The UN human rights office, OHCHR, on Friday condemned the death sentence handed down to three foreign fighters in Ukraine by a court in the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic. “Such trials against prisoners of war amount to a war crime,” said OHCHR spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani.
The three men – Britons Aiden Aslin and Shaun Pinner, and Moroccan Saaudun Brahim – were captured while fighting for Ukraine, reportedly defending the southern port city of Mariupol.
Bitter fighting between Ukrainian and Russian forces since the Russian invasion on 24 February flattened the city, where UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet has previously condemned attacks against civilians and civilian infrastructure, that have likely caused thousands of deaths.
“OHCHR is concerned about the so-called Supreme Court of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic sentencing three servicemen to death,” said Ms. Shamdasani. “According to the chief command of Ukraine, all the men were part of the Ukrainian armed forces and if that is the case, they should not be considered as mercenaries.”
Answering a question at the regular briefing in New York on Thursday about the death sentences handed down, the UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, said the the Organization always has “and we always will”, opposed the death penalty under any circumstances. “And we would call on the combatants who have been detained, to be afforded international protection, and to be treated according to the Geneva Conventions“, he added.
Longstanding concerns
The UN rights office spokesperson also highlighted longstanding concerns about fair trial violations in Ukraine’s breakaway eastern regions bordering Russia. “Since 2015, we have observed that the so-called judiciary within these self-contained republics has not complied with essential fair trial guarantees, such as public hearings, independence, impartiality of the courts and the right not to be compelled to testify.”
Speaking in Geneva, Ms. Shamdasani added that “such trials against prisoners of war amount to a war crime. In the case of the use of the death penalty, fair trial guarantees are of course all the more important.”
LITHUANIA, June 10 – Prime Minister Ingrida Šimonytė extends her sincere greetings to Portugal on the occasion of the Day of Portugal and wishes its people well-being and every success.
‘I am pleased to take this opportunity to express Lithuania’s high appreciation of the friendly relations with Portugal as a reliable partner in the European Union, NATO and other international organizations. We are grateful for Portugal’s contribution to the Air Policing Mission. As we approach the NATO Summit in Madrid, we hope for your country‘s steadfast support for the decisions that would substantially strengthen the Alliance’s defence and deterrence posture in our region’, emphasized Head of the Government.
Prime Minister noted that today, as Ukraine is fighting with the Russian occupying forces, there is an urgent need for our countries, the EU, and all the democratic world to stay united and help Ukraine in its heroic efforts to defend itself and Europe. We must continue supporting Ukraine with all the means, at the same time calling for international prosecution and personal accountability of all those responsible for the crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine.
‘I hope that Lithuania and Portugal as well as other member states of the EU can show our support to Ukraine’s request for granting of the EU Candidate status. This would provide Ukraine and its people a much needed blueprint for reconstruction and long-term reforms and reassurance that we truly see them as integral part of the European family’, said Prime Minister.
Charity eCard platform Hope Spring announced the launch of its Father’s Day greetings card on Friday, the 9th of June. In a post on their Twitter account, the charity announced twenty new funny father’s day ecards which were designed by one of their volunteers.
The new father day ecards, is set to go on sale from the organisation’s website from Monday the 13th of June, just under a week before Father’s Day. The announcement stated that the organisation’s supporters and the general public can order the ecards and schedule it for delivery on Father’s Day, if they are not able to order it on the day.
Hope Spring eCards social media manager Seun Olonade said of the new range of eCards “our funny father’s day ecards were particularly designed with animal lovers in mind.” She added that just imagine receiving a father’s day ecard from your cat or dog, most people will find it amusing. That is why most of the funny Father’s Day ecards feature a pet. We hope recipients will find them as funny as we did”.
Hope Spring eCards platform has raised thousands of pounds for clean water and period poverty alleviation works done in West Africa. You can find out more information about the charity on their social media pages and their website.
Press release distributed by Pressat on behalf of Hope Spring Water, on Friday 10 June, 2022. For more information subscribe and follow https://pressat.co.uk/
Timothy Beal, the Florence Harkness Professor of Religion at Case Western Reserve University, recently received positive reviews on his newest book, When Time Is Short: Finding Our Way in the Anthropocene.
Publishers Weekly described Beal’s book as a “deconstruct(ion) of human exceptionalism” that confronts the impending peril of the climate crisis. In When Time Is Short, Beal disputes the capitalistic hierarchy that places nature below humanity and explores a Christian take on humanity’s relationship with the earth.
Three new expert-led UNODC legislative guides to combat crimes that affect the environment
Vienna (Austria), 10 June 2022 – “Wildlife and forest crime; crimes in the fisheries sector; illegal mining; and trafficking in precious metals, as well as in plastics and other waste: crimes that affect the environment are happening everywhere, generating vast profits for the criminal and corrupt,” stated the Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Ms. Ghada Waly.
Ms. Waly made this statement at February 2022’s expert discussions on crimes that affect the environment, held in association with the Commission on Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice (CCPCJ) – UNODC’s principal policymaking body on crime prevention.
The discussions served as a reminder that these are among the most profitable forms of transnational crime, with lasting environmental, security, social and economic consequences. A strong and adequate national legislative framework is at the core of any effective response to these threats. Yet in many countries legislation for these crimes remains weak or non-existent.
To fill this gap, UNODC is developing a series of legislative guides, intended to support states in enacting or strengthening domestic legislation on various forms of crimes that affect the environment. The guides focus on implementing the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (UNTOC) to prevent and combat these crimes, providing national lawmakers with concrete model provisions, national examples and legislative guidance.
The legislative guide on combating waste trafficking, funded by France, was released today. This year is set to see the publication of two additional guides currently under development, one focusing on illegal mining and trafficking in metals and minerals also funded by France, the other on crimes in the fisheries sector, with funding from Norway and developed in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). In 2018, UNODC published a first guide on drafting legislation to combat wildlife crime, funded by the United States and the European Union.
In developing these tools, UNODC has held expert group meetings with a wide range of experts to ensure the guides are relevant and applicable to all jurisdictions and in any regional context. Partners have ranged from international and regional organizations, government ministries and law enforcement agencies, research institutes and civil society from around the world.
Reflecting on the meetings on good legislative practices on combating waste trafficking, Ms. Tatiana Terekhova, Programme Officer at the Secretariat of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions, said: “Parties require national legislation to be able to effectively enforce both UNTOC and the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal. These model provisions relate to offences, investigation, prosecution, international cooperation and other issues that will help states adopt legislation to combat illegal traffic in hazardous and other wastes, in line with international standards,” she added.
Present at the March 2022 meeting on illegal mining and trafficking in metals and minerals was, amongst others, Mr. Gastón Schulmeister, Director of the Department against Transnational Organized Crime at the Organization of American States (OAS). “In some OAS member states we have found a criminal convergence between the illegal mining environment, the capacity of transnational organized crime to generate large amounts of illicit money from this activity, and the use of illicit money from other sources to finance illegal mining operations. Against these threats, UNODC legislation is fundamental,” Schulmeister said.
Lea Schlenker, from the Evangelical Church in Germany, is a member of CEC Governing Board, and she also serves as Youth Advisor. Below, she reflects on some of the challenges and opportunities young people are voicing today—and how CEC is listening.
On any given day, Lea Schlenker hears a lot of news about the war in Ukraine. For Schlenker, the war was a wake-up call. Relations of trust across national or denominational boundaries, which lay at the heart of ecumenism, regained importance in light of the war.
“CEC has conducted listening sessions with Ukrainians,” she said. “Thanks to video conference tools, we could learn from the ground what is going on.”
Schlenker saw and heard firsthand the important role churches are playing in keeping the hope for peace alive, and offering relief to suffering people. “Churches contribute to political questions and diplomatic relations,” she said. “In addition to that, I also appreciate that we have prayer as a form of responding to what we experience.”
She recalled that, shortly before CEC gathered for an online pre-assembly in February to prepare for the upcoming World Council of Churches 11th Assembly, Ukraine was attacked. “Everything was rescheduled and we all gathered to pray,” she said. “People in countries not directly affected could connect to Ukrainians, listen to them and pray with them.”
CEC is often the table around which people can draw together. “CEC plays a very crucial role in that sense,” she said.
Schlenker also finds solace through singing—a tradition close to her heart and to her Lutheran home church. “During COVID, we had so many restrictions on singing, and we couldn’t sing at all for a long time,” she said.
As COVID restrictions were lifted, and the war in Ukraine started, suddenly her church was full. “We were shocked by the war, and the only way we found to express our grief was to sing songs for peace,” she said. “You experienced one voice across the generations—it was a unifying moment.”
That sense of unity across generations is, in turn, something she brings to CEC’s board. “Let’s be honest,” she said. “I got on the board because I was female, a layperson and young.”
In fact, when she first became a CEC board member, it was hard to let go of the feeling that she was present simply because she fit a category.
“I was always a bit skeptical about quota regulations,” she said. “For me, this experience has come from being ‘the quota’ to being a fully integrated member of the board who can present things and even pave the path forward for others.”
She believes CEC is seizing the opportunity to put into place strategies that will enable young people from CEC Member Churches to participate in ecumenical and advocacy work.
“It is good to experience that I don’t need to remind other board members about youth representation,” she said. “People are willing to include youth but many times the systemic issues are very hard.”
For people between 18 and 30 years old, their lives are often full of transitions. “Church structures expect you to know that you more or less know what you’ll be doing in five years’ time,” she said. “For youth that’s not the case.”
To bridge the gaps, CEC cooperates with ecumenical youth organisations, which it highly values.
As far as role models, Schlenker follows with interest Anna-Nicole Heinrich, the current praeses of the synod of the Evangelical Church in Germany. “She’s really comfortable with getting uncomfortable,” said Schlenker. “She’s also decisive about what churches should be about and what they shouldn’t be about. That’s inspiring for me in terms of church leadership.”
As 2022 is the European Year of Youth, Schlenker tries to envision the Europe where she wants to live as a religious person. “We generally have a problem with religious illiteracy,” she said. “People oftentimes have prejudices and don’t really know what religion is about.”
She believes CEC is an actor that contributes to a better understanding of religion and churches in Europe. “CEC brings together people from many different geographic and national backgrounds,” she said. “We all make up this diverse Christian family.”
CEC convenes a constructive discourse, Schlenker added. “It’s difficult to be the voice of the churches in Europe because we are so many—but because of that, churches have a lot to offer.”
(*) Susan Kim is a freelance journalist from the United States.
In a communication to The European Times, the Baha’i International Community(BIC) informed of being “extremely worried by developments in Qatar—where the government is apparently attempting to eradicate the Baha’i community“
The Baha’is have often and regularly voiced out their extreme concerns for the “discrimination, restrictions and human rights violations experienced by the Baha’is in Qatar over many decades”.
These violations, continue to say the BIC, include systematic attempts by Qatari authorities to blacklist and deport Baha’is from Qatar. Once blacklisted, Baha’is who have for decades been residents in Qatar are expelled from the country and are permanently refused reentry, even to visit. Residency permits of non-Qatari Baha’is have also been denied, or not renewed, despite their employers or sponsors supporting them to remain in the country.
What links all those who have been deported—who come from various professional and national backgrounds—has been their Baha’i belief. This bears a striking resemblance to types of persecution Baha’is have faced in Iran and Yemen.
Most of those facing blacklisting and deportation, say the BIC, were born and raised in Qatar and have known no other home, some coming from families whose lives there stretch back multiple generations, predating the independence of the state of Qatar itself.
Other reported incidents of discrimination relate to employment or education. In 2009, the Bahá’í cemetery in Doha was bulldozed and graves were exhumed and destroyed.
“We are deeply concerned that the ongoing and worsening discrimination against Baha’is in Qatar may lead to the eradication of the entire community” said to The European Times Rachel Bayani, Representative of the Baha’i International Community to the European Institutions.
A Qatar citizen and a Baha’i, Remy Rowhani, is to be jailed in Qatar on charges linked to his religious beliefs. A previous hearing had been held in his absence and his sentence was first issued on 29 April 2021. No evidence was presented at any time to substantiate the charges against Mr Rowhani, says the press statement of the Baha’is in Brussels.
“To secretly hold a trial in the defendant’s absence, without notifying him, and to then issue a prison sentence and fine in absentia, is against due process and betrays an official policy of discrimination against the Baha’is. This is a worrying escalation of the targeted and discriminatory treatment against Baha’is in Qatar.” added Ms. Bayani.
EP Plenary session - The massacre of Christians in Nigeria
MEP Hölvényi managed to bring to the plenary the atack against the St. Francis Catholic Church in Nigeria. A gunman had attacked worshippers in the Nigerian town of Owo during a mass on Pentecost Sunday.
“We must do a lot to ensure that the European Parliament is finally able to take effective action against the increasing persecution of Christians after that many years,” emphasised Christian Democrat MEP György Hölvényi (KDNP) during Wednesday’s plenary debate on the Pentecost attack in Nigeria.
“First of all, we must declare that the attack was directed against Christian believers,” said MEP György Hölvényi, reacting to the tragedy in the Nigerian town of Owo, where gunmen ruthlessly killed at least 50 people, including several children, during a Mass on Pentecost Sunday.
Quoting Dr Réka Fodor, a Hungarian volunteer doctor working in Nigeria, the politician said that the Hospital in the local Catholic Archdiocese, the neighbouring federal state of Onitsha, had immediately offered fifty beds to treat the injured. Church institutions are also at the forefront of helping at a time when the social situation in Nigeria is deteriorating. The war in Ukraine has caused energy crisis and as a result, the gasoline prices doubled, and running basic health care has become a challenge.
Although the Nigerian central government has pledged to curb the terror, it is not showing results. “Moreover, the attack took place in a previously peaceful part of the country, which indicates the deterioration of the security situation and undermines our achievements in development policy,” the MEP said.
“We must all work to ensure that the EP is able to take action against open persecution of Christians. We must end the passive discrimination caused by indifference. We have a responsibility to those who are suffering because they themselves are asking us to stand up for them,” he underlined, citing the Nigerian Catholic Council’s cry for help: “We want the leaders to take urgent action against the perpetrators of evil deeds.”
The suspected traffickers are from Malawi, Ethiopia, Burundi, Rwanda, and DRC. So far, there have been five arrests and the cases are ongoing.
UNODC expert fears that “this is just the beginning.”
Lilongwe, (Malawi), May 2022 – The widespread exploitation of men, women, and children at a refugee camp in Malawi has been uncovered by the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Malawian Police Service.
The Dzaleka Refugee Camp, 41 kilometers from the Malawi capital Lilongwe, was established in 1994 and hosts 52,000 people from five different countries. New measures are now underway to dismantle human trafficking networks operating within the Dzaleka Refugee Camp, identify and rescue their victims, and bring those responsible to justice.
“The situation was much worse than we first envisaged,” says UNODC’s Maxwell Matewere, who initially visited the camp in October 2020, when he trained camp staff and law enforcement officers on how to detect and respond to trafficking cases.
“I even witnessed a kind of Sunday market, where people came to buy children who were then exploited in situations of forced labour and prostitution,” he adds.
UNODC coached and mentored 28 camp officials and law enforcement officers to help identify victims and investigate trafficking cases. These officials will in turn train other colleagues at police stations and border crossing posts.
Since the training and the implementation of new anti-trafficking procedures, over 90 victims of human trafficking have been identified and rescued.
The guidelines for the identification, rescue, and referral of victims were developed by UNODC, with the support of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Most of the victims rescued are men from Ethiopia, aged between 18 and 30. Several girls and women were also rescued, aged between 12 and 24 from Ethiopia, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Some of the victims were assisted to return to their countries of origin, while others are being cared for in safe houses. Several victims, who were identified at border crossings, requested to be returned to the camp to seek asylum.
One 16-year-old girl from DRC was rescued from a situation of forced prostitution by an undercover police officer who had been trained by UNODC.
“I arrived at the camp in 2009 after leaving my home country due to conflict,” she says. “One evening in a nightclub inside the camp, I was approached by a man who told me he was identifying people who were being exploited.”
The girl, who was trafficked at the age of 10, explains that she initially did not believe or trust the officer, since she thought “all men were violent and looking for sex”.
“That evening, I had been beaten by one of my clients for refusing to have sex due to a cut that was bleeding. I was in pain, and it was visible. The officer was friendly, and he took me to a safe house.”
She is now attending a computer literacy class and hopes to return home: “In the future, I would like to be a teacher, and I want to be reunited with my brother who I have not seen for a long time,” she adds.
The new procedures contain clear guidelines for the transfer of victims to authorities where they can receive appropriate care. “Before our intervention, victims of human trafficking would have been placed in police cells or prisons, alongside criminals. Now they are referred to specially-equipped safe houses that we helped to prepare for the arrival of the victims,” says Matewere.
Various types of human trafficking have been identified in the Dzaleka Refugee Camp. Children are trafficked within and outside of the camp for farm labour and domestic work. Women and girls are exploited sexually inside Dzaleka and in Malawi or transported for the purpose of sexual exploitation to other countries in Southern Africa. Male refugees, meanwhile, are being subjected to forced labour inside the camp or on farms in Malawi and other countries in the region.
The camp is also being used as a hub for the processing of victims of human trafficking. Traffickers recruit victims in their home country under false pretenses and arrange for them to cross the border into Malawi and enter the camp.
After the recent, successful operations in the camp, which were based on intelligence information, the police now have more knowledge about the international nature of the trafficking network.
“There is evidence that victims are sourced in Ethiopia, DRC and Burundi by agents of the trafficking network offering work opportunities in South Africa, which is the economic powerhouse on the continent,” says Matewere. “At the camp, they are told they need to pay off the debts incurred from being smuggled into Malawi. They are exploited there or transported to other countries in the region for forced labour.”
However, according to the Malawian Police Service, efforts to convict human traffickers and migrant smugglers are being hampered because the people affected are too scared to testify in court.
“We do fear that this is just the beginning, and there are huge numbers of victims. Authorities strongly suspect there is a highly organized, international syndicate operating from within the camp,” says Matewere.
Awareness-raising material about human trafficking will be distributed soon in the camp and is expected to lead to more victims coming forward for assistance.
“All security agencies operating in the camp must be frequently reminded about their role to eradicate human trafficking through regular training,” says UNHCR’s Owen Nyasula, a field protection associate at UNHCR’s Malawi office.
“These agencies need to work closely with religious and community leaders, as well as local police forces, to stop this form of modern slavery,” he concludes.
Further information
Human trafficking and migrant smuggling are global and widespread crimes that use men, women and children for profit. The organized networks or individuals behind these lucrative crimes take advantage of people who are vulnerable, desperate or simply seeking a better life. UNODC strives for the eradication of these crimes through the dismantling of the criminal enterprises that trade in people and the conviction of the main perpetrators. Ultimately, our work safeguards people from the abuse, neglect, exploitation or even death that is associated with these crimes.
UN Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking: 20 new NGO projects selected for emergency grants under the sixth grant cycle
Vienna (Austria), 8 June 2022 – 20 projects proposed by specialized civil society organizations (CSO) from 17 countries have been selected under the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Human Trafficking (UNVTF)’s sixth Call for Proposals (sub-grant programme one (SGP 1) dedicated for emergency aid grants). SGP 1 was introduced in 2019 to provide agile responses to victims of human trafficking in or fleeing from humanitarian and natural crises.
The selected projects represent a fair geographical distribution with enhanced visibility on Central Asia, as well as Latin American and Caribbean, which are the priority regions of SGP 1. A record number of applications were received as a result of collective outreach efforts of the Trust Fund, with colleagues disseminating the Call for Proposals in Spanish, Russian, English and French.
The UNVTF was established by the UN General Assembly within the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons in 2010. It is managed by UNODC and advised by a Board of Experts appointed by the Secretary-General. The UNVTF awards multi-year grants of up to USD 60,000 to global CSOs that provide victim-centred comprehensive support and humanitarian aid to survivors of human trafficking in desperate need of help. With the latest 20 selected proposals, the Trust Fund has awarded over 6 million USD to more than 140 projects implemented by civil society partners, thereby directly supporting over 5,000 victims a year, most of which are women and girls.
Details of the newly selected projects, which provide shelter, medical and material support, repatriation service, and other emergency aid, are as follows:
N°
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
09
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Organization
HAGAR AFGHANISTAN
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT ORGANIZATION FOR WOMEN (SDOFW)
RIGHTS JESSORE
LOVE FOUNDATION
FUNDACIÓN MUNASIM KULLAKITA
FOCUS DROITS ET ACCES (FDA)
GOOD SAMARITAN ASSOCIATION (GSA)
VOLTA REVIVAL FOUNDATION
ASSOCIATION FOR THE SOCIAL SUPPORT OF YOUTH (ARSIS)
RESCUE FOUNDATION
LIFE BLOOM SERVICES INTERNATIONAL (LBSI)
PUBLIC FOUNDATION “INSAN-LEILEK”
PUBLIC ASSOCIATION NUR JOL BER
FARAH SOCIAL FOUNDATION
ASOCIACIÓN NACIONAL CONTRA LA TRATA HUMANA EN LA SOCIEDAD (ANTHUS)
RED BINACIONAL DE CORAZONES AC (RBC)
GRASSROOT DEVELOPMENT SUPPORT AND RURAL ENLIGHTENMENT INITIATIVE (GDEV)
INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY
TADAMUN SOCIAL SOCIETY (TASS)
Project focus
This project is to provide shelter for vulnerable and trafficked girls.
This project is to provide support to human trafficking victims among conflict and internally displaced person (IDP).
This project is to provide support to survivors and vulnerable migrants repatriated from abroad, who will be mainly women and girls.
This project is to provide support to women, including LGBTIQ+ community, who are survivors of trafficking in persons.
This project is to provide support to girls, adolescents, and young survivors of human trafficking by sexual exploitation.
This project is to provide support to woman and girl survivors living with disabilities or HIV/AIDS.
This project is to provide support to women migrant workers who were human trafficking survivors of forced labour.
This project is to provide support to children trafficked into force labour in the fishing communities.
This project is to provide support to human trafficking survivors among asylum seekers, refugees and/or migrants mostly from the Balkans, Asia and Africa.
This project is to provide support to young women and girls who were human trafficking survivors of commercial sexual exploitation.
This project is to provide support IDP who were trafficked for sexual exploitation and early marriage.
This project is to provide support to migrant women who have suffered from forced labour amid COVID-19 pandemic.
This project is to provide support to vulnerable migrant and survivors of human trafficking of forced labour and sexual exploitation.
This project is to provide support to women and girls survivors of human trafficking after Beirut port explosion
This project is to provide support to women, girls, adolescents, including LGBTIQ+ community, who are survivors of trafficking in persons.
This project is to provide aftercare shelter for minors who survived human trafficking.
This project is to provide support to COVID-19 based healthcare assistance for survivors of human trafficking.
This project is to provide support to direct psychological assistance to trafficking victims among ethnic minority women and girls.
This project is to identify and aid (shelter, medical care, food and clothes) young girls.
20
URBAN
This project is to provide support to survivors and highly vulnerable groups, in particular men and boys.
Implementation Map of the Selected Projects
This map is a visual reference of geographic information which does not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNODC concerning the legal status of any country, territory or city or its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
