1:40 PM – Philippe Lazzarini has said the agency is facing a “deliberate and concerted campaign” to undermine its operations at a time when it’s crucial services – delivered by over 12,000 mostly local staff in Gaza – are most needed.
So far, some 178 UNRWA officials working in Gaza have been killed since Israel’s bombardment and military campaign began last October.
In January, the Israeli Government presented the UN with information accusing 12 UNRWA employees of taking part in the 7 October terror attacks but has yet to provide that evidence to the organisation. UNRWA nevertheless terminated their employment and began an internal investigation.
Some 16 countries led by the United States announced a funding freeze for UNRWA – or suspension of future funding – in response to the allegations of collusion but some of those countries have since reversed course and resumed funding.
Mr. Lazzarini wrote to the General Assembly, which provides UNRWA its mandate, and later briefed Member States in March, saying the agency was at “breaking point” across the region and under serious threat of grinding to a halt.
Israel’s announcement in late March that they would no longer approve any UNRWA food convoys into northern Gaza meant that the clock is ticking “faster towards famine”, he said on X, formerly Twitter.
Diplomacy continues in New York
Ambassadors last met on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza on 5 April when they heard top UN aid officials make an appeal for the Security Council to help end the carnage there six months on from the start of the conflict.
The Maltese mission which holds the presidency for the month of April said in a post on X, that there will be a vote on a draft resolution put forward by Algeria this coming Friday.
The draft is focused on the diplomatic push by some countries to admit Palestine as a full Member State of the UN, in the wake of the crisis in the Middle East.
Although a special committee on UN membership did not come up with a conclusive recommendation this week, the Algeria draft recommends to the General Assembly that the State of Palestine “be admitted to membership in the United Nations.”
The UN Security Counciladopts a resolution tabled by its 10 non-permanent members (E-10) demanding a ceasefire in Gaza during Ramadan, by a vote of 14 in favour to none against, with one abstention (United States)
Resolution 2728 also calls for the immediate release of hostages and for ensuring humanitarian access to Gaza
The Council rejected a Russia-proposed amendment that would have called for a permanent ceasefire
The US ambassador said her delegation “fully supports” the critical objectives of the draft
Algeria’s ambassador says the ceasefire will end “the bloodbath”
“This must be a turning point,” says the ambassador for the observer State of Palestine
The draft’s lack of condemnation of Hamas is “a disgrace”, says Israel’s ambassador
For summaries of UN meetings, visit our colleagues at the UN Meetings Coverage in English and French
UN Secretary-General António Guterres celebrated the achievements and contributions of people of African descent from across the world, while addressing the forum via video message, but also acknowledged existing racial discrimination and inequalities Black people continue to face.
He said the establishment of the Permanent Forum shows a dedication from the international community to address these injustices. Still, it needs to be backed by significant change for people of African descent globally.
“Now we must build on that momentum to drive meaningful change – by ensuring that people of African descent enjoy the full and equal realization of their human rights; by stepping up efforts to eliminate racism and discrimination – including through reparations; and by taking steps towards the full inclusion of people of African descent in society as equal citizens,” said Mr. Guterres.
She commended the forum’s planned 70 side events focusing on climate justice, education, health, and more for people of African descent, saying it shows a “remarkable effort, amplifying the reach and impact of our collective commitment.”
Ms. Al-Nashif urged Member States to participate in discussions and act on recommendations derived from them.
“Only then can we ensure that all civil, political, economic, social, and cultural rights of people of African descent can be fully realized without discrimination or bias,” she said.
During the Permanent Forum, a conversation will be centred around achievement limitations and expectations of the requested second international decade.
“We look forward to the outcome of the discussions of this session; and we will be following the intergovernmental discussions in relation to the International Decade throughout this year,” said Ms. Al-Nashif.
All reports from the Permanent Forum will be presented to the 57th session of the UN Human Rights Council in September, as well as the new session of the UN General Assembly, which begins that month.
A fight for change
The Deputy High Commissioner said her office is continuing to look for ways to ensure “the meaningful, inclusive, and safe participation of people of African descent in public life is essential in the fight against systemic racism.”
A crisis that is here and now, but begins somewhere in the past. A crisis of identities, positions and morals – political and personal. A crisis of time and space, the foundations of which are rooted in the twentieth century. The exhibition “Dislocations” at the “Palais de Tokyo” gathers the work of 15 artists from different generations, with different pasts (Afghanistan, France, Iraq, Iran, Libya, Lebanon, Palestine, Myanmar, Syria, Ukraine). What unites them is the creative search for the border between the present and the past. Fragments of stories, remnants of war, a combination between the simplicity of materials and the technological possibilities of modern times.
The project was prepared in collaboration between the Palais de Tokyo and the non-profit organization Portes ouvertes sur l’art, which disseminates the work of artists in exile and in search of free expression. The organization helps these authors collaborate with the artistic scene in France.
Artists: Majd Abdel Hamid, Rada Akbar, Bissane Al Charif, Ali Arkady, Cathryn Boch, Tirdad Hashemi, Fati Khademi, Sara Kontar, Nge Lay, Randa Maddah, May Murad, Armineh Negahdari, Hadi Rahnaward, Maha Yammine, Misha Zavalniy
The transcontinental history of political and social solidarity was at its peak in the decades between 1960 and 1980. In the movement of anti-imperialism, whole peoples try to erase the traumas of the past, build a new identity and win their place in the world. The exhibition “Past Disquiet” is an archival-documentary curatorial study by Kristine Khouri and Rasha Salti – a “museum of exile” or a “museum of solidarity”. From the Palestinian struggle for freedom to the resistance against the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile and the apartheid regime in South Africa.
“The International Art Exhibition for Palestine” held in Beirut in 1987 is the starting point of the current “Solidarity Museum”. The curators gather documentary materials from Jordan, Syria, Morocco, Egypt, Italy, France, Sweden, Germany, Poland, Hungary, South Africa and Japan to piece together the puzzle of activism, unique artistic events, collections and demonstrations around the world related to anti-imperialism twentieth century movement.
The Palais de Tokyo’s peculiar cycle of exhibitions in which the ghost of colonialism is present and in which the traumas of the past find their reflection in the tensions and provocations of the present, ends with the SIGNAL exhibition by Mohamed Bourouissa. A central theme in the exhibition is the restriction of thought – control over language, music, forms – and alienation from the environment. The artist’s world stretches from his hometown of Blida in Algeria, through France, where he now lives, to the skies over Gaza.
Photo by Biserka Gramatikova. Exhibition “Dislocations” at the “Palais de Tokyo”.
The easily consumable format of videos makes them a great tool to communicate with your target audience. Search engines also acknowledge the importance of video content, pushing them higher in the search results. However, simply adding a video to your website will not boost your rankings. You require a more nuanced approach to push your search rankings with a video.
Using Google Search. Image credit: Firmbee via Unsplash, free license
If you haven’t tried video search optimization for your business before, it is better to hire an expert, like this Spring Hill SEO agency to gain their strategy. But first, you need to know how videos affect your search engine rankings.
Whenever a new visitor lands on your website, you hope that they stay on the site longer. Having videos on your landing pages helps your website quickly capture the attention of your visitors. When your visitors start spending more time on your website, search engines like Google take note of it and start promoting your pages to more people by boosting their rankings. Moreover, people are more likely to explore your site when they spend a significant amount of time on your content, lowering the bounce rate of the website.
Better Click-Through Rate
Google often updates its SERPs to offer users more information about websites and their content. These rich snippets are designed to help people understand what they can find on a page before they click on it. When you add videos to your pages, Google displays them as rich snippets for relevant searches, increasing your chances of getting clicked on. While you put textual information about the video, you should also add visually appealing thumbnails for the video content. This, again, improves your click-through rate on the SERPs.
Improved Backlink Profile
When a user finds useful or interesting content on the internet, he/she tends to share it with others. If you publish quality video content on your website, the viewers are more likely to link to it. As the content starts to circulate on the internet, it will naturally get backlinks to the page where you have hosted the video. If you publish the content on third-party platforms like YouTube, you can earn backlinks and referral traffic by adding your website link to your channel information or video description.
More Appealing Google Business Profile Listings
Local business listings that have posts, images, and messages usually get a higher ranking as Google promotes brands that use Google Business Profile listings to their advantage. The search engine also rewards such brands with a spot in the Local Pack. Adding a video to your profile can get your Google business listings ranked in the Local Pack. You can take advantage of this opportunity by creating a compelling video that explains what your business is all about and describes your offerings in less than 30 seconds.
Where Should You Host a Video?
Consider the following factors while deciding whether you should host your video on YouTube or your website:
Control over Your Content
When you host the video on your website, you can customize the video player, include your branding, and regulate the user experience. On YouTube, you get less control over the branding and user experience and also need to comply with their policies.
Since YouTube is one of the largest search engines in the world, you can reach a broader audience on that platform. Hosting a video on your website may limit your reach.
Hosting your video on YouTube can help increase traffic and backlinks to your website, improving its SEO. YouTube videos often get a higher rank in search engine results.
While hosting videos on YouTube technically costs zero amount, hosting them on your website can be significantly costly due to the additional server resources and bandwidth requirements.
Conclusion
Due to the immersive nature of video content, they have the potential to engage your audience and offer SEO advantages. Over the years, videos have proven their ability to boost the online visibility of brands, drive more traffic, and boost search engine rankings. So, if you haven’t considered using videos for SEO, you should start doing it now.
Today’s pre-electoral publication reveals a positive, upward trend on key election indicators with just a few weeks to go until EU citizens cast their ballots 6-9 June. Interest in the election, awareness of when it will take place as well as likelihood to vote are all on the rise since the last survey in autumn 2023, when they were last measured. Increases are even more striking in comparison to the Spring 2019 survey (three months prior to the previous European elections).
60% now say they are interested in voting in June (+3 pp compared to autumn 2023 and +11 pp compared to February/March 2019). 71% say that it is likely that they will vote (7 to 10 on a scale from 1-10), representing +3 pp in comparison to autumn 2023 and +10 pp compared to February/March 2019. Findings suggest that EU citizens are very much aware of the importance of the elections in the current geopolitical context, with eight in ten (81%) respondents agreeing that it makes voting even more important. Large majorities in all Member States endorse this statement.
European Parliament President Roberta Metsola, commenting on the results of the survey, says: “Europeans are aware that the stakes are high at the ballot box, and that voting is even more important in the current geopolitical context. I call on our citizens to cast their vote in the upcoming European elections, to reinforce European democracy and to shape the future of Europe.”
As this legislature concludes, 81% of EU citizens hold a positive or neutral image of the European Parliament, while only 18% are negative. What is more, a majority in the EU (56%) would like the EP to play a more important role, while only 28% would like to see the opposite and 10% would keep the role as it is now.
President Metsola adds: “The Parliament and the European Union have delivered in an unprecedented way in the past years. We have been confronted with exceptional and challenging circumstances yet we have come out even stronger and more united as a result. Parliament has been and will continue to be the citizens’ voice and advocate in the EU.”
European citizens would like to see the fight against poverty and social exclusion (33%) as well as supporting public health (32%) as the main issues under discussion during the electoral campaign. Support to the economy and the creation of new jobs, as well as EU defence and security are both in third place (on 31%). The importance citizens attach to EU defence and security has increased over the course of the parliamentary term, particularly in light of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. It is now mentioned as a first (or joint first) electoral campaign priority in nine countries, with highest results in Denmark (56%), Finland (55%) and Lithuania (53%).
Likewise, looking to the future, EU citizens put defence and security (37%) as first priorities in reinforcing the EU’s position globally, energy issues and food security/agriculture follow (both on 30%). While four in ten citizens say the role of the EU has become more important over the past years, 35% think it has stayed the same and 22% that it has diminished. At the national level, relative majorities in 15 countries believe that its role in the world has become more important over the years, with proportions reaching 67% in Sweden, 63% in Portugal and 60% in Denmark. Meanwhile, Slovenian and Czech citizens are the most likely to say that the EU’s role has become less important (32% and 30%, respectively).
Almost three quarters of citizens (73%, +3 pp in comparison to autumn 2023) say that EU actions have an impact on their daily lives, including a fifth (20%) for whom they ‘very much’ have an impact. In addition, a large majority of Europeans agree that their country, on balance, benefits from EU membership (71%). These results are stable in comparison to autumn 2023 and continue enjoying high levels across the EU.
The European Parliament’s Spring 2024 Eurobarometer was carried out by Verian (previously Kantar) research agency between 7 February and 3 March 2024 in all 27 EU Member States. The survey was conducted face-to-face, with video interviews (CAVI) used additionally in Czechia, Denmark, Finland and Malta. 26,411 interviews were conducted in total. EU results were weighted according to the size of the population in each country.
On 28 November 2023, just after 6 a.m., a SWAT team of around 175 policemen wearing black masks, helmets, and bullet-proof vests, simultaneously descended on eight separate houses and apartments in and around Paris but also in Nice, brandishing semi-automatic rifles. They smashed in the entrance doors and ran up and down the stairs, shouting orders.
These searched places were used by practitioners of yoga connected with MISA yoga school in Romania for spiritual retreats. On that fateful morning, most of them were still in bed. A few were in the kitchen boiling water for herbal tea. The masked police handcuffed a number of them, made them stand outside without coats or shoes in the freezing courtyard, then took them by bus to the police station.
Results of this vast operation: a few dozens of people were arrested, 15 of whom – 11 men and 4 women, all of Romanian nationality – were indicted for “trafficking in human beings”, “forcible confinement” and “abuse of vulnerability”, in organized gang.
Gregorian Bivolaru (72), one of the founders and the spiritual leader of MISA, was among the arrested people but in his case, he was wanted by Finland under the accusation of sexual abuse of Finnish women in France several years ago. In the framework of a research paper titled “The Controversies Around Natha Yoga Center in Helsinki: Background, Causes, and Context”, late Prof. Liselotte Frisk (Dalarna University, Falun, Sweden) solidly investigated the allegations against Bivolaru in Finland (pp 20, 21, 27).
As long as a court decision has not confirmed the said accusations, Gregorian Bivolaru must continue to enjoy the presumption of innocence, as any ordinary citizen or famous public personality.
No woman interrogated in the framework of the SWAT operation on 23 November 2023 has filed a complaint against him.
Since the raid, Bivolaru and five other people have remained in pretrial detention in France.
Human Rights Without Frontiers contacted Ms C. C. (*), a MISA practitioner for 20 years. She was at the yoga center of Villiers-sur-Marne at the time of the raid. In 2002-2006, she studied at the Faculty of History and Philosophy from Babeș-Bolyai University, Cluj-Napoca (Rumania). In 2005-2006, she was a journalist at the national daily Romania Liberă. Here is her testimony about the SWAT operation:
Q.: You have been practicing yoga in the MISA group in Romania for 20 years but while you were in a spiritual retreat in Villiers-sur-Marne, there was a Swat operation against the group. Can you tell me what happened?
A.: I have been a lot of times in France for such retreats since 2010 and I like it very much. That is why last year I had planned to stay for two months again in Villiers-sur-Marne, from late September until the end of November. I booked a flight to Paris and friends picked me up at the airport to take me to the yoga center.
In early morning, a SWAT team made a spectacular entry in our center where dozens of yoga practitioners were hosted for their retreat. The policemen put everything upside down, creating an awful mess and even breaking a lot of things.
In my case, they took away my bags, my papers, my phone, my tablet, my computer, an envelope with 1000 EUR and my wallet with about 200 EUR. Four months later, I still have not been given my money back and my material. It was freezing in my room because the door was open and I was just in pyjama. The officers took me and many others to the police station.
Q.: What happened at the police station?
A.: First of all, I must say I was just wearing my pyjama, a coat and a pair of street shoes. When we arrived at the police station, nobody explained me anything about the procedure, access to food and water or other basic things. I often needed to drink but only got a very small plastic glass of water. There was also misunderstanding about the food. They put me in a cold cell with a concrete floor. On the bed, there was a thin mattress and I just got one thin sheet. There was no toilet in the cell, I could not wash in the morning or brush my teeth.
Every time I needed to go to the bathroom, I had to wave at the internal surveillance camera but quite often I had to wait for one or two hours before I was being taken care of. The toilet could not be closed properly and a policeman was standing outside.
I was told I was suspect of complicity of rape and trafficking. I wanted to be assisted by a lawyer but they answered it was impossible because too many people had been arrested and after two hours they could start the interrogation if no lawyer was available.
On the second day of my detention, they took my fingerprint and my photo. During the interrogation, it was clear that they wanted me to say I was playing an important role in MISA but I was not. They released me at 9.30pm but first, I had to sign a release form which did not mention any list of seized items or the amounts of confiscated money. Unfortunately, I did not get a copy of it.
Without money and any telephone, I was left outside the police station in that cold late November night for almost 9 hours, until 6am, when I finally could reach someone who could help me.
Q.: Franck Dannerolle, the head of the Central Office for the repression of violence against people (OCRVP) in charge of the investigation,was quoted by some French newspapers as saying that the yoga practitioners were “housed in difficult conditions, with significant promiscuity, no privacy.” (**) Can you tell me more about your living conditions in Villiers-sur-Marne?
A.: It is not true at all. In my case, I had chosen to live in a small comfortable pavilion (about 7 square meters) outside the main building because I wanted to practice my yoga retreat alone and meditate in silence, sometimes without sleeping or eating for 24 hours.
Spectacular simultaneous SWAT raids on Romanian yoga centers in France: Fact checking 5
Others had chosen to share a bedroom in the main house: 2, 3 or 4 together, men and women separately. The building belongs to Sorin Turc, a violinist who played with the Monaco orchestra and is a supporter of MISA. It is spacious and comfortable: there are enough bathrooms and showers for the yoga practitioners. There is a big room for the collective practice of yoga. There is a large kitchen with cookers, two big freezers, a drink dispenser of fruit juicers, toasters and other facilities such as washing and drying machines.
Spectacular simultaneous SWAT raids on Romanian yoga centers in France: Fact checking 6
For our own meals, we were going to a local supermarket for shopping and we were preparing our food ourselves.
If the living conditions were so bad as Dannerolle was saying, there would not be so many practitioners and I would have never come back so many times to Villiers-sur-Marne.
At the time of the raid, Christmas was in the air and lots of decoration had already been installed. Everything looked nice but after the SWAT operation, the premises were left in a desastrous mess.
Q. How comes that you joined the MISA yoga group?
A.: I am now 39 but when I was a teenager, I was, and I am still, in search of truth about the meaning of life and the existence of God. At the age of 16, I even made a retreat of two months in an Orthodox monastery and I wanted to become a nun. Then, I met the Baptists. Afterwards, Hindus and Hare Krishna followers before coming in contact with MISA yoga group. I was attracted by meditation and spirituality. I believe in God, I am Orthodox and I feel well with MISA.
About some media coverage: the presumption of guilt
A number of French media outlets went wild in the coverage of this whole affair and held their own tribunal, as some of their delusional headlines can show, although no French court has established the truth about the alleged facts at this stage:
L’homme qui a contribué à faire tomber la secte de yoga tantrique / The man who helped bring down the tantric yoga sect
Viols, lavage de cerveau, yoga tantrique: l’effrayant parcours de Gregorian Bivolaru, le gourou roumain mis en examen et écroué en France / Rape, brainwashing, tantric yoga: the frightening journey of Gregorian Bivolaru, the Romanian guru indicted and imprisoned in France.
Secte Misa : « Le gourou Bivolaru aurait pu faire de moi ce qu'il voulait » / Misa Cult: “Guru Bivolaru could have done with me what he wanted”
Viols, fuite et yoga ésotérique: qui est le gourou Gregorian Bivolaru arrêté ce mardi? / Rape, flight and esoteric yoga: who is the guru Gregorian Bivolaru arrested this Tuesday?
Agressions sexuelles sur fond de yoga tantrique : un gourou interpellé en France. “Il préférait les vierges": des victimes du gourou Bivolaru témoignent / Sexual assaults against the backdrop of tantric yoga: a guru arrested in France. "He preferred virgins": victims of guru Bivolaru testify
Two common points of all these articles. First, the authors failed to meet and interview the yoga practitioners who were arrested and detained for questioning (“garde à vue”) for up to 48 hours. Second, they echoed gossip and unproven assertions, which is not journalism and disfigures the noble image of journalism.
There are ethical standards in journalism and there is a higher authority in France responsible for ensuring they are respected.
Human Rights Without Frontiers defends freedom of the press and freedom of expression of journalists but also combats hate speech, fake news and stigmatization. Human Rights Without Frontiers defends the respect of the principle of presumption of innocence and recognizes final court decisions as the judicial truth.
(*) Out of respect for the privacy of the interviewee, we only put her initials but we have her full name and contact data.
(**) The spiritual retreat center in Villiers-sur-Marne was never accused or even suspected of unsanitary conditions. See the gallery of pictures of the place.
As crises continue to unfold, there has been a lack of unity among world leaders in solving challenges for the “collective good”, the Youth Office said in a letter kickstarting the campaign.
The office says it deems it important to have leaders and institutions include young people in roles where their voices can be heard, or a common future might be at stake.
“Putting more diverse perspectives around the decision-making table is the only way to ensure we don’t continue to repeat past mistakes,” the office said in their open letter.
“By championing intergenerational solidarity and finding innovative solutions even in the most challenging of circumstances, young people remind us that a better world is still possible.”
The office says that hope and trust will be rebuilt and restored when significant youth engagement becomes the norm with the backing of “dedicated resourcing everywhere around the world.”
As the time for the landmark Summit of the Future in September at UN Headquarters draws nearer, the Youth Office is extending an open letter to young people across the globe where they can pen a message to world leaders.
During the summit, world leaders will focus on coming to an international consensus on safeguarding the future and tackling the best solution for reclaiming the path of the UN’s 2030 Sustainable Development Goals.
The office hopes there will be a positive and large response from youth around the world that will push leaders attending the summit to “commit to finally giving young people their rightful seat at the table.”
Youth and the UN
UN Secretary-General António Guterres supports the campaign’s efforts, saying, “I am absolutely committed to bringing young people into political decision-making; not just listening to your views, but acting on them.”
Just last year, at the UN’s annual Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum, Mr. Guterres said that young people are key to building a better future, urging governments to consult more with young people – pointing to his UN policy brief, Our Common Agenda, that calls for “inclusive, networked, and effective multilateralism to better respond and deliver for the people and planet.”
UN Assistant Secretary-General for Youth Affairs, Felipe Paullier, also supports this advocacy campaign. He said the inclusion of youth in decision-making roles at all levels, “is one of the most powerful tools at our disposal to address the ongoing conflicts, rising geopolitical tensions and increasing uncertainty facing our world today.”
ECOSOC 2024 Youth Forum
Conversations about this campaign and further discussions about how to create a better tomorrow will begin at this year’s three-day ECOSOC Youth Forum running from, April 16-18, involving a wide range of stakeholders including young people and senior politicians.
“We are watching. Don’t let us down”, is the overarching message to governments worldwide.
When Paula Hammond first arrived on MIT’s campus as a first-year student in the early 1980s, she wasn’t sure if she belonged. In fact, as she told an MIT audience, she felt like “an imposter.”
MIT Institute Professor Paula Hammond, a world-renowned chemical engineer who has spent most of her academic career at MIT, delivered the 2023-24 James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award lecture. Image credit: Jake Belcher
However, that feeling didn’t last long, as Hammond began to find support among her fellow students and MIT’s faculty. “Community was really important for me, to feel that I belonged, to feel that I had a place here, and I found people who were willing to embrace me and support me,” she said.
Hammond, a world-renowned chemical engineer who has spent most of her academic career at MIT, made her remarks during the 2023-24 James R. Killian Jr. Faculty Achievement Award lecture.
Established in 1971 to honor MIT’s 10th president, James Killian, the Killian Award recognizes extraordinary professional achievements by an MIT faculty member. Hammond was chosen for this year’s award “not only for her tremendous professional achievements and contributions, but also for her genuine warmth and humanity, her thoughtfulness and effective leadership, and her empathy and ethics,” according to the award citation.
“Professor Hammond is a pioneer in nanotechnology research. With a program that extends from basic science to translational research in medicine and energy, she has introduced new approaches for the design and development of complex drug delivery systems for cancer treatment and noninvasive imaging,” said Mary Fuller, chair of MIT’s faculty and a professor of literature, who presented the award. “As her colleagues, we are delighted to celebrate her career today.”
In January, Hammond began serving as MIT’s vice provost for faculty. Before that, she chaired the Department of Chemical Engineering for eight years, and she was named an Institute Professor in 2021.
A versatile technique
Hammond, who grew up in Detroit, credits her parents with instilling a love of science. Her father was one of very few Black PhDs in biochemistry at the time, while her mother earned a master’s degree in nursing from Howard University and founded the nursing school at Wayne County Community College. “That provided a huge amount of opportunity for women in the area of Detroit, including women of color,” Hammond noted.
After earning her bachelor’s degree from MIT in 1984, Hammond worked as an engineer before returning to the Institute as a graduate student, earning her PhD in 1993. After a two-year postdoc at Harvard University, she returned to join the MIT faculty in 1995.
At the heart of Hammond’s research is a technique she developed to create thin films that can essentially “shrink-wrap” nanoparticles. By tuning the chemical composition of these films, the particles can be customized to deliver drugs or nucleic acids and to target specific cells in the body, including cancer cells.
To make these films, Hammond begins by layering positively charged polymers onto a negatively charged surface. Then, more layers can be added, alternating positively and negatively charged polymers. Each of these layers may contain drugs or other useful molecules, such as DNA or RNA. Some of these films contain hundreds of layers, others just one, making them useful for a wide range of applications.
“What’s nice about the layer-by-layer process is I can choose a group of degradable polymers that are nicely biocompatible, and I can alternate them with our drug materials. This means that I can build up thin film layers that contain different drugs at different points within the film,” Hammond said. “Then, when the film degrades, it can release those drugs in reverse order. This is enabling us to create complex, multidrug films, using a simple water-based technique.”
Hammond described how these layer-by-layer films can be used to promote bone growth, in an application that could help people born with congenital bone defects or people who experience traumatic injuries.
For that use, her lab has created films with layers of two proteins. One of these, BMP-2, is a protein that interacts with adult stem cells and induces them to differentiate into bone cells, generating new bone. The second is a growth factor called VEGF, which stimulates the growth of new blood vessels that help bone to regenerate. These layers are applied to a very thin tissue scaffold that can be implanted at the injury site.
Hammond and her students designed the coating so that once implanted, it would release VEGF early, over a week or so, and continue releasing BMP-2 for up to 40 days. In a study of mice, they found that this tissue scaffold stimulated the growth of new bone that was nearly indistinguishable from natural bone.
Targeting cancer
As a member of MIT’s Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, Hammond has also developed layer-by-layer coatings that can improve the performance of nanoparticles used for cancer drug delivery, such as liposomes or nanoparticles made from a polymer called PLGA.
“We have a broad range of drug carriers that we can wrap this way. I think of them like a gobstopper, where there are all those different layers of candy and they dissolve one at a time,” Hammond said.
Using this approach, Hammond has created particles that can deliver a one-two punch to cancer cells. First, the particles release a dose of a nucleic acid such as short interfering RNA (siRNA), which can turn off a cancerous gene, or microRNA, which can activate tumor suppressor genes. Then, the particles release a chemotherapy drug such as cisplatin, to which the cells are now more vulnerable.
The particles also include a negatively charged outer “stealth layer” that protects them from being broken down in the bloodstream before they can reach their targets. This outer layer can also be modified to help the particles get taken up by cancer cells, by incorporating molecules that bind to proteins that are abundant on tumor cells.
In more recent work, Hammond has begun developing nanoparticles that can target ovarian cancer and help prevent recurrence of the disease after chemotherapy. In about 70 percent of ovarian cancer patients, the first round of treatment is highly effective, but tumors recur in about 85 percent of those cases, and these new tumors are usually highly drug resistant.
By altering the type of coating applied to drug-delivering nanoparticles, Hammond has found that the particles can be designed to either get inside tumor cells or stick to their surfaces. Using particles that stick to the cells, she has designed a treatment that could help to jumpstart a patient’s immune response to any recurrent tumor cells.
“With ovarian cancer, very few immune cells exist in that space, and because they don’t have a lot of immune cells present, it’s very difficult to rev up an immune response,” she said. “However, if we can deliver a molecule to neighboring cells, those few that are present, and get them revved up, then we might be able to do something.”
To that end, she designed nanoparticles that deliver IL-12, a cytokine that stimulates nearby T cells to spring into action and begin attacking tumor cells. In a study of mice, she found that this treatment induced a long-term memory T-cell response that prevented recurrence of ovarian cancer.
Hammond closed her lecture by describing the impact that the Institute has had on her throughout her career.
“It’s been a transformative experience,” she said. “I really think of this place as special because it brings people together and enables us to do things together that we couldn’t do alone. And it is that support we get from our friends, our colleagues, and our students that really makes things possible.”
UNRWA on Wednesday launched a $414.4 million appeal for Palestine refugees in Syria and those who have fled the country for neighbouring Lebanon and Jordan due to the conflict.
The funding will be used to keep cash and in-kind food assistance running, along with healthcare, education, and technical and vocational training.
“We must continue to support Palestine Refugees affected by the 13-year-long Syria crisis,” said Natalie Boucly, UNRWA’s Deputy Commissioner-General for Programmes and Partnerships, speaking at the launch in Beirut.
“While the horror unfolding in Gaza is consuming most of our attention, humanitarian needs in other crisis-affected areas of operations should not be overlooked.”
Mitigating conflict impacts
UNRWA has a long-standing humanitarian assistance operation to mitigate the worst effects of the conflict in Syria on Palestine refugees, and to address the deteriorating socio-economic conditions of hundreds of thousands who are now living in Lebanon and Jordan.
It has carried out relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees in these countries, and in Gaza and the West Bank, for more than 75 years and mainly depends on donations to meet its budget of over $800 million.
Despite growing needs, funding for emergency appeals for Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan decreased over recent years, with a dramatic fall to only 27 per cent coverage in 2023.
Overall funding shortfall
Ms. Boucly said UNRWA’s overall funding situation remains precarious, especially given the challenges faced since the start of the conflict in Gaza nearly six months ago.
“UNRWA will soon struggle to maintain the level of humanitarian assistance it can provide, and that level is already at minimum,” she said. “As the Palestine Refugee community faces even greater existential challenges across the region, UNRWA’s role has never been more vital.”
In January, UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini warned that its lifesaving programmes were in danger after 16 countries suspended some $450 million in funding following Israel’s allegations that several agency staff had been involved in the brutal 7 October Hamas-led attacks on its territory.
Allegations and investigations
The UN appointed an independent review panel to conduct an assessment of UNRWA’s operations while its highest investigate body, the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS), launched a probe into the allegations.
The review panel issued its interim findings in March, which said that UNRWA has a significant number of mechanisms and procedures in place to ensure neutrality, though critical areas still need to be addressed. A full report is expected later this month.
Support for UNRWA
Some governments have renewed their support to UNRWA, such as Germany, which last month announced 45 million Euros, roughly $48.7 million, in new contributions for operations in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank.
Other recent donations include a $40 million contribution from Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Humanitarian Aid and Relief Centre (KSrelief) which will be used to provide food for more than 250,000 people and tents for 20,000 families in Gaza.
Millions of Muslims worldwide are also donating to an UNRWA campaign during the holy month of Ramadan to support the most vulnerable Palestine refugees. Last year, some $4.7 million was raised.
Gaza humanitarian update
Meanwhile, there has been no significant change in the volume of humanitarian supplies entering Gaza or improved access to the north, UNRWA, said in its most recent update on the crisis.
Last month, an average of 161 aid trucks crossed into Gaza each day, with the highest number – 264 – on 28 March, though still well below the target of 500 per day.
UNRWA is the largest humanitarian operation in the Gaza Strip and half of all supplies delivered in March were for the agency, according to the update, which was published on Tuesday.
Over 75 per cent of Gaza’s population, roughly 1.7 million people, has been displaced since the current hostilities began on 7 October. The majority have been uprooted multiple times.
Restrictions in north
Around one million people are residing in or near emergency shelters or informal shelters, and approximately 160,000 displaced people are staying in UNRWA shelters in Northern Gaza and Gaza City governorates.
UNRWA estimated that up to 300,000 people are in the two governorates, however its ability to provide humanitarian support in these areas has been severely restricted.
Since 7 October, UNRWA has delivered flour to more than 1.8 million people in Gaza, or 85 per cent of the population. Furthermore, nearly 600,000 people have received emergency food parcels and almost 3.6 million patient consultations have been provided at health centres and points.
Focusing on developments in 2023, the report builds on previous findings in the aftermath of large public protests which erupted in 2020 following a disputed presidential poll.
Despite a lack of cooperation from Belarusian authorities, the UN human rights office (OHCHR) said evidence gathered shows that the scale and pattern of violations has continued.
“The Office has found that the cumulative effect of violations of freedom of expression, association and assembly since 1 May 2020 has closed independent civic space and effectively deprived people in Belarus of their ability to exercise these rights”, said Christian Salazar Volkmann, Director of Field Operations and Technical Cooperation at OHCHR, briefing the Human Rights Council.
He noted that no opposition party could even register for the parliamentary election held last month, raising concerns as Belarus approaches new presidential elections next year.
Laws adopted or amended since 2021 have led to the oppression and punishment of opposition voices while several prominent human rights defenders, journalists, and trade unionists have received long prison terms.
Thousands have been arbitrarily arrested and detained for exercising freedom of expression and assembly, some for actions dating back to 2020. Arrests have continued into 2024.
Degrading treatment in detention
Since 2020, thousands of Belarusians have suffered cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment or punishment in detention facilities across the country, the report said.
Some cases of torture have resulted in severe injuries and sexual and gender-based violence. The UN rights office also found violations of the right to life due to medical negligence and two recorded deaths in custody in 2024.
Expressing alarm over possible enforced disappearances of well-known opposition members who were facing politically-motivated charges, UN officials urged authorities to provide information on their fate and whereabouts.
Children arrested
With many young people driving the 2020 protests, OHCHR found widespread arbitrary arrests of children in the aftermath, with over 50 politically motivated criminal trials of individuals under 18 lacking protections guaranteed by international law.
Authorities have used a pretext of “socially dangerous situations” procedure to remove children from their parents, leaving some without care or in the custody of relatives or friends.
Not safe to return
Up to 300,000 Belarusians have been forced to leave since May 2020, the report estimates, with the Government restricting rights of those in exile, including preventing passport issuance abroad and a policy of arresting returnees.
“Reportedly, at least 207 persons were arrested in 2023 when returning to Belarus and arrests have continued in 2024. It is currently not safe for those in exile to return to Belarus,” Mr. Volkmann said, calling on Member States to facilitate international refugee protection for those in exile.
The report said there are reasonable grounds to believe “the crime against humanity of persecution may have been committed”.
OHCHR is urging Belarus to release all arbitrarily detained individuals and end the ongoing rights violations, while calling on Member States to do all they can to bring Belarus into compliance with international law.
