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Il était au volant d’une Volkswagen Golf de 250 chevaux, un Algérien et sa compagne marocaine ont été flashés par la gendarmerie à 182 km/h. Rattrapé par la police, au lieu de s’arrêter, l’algérien accélère, et provoque une course poursuite qui va mal finir. Cela s’est passé vendredi dernier au niveau de l’A62 de Labastide-Saint-Pierre […]

L’article France : un Algérien provoque une course poursuite avec les gendarmes est apparu en premier sur .

Protests against military coup in Kayin State, Myanmar on Feb. 9. Protestors have taken to the streets of Myanmar since a Feb. 1 coup by the military. Journalists covering the anti-junta protests have been particularly at risk of being detained, after the military amended Section 505(a) of the country’s penal code to include offences that include knowingly spreading ‘fake news’. Courtesy: Ninjastrikers/(CC BY-SA 4.0)

By Alison Kentish
UNITED NATIONS, Mar 22 2021 (IPS)

Two human rights groups have called on the military in Myanmar to release journalists arbitrarily jailed and allow them to work without harassment and prosecution.

Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) told IPS that they will double down on those demands until all journalists are released and the operating licenses of newsgroups are restored.

“From revoking media licenses and raiding newsrooms to arbitrarily arresting and prosecuting media workers covering the current human rights crisis in the country, the Myanmar military is desperately trying to hide from the world the appalling crimes it is committing against its own people every day,” Emerlynne Gil, Deputy Regional Director at Amnesty International, told IPS.

The calls follow a briefing by the spokesperson for the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights Ravina Shamdasani who said that ‘deeply distressing reports of torture in custody’ were adding to the crisis unfolding in the country.

Protestors have taken to the streets of Myanmar since a Feb. 1 coup by the military. Journalists covering the anti-junta protests have been particularly at risk of being detained, after the military amended Section 505(a) of the country’s penal code to include offences that include knowingly spreading ‘fake news’. The amendments give the military increased latitude to arrest journalists.

“The death toll has soared over the past week in Myanmar, where security forces have been using lethal force increasingly aggressively against peaceful protesters, and continue to arbitrarily arrest and detain people throughout the country,” Shamdasani said last week.

Shamdasani told the press that hundreds of illegally detained people are unaccounted for and ‘this amounts to enforced disappearances’.

Representatives of press rights group CPJ told IPS that journalists in Myanmar are living in fear.

“They are scared that the crackdown will become more targeted against media and that the junta intends to establish a new censorship regime, similar to the harsh measures imposed on the media by previous military governments,” CPJ’s Southeast Asia Representative Shawn Crispin told IPS, adding that “at least 5 independent news organisations have already had their operating licenses revoked for arbitrary and vague reasons. Other groups fear they could be next.”

Reports of press censorship by authorities in Myanmar are not new. In 2018, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights assessed press freedom and high-profile journalist prosecutions through 5 individual cases. The ensuing report, ‘The Invisible Boundary – Criminal prosecutions of journalism in Myanmar’, cited harrowing experiences by the targeted journalists and stated that the unlawful arrests and prosecutions created ‘an invisible boundary for media personnel, that they cross at their peril’. It concluded that freedom of expression and press freedom were under attack.

Earlier this month, the UN Security Council said it was deeply concerned about developments in Myanmar. According to the UN, at least 37 journalists have been arrested in Myanmar since Feb. 1, with 19 still unlawfully detained.

“The Security Council strongly condemns the violence against peaceful protestors, including against women, youth and children. It expresses deep concern at restrictions on medical personnel, civil society, labor union members, journalists and media workers, and calls for the immediate release of all those detained arbitrarily,” a statement from the President said.

Amnesty International says a free press in Myanmar is more important than ever.

“It is all the more urgent now to ensure access to information in Myanmar amid escalating violent repression of peaceful protesters and severe internet restrictions, and all attempts to hamper the right to seek, receive and impart information must cease immediately,” Gil told IPS.

Six journalists have been charged under Article 505(a) of Myanmar’s penal code.

“We are also calling on the regime to refrain from imposing any new laws or measures that would restrict media freedoms,” Crispin told IPS.

A Human Rights Council Resolution of Mar. 12  consists of 9 recommendations of the Government of Myanmar, meant to protect journalists, freedom of expression and freedom of the press.

Among other measures, the Council wants the authorities to decriminalise defamation and amend the country’s media law to ensure that the Myanmar Press Council can mediate in disputes with media outlets and journalists.

The Council also wants the immediate and unconditional release of all journalists in detention, an end to all current cases against journalists for exercising their right to freedom of expression and ensure access to restitution for the journalists who have been arrested and persecuted. 

 

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The post Human Rights Groups Demand an end to Myanmar Military’s Crackdown on Journalists appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

Amnesty International and the Committee to Protect Journalists say Myanmar’s military has intensified its assault on freedom of expression by closing media outlets and arbitrarily detaining journalists

The post Human Rights Groups Demand an end to Myanmar Military’s Crackdown on Journalists appeared first on Inter Press Service.

At a critical juncture on the road to the UN Food Systems Summit, three UN rights experts warn that it will fail to be a 'people's summit' unless it is urgently rethought.

By Michael Fakhri, Hilal Elver and Olivier De Schutter
NEW YORK, Mar 22 2021 (IPS)

Global food systems have been failing most people for a long time, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made a critical situation even worse. 265 million people are threatened by famine, up 50% on last year; 700 million suffer from chronic hunger; and 2 billion more from malnutrition, with obesity and associated diet-related diseases increasing in all world regions.

Michael Fakhri

Everyone agrees that we need urgent solutions and action. The convening of this year’s UN Food Systems Summit by Secretary General António Guterres was therefore welcome. However, as we move towards critical junctures on the road to the Summit, we remain deeply concerned that this ‘people’s summit’ will fail the people it claims to be serving.

After more than a year of deliberations, the Summit participants will meet this October in New York to present “principles to guide governments and other stakeholders looking to leverage their food systems” to support the Sustainable Development Goals. We will be told that the outcomes have been endorsed by the civil society groups who took part, with ‘solutions’ crowd-sourced from tens of thousands of people around the world. And if other solutions are not there, we will be told that this is because their proponents refused to come to the table.

But coming to the table to discuss ‘solutions’ is not as simple as it sounds. What if the table is already set, the seating plan non-negotiable, the menu highly limited? And what if the real conversation is actually happening at a different table?

These concerns are still as pressing today as they were on day one.

First, the Summit initially bypassed the bodies already doing the very hard work of governing global food systems. The UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) already has the structure that the Summit organizers have been hastily reconstructing: a space for discussing the future of food systems, a comprehensive commitment to the right to food, mechanisms for involving civil society and the private sector on their own terms, and a panel of experts regularly providing cutting-edge reports. In other words, everyone is already at the table. The Summit has flagrantly – and perhaps deliberately – shifted governments’ attention away from the CFS.

Hilal Elver

Second, the Summit’s rules of engagement were determined by a small set of actors. The private sector, organizations serving the private sector (notably the World Economic Forum), scientists, and economists initiated the process. The table was set with their perspectives, knowledge, interests and biases. Investors and entrepreneurs working in partnership with scientists framed the agenda, and governments and civil society actors were invited to work within those parameters. Inevitably, that has meant a focus on what the small group saw as scalable, investment-friendly, ‘game-changing’ solutions – the bread and butter of Davos. Reading between the lines, this means AI-controlled farming systems, gene editing, and other high-tech solutions geared towards large-scale agriculture.

As a result, the ideas that should have been the starting point for a ‘people’s summit’ have effectively been shut out. For over a decade, farmers, fishers, pastoralists, and food workers have been demanding a food system transformation rooted in food sovereignty and agroecology. This vision is based on redesigning, re-diversifying, and re-localizing farming systems. It requires that economic assumptions be questioned, human rights be protected, and power be rebalanced.

Some concessions have been made on the road to the Summit. But these changes have been too late, or too cosmetic, to impact meaningfully the process. Only in November was the CFS added to the Summit’s Advisory Committee. And only this month was the FAO’s Right to Food office invited to participate (with a limited mandate). Presumably there will be further changes at the margins: human rights will be mentioned in general terms, agroecology will be included as one of many solutions.

Olivier De Schutter

But this will not be enough to make the Summit outcomes legitimate for those of us — inside and outside the process — who remain skeptical. Having all served as UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, we have witnessed first-hand the importance of improving accountability and democracy in food systems, and the value of people’s local and traditional knowledge. It is deeply concerning that we had to spend a year persuading the convenors that human rights matter for this UN Secretary General’s Food Systems Summit. It is also highly problematic that issues of power, participation, and accountability (i.e. how and by whom will the outcomes be delivered) remain unresolved.

Those of us who came to the Summit table did so in the hope that we could fundamentally change the course. As the end-game approaches, we still hope that this is possible. But radical change is needed:

● The right to food must be central to all aspects of the Summit, with attention on holding those with power accountable;
● Agroecology should be recognized as a paradigm (if not the paradigm) for transforming food systems, alongside actionable recommendations to support agroecological transition;
● The CFS should be designated as the home of the Summit outcomes, and the place where it is discussed and implemented, using its inclusive participation mechanisms.

In other words, to make this a people’s summit, the table needs to be urgently re-set.

Michael Fakhri is the current UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food.
Hilal Elver served as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2014-2020.
Olivier De Schutter served as the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food from 2008-2014, and is the current UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights, and co-chair of IPES-Food.

 

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The post The UN Food Systems Summit: How Not to Respond to the Urgency of Reform appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Excerpt:

At a critical juncture on the road to the UN Food Systems Summit, three UN rights experts warn that it will fail to be a 'people's summit' unless it is urgently rethought.

The post The UN Food Systems Summit: How Not to Respond to the Urgency of Reform appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Arrêté le samedi dernier à l’aéroport de Dubaï aux Émirats arabes unis, l’ancien Président Directeur général de la Sonatrach Abdelmoumen Ould Kaddour devra répondre, une fois extradé vers l’Algérie, sur plusieurs affaires de corruptions devant les juridictions compétentes.   Samedi 20 mars,  l’ancien PDG de la société nationale d’hydrocarbure, avait été arrêté, avons-nous appris de sources […]

L’article Arrêté samedi à Dubaï, plusieurs affaires attendent Ould Kadour est apparu en premier sur .

Les Balkans, nouveau terrain de jeu pour la Chine, l'UE s'inquiète
Pollution : la Chine revend ses vieilles centrales à charbon dans les Balkans
Investissements chinois en Serbie : gare au mirage
Serbie : nous et les Chinois ? 1,4 milliard !
Sommet des « Trois mers » : la Chine poursuit sa conquête des Balkans

/ Courrier des Balkans, Les Chinois à l'assaut des Balkans, Balkans pollution atmosphérique, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Monténégro, Serbie, Santé, Environnement, Economie, Relations régionales

Les Balkans, nouveau terrain de jeu pour la Chine, l'UE s'inquiète
Pollution : la Chine revend ses vieilles centrales à charbon dans les Balkans
Investissements chinois en Serbie : gare au mirage
Serbie : nous et les Chinois ? 1,4 milliard !
Sommet des « Trois mers » : la Chine poursuit sa conquête des Balkans

/ Courrier des Balkans, Les Chinois à l'assaut des Balkans, Balkans pollution atmosphérique, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Monténégro, Serbie, Santé, Environnement, Economie, Relations régionales

Les Balkans, nouveau terrain de jeu pour la Chine, l'UE s'inquiète
Pollution : la Chine revend ses vieilles centrales à charbon dans les Balkans
Investissements chinois en Serbie : gare au mirage
Serbie : nous et les Chinois ? 1,4 milliard !
Sommet des « Trois mers » : la Chine poursuit sa conquête des Balkans

/ Courrier des Balkans, Les Chinois à l'assaut des Balkans, Balkans pollution atmosphérique, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Monténégro, Serbie, Santé, Environnement, Economie, Relations régionales

Les Balkans, nouveau terrain de jeu pour la Chine, l'UE s'inquiète
Pollution : la Chine revend ses vieilles centrales à charbon dans les Balkans
Investissements chinois en Serbie : gare au mirage
Serbie : nous et les Chinois ? 1,4 milliard !
Sommet des « Trois mers » : la Chine poursuit sa conquête des Balkans

/ Courrier des Balkans, Les Chinois à l'assaut des Balkans, Balkans pollution atmosphérique, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Monténégro, Serbie, Santé, Environnement, Economie, Relations régionales

Small Italian car filter supplier Ecofiltri took out a state-backed loan last year, just like thousands of other businesses fighting to keep afloat during the pandemic.

Six États membres de l’UE exhortent le bloc à se reconcentrer sur la Bosnie-Herzégovine et à la soutenir dans ses réformes pour faire avancer son processus d’adhésion.

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Strategic Sovereignty (or Autonomy) for the European Union appears to be its ability to decide and act according to its own rules, principles and values. The latter include the promotion of multilateralism, respect for the rule of law, democracy and human rights, openness in trade relations. Given rapidly shifting global geopolitical and technology trends, and the seeming fragmentation of the multilateral order, the EU is being forced to strengthen its own position in the international arena.
The EU needs to secure its values and interests in new (and more determined) ways. If the EU wants to "do it its way" to quote HRVP Borrell's "Sinatra doctrine", several questions needs to be answered.

With the assistance of the EU Institute for Security Studies, and of top-level experts, this AFET workshop/webinar will tackle three important questions: 1- How can the EU deal more strategically with interdependencies in a less cooperative world? 2- How should the EU adapt existing and develop new strategic partnerships? 3- How can EU efforts to strengthen multilateralism both reinforce EU autonomy and global cooperation?
Draft Programme
Source : © European Union, 2021 - EP

Dieses Haus in Thailand steht zum Verkauf. Fünf Schlafzimmer, neun Badezimmer und ein riesiger Garten zum Preis von 1,5 Millionen Franken. Klicken Sie sich durch die Bildergalerie.

Die deutsche Bundestagsabgeordnete Karin Strenz (†53) kollabierte auf einem Flug von Kuba nach Deutschland. Die Condor-Maschine landete daraufhin ausserplanmässig in Irland, Strenz verstarb dort im Spital.

Hétfőtől kötelezően karanténba kell vonulniuk azoknak a külföldről Szlovákiába érkező személyeknek is, akiket már beoltottak, vagy átestek a COVID-19 betegségen. Ez az SZK Közegészségügyi Hivatalának (ÚVZ SR) aktuális, a határrezsimre vonatkozó rendeletéből következik. Az intézkedést az új mutációk felbukkanása indokolja.

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L’homme noir le plus riche du monde avec une fortune de 12,1 milliards de dollars (6 655 milliards FCFA), le président du groupe Dangote, Aliko Dangote, a déclaré que l’usine d’engrais granulés à l’urée de 2 milliards de dollars (1 100 milliards FCFA) située à Ibeju Lekki, à Lagos, commencera ses activités cette semaine. L’annonce a été […]

L’article Aliko Dangote déroule ! est apparu en premier sur Afrik.com.