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Protection of personal data: according to Advocate General Pikamäe, the supervisory authority has an obligation to act when it finds a breach in the course of investigating a complaint

VALLETTA/VIENNA, 11 April 2024 — The OSCE Chair-in-Office, Minister for Foreign and European Affairs and Trade of Malta Ian Borg will visit the Republic of Moldova on 12 April for talks with high-level Moldovan officials and the leadership in Tiraspol.

During his first visit to Moldova as OSCE Chair-in-Office, Borg will focus on the OSCE’s work in Moldova and advancing the Transdniestrian Settlement Process. He will also discuss the challenges facing the country in the context of the ongoing war against Ukraine.

In Chisinau, the OSCE Chair Borg will meet with President Maia Sandu, Prime Minister Dorin Recean, Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, Mihai Popșoi, and Deputy Prime Minister for Reintegration Oleg Serebrian.

In Bender, he will meet with Transdniestrian leader Vadim Krasnoselsky and the Transdniestrian Chief Negotiator Vitaly Ignatiev.

Furthermore, CiO Borg will meet with CiO’s Special Representative on Gender, Liliana Palihovici

On 12 April, the OSCE Chair-in-Office Borg will hold a press conference with Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Moldova, Mihai Popșoi, at 09:40 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Journalists are also invited to attend a concluding press briefing with Chair-in-Office Borg at 18:50 inside of the Delegation Hall of the Chisinau International Airport. 

Media representatives are reminded to have their press accreditation documents on them to be able to attend the press briefing.

For more information, please contact the Press Office of the OSCE Mission to Moldova, at +373 22 887 887 (landline), e-mail: mtmpress@osce.org.

For other requests regarding the visit, please contact Thomas Attard from the OSCE Chairpersonship of Malta by e-mail: thomas.attard.1@gov.mt.

The latest information from the OSCE CiO of Malta can be found at https://www.osce.org/chairpersonship and on Twitter: @MinisterIanBorg and @OSCE24MT.

Parliament is revising the rules for some breakfast foods to provide Europeans with healthier and better quality choices.

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Thursday, 11 April

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Thursday, 11 April

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Thursday, 11 April

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Thursday, 11 April

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Il a été au Sénat, à l'Élysée et au stade avec Yaël Braun-Pivet, la présidente de l'Assemblée nationale. Milorad Dodik, l'homme fort des Serbes de Bosnie-Herzégovine, était en tournée de com à Paris, alors qu'il multiplie les provocations : loi électorale, loi sur les « agents étrangers », etc.

- Le fil de l'Info / Courrier des Balkans, RS sécession, Bosnie-Herzégovine, Relations internationales

Credit: UN Photo/Loey Felipe
 
Hate speech is an alarm bell – the louder it rings, the greater the threat of genocide, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said last year as the General Assembly commemorated the International Day of Reflection on the 1994 Genocide against the Tutsi in Rwanda.

By Margee Ensign
BLAGOEVGRAD, Bulgaria, Apr 11 2024 (IPS)

As we contemplate the clouded futures of Gaza, Ukraine, and other dire conflict zones that get far less coverage, it may be instructive to recall the surprising success story of a ravaged country that bounced back: Rwanda.

Rwanda’s Genocide Against the Tutsi began 30 years ago this week, and a week of national mourning is underway. The death toll was an order of magnitude worse than in Gaza today: between 500,00 and a million Rwandans were slaughtered in less than three months, and mass graves are still being uncovered.

The U.S saw the victims as “casualties of war” and refused to use the word “genocide.” It stood by as the death toll mounted, an unsettling parallel with U.S. statements and actions on Gaza today. In fact, the US blocked efforts to stop the killing. It led a successful bid to remove UN peacekeepers and stopped UN authorization of reinforcements. It seemed to have made a decision to leave Rwandans to their fate.

No one could have predicted what happened in the wake of the genocide. Since 1994, survivors and attackers reconciled. Life expectancy more than doubled. In fact, 98% of Rwanda’s population now has health insurance.

A million Rwandans have been lifted out of poverty. Rwanda now leads the world’s second largest continent in socio-economic development. It ranks highest for ease of doing business and investment.

It also leads Africa in modelling home-grown solutions for seeking justice, fighting poverty, and promoting gender equity and civic participation. Women are now the majority in Parliament.

All this was unimaginable 30 years ago. How did it happen?

Once the killing had stopped, Rwanda found a creative vision and new ways to seek justice and hold its new leaders accountable for post-genocidal progress. The restorative justice approach of Rwanda’s Gacaca courts was one of the world’s most ambitious post-conflict justice and reconciliation programs.

Over a ten-year period, a million suspects were tried in community-based courts. They confronted war crimes while fostering forgiveness and inclusiveness, allowing communities to heal.

Rwanda’s homegrown Imihigo system, based on pre-colonial cultural practices, reformed the formerly highly centralized government using a decentralized, performance-based governance model that delivered services the traumatized population needed.

Local and national leaders are periodically required to demonstrate the progress and the impact of policies. That contributed to verifiable improvements in access to services, human development indicators, and local political participation.

Since the genocide, gender equity has been embedded in Rwanda’s constitution and its education system, transforming politics, economics, and family life. Today Rwandan women are visionary leaders. Half of the President’s cabinet and 61% of Members of Parliament are female. Rwanda has near-universal primary school enrollment – girls included. With its innovative IT education and nationwide digital network coverage, Rwanda has become a model of educational progress.

So, what lessons can we learn from Rwanda about resilience and reconstruction after the convulsions of war and genocide and how they apply to war-ravaged countries today?

First, we can’t repeat the mistakes of 1994. The U.S. and the international community must stand up to stop the slaughter, and make sure food and access to health care are assured.

Once the killing stops, reconciliation is the way to start rebuilding. If reconciling the antagonists in the Middle East seems hopeless or impossible, just look at Rwanda. In 100 days, over a million members of the Tutsi minority group, as well as Twa and Hutu who and stood up against the genocide, were murdered by Hutu militias.

“The dead of Rwanda accumulated at nearly three times the rate of Jewish dead during the Holocaust,” Philip Gourevitch wrote. “It was the most efficient mass killing since the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.”

Yet even so, the antagonists eventually came together. It required extraordinary political will, and belief in the impossible. But it happened. Together Rwandans were able to fashion and implement home-grown solutions to their shared problems.

The emphasis on gender equity, on women as visionary leaders, not victims, is also key. Research shows that countries that promote women’s rights and increase their access to education and economic opportunity grow faster, are more peaceful, and have less inequality and less corruption compared to countries that don’t.

Rwanda has many remaining challenges, but it staged one of the most impressive comebacks of modern times. Its leaders, led by President Kagame, rejected the policies of hate and division and retribution, and rebuilt the country from the ashes.

That provides some hope and evidence that Gaza, Ukraine, and other conflict-ravaged countries can too. Thirty years after the genocide, Rwanda is living proof that it is possible.

Professor Margee Ensign is the President of the American University in Bulgaria and author of Rwanda: History and Hope and co-editor of Confronting Genocide in Rwanda.

IPS UN Bureau

 

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While research into the unequal impacts of climate change on women is growing, more is needed to enable them to realize their rights to climate justice. Researchers argue that women and girls have unequal access to food, water, health, education, and even income, thanks to climate change. This makes them more vulnerable. Pedi Obani, an […]

Americas FlightSafety International Defense Corp. won a $7.9 million modification for the exercise of the KC-46 Aircrew Training System. The contract modification will provide an additional weapon system trainer, additional learning management workstations, systems engineering and program management, as well as new refresher training scenarios. Work will be performed at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, and is […]

Zu den Ergebnissen der heutigen Sitzung des Rates der Europäischen Zentralbank (EZB) äußert sich Marcel Fratzscher, Präsident des Deutschen Instituts für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW Berlin), wie folgt:

Die EZB hat die Chance verpasst, den notwendigen Kurswechsel ihrer Zinspolitik einzuleiten. Sie scheint sich hinter der US-Notenbank verstecken zu wollen, statt dem Beispiel anderer, kleinerer Zentralbanken in Europa zu folgen und die Zinsen zu senken. Damit bleibt die Geldpolitik neben der Finanzpolitik die stärkste Bremse für die europäische Konjunktur in diesem und im nächsten Jahr. 

Mit zuletzt 2,4 Prozent ist die Inflationsrate in der Eurozone wieder auf einem Niveau, das konsistent mit dem Ziel der Preisstabilität der EZB ist. Das Risiko, dass die Inflationsrate über die kommenden zwei Jahre erheblich schwankt, bleibt hoch. Nachdem die europäische Wirtschaft stark geschwächt wurde, sollte die EZB nun in einen zukunftsorientierten Modus wechseln und die Zinsen signifikant senken. Eine erste Zinssenkung im Juni 2024 ist im Grunde zu spät und eine Absenkung des Leitzinses um 0,75 Prozentpunkte bis Ende des Jahres zu wenig.  

Die Tatsache, dass sowohl die Kerninflation als auch die Inflation im Dienstleistungsbereich noch über dem Ziel der Preisstabilität liegen, ist logisch und war zu erwarten. Auch eine Erholung der Löhne dürfte Druck auf die Preise ausüben. Allerdings sind all dies temporäre Faktoren, Sorgen um eine Lohn-Preis-Spirale bleiben unbegründet. Dagegen sind die Inflationserwartungen sehr gut verankert. Die Wirtschaft der Eurozone, vorneweg Deutschland, produziert deutlich unter ihrem Potenzial und das Niveau der Zinsen ist so restriktiv, dass die Wirtschaft auch in den kommenden beiden Jahren unter ihrem Potenzial bleiben wird. Das Risiko, dass die EZB mit ihrer Geldpolitik die Wirtschaft nachhaltig schwächt und die Preisentwicklung zu stark bremst, ist gegenwärtig höher als das Risiko einer dauerhaft zu hohen Inflation. Die EZB braucht mehr Mut, zu einer Symmetrie in ihrer Geldpolitik zurückzukehren. Sie sollte sich vom Versuch verabschieden, der Geldpolitik der US-Notenbank Fed zu folgen, denn die US-Wirtschaft befindet sich in einer komplett anderen Lage. Die gegenwärtig zu restriktive Geldpolitik der EZB hilft nicht dabei, ihr Ziel der Preisstabilität besser zu erfüllen. Im Gegenteil, es könnte die Wirtschaft der Eurozone dauerhaft schwächen und somit europäische Unternehmen weniger wettbewerbsfähig machen und notwendige Investitionen bremsen.

Faced with the need to provide long-term support to Ukraine and upgrade its own defence, the EU is revisiting its financing arrangements for the Common Security and Defence component.
Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Faced with the need to provide long-term support to Ukraine and upgrade its own defence, the EU is revisiting its financing arrangements for the Common Security and Defence component.
Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

Die überarbeiteten „Frühstücksrichtlinien" sollen Verbrauchern helfen, helfen, fundierte und gesündere Entscheidungen über Erzeugnisse wie Honig, Fruchtsaft oder und Marmeladen zu treffen.
Ausschuss für Umweltfragen, öffentliche Gesundheit und Lebensmittelsicherheit

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2024 - EP

To improve the health of EU soils, MEPs support efforts to monitor and improve the soil ecological status in the EU.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

To improve the health of EU soils, MEPs support efforts to monitor and improve the soil ecological status in the EU.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

To improve the health of EU soils, MEPs support efforts to monitor and improve the soil ecological status in the EU.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

To improve the health of EU soils, MEPs support efforts to monitor and improve the soil ecological status in the EU.
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP

The new internal rules will strengthen Parliament’s working methods, its institutional role, and its capacity to act.
Committee on Constitutional Affairs

Source : © European Union, 2024 - EP