CFO Jimmy Patronis Issues Proclamation Supporting the People of Cuba
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Today, Chief Financial Officer (CFO) Jimmy Patronis issued a proclamation supporting the people of Cuba. The proclamation comes following protests by Cuban citizens over their lack of freedoms and being denied basic human rights. The CFO strongly stands with the people of Cuban and condemns the decades of repression and economic suffering brought about by Communist rule.
The proclamation can be viewed below and downloaded here.
PROCLAMATION
WHEREAS, Florida has the highest concentration of Cuban-Americans living in the United States, in part due to its proximity to Cuba, which is 90 miles south of Florida; and
WHEREAS, more than 60% of the Cuban-American population lives in the State of Florida with the counties of Miami-Dade, Broward, Hillsborough and Palm Beach having the most concentration of Cubans and account for more than half of all Cubans in the Unites States; and
WHEREAS, Cuban-Americans have enriched American life through their love of freedom and contributions to academia, business, the arts, politics and literature; and
WHEREAS, recently, thousands of Cubans marched on Havana’s Malecon promenade to protest food shortages, high prices, and lack of medicine in one of the biggest anti-government demonstrations in the country since the summer of 1994; and
WHEREAS, the Cuban people are protesting 62 years of socialism, lies, tyranny and misery and the most recently, rolling blackouts as the country undergoes a grave economic crisis; and
WHEREAS, for years Cuba has been in a dictatorship which has oppressed the people and can no longer feed or protect its own people and has denied Cubans access to basic human rights; and
WHEREAS, hundreds of Cuban-Americans in Florida stand by the people of Cuba and support their right to protest their lack of freedoms, and decry the ongoing social and political instability; and
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal of the State of Florida hereby confirms FLORIDA’S SUPPORT FOR THE PEOPLE OF CUBA and strongly stands with the Cuban people’s natural and inalienable right to peaceful assembly and condemns the decades of repression and economic suffering through Communist rule.
IN TESTIMONY WHEREOF the Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal of the State of Florida has hereunto subscribed his name and has caused the Official Seal of the State of Florida to be hereunto affixed in the City of Tallahassee on the 12th day of July 2021.
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About CFO Jimmy Patronis Chief Financial Officer and State Fire Marshal Jimmy Patronis is a statewide elected official and a member of Florida’s Cabinet who oversees the Department of Financial Services. CFO Patronis works each day to fight insurance fraud, support Florida’s firefighters, and ensure the state’s finances are stable to support economic growth in the state. Follow the activities of the Department on Facebook (FLDFS) and Twitter (@FLDFS).
The “Parents’ Bill of Rights” (House Bill 240), signed by Governor DeSantis, gives parents access to school incident reports regarding emergency situations involving their child.
Involuntary mental health examinations involving children more than doubled, from 14,997 in 2001 to 37,882 in 2019. Many of them without parental knowledge or consent. The “School Safety” bill, now passed into law, seeks to change that.
Two new laws require schools and medical facilities to notify families when a child is subjected to the “Baker Act.”
The parents have to realize they have rights, but along with those rights comes responsibility.”
— Patti Sullivan, Executive Director Parental Rights Florida
CLEARWATER, FLORIDA, UNITED STATES, July 12, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ — Two bills passed by the 2021 Florida legislature should remove decades of doubt and confusion regarding certain fundamental rights of parents “to direct the upbringing, education, health care and mental health of a minor child.”One bill, House Bill (HB) 241 is titled the “Parents’ Bill of Rights.” The other, Senate Bill (SB) 590, dubbed “School Safety,” requires that a parent “be contacted by the school principal before a student is removed for an involuntary mental health examination.” Both were signed into law by Governor Ron DeSantis on 29 June.
“These parental rights are fundamental. They were already in statutes,” says Diane Stein, president of the Citizens Commission on Human Rights (CCHR) Florida. “Now they are all together under one roof.”
Both bills are consequential to Florida’s controversial 1971 Florida Mental Health Act, generally called the “Baker Act,” nicknamed after now-deceased Miami Representative Maxine Baker who championed the law. The Baker Act enables emergency mental health services and temporary detention for people impaired by mental illness and who are unable to determine their needs for treatment. The act permits involuntary detainment for up to 72 hours.
Opponents of the Act—ranging from parents’ rights advocates to those who oppose the often-predatory practices of psychiatry—have denounced the documented usurpation of human rights, both those of “Baker-Acted” children and parents of children who have been ensnared by the law.
2,702,644 Baker Act involuntary exams were given in Florida from 2001 to 2019, which included 444,140 minors—according to the FY2018/2019 Baker Act Annual Report prepared by the University of South Florida for the state’s Department of Children and Families (the latest data available). Baker Act exam numbers have steadily increased since 2001, the first year these measurements were published. Total (all ages) involuntary exams for 2001 grew from 95,574 to 210,992 in 2019; Baker Act exams involving children more than doubled, from 14,997 in 2001 to 37,882 in 2019.
CCHR Florida’s Stein says she has taken “thousands of actions on the Baker Act issue” since taking over CCHR Florida in 2015. Under her guidance, CCHR Florida has become the recognized expert in mental health human rights. CCHR Florida and its wide army of parents and children’s rights advocates have worked for years to reform the Baker Act and reaffirm basic family rights.
Stein’s plain-spoken witness to Baker Act cruelty was crucial to legislators—many were not even born when the Act passed—in understanding the scope and shame of the law’s implementation: “Here’s how it works,” Stein tells them. “The child throws a tantrum, a teenager is acting dramatic, a pre-teen has a hormonal moment, a child won’t eat his or her food, whatever it was that ‘supposedly’ brought the Baker Act to school.
“Teacher gets mad, kid kicks the teacher and goes into ‘time out’ and says she wishes the teacher would drink hand sanitizer,” Stein continues. Another child tells the teacher, who calls the principal. Principal calls for a Baker Act and law enforcement arrives with handcuffs. Sometimes the child is also hobbled [shackled] and zip-tied and driven to a psychiatric Baker Act receiving facility certified by the DCF.”
Among the provisions in HB241 is the granting of parental access to school incident reports regarding emergency situations involving their child. School districts are now required to report to DCF involuntary examinations initiated, and schools must contract with a certified Baker Act health care practitioner. The law requires grade school-issued ID cards (grades 6 – 12) must include crisis hotlines and text lines.
Opponents to the bill cite privacy concerns for children. A major problem seems to be wording in the Parents’ Bill of Rights entitling parents “access and review of all school records relating to his or her minor children,” thereby removing the child’s right to privacy, such as in conversations with school counselors.
Parental Rights Florida (PRF) Executive Director Patti Sullivan views such opposition as a “smokescreen. The current rights are already in statute. Parents have the right to see school records. Teachers should not have to worry about getting involved in personal values or thoughts. Clearly the teacher’s objective should be teaching English. That’s basic.”
In fact, Florida Statutes Chapter 1002, “Student and Parental Rights and Educational Choices,” does allow parents access to student records. Chapter 1002 also incorporates the elements of the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), a 1974 law—amended nine times—protecting student records and the right of parents to access them at schools receiving U.S. Department of Education funding.
The Parents’ Bill of Rights specifically adds a provision requiring parental consent before medicine is prescribed for their child, providing a misdemeanor penalty for any provider who violates this health care provision.
It’s no secret the medical industry has lobbied Florida Governor Ron DeSantis against the Parents’ Bill of Rights. A letter sent to him, signed by nine Florida medical associations, expressed fear that doctors may be criminalized for providing health care to children without parental consent. “Imagine the dilemma of seeing a child sustain a spinal cord injury from a fall, being present and able to provide emergency medical assistance that might save that child’s life, but being legally prohibited from doing so unless the parent was present to provide written consent,” the letter stated.
PRF’s Sullivan, emits an incredulous sigh: “Signed parental consent forms allowing emergency treatment when a student is injured or ill is common practice at any school.”
Sullivan, who says she grew up in poverty in a broken family, estimates, “99 percent are good parents. I can’t revolve around the other 1 percent. It’s sad and something we wish we could change but there are variations of what we call ‘family.’ One parent at home, or work. They are missing the beautiful cohesive thing that holds family together. The parents have to realize they have rights, but along with those rights comes responsibility.”
And that responsibility, for parent, state, and child, is clearly spelled out now in these two laws.
About CCHR:
CCHR is a non-profit mental health watchdog group dedicated to eliminating abuses committed under the guise of mental health. CCHR, an expert in mental health human rights, works to ensure patient and consumer protections are enacted and upheld. In this role, CCHR has helped to enact more than 180 laws protecting individuals from abusive or coercive mental health practices since it was formed over 50 years ago. For more information about CCHR Florida visit, www.cchrflorida.org
CCHR was co-founded in 1969 by the Church of Scientology and Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus Dr. Thomas Szasz at a time when patients were being warehoused in institutions and stripped of all constitutional, civil and human rights. It was L. Ron Hubbard, the founder of Scientology, who brought the terror of psychiatric imprisonment to the notice of the world. In March 1969, he said, “Thousands and thousands are seized without process of law, every week, over the ‘free world’ tortured, castrated, killed. All in the name of ‘mental health.’” For more information on the Church of Scientology visit, www.scientology.org
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Between 720 and 811 million people in the world faced hunger in 2020 – some 161 million more than for 2019 – the UN Secretary-General said on Monday; “new, tragic data”, which indicates the world is “tremendously off track” to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.
“High costs, coupled with persistently high levels of poverty and income inequality, continue to keep healthy diets out of reach for around three billion people, in every region of the world”, added António Guterres, in a statement highlighting the importance of the global Food Systems Summit, due to take place in September.
In a world of plenty, we have no excuse for billions of people to lack access to a healthy diet. This is unacceptable – @antonioguterres.
Although hunger has been on the rise for several years, the UN chief pointed out that in 2021, “we are failing to provide what is a fundamental right for people around the world”.
And COVID-19 has not only made things worse, but also highlighted the linkages between inequality, poverty, food and disease.
Despite a 300 per cent increase in global food production since the mid-1960s, according to the Secretary-General, “malnutrition is a leading factor contributing to reduced life expectancy”.
He cited climate change as both “a driver and a consequence of hunger”, adding that “our war with nature” includes a food system that generates one third of all greenhouse gas emissions and is also responsible for up to 80 per cent of biodiversity loss.
“And hunger drives conflict”, the UN chief reminded.
No excuses
As recognized in the 2030 Development Agenda, hunger and malnutrition are interconnected and must be addressed in conjunction with other global challenges.
“It is time to keep our promise”, said Mr. Guterres.
In a world of plenty, he stressed that it is unacceptable for billions of people to lack access to healthy diets and warned that time is running out to make “the urgent shifts” needed to limit global temperature rise.
Before the Summit
Prior to kicking off the Summit during the opening of the General Assembly in September, later this month the UN chief will convene a Pre-Summit in Rome to hammer out how to address hunger, the climate emergency, inequality and conflict together – all needed to urgently transform global food systems.
“We have heard thousands of voices around the world and ideas of women, indigenous peoples and the young people that are the future of our food systems”, said Mr. Guterres, referring to national dialogues conducted across the globe.
Their ideas on “green transitions” to promote decent work, improve technology access and reset humanity’s relationship with the planet, will all be fed into the Summit.
‘Profound’ food relationship
While supporting billions of jobs, food also brings families and communities together, reminded the Secretary-General. And making changes in food systems would not only limit pandemic impacts but also shift to a safer, fairer, more sustainable world.
Describing the social, environmental and economic facets of food systems as “profound”, he spelled out: “Our relationship with food is a fundamental part of all aspects of life on earth”.
Noting that the 2030 Agenda is the blueprint to recover from COVID, the UN chief stressed that investing in food system changes would support the transformation.
“It is one of the smartest – and most necessary investments we can make”, he said.
Healing people and planet
Highlighting one national discussion over the issue, speaking in Nigeria, Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed depicted changing food systems as “an opportunity to drive progress across all SDGs”.
By working together and embracing the needed transformations, she maintained that both people and planet can be healed.
“If we are to address the climate emergency, ensure better health and well-being of people, while also overcoming inequality, we must transform our food systems”, she told the Nigeria national consolidatory dialogue in Abuja, at the end of last month.
Inputs and ideas
The deputy chief observed that Nigeria had been a leader in conducting discussions throughout the country’s six geo-political zones.
“It’s obvious that the dialogues have generated a wealth of inputs and ideas. But, crucially, they have also fostered opportunities for enhanced collaboration with one another”, she said.
According to Ms. Mohammed, the dialogues have recognized the importance of the right to food and the need to strengthen partnerships across all sectors and at all scales.
Stockbrokers have developed a certain reputation throughout the years
STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, July 12, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ — Stockbrokers have developed a certain reputation throughout the years. For instance, they’re all sharp-dressed, smooth-talking individuals, right? They’re all worth millions, right? Stockbrokers have gained these as their reputation, but this isn’t necessarily true for every stockbroker. Robert Wilkos would like to help put an end to some of these stigmas and help you understand who stockbrokers really are.1. All Wear Suits
While you see the more recognized stockbrokers walking down Wall Street in suits, this isn’t true for every individual. Yes, many stockbrokers dress to the nines at all times. It gives the appearance of wealth, even if the stockbroker hasn’t quite made it yet. However, you may work with a broker who dresses down and has a more laid-back appearance. I’ve known a few throughout my time working with investments.
Big-Firm Brokers Are More Trustworthy
Robert Wilkos says just because a broker is with a large firm doesn’t mean he’s successful and honest. Being with a large firm isn’t a reflection of his character or success. You’ll find stockbrokers who take advantage of people and are with big firms, small firms or are independents.
Fancy Title Means Success
Some stockbrokers have earned their mark with their company for the right reasons. Some of have climbed the ladder legitimately because of hard work, dedication, and knowledge. However, this isn’t the case for every broker out there.
Stockbrokers All Sell the Same Stocks
Robert Wilkos explains that you would naturally assume that any stockbroker can sell you any type of investment you want. However, this isn’t the case. While a stockbroker may be able to help you access and invest in any stock, they don’t always do that. A broker may only sell you a stock that pays the highest commission because they’re looking out for themselves first and not you.
Brokers Give Financial Advice
A stockbroker isn’t the same thing as a financial advisor. A stockbroker is just there to help you invest in the stock market, private equity, or other types of investment. They aren’t there to give you financial advice and help you plan for your future or retirement.
Brokers Only Deal With the Incredibly Wealthy
You may see stockbrokers on TV and in magazines who are working with a debonair man. This isn’t always the case in real life. Many middle-classed individuals invest in the stock market, and brokers work with these individuals as well. The images portrayed are for advertising purposes. You see a wealthy individual, and you’ll automatically put yourself in their place.
All Brokers Are All Millionaires
This isn’t the case for everyone. Many do make millions. However, some make one, or possibly several, bad investments and actually lose quite a deal of money.
Robert Wilkos knows that stockbrokers aren’t always what you see advertised. They work hard to get where they are, often more than a standard 40-hour workweek. Not all of them sport $2,000 suits and drive a Mercedes. And not all of them are successful at what they do.
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Thrillers and romantic comedies and memoirs, oh my!
Summer is in full swing, which means beach books galore — whatever type of story that might mean to you. Solve a mystery or get deep in your feels; we’ve got something for everyone on this list of recent book releases I just couldn’t put down.
Andrea Bartz (The Herd) writes great thrillers, and her latest is no exception. Emily and Kristen are two friends who travel the world together, but things go sideways when one is attacked and they have to kill a man in self-defense. But when it happens again a year later Emily has to wonder just how much of an accident it really was. Bartz is so good at writing about toxic female friendship, and this one crackles with the lived-in, slow-burning tension of a woman realizing all is not well with her dangerous best friend. (Out Aug. 3.)
2. watch You’ve Got Mail at least once a year: Hana Khan Carries On, Uzma Jalaluddin
This sweet take on You’ve Got Mail brings the action to dueling halal restaurants in Toronto. You know where this is going the moment Anger Sparks start to fly between a young podcaster and an opinionated online commenter, but that doesn’t mean it’s not a blast getting there. Jalaluddin keeps the romantic tension bubbling while also weaving in a thoughtful story about community and family secrets (classic novel stuff). Flipping through this is like curling up on the couch to watch a comforting Netflix rom-com.
In this moving memoir, Ford recounts her difficult childhood and a turbulent relationship with her abusive mother. Troubling and heartfelt, it’s a moving story about making peace with your past — and rising above all kinds of difficulties. What is most memorable is how clear-eyed Ford is able to look at her heavy past, while also holding space and love for her family and her childhood.
John Green is internet and book royalty, and in his first non-YA book, the brain that has so captivated millions of readers and podcast listeners gives his memorable perspective on everything from Halley’s Comet to old photographs to the invention of Monopoly. I learned so many little facts about so many things from this thoughtful, inquisitive, funny book about the breadth of the human experience. It made me excited about the future of humans, and even made me care about soccer. This book is a marvel.
Full disclosure: Nedd is a Mashable writer. But just about anyone would love her YA debut about star-crossed teens who play for opposing esports teams. Video game fans will find plenty to love as Nedd nerds out in the world and the language, but even those who don’t know a controller from a screen will still be tickled by the whip-smart dialogue and Big Teen Feelings.
6. rewatch Groundhog Day: The Rehearsals, Annette Christie
Fans of do-overs will love this quirky romance, which follows a couple during their wedding rehearsal day from hell. By the end of the night, they’ve decided to call it quits on the relationship and not get married, but when they wake up in the morning…it’s that day all over again. The fun premise is well executed with just enough surprises to keep the romantic story fresh. A perfect beach book (or train book, or lying on your couch soaking up the AC book in the middle of August…).
7. need a convo-starter for your bookclub: The Other Black Girl, Zakiya Dalila Harris
Part mystery, part social commentary, The Other Black Girl is a sharply observed tale that will leave you guessing right up until the end. Nella Rogers is tired of being the only Black employee at her book publishing house, so when another young Black woman, Hazel, shows up, she’s thrilled. But weird events start occurring, and when threatening notes appear on her desk, Nella begins to spiral. Who is behind all this, and is Hazel really as helpful as she appears? This book has plenty of that horror, dread-in-your-stomach feeling, and it’s also a delightful peek behind the curtain into the wild world of book publishing (perhaps not surprisingly, Harris worked in publishing before writing this buzzy debut).
8. enjoyed The Undoing: The Plot, Jean Hanff Korelitz
The Plot (by the author of the book the HBO series The Undoing is based upon), is a neat literary mystery: A college professor and one-time promising novelist hears an absolutely incredible novel idea in his class one day by a smug student. Years later, when the student has died without writing said instant bestseller, the professor writes the killer story himself and becomes an overnight success. But when he starts getting mysterious emails accusing him of plagiarism, he becomes convinced someone out there knows the truth — but how? A quick page turner, it’s brainy and fun and a delightful puzzle of a tale.
9. think “food and feelings” is your mantra : Crying In H Mart, Michelle Zauner
Foodies, listen up. This memoir from singer/songwriter Zauner focused on the year her mother died is both terribly sad and deeply heartwarming, as she recounts a difficult childhood growing up one of a few Asian American kids in her school and reconnecting to the food and culture of Seoul following her mother’s terminal cancer diagnosis. Zauner is able to closely tie the recipes and foods of her mother’s culture to nostalgia for home itself. With beautiful prose, Zauner writes lovingly about the tastes and smells of home and all the things we don’t truly miss until they are gone.
Another book centering on food! Home Made: A Story of Grief, Groceries, Showing Up — and What We Make When We Make Dinner is a touching firsthand account of a woman who, while grieving her dad’s death, decides the best way to honor him is to volunteer at the group home for teen boys that he worked at for years by showing up weekly to cook and chat with whomever is interested. The result is years of weekly dinners with a group of young men, and some surprising and moving revelations for all involved as the relationships grow.
Highly aware of “white savior” stories and how much the world does not need another one, Hauck is quick to educate readers about systemic issues and regularly calls herself out. Nobody is saving anyone here, but this book is deeply moving, unforgettable, and will make you sit with plenty of hard questions about the individuals society ignores — and, perhaps, become invested in a better way forward.
In collaboration with Johns Hopkins University, WHO has launched 2 pilot projects focusing on improving school nutrition policies and interventions in primary health care in selected countries. The projects aim to support the effective implementation of evidence-based interventions and policies for tackling noncommunicable diseases (NCDs).
The pilot projects will be carried out in Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan, where the implementation of school nutrition policies has not been consistently optimal.
NCDs are a leading cause of death in the WHO European Region, and pose a significant threat to the health of people everywhere. Fewer than 50% of countries worldwide have implemented WHO-recommended best-buy policies for tackling NCDs. The WHO European Office for the Prevention and Control of NCDs has launched a series of projects in countries across the Region to close this gap between evidence and practice.
Closing the know–do gap in NCD prevention
In Kyrgyzstan, the “Concept of rational and healthy nutrition of the population of the Kyrgyz Republic in 2021–2025”, which includes a focus on school nutrition policies, was signed in 2020. Amendments to the law are also being made to ban advertising of foods with high salt, sugar and fat content on school grounds in the country.
“The foundations of a person’s health are laid in childhood, and that’s why it’s so important to develop healthy habits and value-based attitudes during this period of childhood,” noted Dr Maria Kushubakova from the Department of Disease Prevention and State Sanitary and Epidemiological Surveillance of the Ministry of Health and Social Development of Kyrgyzstan.
“Insufficient intake of nutrients during childhood negatively affects physical development and academic performance, and contributes to metabolic disorders and chronic pathology,” she added.
Dr Kushubakova concluded, “For the further sustainable development of nutrition in schools, it is necessary to continue the implementation of school nutrition policies.”
The aim of the pilot project on implementation research in Kyrgyzstan is thus to improve the uptake of these policies by identifying possible barriers and bottlenecks, as well as enablers of success.
“We started this project to figure out where the challenges are and how we can improve the implementation of good and cost-efficient policies and interventions,” explained Dr Kremlin Wickramasinghe, ad interim Programme Manager of Nutrition, Physical Activity and Obesity at WHO/Europe.
An integrated approach
To ensure an integrated approach that links research and practice to improved public health interventions, the pilot projects will:
build up national interdisciplinary teams from different institutions;
engage the teams from the beginning in planning and conducting the projects to ensure their sustainability;
conduct an online seminar series on practical examples of implementation research;
collaborate with international experts on implementation research (Johns Hopkins University); and
involve early-career researchers.
These projects aim to improve people’s health through better-informed policies, improved service delivery, and the support and empowerment of communities through collaboration, in line with the WHO European Programme of Work 2020–2025.
Maryam Rajavi: This is a litmus test of whether the international community will engage and deal with this genocidal regime or stand with the Iranian people.
Maryam Rajavi: Raisi must be prosecuted for genocide and crimes against humanity during the 1988 massacre and the massacres before and after that.
3rd Day of the Free Iran World Summit; Global Support for the Iranian People’s Uprising & the Democratic Alternative.
Before addressing the Summit, Mrs. Rajavi visited the Khavaran Memorial, which was built in Ashraf 3, Albania, to honor the memory of the 30,000 martyred political prisoners during the summer of 1988 massacre, and paid tribute to those martyrs.
These martyrs were executed based on Khomeini’s fatwa and by Raisi and other ruling criminals because they refused to repent and remained steadfast in their beliefs and commitment to freedom.
Many of them were buried in mass graves in Khavaran Cemetery (southeast Tehran). On behalf of the Iranian Resistance, Mrs. Rajavi vowed that the Iranian Resistance would continue its resistance until it succeeds in taking back Iran from the grip of the mu
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Rentzi (2014-2016), Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (1999 – 2009), Enda Kenny, Irish Prime Minister (2011 – 2017), Carlo Cottarelli, Italian Prime Minister (2018), Frederic Reinfeldt, Swedish Prime Minister (2006 to 2014) Petre Roman
Speeches by John Bolton, Joseph Lieberman, Rudy Giuliani, , Louis Freeh, Michael Mukasey, Gens. Conway and Keane.
Installing Raisi as president dashes the myth of moderation within the regime. It marks the failure of Western governments’ policy of complacency.
Maryam Rajavi: This is a litmus test of whether the international community will engage and deal with this genocidal regime or stand with the Iranian people.”
— NCRI
PARIS, FRANCE, July 12, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ — The third day of the Free Iran World Summit 2021, the Democratic Alternative of the March to Victory, was focused on the Iranian people’s call for justice for the victims of the 1988 massacre of more than 30,000 political prisoners, 90% of whom were members and supporters of the Mujahedin-e Khalq (MEK/PMOI).Prominent European figures such as Italian Prime Minister Matteo Rentzi (2014-2016), MEP and Belgian Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt (1999 – 2009), Enda Kenny, Irish Prime Minister (2011 – 2017), Carlo Cottarelli, Italian economist and former director of the International Monetary Fund, Italy’s designated Prime Minister (2018), Frederic Reinfeldt, Swedish Prime Minister (2006 to 2014), Petre Roman, Romanian Prime Minister (1989-1991).
Prominent supporters of the Iranian Resistance: Mayor Rudy Giuliani, John Bolton, Senator Joseph Lieberman, Senator Robert Torricelli, Judge Michael Mukasey, Dir. Louis Freeh, Ambassador Robert Joseph, Ambassador Marc Ginsberg, Ambassador Lincloln Bloomfield Jr., Frances Townsend, former U.S. Homeland Security Advisor, Theresa Payton, former White House Chief Information Officer.
Dozens of European and Canadian Ministers, including from Canada, John Baird, Foreign Minister (2015), Tony Clement, Minister of Industry (2011), Wayne Easter, Minister of Agriculture (2006), Judy Screw, Minister of Citizenship and Immigration (2005); From France, Rama Yade, Minister of Human Rights (2007-2009), Corinne Lepage, former Minister of the Environment; From Scandinavia, Timo Soini Deputy Prime Minister of Finland (2017) and Minister of Foreign Affairs (2019); from the Baltic States; Audronius Ažubalis, Lithuanian Foreign Minister (2012); Eduard Kukan, Slovak Foreign Minister (2006).
From Ireland, Tom Kitt, Secretary of State (2008), Lucinda Creighton, Minister of State for European Affairs; Lord Henry Bellingham, Under Secretary of State at the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office; Alexander Wonder, MEP, former Minister for Defense of the Czech Republic (2012), from Poland, Michał Kamiński, Secretary for Media Relations in Chancellery of the President (2007), Ryszard Kalisz, Minister of Interior and Administration (2005).
From Albania, Triton Shehu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania(1997), Klajda Gjusha, Minister of European Integration (2017), Mimi Kodheli, Minister of Defense (2017); Also Senior U.S. military commanders including, General James Conway, General Jack Keane, General Charles Wald; James Woolsey, former CIA director (1995), and prominent political figures, such as Adrianus Melkert, former UNAMI representative in Iraq, Garry Kasparov, Russian chess grandmaster, Gilbert Mitterrand, President of the France Libertes Foundation, will be addressing the Summit.
In her address, Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI), referring to the reasons for Khamenei installing Ebrahim Raisi, the murderer of the MEK and the henchman of the 1988 massacre, said that in political terms, his ascension dashed the myth of moderation within the regime. It marked the failure of Western governments’ policy of complacency toward religious fascism.
Now, they have handed over the executive branch to a mass murderer, the judiciary to a professional executioner, and the legislative branch to a club wielder who has openly declared: “I am one of the club wielders, and I am proud to have wielded the stick against Massoud Rajavi (the Leader of the Iranian Resistance) since 1979.” Truly, he is the embodiment of obscenity and wickedness. Indeed, if the religious dictatorship was not on the verge of demise, why would it need to put the squad of cannibals at the helm?
Emphasizing that more than 90% of the Iranian people boycotted the election masquerade, Mrs. Rajavi said that even statistics full of fraud by the regime acknowledge that 80% of the people in Tehran, 70% in Shiraz, and 58% in the whole country boycotted the sham election. The City Council elections were even more disastrous. In some cities, void ballots came in first.
The voter turnout in Tabriz was only 1.5%. Yes, this regime represents only 1.5 percent of the population. The whole story is that the objective conditions for the regime’s overthrow are in place. As far as the Iranian people are concerned, they are, as always, redoubling their resolve to overthrow the religious dictatorship in the face of the regime’s new repressive and aggressive posture.
Mrs. Rajavi added: As far as the international community is concerned, this is the litmus test of whether it will engage and deal with this genocidal regime or stand with the Iranian people. The United Nations must not allow Raisi to attend the next session of the General Assembly. Raisi is a criminal guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity in 1988.
He is guilty because, as one of the regime’s highest Judiciary officials during the last 40 years, he played a key role in the execution and murder of the Iranian people’s children.
He is guilty because he is one of the leaders of a regime that killed 1,500 youths during the November 2019 uprising, which researchers say is three times higher.
As Amnesty International’s Secretary-General said, “That Ebrahim Raisi has risen to the presidency instead of being investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance, and torture is a grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran.”
Mrs. Rajavi noted: It was this Resistance that one day forced Khomeini to drink the poison chalice of ceasefire in the Iran-Iraq war. It was this Resistance that one day caught Ali Khamenei by exposing the regime’s nuclear program. And it will be this Resistance that will one day pour the poison chalice of human rights down the throat of this religious dictatorship. This will undoubtedly become a reality.
Before addressing the Summit, Mrs. Rajavi visited the Khavaran Memorial, which was built in Ashraf 3, Albania, to honor the memory of the 30,000 martyred political prisoners during the summer of 1988 massacre, and paid tribute to those martyrs.
These martyrs were executed based on Khomeini’s fatwa and by Raisi and other ruling criminals because they refused to repent and remained steadfast in their beliefs and commitment to freedom. Many of them were buried in mass graves in Khavaran Cemetery (southeast Tehran). On behalf of the Iranian Resistance, Mrs. Rajavi vowed that the Iranian Resistance would continue its resistance until it succeeds in taking back Iran from the grip of the murderous ruling regime.
Releasing two companion reports on Monday, the UN health agency has provided the first global recommendations for DNA-altering technology, known as human genome editing, to be used as a safe, effective and ethical public health tool to benefit everyone.
“Human genome editing has the potential to advance our ability to treat and cure disease, but the full impact will only be realized if we deploy it for the benefit of all people, instead of fuelling more health inequity between and within countries”, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO).
A representative report
The total complement of genes in any organism or cell, is known as its genome.
WHO said in a news release that the forward-looking reports are the result of broad, global consultations on the different types of gene therapies, which involve modifying a patient’s DNA to treat or cure diseases. These include germline and heritable human genome editing which involves making changes to the genetic material, that can include developing human embryos.
WHO’s two-year analysis studied the diverse perspectives of hundreds of scientists, patients, faith leaders, indigenous peoples and others.
“These new reports from WHO’s Expert Advisory Committee represent a leap forward for this area of rapidly emerging science”, said WHO’s Chief Scientist, Soumya Swaminathan.
Pros and cons
Potential benefits of human genome editing include faster and more accurate diagnosis, more targeted treatments and the ability to prevent genetic disorders.
Somatic gene therapies have successfully addressed HIV and sickle-cell disease, and the technique has the potential to vastly improve treatment for a variety of cancers.
Safe, effective and ethical
The reports recommend the governance and oversight of human genome editing in nine discrete areas, including in registries; international studies; and illegal, unregistered, unethical research.
They focus on the system-level improvements needed to build capacity in all countries to ensure that human genome editing is used safely, effectively and ethically.
“As global research delves deeper into the human genome, we must minimize risks and leverage ways that science can drive better health for everyone, everywhere”, said Dr. Swaminathan.
New framework
The reports also provide a governance framework that identifies specific tools, institutions and scenarios to illustrate challenges in implementing, regulating and overseeing research into the human genome.
The framework offers specific recommendations for dealing with a host of scenarios such as the use of somatic or epigenetic genome editing to enhance athletic performance as well as services following in vitro fertilization and preimplantation genetic diagnosis.
Digging into genes
Moving forward, WHO will convene a small expert committee to consider next steps for the registry, including how to better monitor clinical trials using human genome editing technologies of concern.
It will also gather participants to develop an accessible mechanism for confidential reporting on possibly illegal, unregistered, unethical and unsafe human genome editing research and other activities.
As part of its commitment to increasing education, engagement and empowerment, the UN health agency will lead regional webinars focusing on regional and local needs.
And it will work on how to build an inclusive global dialogue surrounding frontier technologies, including working across UN agencies and creating web-based resources for reliable information on these machineries, including human genome editing.
Global hunger levels have skyrocketed because of conflict, climate change and the economic impact of COVID-19; and one in five children around the world is stunted, UN agencies warned on Monday.
New data that represents the first comprehensive global assessment of food insecurity carried out since the coronavirus pandemic began, indicates that the number of people affected by chronic hunger in 2020, rose by more than in the previous five years combined.
Reversing this situation will likely take years if not decades, maintained the World Food Programme (WFP), Food and Agriculture Organization FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), World Health Organization (WHO) and UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF.
It notes that around a tenth of the global population – between 720 million people and 811 million – were undernourished last year.
Some 418 million of that number were in Asia and 282 million were in Africa.
Globally, 2.4 billion people did not have access to sufficiently nutritious food in 2020 – an increase of nearly 320 million people in one year.
Climate change hit
The report also highlights how climate change has left communities in developing countries most exposed to hunger – despite the fact that they contribute little to global CO2 emissions.
These poorer nations are also the least prepared to withstand or respond to climate change, said WFP’s Gernot Laganda, who added that weather-related shocks and stresses were “driving hunger like never before”.
This suggests that “it will take a tremendous effort for the world to honour its pledge to end hunger by 2030”, the agencies said in a statement, in a call for food production to be more inclusive, efficient, resilient and sustainable.
Young targets
Children’s healthy development has suffered too, with more than 149 million under-fives affected by stunting and 370 million missing out on school meals in 2020, because of school closures during the coronavirus pandemic.
Today, 150 million youngsters still do not have access to a school lunch, said WFP, which urged countries to restore these programmes and put in place “even better (ones)… that give children and communities a future”.
“The (report) highlights a devastating reality: the path to Zero Hunger is being stopped dead in its tracks by conflict, climate and COVID-19,” said WFP Executive Director David Beasley.
Children’s future potential “is being destroyed by hunger”, he insisted. “The world needs to act to save this lost generation before it’s too late.”
Supreme Court Religion Cases – Battles Won, More to Come; Mass Graves at Religious Schools in Canada; How Religion Affected the 2020 Election; Government Measures Exacerbate India’s Religious Divide; Sikhs Come to Aid of COVID victims in India; Decline of Christians Slows
Supreme Court Religion Cases – Battles Won, More to Come This past Supreme Court term, Religious Liberty triumphed for the most part. In Tanzin v. Tanvir justices ruled 8-0 in favor of Muslim men who were placed on the FBI’s no-fly list. As a result, people of faith will now be able to seek monetary damages from individual government employees. In Uzuegbunam v. Preczewski, Christian college students fought their school’s speech policy and justices ruled 8-1 that lawsuits can continue even after the government has abandoned the policy or behavior that prompted the suit. In Tandon v. Newsom, the court granted relief to houses of worship challenging the state of California’s lockdown rules and outlined a new approach to free exercise litigation. And in Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, justices unanimously ruled in favor of Catholic Social Services, enabling the faith-based foster care agency to continue partnering with the city despite the agency’s refusal to complete assessments of same-sex couples, saying the government cannot refuse to offer religious accommodations to laws when it’s willing to offer other types of exceptions. Next term, 10 more cases with religious implications are on the slate of cases, including a case from Maine in which parents are suing for tuition money for religious education.
Mass Graves Found at Religious Schools in Canada A Canadian Indigenous group said Wednesday a search using ground-penetrating radar has found 182 human remains in unmarked graves at a site near a former Catholic Church-run residential school that housed Indigenous children taken from their families. The latest discovery of graves near Cranbrook, British Columbia follows reports of similar findings at two other such church-run schools, one of more than 600 unmarked graves and another of 215 bodies. Cranbrook is 524 miles (843 kilometers) east of Vancouver. Currently government, religious and other sources of records are being sought to understand what happened.
Government Measures Exacerbate India’s Religious Divide
India’s massive population is diverse as well as devout. Not only do most of the world’s Hindus, Jains and Sikhs live in India, but it also is home to one of the world’s largest Muslim populations and to millions of Christians and Buddhists. A major new Pew Research Center survey finds that Indians of all these religious backgrounds overwhelmingly say they are very free to practice their faiths and see religious tolerance as a central part of who they are as a nation. But members of India’s major religious communities often don’t feel they have much in common with one another, and the nation’s new citizenship act excludes Muslim immigrants from a smooth path to citizenship. . How Religion Affected the 2020 Election
Voters in 2020 sorted along religious lines in ways consistent with recent elections. Protestants constituted nearly half of all voters (46 percent), as they did in 2016. Within the Protestant tradition, White evangelicals accounted for 19 percent of all voters, but a much higher share of Trump’s voters (34 percent). Without such broad support for Trump among White evangelicals, Biden would have beaten him by more than 20 points. White non-evangelical Protestants voted for Trump over Biden by a 14-point margin (57 percent-43 percent), while Black Protestants were an overwhelmingly Democratic group (91 percent voted for Biden). Biden, by contrast, drew strong support from religiously unaffiliated voters – atheists, agnostics, and those who say their religion is “nothing in particular.” Together, these voters made up 25 percent of voters, which is a slightly larger share of the total electorate than White evangelicals (19 percent). But support for Biden among the unaffiliated was not quite as lopsided as Trump’s support among White evangelicals (a 45-point margin for Biden among the unaffiliated vs. a 69-point margin for Trump among White evangelicals). Without the religiously unaffiliated, Trump would have had a 9-point popular vote margin over Biden. Sikhs Come to Aid of COVID victims in India As the United States begins to emerge from the COVID pandemic, India is in the midst of it. Sikhs are providing oxygen concentrators free of charge to many hospitals around the country. Sikhs have long held “langars” or kitchens offering free food, and now they are holding “oxygen langars,” as well.
Decline of Christians Slows The 2020 Census of American Religion conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute revealed that the decline of White Christians and the Rise of the religiously unaffiliated have both slowed. The survey was based on interviews with more than 500,000 respondents between 2013 and 2020, the census report reveals the shifting dynamics of American religious affiliation across geography, race and ethnicity, age, and political affiliation over the last decade. It provides the most detailed estimates of American religious affiliation since the U.S. Census Bureau last collected religious data in 1957.
BioLytical Laboratories Inc. announced today that its INSTI® HCV Antibody Test has received approval for immediate market entry into the European Union
By providing access to the world’s first one minute HCV test, we are excited to play a role in reducing transmission in Europe to help diagnose and connect individuals to care.”
— Robert Mackie, CEO
Affecting an estimated 71 million globally, Hepatitis C (“HCV”) is a growing international health concern. It can remain asymptomatic and thus undiagnosed, and if left untreated, can cause serious health problems, including liver damage, cirrhosis, liver cancer and even death.
With both taking the test and receiving results in real-time, bioLytical’s INSTI® HCV Antibody Test will help connect more people to care. Treatment can cure more than 95% of people with Hepatitis C, but access to diagnosis is still too low. Ending an epidemic starts with testing. That’s why we’ve developed an all-new, one minute solution for HCV antibody testing.
• The test is portable, does not require any additional equipment, and can be performed in a multitude of settings with easy-to-interpret results in real-time • Test performance in clinical studies demonstrated high accuracy of over 99% The innovative rapid through-flow technology allows INSTI® to provide accurate test results in real-time, offering medical professionals the ability to test patients easily and flexibly in different locations.
… platforms.
Here are the 11 books Obama recommends people read this … Water” was an Oprah Book Club selection.
“Intimacies… after he shared his favorite books from 2020, which in December …
Donatien Nyembo SJ and Marcel Ariston Blé – Vatican City
Ivorian priests are taking part in an Extraordinary Congress from 7 to 11 July 2021. According to Bishop Gaspard Béby Gnéba of the Diocese of Man, in Côte d’Ivoire, the objective is to deepen reflection on the life and ministry of priests in the country. The priests have been spending time sharing their spiritual, pastoral, material and missionary experiences in line with the chosen theme: “Life and ministry of a priest in Côte d’Ivoire: The priest in Côte d’Ivoire in the face of challenges.”
Making Pope Francis’ pastoral vision our own
President of the Organising Committee (PCO), spoke about making the pastoral, missionary and ecclesiological vision of Pope Francis their own. The vision of Pope Francis aligns very well with the five-year pastoral plan, currently running (2018 to 2023) in Côte d’Ivoire.
Building a united and reconciled nation
Notwithstanding the challenges that priests face as they try to grow Christian communities under their charge, Ivorian clergy have pledged to walk together as one body. The goal is to build a new Ivorian society that is united, reconciled and one marked by love, universal fraternity and peace.
Delegates drawn from 15 dioceses
The congress has drawn over 300 participants, comprising delegates from the country’s 15 dioceses and fifty guests, all gathered for the four-day event in Côte d’Ivoire’s political capital of Yamoussoukro.
The solemn opening mass of the Extraordinary Congress was presided over by Archbishop Paolo Borgia, the Apostolic Nuncio in Côte d’Ivoire at the Cathedral of Saint Augustine in Yamoussoukro. Cardinal Jean-Pierre Kutwa will preside over the closing ceremonies on Sunday 11 July at the Basilica of Our Lady of Peace of Yamoussoukro
Amidst growing street violence in the city, Cardinal Blase J. Cupich of Chicago has called on Catholics and “all people of good will” to resist the temptation to retreat to what they consider “a safe space”, but rather to engage in dialogue and listening.
Over 2000 people shot in Chicago in 2021
The Chicago Police Department reported a record of 100 shootings during the Independence Day weekend holiday, with 14 dead, including 2 children, and 83 injured. The shootings have raised more questions about security in the city. 2,019 people have been shot in Chicago as of July 4 2021, an increase of almost 13% over last year and a 58% increase in shootings compared with 2019.
A “spiritual crisis”
Following the latest incidents, Cardinal Cupich has issued a Pastoral Letter reflecting on the issue and suggesting a possible way to invert this dangerous trend which threatens everybody. “Understandably, we want this horrifying situation resolved without delay”, he writes, recalling that Government leaders and community activists have offered many ideas, including “more effective policing, reforming the criminal justice system, stemming the flood of illegal guns, dismantling gangs, investment in historically disadvantaged neighborhoods, strengthening education and shoring up family life”. On his part, Cardinal Cupich points to the underlying “spiritual crisis” that this violent and unstable situation has provoked.
We are inextricably connected with each other
“When violence prompts grief, fear, and a loss of hope, as it always does, people feel alienated from one another. On one level, the fractures appear to be along the lines of race, ethnicity, economic class, and political affiliation. But it runs much deeper than that”, he notes. “We seem unable or unwilling to comprehend that we are inextricably connected with each other”. “Yet we truly are all brothers and sisters to each other”, the prelate points out citing Pope Francis’ Encyclical ‘Fratelli tutti’ and Martin Luther King’s words in 1964. “If we lose that sense of interconnectedness, we also lose our sense of compassion, empathy and responsibility for each other”.
Asking questions, listening, praying and staying connected
As a way forward, Cardinal Cupich therefore suggests five steps. The first step is to “ask questions”, but being “prepared to authentically listen, even when what we are hearing proves painful”. The second step proposed is dialogue, that is seeking “honest exchanges with people of different backgrounds”, which helps mutual understanding and empathy. Cardinal Cupich also suggests praying, to ask for enlightenment and discerning God’s will.
“If you want peace, work for justice”
Finally, he recommends “staying connected”: “The great temptation during a time of crisis is to retreat to what we consider a safe space”, he says. “In fact, what we most need is to go out of our comfort zones and accompany one another, even when that calls for effort and even some risk”.
The letter concludes with the words of Psalm 91: God, my refuge, and of Pope Paul VI: “If you want peace, work for justice.”
According to the Baker Book House company website, Christian indie bookstore Baker Book House and Baker Publishing Group have a history of only slowly warming up to technological innovations. For instance, the company’s manual typewriters were not replaced with electric typewriters until 1977, and its first desktop computer was purchased in 1987. It’s proud of a culture of austerity inspired by its founder’s frugal business practices, which once included providing each employee with only one pen at a time.
During the pandemic, however, as bookstore marketing manager Becca Niswonger put it, “virtual events have taught us that technology is a huge benefit to the store and its customers.” By quickly embracing social media platforms, Baker Book House, which claims to be the oldest and largest indie Christian bookstore in North America, has successfully raised its visibility far beyond its community in Grand Rapids, Mich.
The store was founded in 1939 by 28-year-old Herman Baker. Its homemade shelves were filled with 500 used religious books he had collected over the 14 years he’d lived in the U.S. after emigrating from the Netherlands with his parents. A year later, he became a publisher with the release of More Than Conquerors: An Interpretation of the Book of Revelation by William Hendriksen, which is still in print.
The twin ventures grew steadily. In 1968 Baker opened a second bookstore in Holland, Mich., and in 1970 it opened a third in Benton Harbor. At one point the Baker family owned half a dozen bookstores, though all but the flagship location closed by the mid-’90s.
Today, executive v-p Sue Smith, assisted by a five-member management team, oversees the company’s retail operations and its 45 employees, 24 of whom are full-time; Smith reports to company CEO Dwight Baker. The 18,000-sq.-ft. store carries 140,000 new, used, and bargain books, and Baker Publishing Group publishes approximately 300 titles annually—all of which are available at the store.
The store’s inventory of 55,000 new and 85,000 used books includes fiction and nonfiction in a variety of genres for adults and children, as well as bibles and academic titles on religious subjects for, events coordinator Becky Suttner said, “seminary students and pastors” of all Christian denominations. It also sells music, gifts, and DVDs and has a café area.
“The variety is incredible,” Suttner said. “We have Christian content and we also have some books that are general market, if you will—books of interest to a Christian reader.”
While the store’s four book buyers focus on books published by Baker Publishing Group’s six imprints and other Christian publishers, approximately 10% of the inventory is broader in scope, such as The Natural Medicine Handbook by Walt Larimore, a current bestseller for the store.
Store events are free, Suttner noted, explaining that the five-member marketing team begins promoting each virtual author event months in advance via email and on social media. Discounts are offered on its website, as well as other special offers, such as signed bookplates. “It’s a whole marketing cycle for every event,” she added. It’s proven effective: in 2020 online sales rose 55% at Baker Book House over 2019.
One of the store’s most popular virtual author events was a conversation between Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne, and Beth Allison Barr, author of The Making of Biblical Womanhood. More than 750 people attended, and nearly 2,000 watched it afterward on the store’s social media platforms.
The bookstore, pre-pandemic, boasted a robust programming schedule that included three or four author events per month, as well as monthly gatherings of local church librarians, regular story times, and live music performances, but it is now hosting as many as six virtual author events each month. When it resumes its regular programming this fall, Baker Book House will feature a mix of in-person, virtual, and hybrid author events that will be recorded in front of a small audience in-store and streamed via its social media platforms.
“We’re not going to stop virtual events, because of the access it’s given us,” Suttner said. She noted that, though Grand Rapids is the second-largest city in Michigan, due to its location—180 miles northeast of Chicago and 160 miles west of Detroit—many authors are unable to physically visit the store, particularly during the snowy holiday season. “[The virtual events] allow us to maintain a more robust schedule, even in winter.”
Reflecting on the past year, Suttner insisted that Baker Book House both has and hasn’t changed. “At its core it hasn’t,” she said. “The essence of what makes people want to work here, and shop here, is the same: this company really cares about its people, both employees and customers. What’s changed is we adapted well, we figured out how to survive when everything around us was not. We were quick on our feet. Every little change, we adapted.”
A version of this article appeared in the 07/12/2021 issue of Publishers Weekly under the headline: Bookselling Profile: Baker Book House
(PMOI / MEK Iran) and (NCRI): In June, various members of the European Parliament issued their own statement in a letter to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
(PMOI / MEK Iran) and (NCRI): European Lawmakers Call For Regime’s Accountability.
(PMOI MEK Iran) and (NCRI) Statement of 61 members of the Italian Senate and Parliament on the verge of the Free Iran World Gathering.
(PMOI / MEK Iran) and (NCRI): Letter of the French Committee for Democratic Iran to the French President.
(PMOI MEK Iran) and (NCRI) the statement of 103 members of the British Parliament in support of the uprising of the Iranian people and the 10-point plan of Maryam Rajavi.
(PMOI / MEK Iran) and (NCRI): Statement of the Parliamentary Committee for a Democratic Iran consists of members of the Senate and the French National Assembly.
(PMOI / MEK Iran) and (NCRI): Antonio Guterres, report underlines ongoing executions in Iran, arbitrary arrests,forcible disappearance, lengthy prison sentences, and torturing of dissidents.
(PMOI / MEK Iran) and (NCRI): Free Iran 2021
Maryam Rajavi’s 10-point plan makes it clear that there is a plan for the country’s democratic future in the wake of that change.
Thousands of renowned politicians would be joining the Free Iran World Summit to support regime change in Iran. The event will bring together Iranian expatriate communities from throughout the world”
— NCRI
PARIS, FRANCE, July 9, 2021 /EINPresswire.com/ — March, the British Committee for Iran Freedom released a statement calling for a more assertive, multilateral Western strategy toward the Iranian regime, defined by “tougher sanctions” and clear demands for accountability regarding the regime’s human rights abuses and terrorist acts. The statement was immediately signed by dozens of members of the House of Lords and the House of Commons, as well as various lawmakers elsewhere in Europe. It has since continued to circulate while accumulating more signatures – over 400 at last count.In June, various members of the European Parliament issued their own statement in a letter to the European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel. It echoed that the existing Western policies have contributed to a culture of impunity within the Iranian regime, and it emphasized that the task of confronting that impunity has only been made more imperative in light of the June 18 sham presidential election that established the former judiciary chief, Ebrahim Raisi, as the successor to the regime’s outgoing President Hassan Rouhani.
As the June statement noted, Amnesty International reacted to that development by calling it a “grim reminder that impunity reigns supreme in Iran” and suggesting that instead of being appointed to the presidency, Raisi should have been “investigated for the crimes against humanity of murder, enforced disappearance and torture.”
This call derives primarily from two incidents: the 1988 massacre of Iranian political prisoners and the crackdown on a nationwide protest movement in November 2019. The first was carried out by “death commissions” of which Raisi was a prominent member, and the second took place several months after Raisi was appointed as judiciary chief by the regime’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
In March, the BCIF statement did mention the 1988 massacre in the context of the very first item on its list of concerns and recommendations. After expressing “deep concerns about ongoing human rights violations in Iran,” the statement condemned the “failure of the UN and the international community to address the alarming human rights situation, including the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in 1988.”
The BCIF underlined that a trend of inaction had “emboldened the regime” to undertake more human rights abuses while continuing to promote those officials who had played a leading role in past crimes against humanity. Raisi’s pending ascension to the presidency is a prime example of both of these phenomena, in that his appointment as judiciary chief appears to have been a reward for the service he rendered to the regime as part of the death commissions, while his “election” to the presidency appears to be a similar reward for the ongoing commitment to human rights abuses that he demonstrated as judiciary chief.
The MEPs’ June statement underscored the fact that Raisi’s promotion was an election in name only. It noted that even Iranian regime authorities acknowledged that over half of eligible voters declined to participate in the election. It also cited opposition activists and independent journalists as support for the conclusion that the actual rate of participation was less than one in ten.
This electoral boycott was a rejection of the entire regime and its factions, which urged the people to participate in the election as a way of showing support for the ruling system and the Islamic revolution.
Indeed, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK), the leading voice for a democratic alternative to the clerical regime, specifically promoted the electoral boycott as a “vote for regime change.” Widespread support for that goal was previously revealed in the November 2019 uprising, which encompassed nearly 200 localities and featured provocative, anti-government slogans which had already achieved tremendous popularity during another uprising in January 2018.
For a time, the coronavirus pandemic succeeded where the regime’s repression failed. But in advance of last month’s electoral boycott, NCRI Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Mohammad Mohaddessin specifically stated in a May press conference spoke of another possible uprising, and that this uprising would be “far more intense and widespread than in recent years.”
Mr. Mohaddessin urged Western governments to condemn the anti-democratic process behind Raisi’s promotion, to “end impunity for the mass murderers” of whom Raisi is one, and to “stand on the right side of history and with the Iranian people in their quest for freedom.”
Thousands of renowned politicians would be joining the Free Iran World Summit from this Saturday until Monday to support regime change in Iran. The event will bring together Iranian expatriate communities from throughout the world, in the interest of highlighting the breadth of support that exists for regime change in their homeland. It will also provide Western supporters of that cause with an opportunity to present their policy recommendations in context with the most up-to-date information about developments inside Iran.
Anyone who has not heard those recommendations should pay close attention to the summit, as should anyone who has heard them but still remains on the fence about their value, urgency, or practicality. Over the years, many policymakers and entire governments have rejected appeals for more assertive Iran policies on the basis of their false assumption that regime change was unattainable or that the consequences of such change would be entirely unpredictable. The uprisings of 2018 and 2019 and last month’s electoral boycott all serve to demonstrate that historic change is within reach, while Maryam Rajavi the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance of Iran (NCRI) makes it clear that there is a plan for the country’s democratic future in the wake of that change.
That plan was specifically highlighted by the BCIF in its March statement as something that deserves the support of Western governments. That message will no doubt be reiterated by many of the statement’s signers, and by many others, at this weekend’s summit, and the international response should be much more widespread and enthusiastic this time.
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Free Iran World Summit 2021 – Join the 3-day Summit
Nearly a third of all children in Haiti – numbering around 1.5 million – are in urgent need of emergency relief due to rising violence, insufficient access to clean water, health and nutrition, said the UN Children’s Fund UNICEF on Friday.
Amid a political and economic crisis heightened by the assassination of Haiti’s beleaguered president on Wednesday, young people have also been suffering the long-term impact of disrupted education and protection services amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the threat of hurricanes.
UNICEF said it was deeply concerned that further violence and insecurity following the assassination could pose serious challenges to the humanitarian work of its teams on the ground, and their ability to safely reach the most vulnerable children and families.
While UNICEF has lifesaving supplies in Haiti, prolonged violence and instability could prevent the delivery and replenishment of stockpiles, including vaccines, medicine and medical supplies.
Worst crisis in years
Following the assassination of Haiti’s president, we are deeply concerned that further violence and insecurity could pose serious challenges to @UNICEFHaiti‘s work.
To reach vulnerable children, we need an end to gang violence and urgent safe passage.https://t.co/aENf8aiYFn
— UNICEF (@UNICEF) July 9, 2021
“This is the worst humanitarian crisis the country has faced over the past few years, and it’s deteriorating week after week,” said Bruno Maes, UNICEF representative in Haiti.
“Many children’s lives depend on humanitarian aid and essential items, such as vaccines, syringes, medicines and therapeutic foods. When gangs are fighting in the street and bullets are flying, it’s hard to reach the most vulnerable families with these lifesaving supplies.
“Unless humanitarian organizations are granted safe passage, thousands of affected children will continue to be left with little to no assistance”, he added.
In the first three months of 2021 alone, UNICEF said the number of admissions of severely acute malnourished children in health facilities across Haiti, increased by 26 per cent compared to last year. Since early June, new clashes between rival armed gangs have erupted in some urban areas of the capital Port-au-Prince, which led to hundreds of houses being burned down or damaged.
Over 15,000 women and children were forced to flee their homes due to acts of violence in and around the capital, Port-au-Prince, 80 per cent of them in just the past four weeks.
COVID spike
This recent spike of violence comes amidst a gradual rise of COVID-19 cases in Haiti, said UNICEF. The main COVID-19 dedicated hospitals are saturated and face a shortage of oxygen, while some patients are dying because armed gang violence prevents ambulances from reaching them with oxygen and emergency treatment.
“Haiti is the only country in the Western Hemisphere where not a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine has been received. It’s unacceptable”, said Mr. Maes.
“Gang violence in and around Port-au-Prince is likely to further delay the arrival of COVID-19 vaccines and make their distribution across the country more complicated. Amidst the upsurge of coronavirus cases in Haiti, any additional day without vaccine puts hundreds of lives under threat.”
At least 1.5 million children in Haiti are in urgent need of emergency relief.
UNICEF support
UNICEF is pledging support for the distribution, transportation and storage of COVID-19 vaccines at the right temperature. In the past three years, the agency has installed more than 920 solar refrigerators in Haiti to strengthen the cold chain mainly in remote areas where electricity is unreliable. In total, UNICEF has equipped 96 per cent of all Haiti’s health institutions with solar fridges.
The agency is seeking $48.9 million this year to meet the humanitarian needs of 1.5 million people in Haiti including over 700,000 children, which have been exacerbated by the pandemic and gang violence. So far, this humanitarian appeal has secured only 31 per cent of the funding it needs.
Green Paper on Ageing: COMECE stresses the importance of intergenerational solidarity
In its recent contribution to the European Commission’s consultation on the Green Paper on Ageing of Wednesday 21 April 2021, the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) has highlighted the need for more family-friendly policies and EU policies boosting intergenerational solidarity.
On Wednesday 21 April 2021, COMECE contributed to the consultation of the European Commission on the Green Paper on Ageing, whose principal aim is to launch a wide public debate on the necessary regulations to anticipate and respond to the socioeconomic impacts of Europe’s ageing population.
In its contribution, COMECE welcomes the Green Paper’s strong focus on intergenerational solidarity and underlined the necessity for:
improving participation in the labour market, especially for older workers;
implementing systems of life-long learning;
raising awareness of the issue of elderly abuse;
a new focus on the situation of elderly living in rural areas;
promoting a fair and affordable access to healthcare;
implementing a fair pension system;
recognizing the qualifications achieved within the framework of voluntary work;
promoting new forms of long-term care for social inclusion.
In the context of longer life expectancy, COMECE has also stressed the importance of providing spiritual guidance to the elderly, as well as making the spiritual and cultural resources of elderly people more available to younger generations.
“The elderly are an integral part of the family, a source of support and encouragement for the younger generations. They cannot be separated from society and relational networks” – reads the COMECE-FAFCE document, which also highlights that “elderly people are not only vulnerable persons, but also dynamic actors of social life.”
9 July 2021 – Joining 33 other countries across the globe, North Macedonia has become the latest state to adopt the Blue Heart Campaign in its efforts to tackle human trafficking. Announced this week during a session of the National Commission for Combating Trafficking in Human Beings and Illegal Migration, the Blue Heart Campaign is now a central element of North Macedonia’s awareness raising drive to end this crime and protect those most impacted.
Speaking at the session – which was also attended by the Commission’s National Coordinator, Magdalena Nestorovska – the Minister of Interior, Oliver Spasovski, flagged what this means for North Macedonia. “The Blue Heart Campaign aims to raise awareness of the problems and sufferings of victims of human trafficking and reminds us of the cold-bloodedness of those involved in these criminal acts,” he commented. “By joining this campaign, we express our commitment to the fight against this crime that undermines human dignity. Joining this global campaign for our country will represent another opportunity to get involved in global trends of prevention, awareness-raising, networking, exchange of experiences, joint activities with other countries, for all of us to oppose trade together with people.”
As a global awareness raising initiative to fight human trafficking and its impact on society, the Blue Heart Campaign seeks to encourage Governments, civil society, the private sector and individuals alike to act and help prevent this heinous crime. It also supports the United Nations Voluntary Trust Fund for Victims of Trafficking in Persons, especially Women and Children, which was established in 2010 within the UN Global Plan of Action to Combat Trafficking in Persons. The Trust Fund itself raises and disburses funds to strengthen civil society organizations dedicated to human trafficking victims suffering from a variety of forms of exploitation, especially women and girls exploited by sex-related crime. Over the past decade, the Trust Fund has supported more than 100 grassroot NGOs in over 50 countries by providing tangible assistance to more than 5,000 victims of human trafficking every year.
Uzbekistan, with the support of WHO/Europe, has begun offering tax-based health protection under a pilot scheme in the country’s Syrdarya region. The provision of state health insurance is part of the national health sector reforms announced in 2020, to transform the health service delivery model and accelerate progress towards universal health coverage in the country.
The Syrdarya pilot project, which will operate until the end of 2022, aims to strengthen service delivery in primary health care to ensure that patients are treated more efficiently. It also aims to restructure service delivery in hospitals, using digital health information systems to address the high expenditure associated with tertiary level care.
At the launch, held 1 July in the Syrdarya region, Dr Farrukh Sharipov, Director of the State Health Insurance Fund, commented on the milestone, noting, “The State Health Insurance Fund was an initiative of the President of Uzbekistan and now embodies the vision of the Government of Uzbekistan to improve the health and well-being of all citizens, regardless of their ability to pay.”
Essential health services for all
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Uzbekistan established the State Health Insurance Fund under the Cabinet of Ministers, which will become a strategic purchaser of health services. It will guarantee an essential package of health services for everyone, by increasing coverage and reducing financial hardship.
Dr Amrillo Inoyatov, First Deputy Minister of Health, said, “This pilot project will provide a good platform for the revision of the current health service delivery models and the introduction of new evidence-based approaches in health care. With the Fund, the Ministry is creating a modern system of payment, whereby health service providers will be compensated for the outputs they deliver. Information systems will be at the core of this new system.”
The development of the pilot project was supported by WHO in part through the Universal Health Coverage Partnership (UHC-P) with contributions by the European Union (EU); Grand Duchy of Luxembourg; Irish Aid; Government of Japan; French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs; Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland; Belgium; and the Joint Sustainable Development Goals Fund, a joint endeavour supported by the EU, Denmark, Germany, Ireland, Luxembourg, Monaco, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.
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