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GENEVA, 8 December 2021 - The 55th round of the Geneva International Discussions (GID) took place in the Palais des Nations on 7 and 8 December 2021, with requisite COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures in place. As mandated by the six-point agreement of 2008, the GID process continues to serve as the primary venue in which the consequences of conflict are addressed and other important issues are discussed.

The 55th round began with meetings to address issues of importance to conflict affected populations, including freedom of movement and related issues, as well as an expert exchange between medical professionals focused on the COVID-19 pandemic.

Over the course of two days, participants met in the GID’s two parallel working groups focused on security and humanitarian issues, respectively. The overall security situation on the ground was assessed as relatively stable. Discussions once again addressed the GID’s core agenda item of non-use of force and international security arrangements. Participants engaged in frank exchanges on outstanding issues such as freedom of movement, documentation, and travel abroad, detentions, unresolved missing persons cases, and specific security concerns in localised areas.

However, despite constructive engagement on a variety of humanitarian issues, a discussion on the core issue of internally displaced persons and refugees could not take place due to a walkout by some participants.

The Co-Chairs welcomed the continued function of the Incident Prevention and Response Mechanism (IPRM) in Ergneti, and took note of positive signals on the potential resumption of the Gali IPRM.

The Co-Chairs again called on all participants to increase efforts to build trust and confidence and to address all elements of comprehensive and human security, including by engaging constructively in technical-level discussions, as well as with international humanitarian and human rights organisations.

The participants agreed to hold their next meeting in Geneva on 29 and 30 March 2022.

Sarah Ferguson und Prinz Andrew haben sich 1996 scheiden lassen. Nun offenbart die Autorin, dass sie den Herzogen von York noch immer liebt.

Die Briten können aufatmen. Der abgestürzte Kampfjet ist aus dem Mittelmeer geborgen. Nach dem Unfall war die Sorge gross, dass die Russen das Flugzeug bergen könnten – um Einblicke in die geheime Technik zu bekommen.

Written by Martin Russell.

Human rights sanctions are nothing new, but the death in 2009 of Russian whistle-blower Sergei Magnitsky in detention resulted in calls for more vigorous action to counter continuing abuses in many countries. Adopted by the US in 2016, the Global Magnitsky Act was the first of a new generation of human rights sanctions programmes, which, in contrast to traditional sanctions targeted at individual countries, can be flexibly applied to perpetrators from all over the world, regardless of their geographical location.

This briefing compares four such programmes: the US Global Magnitsky Act, Canada’s Sergei Magnitsky Law, the UK’s Global Human Rights and Anti-Corruption Regulations, and the EU’s restrictive measures against serious human rights violations and abuses, the most recent of the four to be adopted. All of these are inspired by the ambition to tackle serious human rights crimes from around the world, but there are also significant differences, for example, in terms of the threshold for human rights offences, the inclusion or not of corruption-related offences, and the role played by parliaments and civil society.

In terms of practical application, Global Magnitsky is by far the most active of the four programmes for the time being, targeting over 300 individuals and entities from 40 countries. Traditional geographical sanctions still predominate in all four jurisdictions; nevertheless, restrictive measures applied under global programmes to Chinese, Russian and Saudi officials highlight the role that such sanctions can play in furthering Western cooperation on human rights.

This briefing has been written as part of a collaborative project between the European Parliament’s Research Service and Directorate-General for External Policies on mapping best practices in global human rights sanctions regimes.

Read the complete briefing on ‘Global human rights sanctions – Mapping Magnitsky laws: The US, Canadian, UK and EU approach‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Listen to policy podcast ‘Global human rights sanctions – Mapping Magnitsky laws: The US, Canadian, UK and EU approach‘ on YouTube.

In unseren Hockey-Ligen NL und SL herrscht Einigkeit – alle Klubs wollen 2G. Doch weil im Kanton verschärfte Regeln gelten, musste der HC Thurgau seine Massnahme wenige Stunden vor dem Spiel anpassen.

Szabadon engedték szerdán azt a szaúdi állampolgárságú férfit, akit előző nap a Dzsamál Hasogdzsi kormánykritikus szaúd-arábiai újságírót kivégző kommandó egyik feltételezett tagjaként - tévedésből - vettek őrizetbe a párizsi Roissy Charles-de-Gaulle repülőtéren - erősítette meg a párizsi ügyészség a Le Figaro című napilap értesülését.

Interessenvertreter fordern die EU-Kommission auf, die Einfuhr saubererer Produkte aus dem EU-Ausland über heimische- stark Cadmiumhaltige Phosphatproduktion zu priorisieren. Kritiker warnen jedoch vor der möglichen Gefährdung der EU-Autonomie.

En pleine crise économique, l’Algérie tente de remettre sa politique d’investissement sur les rails. Après les dernières déclarations faites par le premier ministre, ministre des Finances, Aimene Benabderrahmane, voilà que c’est le médiateur de la république, Brahim Merad, qui s’adresse aujourd’hui aux investisseurs.

En effet, aujourd’hui, le 08 décembre 2021, la médiation de la république, dans un communiqué rendu public, a invité les investisseurs confrontés à des obstacles administratifs à faire part de leurs préoccupations au niveau de ses sièges régionaux, et ce, dans n’importe quelle wilaya du pays.

Lutte contre la bureaucratie

Toujours selon le même communiqué, il est fait note que « le médiateur de la République informe tous les investisseurs qui sont confrontés à des problèmes liés à des obstacles administratifs les empêchant de réaliser le lancement de leurs activités, qu’ils peuvent exposer leurs préoccupations, au niveau central ou de régional, devant les représentants du médiateur de la République ».

Ces représentants, ajoute le communiqué « sont présents dans toutes les wilayas du pays, en plus de la circonscription administrative de Debdab ».

Le communiqué affirme aussi que les investisseurs seront écoutés et « l’on s’occupera de leurs problèmes afin de leur trouver des solutions dans les plus brefs délais, et ce, en collaborant directement avec les services concernés ».

Le communiqué a indiqué enfin que la Commission du Médiateur de la République est au service des opérateurs économiques en leur qualité de citoyens qui contribuent à faire tourner la roue de la croissance et à créer de la richesse et des emplois.

L’article Le médiateur de la république lance un appel aux investisseurs est apparu en premier sur .

Following the various keynote speeches (see other related news on the opening speeches, the ministerial debate as well as the fire side chat with EIB Vice-President Kris Peeters), attendees of EDA's Annual Conference on 7 December also enjoyed two lively, interactive and highly interesting panel debates, each of them focusing on a specific aspects of defence innovation.

Moderated by EDA Deputy Chief Executive Olli Ruutu, the first panel entitled ‘How to foster defence innovation?’ featured Emmanuel Chiva, Executive Director of the French Defence Innovation Agency (AID), Vice Admiral Louise K. Dedichen, Norwegian Military Representative to NATO, Timo Pesonen, Director General of DG DEFIS at the European Commission, Kusti Salm, Permanent Secretary at the Estonian Ministry of Defence, and David van Weel, Assistant Secretary General for Emerging Security Challenges at NATO. In this panel, representatives of national governments and European institutions discussed the potential and requirements for greater innovation in European armed forces, from new technologies, concepts and processes to doctrines and decisions.   

“Political will is paramount” for bringing defence innovation forward at a time when we are entering a new era where we have “new battlefields” with space, cyber warfare, new materials, information manipulation, etc. and where we will see “technological disruption that will foster strategic disruption”, said Emmanuel Chiva.  From its creation in September 2018, the French Defence Innovation Agency has worked to support the French Armed Forces in this respect launching “more than 1,100” innovation projects over the first three years. As part of it, a Defence Innovation Lab was put in place to be able to challenge the start-ups and SMEs and the wider civilian eco-system. “You need to work with them, the smaller ones, but you also need to work with the larger companies because the innovations put forward by the start-ups need to be integrated in existing operational systems”, Mr Chiva stressed. The French Defence Agency also set up a “unique point of entry“ or “one-stop-shop” for all defence innovators, especially the new and small ones for which it is very important to make thing simple because they don’t know how a Ministry of Defence works.  Working on national levels is good, but “now we need to move to a European level because the size of our Member States is nothing compared to Russia or China: “The idea is to spread this philosophy throughout Europe and benefit from European synergies (…) this is a collective mission”. All of this needs to be done in coordination with NATO’s efforts in this domain: “The objective is not to compete, but to complete”.

Norway is active in defence innovation at various levels, explained Vice-Admiral Louise K.Dedichen; at NATO (through the NATO Science Technology Organisation, STO), by participating in projects at the European Defence Agency (with whom it has signed an Administrative Agreement), through the European Defence Fund and through cooperation directly with Allies. Norway also joined NATO's Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (or DIANA) and is also considering to join NATO’s Innovation Fund, she said. On a European level, Norway participated and financed EDA’s Joint Investment Programme on CBRN where artificial intelligence is used in sensor technologies for detecting, for instance, biological threats: “This demonstrates that Norway has succeeded in its strategy to invest in defence research and development through EDA”. As regards the European Defence Fund, Norway contributes with 200 million to the EDF budget with no return guarantee, the Vice-Admiral said.

Timo Pesonen said the European Commission’s main instrument for supporting defence innovation was the European Defence Fund (EDF), which became operational this year. Even before that, through the EDF’s precursor programmes - the Pilot Project on Defence Research, the Preparatory Action on Defence Research (PADR), and the European Defence Industrial Programme (EDIDP) - the Commission has already actively supported defence innovation in the past few years. “We will continue on this part, and with the EDF we intend to spend around 150 million euros per year on defence innovation”, he said. This will be done in different ways. First, the Commission will continue to issue calls for proposals on disruptive technologies. “Up to 8% of the total EDF will allocated to this”, the Director General said. Second, from next year onwards, the Commission will also organise technological challenges, similar to those organised in the US. Third, the Commission adopted this year the Action Plan on synergies between civil, defence and space industries. Fourth, the Commission will support cross-border innovation networks and will test the relevance of technologies from the civil sector and spin them into defence. Fifth, innovation often lies within SMEs. “Therefore we will continue our special support to SMEs through the EDF (…) we have to make sure SMEs find their place in the supply chains of major defence programmes”. Sixth, the Space directorate of DG DEFIS has initiated specific actions to promote innovation in the space domain, with obvious benefits for defence too. “Last but not least, we will use new, innovative forms of funding”, including the usage of lump sums for project funding to reduce red tape, Mr Pesonen said. Of course, those Commission activities must be complementary to what other actors do in this field, including EDA. “We can only succeed if we do it together”, he said.

What sparks defence innovation in Estonia, was Kusti Salm asked. "There is no black magic", he said some very “basic things”. “Necessity, to start with. Estonia is a small country with very limited resources, and even now, everything is measured against these two parameters. We need to find solution with less resources”, he said. As an example, he mentioned the efforts put by the Estonian Ministry of Defence in developing and using unmanned ground systems for taking over military tasks, especially logistics tasks. “This has been identified by Estonia as a way to save people and increase war-fighting power”, he said, adding that this technology can then be linked to other platforms. The naval domain is another example. “In 10-15 years, Estonia needs to replace its fleet. Challenges at sea are growing fast, faster than our financial and staff resources. So we will look at unmanned systems and use modularity” to find innovative, efficient and cost-effective solutions, Mr Salm Stated. “So, we are actively seeking in two areas: one is unmanned capabilities, and the other one is modularity. The idea is that we can spread out to a number of smaller ships the technologies that would otherwise mounted on our large frigates”.  He also insisted on the importance of decentralisation for triggering innovation, as most innovations come from bottom-up. “For that we need to be ready to take risks and to also accept failure from time to time”, he said.

NATO’s work on emerging disruptive technologies (EDTs) went through three action-phases, namely “identify, understand, act”, said Mr van Weel. That’s the framework in which NATO works on EDTs, and which has already resulted in two specific strategies adopted last October: the Artificial Intelligence (AI) strategy and the strategy on data exploitation policy. NATO’s core instruments for promoting innovation are the Defence Innovation Accelerator for the North Atlantic (or DIANA) and the NATO’s Innovation Fund. “DIANA will have small offices on both sides of the Atlantic, connecting both sides’ ecosystems but also the funding, and using existing accelerators and testing sites already existing in the nations”, explained Mr van Weel. The NATO Innovation Fund, for its part, will help to bridge the financing gap many innovative ideas face in their development process (“valley of death”). “The Fund, which will total 1 billion euros, will do these early seed investments in promising dual-use technologies which either come through the DIANA accelerator programme or are being brought up by nations that are participating in the Fund as being promising for the defence sector”. The hope is that both DIANA and the Fund will be launched at the next NATO summit to take place in Madrid next June, Mr van Weel said. He also insisted on the importance of innovation regulation and standardisation. The military needs to pay more attention to this than in the past when we left this to the civil innovators and market. “We need to be ahead of the curve in this domain”, said Mr van Weel.

Industry panel

 

The second panel, moderated by Pieter Taal (EDA Head of Unit Industry Strategy and EU Policies), was entitled ‘Innovation capacity of the European defence industry’ and featured Peppas Antonios (CEO ETME), Domitilla Benigni (CEO and COO of Elettronica), Hervé Dammann (Senior Vice-President Europe, Thales) as well as Jan Pie (Secretary General, Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe, ASD). The panel discussed how the industry is adapting to the new defence innovation environment which is increasingly based on synergies between the Ministries and Defence with the civil sector, and what the current and future challenges and opportunities are for the industry.

Tremendous technological changes and developments have been witnessed in the defence sector in recent times and most, if not all, innovations that pushed those developments are driven by the commercial market, said Jan Pie. Hence the need to manage the spin-in process of those civil innovations into the military domain “which is much easier said than done”, especially because the requirements in the defence sector are different from those in the civil domain. That being said, commercial innovations on their own will not be enough to secure our Armed Forces’ technological superiority in the future. “We will also have to continue to need develop defence-specific technologies as well”, he stressed. The Commission’s Action Plan on synergies between the civil, defence and space industries is a step in the right direction but “we need a systematic approach” to implement the action plan and to actually create these synergies, Mr Pie stated. Furthermore, synergies can never replace the existing investment plans in Member States which should not be dropped because of synergy expectations that will only materialise in the future.

Domitilla Benigni agreed that the relationship between innovation and defence has changed over the years, “but what has most changed is the speed by which innovation occurs, and also where the innovation coming from”, namely from the civil sector “which is clearly leading”. Only collaborative initiatives such as the proposed future EDA Defence Innovation Hub, Nato’s DIANA programme and the Nato Defence Innovation Fund can allow the innovation coming from start-ups and SME to break through and reach a higher level, she thought. It will require good-will and efforts from both sides, however. “If the introduction of civil innovation in defence has to be successful, both sides need to act. The defence sector musty be ready to accommodate the new civil technologies in its systems, but on the other side, the civil innovators should be ready to include into their own products the military requirements that are important for defence. Otherwise, this mix and collaboration will not succeed”.

For Peppas Antonios, the speed of innovative change is indeed of the essence: “The name of the game is how to marry the speed of civil innovation with the long processes still being used in the Ministries of Defence”, he said. Everybody, innovators and military end-users, have to move “out of their comfort zones”: SMEs and start-ups have to understand, have to change, have to adopt new processes and learn from the prime defence companies. On the other hand, the primes have to learn from the more agile civil companies, SME and start-ups”, Mr Antonios said.

Hervé Dammann insisted on the “continuous efforts” needed in terms of investment to bring innovation forward. There is also a human dimension: “we need to be able to attract the best talents”, he said, referring to a “war of talents” on the labour market where a new awareness must be raised that working for a defence or dual-use company is a good thing, a good job, he said. The importance of start-ups and SME and their role in the defence supply chain cannot be over-estimated, said Mr Dammann as cooperation with them has become indispensable: “We could not do otherwise”. However, it is important they specialise on very specific domains needed for defence, he stressed.

 

 

 

2016 verunglückte der Präsident des Berner Aero-Clubs in Lenk im Simmental tödlich mit einem Segelflieger. Nun steht fest: Vor dem Unglück filmte er aus dem Flieger mit dem Handy und war deshalb abgelenkt, urteilt die Sust.

Les prix, ce sujet épineux qui a fait couler beaucoup d’encre a fâche les citoyens et a fait indigné la classe politique, et ce, principalement dans le domaines des transports (vols et traversées). Des prix jugés « exorbitants » et excessivement chers ont longtemps refroidi les voyageurs et la diaspora algérienne, ils ont également été au cœur du débat à l’Assemblée populaire nationale (APN).

La compagnie aérienne nationale Air Algérie a occupé le débat politique concernant les prix excessifs des billets même après l’augmentation du nombre des vols. Quant à l’Entreprise nationale de transport maritime de voyageurs (ENTMV), son PDG Issad Kamel a tenu à affirmer que les prix sont les mêmes que ceux d’avant la pandémie du Covid-19, qui pour rappel, a entraîné de réels crises financières pour plusieurs entreprises.

Intervenant sur les ondes de la Radio nationale chaîne II, le PDG de l’ENTMV a souligné « l’Entreprise a maintenu les mêmes tarifs appliqués avant 2020, et ce malgré les difficultés de l’entreprise du fait la crise sanitaire », donnant comme exemple le prix d’un billet aller – retour pour la traversée Alger – Marseille avec véhicule, maintenu à 56 000 DA.

La reprise des traversées est une « bouffée d’oxygène »

En effet, l’autorisation du gouvernement algérien de reprendre les traversées maritimes n’a pas été une bonne nouvelle seulement pour la communauté algérienne établie à l’étranger et pour les voyageurs, mais aussi pour l’ENTMV qui est sortie de l’inactivité.

Issad Kamel a également rappelé que les billets achetés avant la crise sanitaire du Covid-19 sont valables jusqu’à consommation avec possibilité de remboursement.

L’article Prix des billets des traversées maritimes : Algérie Ferries s’explique est apparu en premier sur .

Das Gesetz gilt für alle – doch CS-Präsident António Horta-​Osório nimmt sich davon aus. Der Portugiese missachtete nach der Einreise aus einem Risikoland die Quarantänepflicht. Horta-​Osório gibt den Verstoss zu, bestreitet aber, wissentlich gehandelt zu haben.

Kjetil Jansrud verlässt die Ski-Bühne durch den Hinterausgang. Eine Knieverletzung wird dem Norweger zum Verhängnis.

Die 21-jährige Sängerin kommt ganz nach Papa Matthias Reim und Mutter Michelle. Auf der Bühne feiert Marie Reim grosse Erfolge. Nur mit der neuen Frisur wollte es nicht so recht klappen, findet Marie anlässlich eines Lockenwickler-Experiments.

Die EU-Kommission hat angekündigt, sich gegen die Einmischung anderer Länder in politische Entscheidungen der Union zukünftig besser absichern zu wollen. #BrusselsBureau

Le conseil des ministres a procédé, mercredi 08 décembre 2021, à la prise de décrets
Le décret portant modification des statuts de la Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations du Bénin (CDC Bénin) a été adopté en conseil des ministres, ce mercredi 08 décembre 2021. Le conseil a adopté également le décret portant
modalités d'application de la loi n°2018-38 du 17 octobre 2018 portant création de la Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations du Bénin.
La Caisse des Dépôts et Consignations du Bénin (CDC Bénin) est investie d'une mission d'intérêt général en appui aux politiques publiques conduites par l'Etat et les collectivités territoriales, notamment en matière de développement économique et social.
La Caisse de dépôt est une institution financière publique, chargée d'apporter des solutions novatrices à la problématique de financement des investissements au Bénin. Elle assure la mobilisation et la gestion sécurisée de l'épargne et de tous les fonds réglementés, qu'elle fructifie et canalise pour financer le développement accéléré des secteurs public et privé, en vue de l'atteinte rapide des objectifs économiques et sociaux du Bénin.
M. M.

"Lehallgatta" a víz alatt egy újratelepített, helyreállított korallzátony életét egy kutatócsoport Indonéziában, és a felvételek arról tanúskodnak, hogy a zátony új életre kelt.

Les matchs réunissant l’Algérie et l’Égypte ont toujours provoqué une haute tension et ont été joués sous une grande pression, et ce, même pour les rencontres des équipes nationales A’.

C’était d’ailleurs le cas de la confrontation de ce mardi à Doha au Qatar. En effet, notre sélection nationale A’ a affronté son homologue égyptienne, dans le cadre de la finale du groupe D de la Coupe Arabe.

À la fin de ladite rencontre, les deux équipes adverses se sont quittées par un score d’égalité (1-1). Toutefois, une mauvaise surprise s’est annoncée lors de la première mi-temps : Baghdad Bounedjah a subi une grave blessure qui lui a coûté de quitter le terrain. Il s’agit en effet, d’une commotion cérébrale suite à un choc avec le gardien égyptien Mohamed El-Sehnawy.

« J’ai fait les tests nécessaires et tout va bien » (Bounedjah)

À cet effet, l’international algérien est sorti enfin au public, pour la première fois après la blessure subie lors de la confrontation face à l’Égypte, pour s’exprimer, mais aussi rassurer sur son état de santé.

Dans des déclarations accordées à la chaine officielle de la Fédération algérienne de football, Baghdad Bounedjah affirme qu’après avoir eu des tests approfondis à l’hôpital de Doha mardi, son état de santé n’est pas préoccupant :  « j’ai fait les tests nécessaires, et tout va bien », déclare-t-il, en ajoutant qu’il reste sous l’examen du personnel médical de l’équipe nationale.

« J’attends le feu vert du personnel médical pour reprendre l’entraînement avec le groupe, et je vais travailler pour participer au prochain match contre le Maroc », poursuit-il.

Par ailleurs, l’attaquant des Verts a souligné : « ce qui m’est arrivé est tout à fait normal dans le monde du ballon rond et le gardien égyptien ne m’a pas délibérément blessé, car sa sortie était pour défendre son but ».

L’article VIDEO. Sorti sur blessure hier, Bounedjah rassure les Algériens est apparu en premier sur .

Die Menschenrechtskommissarin des Europarats hat Frankreich und Grossbritannien aufgerufen, die Menschenrechte beim Thema Migration über den Ärmelkanal in den Vordergrund zu rücken.

Welche Fragen haben die Menschen in der Schweiz 2021 bewegt? Google Schweiz hat die Such-Trends des Jahres ermittelt. Blick liefert die Antworten auf die Fragen.