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VIENNA, 22 November 2019 – How best to ensure the full enjoyment of the freedom of peaceful assembly by people in the OSCE area and beyond, including through participating States’ full implementation of existing OSCE commitments was the focus of the third Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting held under the auspices of Slovakia’s 2019 OSCE Chairmanship. The two-day meeting concluded today in Vienna.

Representatives and experts of OSCE participating States, Partners for Co-operation, and OSCE executive Structures, as well as international and civil society organizations discussed current and emerging trends in this area, the challenges and opportunities for freedom of peaceful assembly given fast-paced technological progress, as well as worrying violations of and excessive restrictions on the freedom of peaceful assembly.

Addressing the event’s opening session, the Chair of the OSCE Permanent Council and Permanent Representative of Slovakia to the OSCE, Ambassador Radomír Boháč stressed that the freedom of peaceful assembly is an integral part of democracy.

“Peaceful demonstrations are a way for people, especially the most vulnerable, to make their concerns and ideas heard. It is a form of public discourse. And freedom of assembly can also be a driver of political and societal change. This was the case in former Czechoslovakia, where peaceful demonstrations changed the fate of the country,” he said.

Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir, Director of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), said: “The importance of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly as a legitimate and empowering means of expressing public opinion cannot be overestimated. Some governments wish to balance this right with the need to maintain security by prohibiting demonstrations. However, over-restrictive legislation of this kind usually fails to solve problems, and at the same time can create new challenges that are more difficult to resolve.”

In his keynote address, Alexandru Tanase, Member of the Council of Europe’s Venice Commission and a former Justice Minister and former President of the Constitutional Court of Moldova said that the right to freedom of peaceful assembly “is closely related to other cornerstones of democracy and pluralism, such as the freedom of expression and the freedom of association. In democratic societies, free assembly is one of the instruments by which people can bring about social change.”

In 2019, the Slovak OSCE Chair, with the support of the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, has organized three Supplementary Human Dimension Meetings. The other two meetings focused on upholding the principles of tolerance and non-discrimination, including in the promotion and protection of freedom of religion or belief, and effective multilateralism.

Hungarian nationalist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán hailed Friday (22 November) the confirmation of Budapest's nominee as a key EU commissioner as the country's "biggest diplomatic success" in a decade.

Written by Marta Latek,

© mantinov / Shutterstock.com

Poverty affects more than a quarter of the world’s population, and that is why erasing it is a principal objective for humanity, enshrined as the first of a number of goals (SDGs) in the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. Poverty is more than just having insufficient income – it is a multidimensional phenomenon closely related to unequal access to education, health and other basic services. Increasingly concentrated in sub-Saharan Africa, extreme poverty destroys the lives of millions through malnutrition, high infant mortality rates and the violence and insecurity it fuels.

Poverty eradication is an ongoing objective of EU development policy. It has recently gained new momentum with the incorporation of the SDGs into the 2017 European consensus on development – the framework for EU action in the area of development cooperation. The EU supports, through its different instruments and programmes, key areas, such as education, healthcare, social security and good governance, relevant to poverty eradication in developing countries. The 2018 Africa-Europe Alliance for Sustainable Investment and Jobs has further reinforced the focus on those sub-Saharan countries where poverty is at its highest, through an innovative approach that goes beyond aid and seeks to forge an ‘equals alliance’. Its main pillar, the European Fund for Sustainable Development, aims, through EU grants and guarantees, to mobilise massive public and private investment necessary for the economic take-off of the continent, which would provide jobs and access to basic services for the growing African population.

Some doubt that using aid to subsidise private investment is the optimal way to tackle poverty, and insist on strict implementation of development objectives, environmental and social standards, and on highlighting human rights in all projects. Others also denounce the diversion of aid to finance migration management in countries of origin and transit of migration from Africa to Europe. A shift towards a post-growth economy is perceived by many as a radical long-term solution for global well-being and sustainability of the planet.

Read the complete briefing on ‘EU support for fighting global poverty: Implementing UN SDG 1 – ‘Ending poverty’‘ in the Think Tank pages of the European Parliament.

Listen to policy podcast on YouTube.

 

Ce 40e vendredi, une marée humaine a envahi les rues du centre d’Alger, rejetant la présidentielle du 12 décembre que le pouvoir veut imposer. La foule, des hommes et des femmes, des jeunes et des vieux, s’est densifiée au fil des heures, tous sortis pour réitérer leur rejet du prochain scrutin. Les milliers de manifestants […]

The post Alger la blanche est « noire de monde » pour ce 40e vendredi appeared first on .

Des milliers de manifestants affluent sans discontinue vers la Grande poste. Une foule immense avance de la rue Asselah Hocine vers la grande poste scandant des slogans hostiles à la présidentielle Les manifestants ont scandé en chœur « Makach l’vote (Pas de vote) ». Des messages qui annoncent le boycott massif du sccrutin du 12 décembre […]

The post 40e vendredi : Une foule impressionnante de manifestants se dirige vers le centre d’Alger appeared first on .

In the immense challenge of deploying green technologies and expanding the use of renewable energy, strengthening the technological revolution, and further developing artificial intelligence and the internet of things, raw materials will become indispensable for Europe’s digital transformation and climate transition.

Du 14 au 16 novembre 2019, la Cour pénale internationale (« CPI » ou « la Cour ») a participé au 1er congrès international en Afrique du Barreau Pénal International. L’événement a eu lieu à Bamako, République du Mali sur le thème “Afrique: Nouveaux enjeux pour la justice pénale internationale et le Barreau Pénal International”. […]

L’article Le Mali et des personnalités africaines de haut niveau réaffirment leur soutien à la CPI et à son mandat, lors d’un congrès majeur à Bamako est apparu en premier sur Afrik.com.

Un Libanais avait tenté de tuer le nouveau partenaire de son ex-femme. Sa peine a été ramenée à 12 ans et demi de prison, contre 16 en première instance.

RIM Sport - Super D1 - J10 : le FC Nouadhibou explose le Ksar Le FC Nouadhibou a repris sa marche en avant, après la défaite concédée...

Pour bien se représenter la Culture, cette civilisation fictive imaginée par l'écrivain écossais Iain M. Banks, il faut visualiser un lieu sans injustice, sans maladie, sans pauvreté. Une utopie en somme. Il faut ensuite situer cette utopie dans un recoin de la galaxie, disséminée dans des vaisseaux spatiaux colossaux ou de vastes habitats polyformes. Une flotte fragmentée, millénaire, sans ordre apparent. Harmonieuse et chaotique. Cette civilisation est composée de plusieurs milliards d'individus, (...)

- Contrebande / Science, Littérature, Politique, Entreprise, États-Unis, Technologie

439892 Marina Živaljević

The OSCE Mission to Montenegro organized a training course for senior representatives from the State Election Commission and Municipal Election Commissions on how to train polling station staff on polling station procedures on 21 and 22 November 2019 in Podgorica.

Around 25 representatives from election management bodies on state and local level discussed lessons learned from 2016 and 2018 elections and deliberated on how to improve their work for the upcoming election year.

Đorđije Vukčević, Chairman of the State Election Commission, said that the 2016 training, organized with the assistance of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, created within the State Election Commission a pool of trainers and educators.  “The trainers did a good job, as was confirmed in ODIHR reports. This model also worked well in the 2018 elections.” Vukčević added that this workshop was a further opportunity to identify steps necessary to ensure professional administration of the 2020 parliamentary elections, adding that two more OSCE workshops – on media communication and lessons learned – are expected by the end of the year.

The Head of the OSCE Mission to Montenegro, Maryse Daviet, said that the Municipal Election Commission presiding officers and secretaries play a central role in the elections. “Your role is vital to ensure that each voter has confidence that their vote is casted in secrecy and counted.  It is through your work that citizens will gain confidence in the election process,” said Daviet. She added that the 2020 parliamentary election are drawing near and that polling station presiding officers and staff need to be fully briefed on the rules for these elections. “This workshop is designed to assist Municipal Election Commissions in training polling station staff working at local and general elections in Montenegro,” said Daviet.

Bujar Basha, OSCE Senior Election Adviser, said he was happy with the progress achieved in training polling station staff. “Congratulations to everyone who contributed towards addressing OSCE/ODIHR recommendations in the sphere of training,” said Basha.

The workshop was part of the Mission’s 2019 project on elections that aims to improve the transparency of the work of the State Election Commission.

Die Parteivorsitzende der CDU, Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (57), hat anlässlich des Parteitags in Leipzig (D) die Macht-Frage gestellt – und ihren Rücktritt als CDU-Chefin angeboten.

Plenary session, Strasbourg

Source : © European Union, 2019 - EP

À moins d’un mois de la présidentielle du 12 décembre, ce 40e vendredi de révolution pacifique la mobilisation ne fait que se renforcer à Béjaia où un impressionnant tsunami humain déferle sur la ville des Hammadites pour crier son rejet du prochain scrutin. Ce sont, en effet, des dizaines, voir des de milliers de manifestants […]

The post 40e vendredi : Tsunami humain contre la présidentielle à Béjaia appeared first on .

Die Schweizer Bundesanwaltschaft hat am Mittwoch die Genfer Büros der Rohstoffhändler Trafigura und Vitol durchsucht. Die Ermittlungen stehen im Zusammenhang mit dem brasilianischen Petrobras-Korruptionsskandal.

Roche va construire trois nouvelles tours de bureaux à Bâle. Il ne gardera que deux bâtiments sur son site historique.

A moins d’un mois de la Présidentielle prochaine prévue pour le 12 décembre, des milliers de manifestants continuent de protester contre la tenue du scrutin. Excepté les marches habituelles faites tous les mardis et vendredis, instaurées depuis quelques mois, les manifestants ont organisé une nouvelle manifestation dans la nuit du jeudi 21 novembre à Alger. […]

L’article Algérie : nouvelle protestation nocturne malgré l’intensification des interpellations est apparu en premier sur Afrik.com.

Az esztergomi rendőrök befejezték az ügy vizsgálatát a helyi lakossal szemben, aki ismerőse autóját a tudta nélkül elvitte.

Der Kurzfilm «Move Mountains» zeigt eine kunstvolle Hommage den harten Weg von Gilles Roulin. Der Swiss-Ski-Athleten musste zuerst seinen inneren Schweinehund überwinden, um in die Weltspitze zu fahren.

CDU-Chefin Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer hat auf dem Bundesparteitag in Leipzig ihren Rückzug vom Parteivorsitz angeboten. Wenn die Delegierten ihre Vorstellung von der Zukunft Deutschlands und dem Weg dorthin nicht teilten, "dann lasst es uns heute auch beenden", sagte sie am Freitag.