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EU foreign ministers will discuss a range of issues in Brussels on Monday (19 November), including for the first time the militarisation of the Azov Sea, which according to diplomats has been effectively blockaded by Russia.

403232 Public Affairs Unit, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Young professionals from across the Western Balkans improved their knowledge about democratic institutions and OSCE commitments in the field of democratic governance during the Young Policy Adviser Course organized by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR). The course took place at the CEELI Institute (Central and Eastern European Law Initiative) in Prague from 12 to 16 November 2018.

The event was designed to help participants better understand the role of policy advisers and the skills needed to undertake core policymaking tasks and functions. The students – 23 women and eight men – explored ways to navigate complex political environments and participate effectively in policy-related decision-making. The course highlighted the importance of exercising professional ethics, mainstreaming gender into policies and upholding democratic values.

“Helping support young professionals in their learning process in building relevant knowledge and skills is incredibly rewarding, especially considering that these individuals will take this knowledge and apply it in the future,” said Augusta Featherston, ODIHR Youth Focal Point and Associate Democratic Governance Officer.

Eneida Marku, a participant from Tirana, said: “This course is an opportunity for the younger generation to learn skills relevant to democracy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, and we can take that knowledge home with us in the Western Balkans. I learned from a highly-skilled team of mentors whose expertise and teaching methods helped make the link between policy advising theory and practical application.”

The course methodology and content, originally developed by ODIHR in collaboration with the Folke Bernadotte Academy, was subsequently refined to suit specific audiences in the OSCE area with input from the School of Public Policy at the Central European University in Budapest.

The participants were professionals up to the age of 35 who work as political or policy advisers in government ministries, presidential administrations, parliaments or other public institutions in the Western Balkans. Facilitated by experts in the field of policy advising, the course provided a rich base for the participants to explore real world applications and outcomes, both positive and negative.

Erneuerbare Energien, Stromspeicher, dezentrale Erzeugung: Der Energiemarkt wandelt sich. Bei einer EURACTIV-Veranstaltung in Berlin ging es um die Zukunft des "europäischen Energiebinnenmarktes".

Vertrocknete Moore bergen auch weiterhin Brandgefahr und schaden dem Klima. Der Brand von Meppen könnte kein Einzelfall bleiben.

The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals said it is investigating whether Ratko Mladic, who is in custody pending his war crimes appeal, broke any rules by speaking on a Serbian television show by phone.



Les forces armées d’Egypte, d’Arabie saoudite, des Emirats arabes unis, de Bahreïn, du Koweït et de la Jordanie, ont fait jeudi une démonstration militaire devant la presse dans le nord de l’Egypte. Ces forces armées ont participé à des exercices conjoints ou ils y ont déployé chars et avions, et ont largué des missiles sur des cibles au milieu du désert.

Depuis une semaine et jusqu’à vendredi, ces exercices conjoints, baptisés « Bouclier des Arabes 1 », ont permis de montrer la « capacité de travail collectif des différentes forces », selon un communiqué de l’armée égyptienne. Il s’agit des « exercices arabes les plus importants de la région, qui contribuent au renforcement de la coopération militaire au regard des défis communs qui menacent la nation arabe », a indiqué le chef d’état-major égyptien Mohamed Farid, selon un communiqué de l’armée. Divers exercices et formations ont été menés sur le terrain d’entraînement au niveau des forces navales, aériennes et terrestres.

Le président égyptien Abdel Fattah al-Sissi avait assuré devant la presse la semaine dernière que son pays interviendrait « militairement » en cas de menace sur la sécurité des pays du Golfe.

The post Exercice « Bouclier des Arabes 1 » : 6 armées arabes en démonstration militaire en Egypte appeared first on .

Kenya's Football Federation fails in its bid to be reinstated to the Women's Africa Cup of Nations after losing its appeal at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Longue et trouble est l'histoire du techno-populisme, cet art de multiplier les promesses creuses au nom du pouvoir tellurique de la disruption numérique. Nous connaissons cependant la date précise de sa consécration : 2006, l'année où le magazine Time « Vous » a élu comme personnalité de l'année, en hommage aux millions d'anonymes qui alimentent l'Internet des années 2000. Un choix qui a profondément inscrit ces thèmes dans l'inconscient collectif. En réalité, les sites comme Wikipedia ou Flickr comptaient (...)

- Silicon circus / Technologie, Technologies de l'information, Technologies de la communication, Capitalisme, Internet, Entreprise, Multinationales, Mondialisation, Mutation, Idéologie

An author whose book was rejected by French students because of its Algerian theme is due to meet them.

Ha októberben tartották volna a parlamenti választásokat, a Smer a szavazatok 26%-át szerezte volna meg. A második helyen az SaS (14,7%), a harmadikon pedig az OĽaNO (9,9%) végzett volna a Median SK ügynökség aktuális felmérése szerint. (tasr)

Around 700 counter-terrorism troops will be moved as the Pentagon focuses on advising in West Africa.

Közlekedési baleset történt csütörtök délután 16:00 óra körül Semse (Šemša) és Kisida (Malá Ida) között a Kassa-környéki járásában.

Komárom képviselő-testülete az önkormányzati választások után 5 nappal megtartotta utolsó ülését, melyen az eredeti programpontok közül többet nem tárgyaltak. Ezeket a kényes témákat Andruskó Imre (Híd) javaslatára az ülést megelőző tanácson levonták.

Erneuerbare Energien, Stromspeicher, dezentrale Erzeugung: Der Energiemarkt wandelt sich. Bei einer EURACTIV-Veranstaltung in Berlin ging es um die Zukunft eines "europäischen Energiebinnenmarktes".

Egy óvodában és egy iskolában szünetel a tanítás az influenzajárvány miatt a Nagyszombati kerületben, azonban csökkent a légzőszervi megbetegedések aránya.

Horst Seehofer január 19-ig marad a bajor Keresztényszociális Unió (CSU) elnöke - jelentette be a politikus pénteken. Közleményében kiemelte, hogy 2019-nek "a CSU megújulása évének" kell lennie, ezért január 19-re rendkívüli kongresszust hív össze, amelyen megválasztják a párt új elnökét.

Les frais du Conseil d'Etat valaisan se situent en moyenne en dessous de 10'000 francs par personne.

Négy gyalogost gázolt el egy sofőr a Kassa-környéki járásban. Egyikük súlyosan megsérült, hárman könnyebb sérüléseket szenvedtek.

Az ENSZ decemberi katowicei klíma-csúcstalálkozója miatt Lengyelország jövő csütörtöktől ideiglenesen visszaállítja a határellenőrzést, melynek értelmében a schengeni országok állampolgárainak is érvényes személyi igazolványt vagy útlevelet kell felmutatniuk a be- és kiutazáskor.

By Thalif Deen
NEW YORK, Nov 16 2018 (IPS)

A coalition of over 50 civil society organizations (CSOs), from more than 20 countries, have urged two of the world’s largest multi-billion dollar E-commerce retailers – Amazon and eBay – to stop marketing “dangerous and illegal mercury-based skin lightening creams.”

The protest is part of a coordinated global campaign against a growing health hazard in the field of cosmetics.

So far, the groups have reached out to the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA), the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO) and INTERPOL, the Lyon-based international law enforcement agency whose mandate includes investigating the sale of illegal health products online.

Michael Bender, International Coordinator of the Zero Mercury Working Group, told IPS internet moguls must stop breaking the law with their toxic trade in illegal cosmetics.

“Amazon and eBay have the responsibility and resources to prevent exposing their customers to this dangerous neurotoxin,” he added.

At the same time, said Bender, the FDA must enforce the law— no matter how big the retailer, since no one is above the law.

The CSOs have identified 19 skin products sold by these two companies that contain illegal mercury levels—even as the use of these products are skyrocketing globally, and in the US, and used worldwide mostly by women in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.

In a letter to Jeff Bezos, the chief executive officer (CEO) of Amazon, the groups say: “We strongly urge Amazon to self-police its website to ensure that cosmetics found to have mercury levels over 1 part per million (ppm) are no longer offered for sale to your customers worldwide.”

Since 1973, the FDA has warned against using cosmetics with over 1ppm mercury and detailed the risks. And mercury is known to state, federal and international agencies as toxic and harmful to human health.

In a letter to Devin Newig , president and CEO of eBay, the groups say the products advertised for sale on the e-Bay website are “unpermitted and illegal”.

The protest has taken added relevance against the backdrop of the upcoming second meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Minamata Convention on Mercury (COP2) which will take place November 19-23 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Minamata Convention is an international treaty which has been signed by 128 UN member states and ratified by the legislatures of 101 countries.

Syed Marghub Murshed, Chairperson, Environment and Social Development Organization-ESDO, said “skin-lightening creams are pushing the youth towards a serious health risk and environmental havoc”.

He urged the government to take a regulatory and legislative step to protect future generations — and the environment.

Elena Lymberidi-Settimo, European Environmental Bureau Project Manager “Zero Mercury Campaign” and International Co-ordinator, Zero Mercury Working Group, told IPS that toxic trade in illegal high mercury skin lighteners is a global crisis which is expected to only worsen with skyrocketing global demand.

“To combat this, it’s important for governments to quickly enact and/or enforce regulations and effectively warn consumers”, he added.

Sonya Lunder of the Sierra Club’s Gender, Equity and Environment Program, said internet sellers should be held to the highest standards for selling safe and legal cosmetics.

“Not only should they remove all illegal products from their websites immediately, but they must develop a system to ensure that toxic products remain out of their supply-chains,” declared Lunder.

The WHO says mercury is a common ingredient found in skin lightening soaps and creams. It is also found in other cosmetics, such as eye makeup cleansing products and mascara.

“Skin lightening soaps and creams are commonly used in certain African and Asian nations. They are also used among dark-skinned populations in Europe and North America.”

In Mali, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Togo, 25%, 77%, 27%, 35% and 59% of women, respectively, are reported to use skin lightening products on a regular basis, says WHO.

In 2017 and 2018, 338 skin-lightening creams from 22 countries were collected by 17 NGO partners and tested for mercury, according to the group.

And 35 creams (10.4% of the samples) had mercury concentrations ranging from 260 – 16,353 parts per million (ppm).

These levels significantly exceeded not only regulations in many countries, but also new provisions in the Minamata Convention disallowing, after 2020, the “manufacture, import or export” of cosmetics with a mercury above 1 ppm.

The health consequences include damage to the skin, eyes, lungs, kidneys, digestive, immune and nervous systems.

The Mercury Policy Project, the Sierra Club and the European Environmental Bureau say they have purchased skin lighteners from eBay and Amazon websites.

The brands purchased included many previously identified as high mercury by New York City, the state of Minnesota, countries of the European Union, Singapore, United Arab Emirates (UAE), the Philippines, among others.

Of these, 19 products had illegal mercury levels, typically more than 10,000 times higher than the legal threshold of 1ppm.

In their letters, the groups are calling on Amazon and eBay to:

(1) Ensure the products they sell comply with government regulations; monitor lists of toxic skin lighteners identified US regulators; and keep them out of their inventory; and

(2) Add skin lightening cream products to a list of categories requiring prior approval before sale; and require that sellers provide documentation verifying that the products do not contain mercury and that the products are otherwise compliant with all applicable regulations.

Out of the 22 countries where the global cosmetics sampling took place, 14 have legislation or other requirements consistent with the Minamata convention provisions, the letter says.

Out of the 7 countries where high mercury samples were found, only 4 have legal requirements prohibiting creams with more than 1 ppm mercury content.

The Zero Mercury testing showed also that in:

–in Bangladesh, 50% of the creams sampled and tested had mercury content exceeding 1 ppm.

–In the Dominican Republic, one out of 3 samples had mercury above 1 ppm (33%), whereas in Indonesia it reached 31%.

— in Mauritius, one out of 15 creams was found to contain more than 1 ppm (7%).

— in the Philippines, 19% of the samples exceeded 1 ppm mercury content, while the Thai samples reached 63; and.

–in Trinidad and Tobago, 20% of the samples tested also exceeded the Minamata limits.

The Group’s research demonstrates that hazardous substance restrictions and accompanying risk communication strategies in many countries are incomplete and/or inadequately enforced.

”This thereby raises the risk of health effects, primarily to women.”

However, as the Minamata Convention on Mercury provision pertaining to cosmetics take effect after 2020, new opportunities for countries to reduce exposure to mercury from skin lighteners are emerging, including resources that may become available to Parties for the following, perhaps in collaboration with all levels of government and civil society:

1. Development and adoption of national government cosmetic regulations;

2. Continuously updated global government detention website listing of product violations, including product photo, manufacture, country of origin, seller identification, links, etc.

3. Enhanced harmonization and increased enforcement of by custom officials at borders;

4. Effective risk communication to consumers at risk and in particular pregnant and nursing mothers and woman of child bearing age;

5. Effective oversight of the marketplace;

6. Adoption of effective labeling guidelines to assure consumers are provided with the necessary information on hazardous substances, but also on alternatives, since they may contain other hazardous substances;

7. Effective cyber crime oversight of the internet, in global collaboration with Interpol, (since most lighteners are imported); and

8. Through national ad councils, assuring that non-discriminatory advertising guidelines do not reinforce negative social stereotyping on the basis of skin color.

Globally, mercury-based products are a big business. Demand is skyrocketing, especially in Asia, the Middle East and Africa, with sales of $17.9 billion in 2017, and projected to reach $31.2 billion by 2024, according to Global Industry Analysts.

Skin lightening products — also known as “bleaching creams,” “whiteners,” “skin brighteners,” or “fading creams” — work when inorganic Mercury salts (e.g. 1-10% ammoniated mercury) inhibit the formation of melanin, resulting in a lighter skin tone.

The post E-Commerce Giants Under Fire for Retailing Hazardous Mercury-Based Cosmetics appeared first on Inter Press Service.