Agrégateur de flux

Les sept candidats à la présidence du Parlement européen ont fait monter la pression lors d’un débat sur le futur de l’institution, sur le Brexit et sur la discorde entre les grands groupes politiques. Un article d’EurActiv Espagne.

L’aide de l’UE au Honduras, l’un des pays les plus pauvres de la planète, a été entachée par une mauvaise gestion, un manque de précision et de coordination, indique un rapport accablant de la Cour des comptes, le 12 janvier

Vincent Peillon, Manuel Valls, Arnaud Montebourg et François de Rugy ont pilonné jeudi l'idée de revenu universel défendue par Benoît Hamon, soutenu uniquement par Jean-Luc Bennahmias lors du premier débat télévisé de la primaire organisée par le PS. Un débat respectueux et sans surprise.

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Bill English, New Zealand’s prime minister for a month, made his European diplomatic debut this week and sat down with the FT. He is here to remind folks that European decisions “wash up on our shores, even at the other end of the world”. And when it comes to Brexit, they certainly will.

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EXKLUSIV / Christopher Steele, ehemaliger Geheimdienstmitarbeiter des britischen MI6 und angebliche Quelle zahlreicher Anschuldigungen gegen den designierten US-Präsidenten Donald Trump, soll auch Nachforschungen über Bulgariens Ex-Kommissarin Kristalina Georgieva angestellt haben. EurActiv Brüssel berichtet.

Bonne nouvelle: le nombre d'actes de piraterie et de brigandage maritime a encore baissé en 2016, selon le rapport annuel de l'IMB (International Maritime Bureau) qui détaille les données pour l'année écoulée.

En 2016, l'IBM a recensé 191 attaques ou tentatives contre 246 en 2015, 245 en 2014, 264 en 2013 et 297 en 2012. Il s'agit du chiffre le plus bas depuis 1998 quand 202 actes avaient été recensés. Sur ces 191 actes, on recense 150 arraisonnements de navire, 22 tentatives, 12 incidents avec des tirs d'armes à feu et 7 captures de navire.

Asie du Sud-Est et Afrique restent les zones les plus exposées:

Ces actes de piraterie et de brigandage ont principalement eu lieu dans 5 pays:

En revanche, on constate une hausse des demandes rançons:
- 62 en 2016 (lors de 15 attaques)
- 19 en 2015
- 9 en 2014
- 36 en 2013
- 26 en 2012

Ces 62 demandes de rançons ont eu lieu en Malaisie (10), aux Philippines (18), au Béninb (3), en Côte d'Ivoire (2) et au Nigeria (29).

Le rapport intégral peut être consulté ici.

 

Mit der Nominierung ihres Kanzlerkandidaten will die SPD "ein kräftiges Signal des Aufbruchs" senden. Ende Januar ist eine öffentliche Veranstaltung in der Berliner Parteizentrale geplant.

Bislang waren alle Gespräche über eine Wiedervereinigung Zypern gescheitert. Erstmals haben nun beide Volksgruppen konkrete Vorschläge zur Aufteilung der Insel innerhalb eines Staates vorgelegt.

With more elections on the horizon – possibly yet another parliamentary election – 2017 could be eerily similar to 2016 in Serbian politics.

American M16A4 Assault Rifle

Analysts question NATO’s strategy of focusing on building up forces on its eastern flank - while ignoring growing Russian-inspired tensions in the Balkans.

January 12, 2017 (JUBA) – The acting head of the United Nations Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS), Moustapha Soumaré said he met with the South Sudanese Minister for Cabinet Affairs, Martin Lumoro during which the latter said his government's position remains unchanged on the deployment of regional protection forces.

S. Sudan cabinet minister Martin Elia Lomoro (Photo KT Press)

The UN official had requested clarification on various press reports, which cited senior government officials saying government had changed its position on the deployment of the protection force.

Lomoro said government's position was in line with the relevant Security Council resolutions that government would continue to facilitate the deployment of the regional force.

The Security Council, in its Resolution 2304, decided that UNMISS force levels be increased to a ceiling of 17,000 troops, including 4,000 for a regional protection force. UNMISS also confirmed that in preparation for the arrival of the protection force, it continues to be engaged in discussions with the Transitional Government of National Unity as to the various modalities for the new force, including where they will be deployed in Juba.

Last week, the South Sudanese presidential advisor on security affairs, Tut Gatluak was quoted saying Juba would not accept the deployment of regional protection forces, claiming the country's security situation had greatly improved.

In an interview with Sudan Tribune, the presidential advisor on security affairs, questioned whether it was still necessity to send regional protection forces.

“They were talking about security but now security situation has improved. Juba is safe and everyone is the witness. The Christmas and New Year celebrations went well, now you can move freely because security situation has improved. The national dialogue has been launched and the agreement is being implemented," said Gatluak.

The cantonment sites for SPLA-IO forces have been agreed and directives have been given for them to move into these area. Everything is moving well”, he added.

South Sudan's defence minister, Kuol Manyang Juuk also dismissed claims that fighting still existed in Juba hence the need to justify deployment of the force.

“We acknowledge that there are problems in South Sudan and it is our duty as government to resolve these challenges," Juuk told a gathering held in Juba.

He accused the U.N of compiling reports from individuals in order to justify calls for the deployment of the regional protection force to back up other voices.

(ST)

The number of Albanians seeking asylum in Germany fell sharply in 2016 compared to the previous year, apparently deterred by the low success rate and tough repatriation policies.

Top Croatian energy expert expresses doubt about claims that the energy company INA can retake control over its abandoned oil and gas fields in war-torn Syria.

Misa Vacic, an activist of the far-right 1389 Movement and an employee of the Serbian government's Kosovo Office, has been accused of threatening an NGO activist on Facebook.

The Africa-France Summit, taking place Friday and Saturday in Bamako, Mali, offers an important moment for African countries and France to stand with victims of grave international crimes by voicing their support for the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Withdrawals from the ICC, announced by South Africa, Gambia, and Burundi, pose unprecedented challenges for the court in Africa and could impede access to justice for victims of heinous crimes when their own country’s courts are not an option.
 

While the ICC is not on the official summit agenda, those attending can still find time to discuss how to best counter unwarranted attacks on the court in Africa.

A number of African countries, including Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire, and the Democratic Republic of Congo, have said that they will not join the withdrawals, some even announcing this at the ICC’s annual member meeting in November 2016. But more robust, coordinated backing of the court is needed, particularly ahead of the next African Union (AU) summit, which will take place in Ethiopia from January 22 to 31, 2017.

Benin lawyer Francis Dako said it well in Jeune Afrique this week:

The major gathering of senior African and French representatives in Africa – in Bamako on January 13 and 14 [is] a unique opportunity to reiterate their public support for the International Criminal Court…. It is equally crucial for this summit to encourage in-depth exchanges between the African Union and the ICC to find solutions to shared concerns.

Activists in Mali issued a press release with a similar call.
 

Related Content

• Mali civil society letter on the Africa-France summit

Like other courts, the ICC has its problems, but it is not targeting Africa over other regions as some critics claim. The majority of its investigations in Africa came about from a request by the affected African country. The cases it has pursued – including for crimes committed in Mali, Democratic Republic of Congo, and the Central African Republic – help to bring justice for African victims.

Hundreds of activists across Africa, working with Human Rights Watch and other groups, have called for their governments to support and strengthen the ICC. African countries can do so through a more coordinated, public stance on the issue. 

(Washington, DC) – The rise of populist leaders in the United States and Europe poses a dangerous threat to basic rights protections while encouraging abuse by autocrats around the world, Human Rights Watch said today in launching its World Report 2017. Donald Trump’s election as US president after a campaign fomenting hatred and intolerance, and the rising influence of political parties in Europe that reject universal rights, have put the postwar human rights system at risk. Expand

World Report 2017. Cover: Men carrying babies make their way through the rubble of destroyed buildings after an airstrike on the rebel-held Salihin neighborhood of Syria’s northern city of Aleppo, September 2016.

© 2016 Ameer Alhalbi/Agence France Presse/Getty Images

Meanwhile, strongman leaders in Russia, Turkey, the Philippines, and China have substituted their own authority, rather than accountable government and the rule of law, as a guarantor of prosperity and security. These converging trends, bolstered by propaganda operations that denigrate legal standards and disdain factual analysis, directly challenge the laws and institutions that promote dignity, tolerance, and equality, Human Rights Watch said.

In the 687-page World Report, its 27th edition, Human Rights Watch reviews human rights practices in more than 90 countries. In his introductory essay, Executive Director Kenneth Roth writes that a new generation of authoritarian populists seeks to overturn the concept of human rights protections, treating rights not as an essential check on official power but as an impediment to the majority will.

“The rise of populism poses a profound threat to human rights,” Roth said. “Trump and various politicians in Europe seek power through appeals to racism, xenophobia, misogyny, and nativism. They all claim that the public accepts violations of human rights as supposedly necessary to secure jobs, avoid cultural change, or prevent terrorist attacks. In fact, disregard for human rights offers the likeliest route to tyranny.”

Roth cited Trump’s presidential campaign in the US as a vivid illustration of the politics of intolerance. He said that Trump responded to those discontented with their economic situation and an increasingly multicultural society with rhetoric that rejected basic principles of dignity and equality. His campaign floated proposals that would harm millions of people, including plans to engage in massive deportations of immigrants, to curtail women’s rights and media freedoms, and to use torture. Unless Trump repudiates these proposals, his administration risks committing massive rights violations in the US and shirking a longstanding, bipartisan belief, however imperfectly applied, in a rights-based foreign policy agenda.

The rise of populist leaders in the United States and Europe poses a dangerous threat to basic rights protections while encouraging abuse by autocrats around the world.

In Europe, a similar populism sought to blame economic dislocation on migration. The campaign for Brexit was perhaps the most prominent illustration, Roth said.

Instead of scapegoating those fleeing persecution, torture, and war, governments should invest to help immigrant communities integrate and fully participate in society, Roth said. Public officials also have a duty to reject the hatred and intolerance of the populists while supporting independent and impartial courts as a bulwark against the targeting of vulnerable minorities, Roth said.

The populist-fueled passions of the moment tend to obscure the longer-term dangers to a society of strongman rule, Roth said. In Russia, Vladimir Putin responded to popular discontent in 2011 with a repressive agenda, including draconian restrictions on free speech and assembly, unprecedented sanctions for online dissent, and laws severely restricting independent groups. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, concerned about the slowdown in economic growth, has embarked on the most intense crackdown on dissent since the Tiananmen era.

In Syria, President Bashar al-Assad, backed by Russia, Iran, and Hezbollah, has honed a war-crime strategy of targeting civilians in opposition areas, flouting the most fundamental requirements of the laws of war. Forces of the self-proclaimed Islamic State, also known as ISIS, have also routinely attacked civilians and executed people in custody while encouraging and carrying out attacks on civilian populations around the globe.

More than 5 million Syrians fleeing the conflict have faced daunting obstacles in finding safety. Jordan, Turkey, and Lebanon are hosting millions of Syrian refugees but have largely closed their borders to new arrivals. European Union leaders have failed to share responsibility fairly for asylum seekers or to create safe routes for refugees. Despite years of US leadership on refugee resettlement, the US resettled only 12,000 Syrian refugees last year, and Trump has threatened to end the program.

2016 in Numbers

In Africa, a disconcerting number of leaders have removed or extended term limits – the “constitutional coup” – to stay in office, while others have used violent crackdowns to suppress protests over unfair elections or corrupt or predatory rule. Several African leaders, feeling vulnerable to prosecution, harshly criticized the International Criminal Court and three countries announced their withdrawal.

This global attack needs a vigorous reaffirmation and defense of the human rights values underpinning the system, Roth said. Yet too many public officials seem to have their heads in the sand, hoping the winds of populism will blow over. Others emulate the populists, hoping to pre-empt their message but instead reinforcing it, Roth said. Governments ostensibly committed to human rights should defend these principles far more vigorously and consistently, Roth said, including democracies in Latin America, Africa, and Asia that support broad initiatives at the United Nations but rarely take the lead in responding to particular countries in crisis.

Ultimately, responsibility lies with the public, Roth said. Demagogues build popular support by proffering false explanations and cheap solutions to genuine ills. The antidote is for voters to demand a politics based on truth and the values on which rights-respecting democracy is built. A strong popular reaction, using every means available – civic groups, political parties, traditional and social media – is the best defense of the values that so many still cherish.

“We forget at our peril the demagogues of the past: the fascists, communists, and their ilk who claimed privileged insight into the majority’s interest but ended up crushing the individual,” Roth said. “When populists treat rights as obstacles to their vision of the majority will, it is only a matter of time before they turn on those who disagree with their agenda.”

A kiró a népi építészet emlékeit megörökítő rajzpályázatot hirdet Ahány ház, annyi szokás címmel óvodás, kisiskolás csoportoknak.

The situation is quite tense at the ruling Republican Party of Armenia (RPA), in connection with the rating MP candidates for the forthcoming parliamentary election, according to Zhamanak (Time) newspaper.

A kiiró pályázatot hirdet civil szervezetek számára a 2016. évi személyi jövedelemadó bevalláshoz kapcsolódó helyi vagy országos szintű kampányok támogatására.