck was decisively involved in the last phase of the project, an international collaboration of several institutions, conceived by the University of Oxford. Their findings show that the Cranial Sensory Ganglia of vertebrates emerge from a genetic program that is also found in their closest living relatives, the tunicates. In tunicate larvae, certain sensory neurons, called Bipolar Tail Neurons, are located in the tail region. These process external stimuli, but are also responsible for the animal’s movement. In both animal subphyla, the respective structures are formed by the gene Hmx.
An embryo of the tunicate Ciona intestinalis. The microscope image shows Bipolar Tail Neurons in the tail region (green) and epidermal cells (magenta). Credit: Alessandro Pennati
“Tunicates are like an evolutionary prototype for vertebrates,” Rothbächer explains. “There is a large anatomical gap between the adults of these subphyla, as they are adapted to ecological niches. This complicates research on their evolution. Common structures and mechanisms can only be identified at the embryonic stage – our common ancestor was probably very similar to a tunicate larva.”
The study’s model organisms were the lamprey, a primitive fish that resembles an eel and is often referred to as a ‘living fossil,’ and the tunicate Ciona intestinalis, which is surrounded by a yellowish, tubular mantle that protects the animal and filters food.
The conserved gene
Alessandro Pennati, a doctoral student in Rothbächer’s research group, provided decisive data on the function of the gene Hmx in Ciona. He applied the gene technology CRISPR-Cas9 to selectively knock out genetic sequences, while the method of transient transgenesis was used to over-express genes.
The researchers found that Hmx controls the development of Bipolar Tail Neurons in tunicates, whereas in vertebrates, it does so for Cranial Sensory Ganglia. Surprisingly, lamprey Hmx gene segments inserted into Ciona DNA were similarly active as Ciona’s own Hmx.
“Hmx has been shown to be a central gene that has been conserved across evolution. It has retained its original function and structure and was probably found in this form in the common ancestor of vertebrates and tunicates,” Pennati explains. Cranial Sensory Ganglia and Bipolar Tail Neurons thus have the same evolutionary origin, Hmx was probably crucially involved in the formation of highly specialized head sensory organs in vertebrates.
Reference: “Hmx gene conservation identifies the origin of vertebrate cranial ganglia” by Vasileios Papadogiannis, Alessandro Pennati, Hugo J. Parker, Ute Rothbächer, Cedric Patthey, Marianne E. Bronner, and Sebastian M. Shimeld, 18 May 2022, Nature. DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-04742-w
