Coronavirus is testing the resilience of Europe’s small Jewish communities
Coronavirus is testing the resilience of Europe’s small Jewish communities


 With 20 years of experience as a professional singer, Petra Ernyei had enjoyed a reasonable level of job security.

During the High Holidays especially, Ernyei, 44, could depend on steady gigs from local Jewish organizations in her native Czech Republic, home to some of European Jewry’s oldest heritage sites. 
She has performed at the Maisel Synagogue, a 17th-century Renaissance temple with three naves, and the synagogue in Polna, which was rebuilt in recent years after having been used by the Nazis as a warehouse for stolen Jewish property. 
But with the coronavirus pandemic blowing a large hole in the community’s budget this year, several employees have been let go by Czech Jewish groups and even freelancers like Ernyei have seen their work evaporate. Now instead of working for the community, she is relying on it to survive, joining a growing list of Prague Jews who have come to depend again on international Jewish philanthropy to make ends meet. 
“I try to be optimistic. Sometimes I cry,” Ernyei told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. “We don’t go out anymore, the kids mostly stay at home or go to friends. Life is different now. But I remember that we’ve got our health and we’ve got each other.”
Six months after the coronavirus brought much of European Jewish life to a halt, communities across the continent have mostly adjusted to life under the cloud of a global pandemic. Schools and synagogues have largely managed the transition online, and initial concerns about kosher food shortages and the inability to perform certain religious practices have not come to pass. 
But as Europe’s Jews celebrate the High Holidays, the financial repercussions of the pandemic are just now coming into focus. They threaten to undo years of progress toward achieving financial independence. 

Smaller Eastern European communities, which languished under communism for decades and only recently have come to develop local sources of revenue that enabled them to shed their dependence on foreign donors, are increasingly depending anew on external aid.
This reliance on aid is familiar territory for Jewish communities in former communist countries like the Czech Republic and Bulgaria. The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, or JDC, especially spent hundreds of million of dollars on caring for the basic needs of needy Jews in the aftermath of the collapse of the Iron Curtain in the 1990s. 
Communist repression meant that most Jews in newly democratic countries had little knowledge of their religion and its traditions. So millions of dollars more went to helping them build community institutions, including schools, summer camps and youth programs. 
Some communities also were given back real estate that had been stolen from Jews in the Holocaust, a mixed blessing that included spectacular synagogues but also dilapidated structures and cemeteries that strained their budgets.
Over time, as some of those sites became lucrative tourist attractions and the ranks of local supporters swelled, many of the communities have become less dependent on charity and more self-reliant, though with razor thin margins.
The pandemic has complicated a delicate balance sheet.
“The coronavirus crisis is compounding the preexisting financial problems of small communities in Europe,” said Sergio DellaPergola, an expert on Jewish demography at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. “They’re limited in their sources of income and burdened by maintenance expenses on old real estate.”
In the Czech Republic, where about 3,000 Jews live, the coronavirus has led to a revenue shortfall of about $6 million for Jewish organizations, according to Petr Papousek, the president of the Federation of Jewish Communities there. In Prague, where most Czech Jews live, about 50% of the annual budget has disappeared. 
The shortfall owes to a near total halt in ticket sales at the Jewish Museum in the capital city, which generated thousands of dollars daily before the pandemic. And there was a secondary effect: Revenue from community-owned property rented to hotel and restaurant owners, businesses that took a beating because of the coronavirus, also took a serious hit.
“There’s no sign that this new reality is going to change in the near future, or before 2023,” Papousek said. “We need to start thinking about a new financial model.”
In Hungary, home to one of the larger Jewish communities in the region with about 100,000 people, the coronavirus cost the Jewish community about $1 million in lost ticket sales to the Dohany Synagogue, the second largest in Europe and a popular Budapest tourist attraction. Mazsihisz, the main Jewish umbrella group in Hungary, managed to avoid dismissing any of its dozens of employees, but it did mandate a 40% pay cut. That forced some staff to quit because the reduced salary was too little to live on, a member of the Mazsihisz board said.
“We used to have 200 to 300 visitors each day, many from Israel,” said Alexander Oscar, president of the Organization of the Jews in Bulgaria Shalom. “Now they’re not coming anymore because of corona and we’re going to have a serious budget problem.”
So far, the Bulgarian community has managed to avoid staff layoffs — but Oscar says that won’t be possible much longer.
“We’re barely managing to pay the bills this month, but after September I don’t know what we’re going to do,” he said.
As in the United States, where a coalition of donors quickly pulled together an $80 million emergency fund as the pandemic gained ground this spring, the JDC has led an emergency program to provide relief to 1,600 Jewish families in 16 countries, including 11 in Europe. 
The first phase of the Pandemic Humanitarian Relief Program — it’s being funded by a consortium of donors that includes the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation, the Maurice and Vivienne Wohl Philanthropic Foundation, the Maimonides Fund and the Genesis Philanthropy Group – began in April with stipends ranging from $100 to $180 each month.
That fund is in addition to a $17 million allocation last month from the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency aimed at supporting small Jewish communities through the crisis. An earlier $10 million Jewish Agency fund created to lend money to communities at risk has received applications from 80 communities worldwide.
The growing reliance on external funding represents not only a step backward for many of these communities in terms of self-reliance, but also comes as many potential benefactors run low on cash themselves because of the pandemic. But many in the communities say their institutions are strong enough to weather the crisis — in part because they know how to work together and leverage resources that didn’t exist decades ago.
In April, the Chabad-affiliated EMIH Jewish federation in Hungary scaled back its lucrative kosher foie gras production line – the only one of its kind in Europe – to help avert kosher meat shortages elsewhere in Europe. The switch reduced revenues at the federation’s slaughterhouse, but it enabled a quadrupling of capacity to as much as 10,000 birds a day as a quick resolution to early kosher meat shortages.
The crisis has also strengthened bonds within communities that almost didn’t exist 40 years ago under communism. In Bulgaria, a program called Phone a Friend encouraged younger community members to reach out to older ones who were either confined to their homes or at an elevated risk outside them.
Martin Levi, a 33-year-old events manager from Sofia, made calls each week to check in on two men in their 70s. One of them wanted to know why he was talking to an old man instead of finding a wife, which made Levi laugh. The other had traveled widely and was a skilled conversationalist. 
Our community “has managed to stick together, improvise, regroup and adapt,” Levi said. “It exists and it can survive this setback. It makes me feel proud to be a Bulgarian Jew, and it shows the return on the investment that it took to build this community.”
To Russel Wolkind, the director for planning and partnership for JDC’s Europe division, this is evidence that the fallback to external aid will be only a temporary measure. The communities of Eastern Europe have developed the infrastructure to stand on their own when circumstances improve. 
“Yes, there’s external funding, but the handholding of the 1990s is a thing of the past,” Wolkind said. “The communities are administering this and other emergency measures themselves, and are rising to the occasion in an impressive way.”
Pilgrim who worked in leper colony could become first Catholic saint from Zimbabwe
Pilgrim who worked in leper colony could become first Catholic saint from Zimbabwe
(Photo: The John Bradburne Memorial Society.)John Bradburne cared for people living with leprosy in then-Rhodesia, refusing to leave them as a civil war raged.

September, the long-awaited birth of spring in southern Africa, invokes in me the memory of John Bradburne.

He died as spring arrived in September 1979 not far from his adopted home in Mutemwa in what was then Rhodesia.

Mutemwa means, “You are cut off,” in the local Shona language.

It is well named. Wedged in the bush between two giant granite hills, it is far from the tourist haunts.

Even if they knew of the place, few tourists would venture there for Mutemwa is the home of Zimbabwe’s oldest leper colony.

Today there are less than 100 lepers left in the settlement that once housed over 1,000 sick, desperate and lonely souls.

“Cut off” is exactly what the colonial authorities planned when Mutemwa was chosen to house these most discarded and isolated of all human beings.

Here, among the lepers, that John Bradburne, a wandering English pilgrim, settled, and as the story of his life and the strange events surrounding his death spread, more and more people started visiting Mutemwa, a site of pilgrimage.

So much so that each September, around the anniversary of Bradburne’s death, upward of 30,000 pilgrims descend on this isolated spot.

And, almost every year, 6,000 miles (9,656 kilometers) away, a special commemorative service is held for Bradburne in London’s Westminster Cathedral.

Since his death, several people have claimed miraculous healings after praying to him, the BBC reported one year ago in a piece titled “Why Briton John Bradburne could become Zimbabwe’s first Catholic saint.”

The miracles satisfy one condition for sainthood in the Catholic Church. It is also said that at his funeral, held in Harare, a speck of unexplained blood appeared below his coffin.

SON OF ANGLICAN CLEREGYMAN

John Randal Bradburne was born in Cumbria, the son of a high Anglican clergyman.

Educated at Greshams, A Church of England foundation school, and commissioned into the Indian Army in 1941, he had a solid war record, serving first with the Ghurkhas in Malaya and then with the Chindits in Burma.

When hostilities ended, Bradburne converted to Catholicism and gave up secular life to become a pilgrim, attaching himself to various monastic orders in Britain, Europe, and the Holy Land before traveling to what was then Rhodesia as a missionary helper in the early Sixties.

Jesuit missionaries had been active in Rhodesia from the late 19th century. They introduced him to Mutemwa, where lepers from many southern African countries and various African tribes lived in appalling conditions of sickness, poverty, and isolation.

From the moment Bradburne first saw the leper colony in 1969, it was clear his search was over.

The restless English pilgrim had finally found his apostolate.

Mutemwa became home, and the lepers became his family. He lived among them, attending to their medical, material, and spiritual needs, all the while battling officialdom for a better deal for his severely disabled and marginalized charges.

IMPROVMENT IN LEPER COLONY

Under Bradburne’s care and with the support of a number of local farmers conditions improved at the leper settlement.

By the late Seventies, however, war had come to Rhodesia. The Mutoko district, with its thick bush, rugged hills, and hidden caves, had become a hot spot for guerrilla activity counter-insurgency operations by the Rhodesian security forces.

In November 1966, the white minority-led government of the British colony of Southern Rhodesia had illegally declared itself an independent nation, saying it was part of a struggle against international communism.

That act led to international sanctions against the country and the intensification of a war started by black nationalists two years earlier.

War crept ever closer to the mission. On the night of February 6, 1977, three Jesuit priests and four Dominican nuns were shot dead by guerrillas at St. Paul’s Mission, Musami, some 30 miles (48 kilometers) from Mutemwa.

Dunstan Myerscough, a Jesuit priest and the sole survivor of the Musami massacre, recalls the moment he faced the killers: “The full realization that we were going to die came to me,” he wrote afterward.

“There was some discussion among the guerrillas. The three facing us raised their rifles; the rest of the party seemed to run away in haste. I was looking at the center one, and I saw his gun belch fire. I turned away from him and fell to the ground.

“There was a continuous burst for a few seconds after which more running feet receded. All then went dead quiet. I turned around, and there was no one to be seen. I got up and went to each of the seven in turn. Being assured that they were all dead, I went to the office to phone…”

Today the bodies of the ‘Musami Seven’ lie alongside those of other murdered missionaries in ‘Martyrs’ Row’ at the Jesuit mission cemetery at Chishawasha outside Harare.

NO-GO AREA

By mid-1979, the Mutoko district had become a no-go area and the war had made it impossible to be a neutral observer.

In July that year Luisa Guidotti, an Italian doctor who regularly visited the leper colony from her base at the nearby All Souls Mission, was shot and killed by Rhodesian security forces at a roadblock near the mission.

She was traveling in a marked ambulance when the killing occurred. Some commentators believe she was ambushed as Guidotti had previously had a brush with the Rhodesian authorities and been arrested under suspicion of aiding a wounded guerrilla, a claim that was later found to be groundless.

But the security forces were suspicious of rural missionary communities and their role during the war. Guidotti may well have paid the ultimate price of that suspicion.

In the light of Dr. Guidotti’s death and the deteriorating security situation in the area, Bradburne’s friends urged him to leave Mutemwa. He refused, insisting he stay on with his family, the lepers.

Bradburne’s biographer Fr. John Dove writes: “A good number of the lepers were diseased foreigners; others were from different tribes.

They were unwelcome to some of the local tribesmen who herded their cattle on the leper fields, stole firewood, broke the fences, pinched mangoes. It was alleged that leper rations and gift clothing went astray. John was the shepherd who did all he could to keep the wolves at bay from his battered flock.”

There is a certain inevitability to the Bradburne story. Like some Greek tragedy being played out in the African bush, the end was always clear.

BRADBURNE ABDUCTED

On the night of Sunday, September 2, 1979, a group of boys who acted as the guerrillas’ eyes and ears in the area – abducted Bradburne from his hut, tied his hands behind his back, and marched him off into the night.

In Dove’s account, the day before his abduction Bradburne came down off Mount Chigona, which overlooks the leper settlement and which he often climbed to pray and gather his thoughts. He reported seeing an apparition persuading him to stay on at Mutemwa.

Dove continues that Bradburne developed an “inexplicable, perhaps mystical, thirst ” on the evening of his abduction. He ran to the water tap near the clinic. The water was turned off. He hurried back to the lepers, asking them for water — they had none. The Christ-like thirst eased as it came. This was the last time they saw him.

The two old lepers in the guest hut next to John’s say that he retired there. Then in the night, they heard voices at John’s door speaking in English. They say John opened the door, and conversation ensued. There was a noise of departure, and then all was silent. They were too afraid to leave their hut before the dawn”.

Following his abduction, Bradburne was taken to a cave some six miles (10 kilometers) northeast of Mutemwa.

Here the abductors, now numbering around 40, mocked and taunted him before taking him to a nearby village. He was bound and left in an empty hut where he stayed throughout Monday, September 3.

That night Bradburne was marched to a local guerrilla commander’s hiding place in a cave in the nearby Inyanga Mountains. The party arrived with Bradburne the following morning.

There he was accused of being an informer, but the commander said he knew of Bradburne and his work with the lepers. He offered the Englishman the option of leaving Mutemwa and going to Mozambique.

Bradburne refused, saying the lepers needed him. That night the commander issued instructions for his release, but Bradburne’s refusal to leave the area had sealed his fate.

BACK TO THE LEPER COLONY

He began the journey back to the leper colony accompanied by a group of local villagers. He did not make it home. Along the way, he was made to kneel in a ditch beside the main road leading back to Mutemwa.

There he was shot in the back with an AK47. A guerrilla security officer who believed the Englishman had seen too much and was a security risk made the killing.

Bradburne’s body was removed from the culvert and laid on the side of the main Nyamapanda road. Villagers who witnessed the killing reported strange occurrences after the shooting.

They reported hearing unrecognizable singing and claimed that a large bird had hovered over Bradburne’s body. There was also the testimony of a shaft of light split into three when it touched the body.

John Dove comments: “The phenomena described were beyond the invention of people of a vastly different religious culture… the symbolism of the phenomena had no meaning to the group… This was all beyond their comprehension. They only experienced fear and bewilderment.”

Despite threats from the guerrilla security officer that their village would be burnt if they did not dispose of the body, the villagers were so frightened by the phenomena they had witnessed that they defied his order.

BODY LEFT ON ROAD

Rather than dispose of the body as instructed, they left it on the shoulder of the road where it was found on Wednesday morning, September 5 by Fr. David Gibbs, who had heard via the bush telephone that a ‘mukiwa’ (a white man) had been killed.

Having heard of the abduction, Gibbs concluded that it could only be Bradburne.

It was not only the reported phenomena surrounding Bradburne’s death that led to speculation that this was a blessed soul.

At Bradburne’s funeral in Salisbury Cathedral, three drops of blood were seen on the floor below the coffin.

The undertaker was so concerned about the incident that he had the body checked before clerical witnesses after the burial service. There was no sign of blood inside or outside the coffin, and Bradburne’s wounds were dry.

Numerous sources verified this incident.

John Dove writes that soon after Bradburne’s death, two Bateleur eagles landed on the grass outside the room at Silveria House, the Jesuit novitiate outside Harare where Bradburne lived for a period before moving to Mutemwa.

‘MESSENGERS OF GOD’

The eagles remained on the ground for three-quarters of an hour. Bateleurs are incredibly shy raptors and rarely alight on the ground. Among the local Shona people, eagles are believed to be messengers of God.

Each September month, local and foreign pilgrims are to found on the granite slopes of Mount Chigona, which soars high above Mutemwa leper station like an African Ayers Rock.

Most nights will see them sleeping out on the mountain below the infinite expanse of the African sky. They come to pray and seek spiritual favors from the Englishman who cared for the lepers who still live in the shadow of what has come to be called the ‘Holy Place’ – Bradburne’s Mountain.

Kerry Swift has worked as a journalist, corporate publisher, and academic. He worked on South Africa’s Drum magazine in the late 1970s, taught journalism at Rhodes University, and later ran a journalism training school for a nation-wide newspaper group training black journalists during the apartheid era. He lives in Johannesburg.

(Photo: The John Bradburne Memorial Society.)John Bradburne lived in this tin-roofed hut and was often close to starvation.

 

Global solution to COVID-19 in sight, ‘we sink or we swim together’ – WHO chief
Global solution to COVID-19 in sight, ‘we sink or we swim together’ – WHO chief

Roughly 64 per cent of the global population lives in a nation that has either committed to, or is eligible to join, the coronavirus Vaccines Global Access Facility, or COVAX, which enables participating Governments to spread the risk and costs of vaccine development and provide their populations with early access to vaccines. 

Working together through the COVAX Facility “is not charity, it’s in every country’s best interest. We sink or we swim together”, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, head of the World Health Organization (WHO).

‘Vaccine nationalism’ will prolong pandemic

Speaking at a press briefing with the international vaccine alliance GAVI, and the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), the WHO chief said that commitment agreements have been secured and the COVAX Facility would begin signing contracts with vaccine manufacturers and developers.

The overarching goal of the COVAX Facility is to ensure that all countries have access to vaccines at the same time, and that priority is given to those most at risk, according to the WHO chief.

“The COVAX Facility will help to bring the pandemic under control, “save lives, accelerate the economic recovery and ensure that the race for vaccines is a shared endeavour, not a contest that only the rich can win”, he upheld. “Vaccine nationalism will only perpetuate the disease and prolong the global recovery”.

More commitment needed

So far, $3 billion have been invested in the ACT Accelerator – only a tenth of the required $35 for scale-up and impact.

Tedros stressed that $5 billion is needed “immediately to maintain momentum and stay on track for our ambitious timelines”.

“Our challenge now is to take the tremendous promise of the ACT Accelerator and COVAX to scale”, he said, adding, “we are at a critical point and we need a significant increase in countries’ political and financial commitment”.  

The WHO chief cited estimates suggesting that once an effective vaccine has been distributed, and international travel and trade is fully restored, “the economic gains will far outweigh” the $38 billion investment required for the Accelerator.

“This isn’t just the right thing to do, it’s the smart thing to do”, he spelled out.

COVAX realized

 “COVAX is now in business”, said Gavi CEO Seth Berkley. “Governments from every continent have chosen to work together, not only to secure vaccines for their own populations, but also to help ensure that vaccines are available to the most vulnerable everywhere”. 

“With the commitments we’re announcing today for the COVAX Facility, as well as the historic partnership we are forging with industry, we now stand a far better chance of ending the acute phase of this pandemic, once safe, effective vaccines become available”.

‘Great leap’ forward

Meanwhile, CEPI CEO Richard Hatchett called the international community’s coming together to tackle the pandemic “a landmark moment in the history of public health”. 

“The global spread of COVID-19 means that it is only through equitable and simultaneous access to new lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines that we can hope to end this pandemic,” he said. “Countries coming together in this way shows a unity of purpose and resolve to end the acute phase of this pandemic. Today, we have taken a great leap towards that goal, for the benefit of all”.

The EU's mission to save our soils
The EU’s mission to save our soils

In this special edition of Futuris, we look at one of the missions that the European Union is launching to find solutions to the main challenges of our time, which include adaptation to climate change, protection of land and seas and the fight against cancer

There are five parts to the Horizon Europe programme, which will begin in 2021.

Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, explained to me the basis on which the ten-year framework has been designed:

“Issues like the fight against cancer, climate change, smart cities and the health of soils, oceans and seawater were chosen because their impact on European citizens is huge.

“It’s because we need to act together to see concrete results.

“And this is what we see in the recommendations of our reports; for example, the cancer project proposes to save three million lives by 2030; less than 10% of the world’s population lives on our continent, but 25% of diagnosed cases are in Europe. We have to act.”

The Commissioner believes there are several key elements for the success of the missions:

“First, a mission must be owned by the citizens. They must recognise themselves in it and then, through their participation in the process, see results.

“That’s why I am pleased that we have been able to set up this process from the beginning.

“This new framework, a process of co-creation, can be a real game changer for future decisions.

“Because after all, a project (like this) aims to affirm benefits for Europe, the benefits of the action that is undertaken at European level in people’s lives, in each region, in each member state, in the different communities.”

The Soil Health and Food part of the framework has set a target of restoring 70% of agricultural land by 2030.

Cees Veerman, the Head of the Project, says further degradation of the soil must be arrested – then reversed:

“This is to stop the sealing of the soil, to stop the pollution of the soil, make the soil more healthy.

“By increasing the level of carbon in the soil, which is, of course, another measure to prevent the further degradation of climate.

“Also, the storage of water so that biodiversity, agriculture, food production, forestry and also people living in the cities can all contribute to (putting) soil in a better condition.”

An example of this approach is the Best4Soil Project, an approach to soil management that combines nature and science.

The project recognises that soils are essential for all life-sustaining processes on the planet. More than 95% of our food comes from land-related production, and for that reason, keeping soil healthy is paramount.

However, between 60-70% of European soils are currently unhealthy in terms of the presence of organic matter and minerals that are needed to form nutrients for plants and micro-organisms, according to data provided by Soil Health and Food Mission Board and Joint Research Centre.

The unhealthy condition is the result of a series of inappropriate land practices including intensive farming, excess irrigation, pollution by chemicals and pesticides. Soils are also paying the price of climate change, erosion and sea level rises.

Depending on the type of soil, nature can take up to a thousand years to produce a 1 cm layer of fertile ground; but it only takes a few years of bad practices to lose it.

Best4Soil’s Project Co-ordinator Harm Brinks says the damaging methodologies have to be minimised – and then phased out completely:

“The challenge for agriculture is to feed the world and the growing population and, as we see in many part of the world, soil quality is going down due to heavy machinery and due to intensive production systems.”

One site making progress as part of the Best4Soil Project is the Grand Farm in Absdorf, Austria, run by entrepreneur and farmer Alfred Grand.

In the context of the paradigm shift in agriculture that Best4Soil wants to bring about, Alfred Grand says his farm is an example of a positive partnership between nature and science:

“If we combine these two approaches, the solution-oriented approach and the problem-oriented approach, then we will achieve a sustainable solution much faster.

“We want to work together with science to test and evaluate new solutions, new systems and then show them to our professional colleagues – and to society.”

“There are different methods that can be used as a farmer, including the application of compost, the sowing of winter cover crops or intermediate cover crops and crop rotation.

“Immediately after we have harvested a crop, we try to sow a cover crop.”

Alfred Grand explains that cover crops allow the nutrients in the soil to be protected and conserved in a much more effective way than merely allowing land to lie fallow:

“The more diverse it is, the more life brought into the soil with the compost, the healthier my soils are. And the less pesticides I have to use, for example.”

“It’s very important that we try to adapt the soil management to a sustainable soil management.”

Alfred says vermicompost and cover crops are two preventive practices to increase the quality of the soil:

“The large amount of micro-organisms play an important role in soil health. The greater the number, the greater the diversity of species, the more stable the soil is, the fewer diseases and the fewer problems I have with the soil”

Another type of natural fertiliser widely trialled at the Grand Farm is thermophilic compost, a mix of organic matter with carbon and nitrogen content.

Researchers have to regularly analyse samples of this compost in order to check its quality – as well as the components released into the soil and the atmosphere – and avoid any contamination.

The compost formation process is activated by bacteria and fungi; it can produce temperatures of as much as 60-70 °C, which is enough to kill the organisms that can cause plant diseases.

Florian Schütz, a Masters student at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna says climate change has increased the importance of such methods:

“It’s very important that we conserve our energy and resources.

“Biomass is a source of energy – particularly nitrogen – and we have to make sure that we save as much of it as possible.”

The Grand Garden section of the Grand Farm is a small scale example of this nature-based approach. The aim is to produce healthy food with a high variety on a small area of about a hectare and then to sell it locally. Cultivation and harvesting are mostly done by hand, with no heavy machinery used. The model for the Grand Garden is based on the work of Canadian organic farmer Jean Martin Fortier, author of The Market Gardener.

Livia Klenkhart, Head of Production at the Grand Garden, says it’s working extremely well:

“Our method of vegetable production has many advantages with economic, ecological and social dimensions.

For me personally, the most important thing is that jobs are created, that we have direct contact with the consumer, that we also provide education; and that we promote and rebuild the soil and the environment.”

When managed sustainably, soils are key to the balance of our ecosystems. By acting as a sponge, to store carbon and reduce greenhouse gas in the atmosphere, soils can also mitigate the effects of climate change.

WHO/Europe’s Regional Director discusses European Programme of Work in latest podcast episode
WHO/Europe’s Regional Director discusses European Programme of Work in latest podcast episode

In the latest episode of the Health in Europe podcast, WHO Regional Director for Europe Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge discusses the formation of the European Programme of Work (EPW) 2020–2025, “United Action for Better Health in Europe”, and how it will improve health in the WHO European Region over the coming years. Dr Kluge also explains how the EPW’s development was impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and how citizens can get involved to help make the EPW a reality.

The EPW is linked to the 3 core priorities of WHO’s 13th General Programme of Work: to ensure that more people have access to universal health coverage, enjoy improved health and well-being, and are better protected from health emergencies. Supporting these 3 priorities are 4 flagship areas: behavioural and cultural insights, mental health, immunization, and digital health.

Listen to the latest episode of Health in Europe by clicking the link below.

What is the role of local communities in fostering human security and resilience?
What is the role of local communities in fostering human security and resilience?

Event on the Future EU-Africa partnership

What is the role of local communities in fostering human security and resilience?

 

COMECE and its partners invite you to participate in the webinar “Fostering human security and resilience in the future EU-Africa partnership – The role of local communities” on Thursday 15 October 2020 at 11h00 CEST. The event is organised as a faith-based contribution to a future fair and people-centered partnership between the EU and the African Union.

Webinar Fostering Human Security and Resilience in the future EU Africa Partnership Invitation for social media

 

Policy-makers, Church representatives and stakeholders from the EU and different African countries will engage in a discussion on Africa that goes beyond State resilience and security. Speakers will present some of the many local initiatives undertaken in various fields and policy areas, illustrating ways in which local actors are playing a key role in building resilience and human security.

 

Given the relevance of EU-Africa cooperation in these areas, the webinar aims at shedding light to the importance of supporting and promoting the role of local and faith actors and communities as important contributors to these objectives.

 

The event is co-organised by COMECE, Community of Sant’Egidio, CIDSE, Don Bosco International, Caritas Europa, AEFJN and the Jesuit Refugee Service.

 

Thursday, 15 October 2020

11:00-13:00 CEST

Read the concept note: ENFR

.:: Register now ::.

‘Efficiency not a dirty word’: why bigger can sometimes mean better in farming
‘Efficiency not a dirty word’: why bigger can sometimes mean better in farming

The concept of efficiency and productivity in farming is often associated with poor animal welfare and sustainability, but that is not necessarily the case and more work must be done to change this perception, stakeholders highlighted at a recent event on animal welfare.

On the backdrop of an increased focus on animal welfare in the EU, the event, organised by animal medicines association AnimalHealthEurope, took a closer look at the future of the livestock sector as the EU forms its game-plan for delivering on the EU Green Deal ambitions. 

Animal welfare is set to take centre stage in policy making priorities over the coming months, being a major focus of the EU’s flagship food policy, the Farm to Fork strategy (F2F), and a key theme of the German EU presidency.

But stakeholders were quick to emphasise that there is not one sole example of a sustainable farming system.

“I don’t think we should follow this black and white debate—smaller means greener and more sustainable,” stressed Norbert Lins, chair of the European Parliament’s agriculture committee.  

“It depends on the method, it depends on the use of technologies, and all these things are more important than the question of how large or how small is the farm.”  

Livestock sustainability consultant Jude Capper also warned against oversimplifying the discussion.

Drawing from her experience working on farms of all shapes and sizes, Capper said that there is often an idealism about livestock farming which doesn’t always reflect the best interests of the animals, but holds a strong influence on our approach going forward.

“We often see that there is a real or a perceived dichotomy between efficiency, productivity, and animal health, and welfare.  We’ve really got to work harder to bridge that gap to understand animal behaviour, animal welfare, animal health, productivity, and see where we can improve all of these metrics concurrently,” she said.

“Efficiency has become this dirty word – on the one hand, we have this storybook image of organic, green farms, and on the other hand, we have efficiency as being bad and evil and poor welfare, but we’ve got to help people understand that this is not necessarily the case,” Capper told EURACTIV after the event. 

She added that there is a “large body of research” that demonstrates that improving both productivity and efficiency can also improve sustainably both from the environmental and economic perspective.  

Communicating modern animal farming

A communication gap between citizens and farmers in the modern livestock sector is increasingly widening and the general sentiment is shifting from an overall good opinion of those who keep feeding the world toward a negative view on farmers’ role in today’s society.

Risk of pigeon-holing

Stakeholders also warned against pigeon-holing agricultural systems, especially in the context of the drive for organic production, arguing instead for a more comprehensive view of sustainability which encourages farmers to share best practices that ensure the healthiest animals.

The F2F strategy stipulates a target for 25% of EU farmland to be farmed organically by 2030.

But organic production may not always be the answer when it comes to animal health, according to Dr Martin Scholten of Wageningen University. 

“What I’m missing in the Farm to Fork Strategy is that it is one-size-fits-all. Whereas what we need is to understand that Europe has different landscapes, has different societies, has different opportunities to produce food,” he said. 

Likewise, quoting Germany agriculture minister Julia Klöckner, Julie Vermooten from AnimalhealthEurope emphasised that “organic farming is not the holy grail and conventional farming is not the devil,” adding that both types carry their share of problems.

“Organic farming must become more efficient, that is for sure, and conventional farming must become more sustainable,” she said, stressing that the EU should offer its support to all farming approaches, be they conventional, organic, or agroecological.

Instead, the objective must be to “secure a sustained supply of affordable and safe food to meet growing demand”.

Organic farmer and chair of the organics Europe farmers interest group, Kurt Sannen, added that, from the perspective of an organic farmer, he was not a fan of a polarised debate which pits organic agriculture against conventional. 

“My farm has an organic label, but I am more than just an organic farmer.  Like my other colleagues, we all have good things and bad things, and we all can become more sustainable and do more good practice on the farm”.

“It’s not because I am organic that I am the best farmer—no, it’s just a label; no less, no more,” he said.

“I really firmly believe that there is no one size fits all system, solution, or indeed even practices either now or in the future—except that really, throughout the globe, every livestock farm has to be absolutely the best, everything that they do now, and everything that they do in future,” Capper added.

“We’ve got to help people separate out a label from a farm from anything to do with actually how productive, efficient and animal health- and welfare-friendly a farm might be”. 

[Edited by Zoran Radosavljevic]

One million people share hopes and fears for future with the UN
One million people share hopes and fears for future with the UN
UNDP Afghanistan

A health centre in Afghanistan is using renewable energy reducing the reliance on fossil fuels which are contributing to climate change.

3) Climate action

The apparent inability of humankind to slow down the warming of the planet, prevent irreversible climate change and the resulting destruction of the natural environment is the overwhelming medium- and long-term concern of the people who were surveyed. Other long-term concerns include an increase in poverty, government corruption, community violence and unemployment.

A young person from China says everyone is affected by climate change: “Current global climate change as a result of environmental pollution is putting individuals and whole populations at increased risk”.

© UNICEF/Delil Souleiman

The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF has continued to delivered water to conflict-affected areas of Syria during the pandemic.

4) More UN engagement

Looking to the past, six in ten respondents believe the UN has made the world a better place and 74 per cent say that the UN is “essential” if global challenges are to be effectively tackled. However, over half of all people who answered the survey still don’t know much about the UN and consider it as “remote” from their lives.

Many recommended establishing a youth council to advise senior UN officials and one respondent from Brazil suggested more engagement at a regional and local level: “The UN could act by making greater engagements with regional and local actors, investing in the future by providing means that foster the development of the autonomy of social actors.”

5) Belief in a better future

When it comes to the future, younger participants and those in many developing countries tend to be more optimistic than those who are older or living in developed countries. People in central and southern Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa tend to be more optimistic than those living in Europe and North America.

“No one is powerless.” says a 17-year-old high school student from Japan.

LIVE: UN 'only as strong as its members' Guterres tells UN75 event, looking to the future
LIVE: UN ‘only as strong as its members’ Guterres tells UN75 event, looking to the future

10:55

In case you missed the speeches  delivered by the Secretary-General and the head of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) earlier this morning, here’s a brief summary.

Mr. Guterres told delegates that no other global organization gives hope to so many people for a better world”,  and reminding participants that the UN “is only as strong as its members’ commitment to its ideals and each other”.

He made a strong call on Member States to act together, saying  “it is now time to mobilize your resources, strengthen your efforts and show unprecedented political will and leadership, to ensure the future we want, and the United Nations we need”.

The top UN official maintained that multilateralism is a necessity in building back “better and greener” for a more equal, resilient, and sustainable world, stressed that the UN must be at the centre of these efforts, and that “an upgraded UN must respond to these challenges and changes to stay relevant and effective”.

The President of ECOSOC, Munir Akram, also spoke at the opening of the event and, in his opening remarks, urged ECOSOC to focus on three practical steps: mobilize financing to meet the current  “triple challenge” (recover from COVID-19, achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and avoid the “looming climate catastrophe”); greatly expand investment in sustainable infrastructure; and apply new technologies, whilst bridging the digital divide between rich and poor.

Mr. Akram warned that the world is drifting towards an erosion of structures, including the United Nations, that have been built to preserve peace and promote prosperity, risking a “tragedy of epic proportions for all mankind”. He called on UN Member States to reverse this course.

Full speeches from the day will be available on the UN75 website.


 

Spain violated inclusive education right of child with disabilities, independent committee finds
Spain violated inclusive education right of child with disabilities, independent committee finds

The case, concerning Rubén, a child with Down syndrome, was brought before the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2017 by the child and his father. Rubén was sent to a special education centre by Spanish authorities, despite his parents’ objections. 

It was also alleged that Rubén was ill-treated and abused by his teacher. Criminal charges were also brought against Rubén’s parents by the authorities, for their refusal to send him to a specialized school.

It does not appear that the authorities have carried out a thorough assessment … of his educational needs and the reasonable accommodations … to continue attending a mainstream school

In its first decision on the right to inclusive education, the Committee concluded that Spain failed to assess the child’s specific requirements and to take reasonable steps that could have allowed him to remain in mainstream education. 

“It does not appear that the State party’s authorities have carried out a thorough assessment or an in-depth, detailed study of his educational needs and the reasonable accommodations that he would have required to be able to continue attending a mainstream school,” Markus Schefer, one of the 18 independent members of the Committee, said in a news release on Monday. 

The Committee called on Spain to ensure Rubén, who is currently in a private special education centre for students with special needs, is admitted to an inclusive vocational training programme; that he is given compensation; and that his allegations of abuse are effectively investigated. 

It also recommended that Spain eliminate any educational segregation of students with disabilities in both special education schools and specialized units within mainstream schools, and to ensure that parents of students with disabilities are not prosecuted for claiming their children’s right to inclusive education. 

The case  

According to the news release, issued by the UN human rights office (OHCHR), Rubén was in a mainstream school in León, a city in north-western Spain. With the support of a special education assistant, he had good relations with his classmates and teachers until 2009 when he entered grade four, aged 10. The situation deteriorated and serious allegations of ill-treatment and abuse by his teacher surfaced. 

The condition did not improve when Rubén entered grade five. His new class teacher did not consider that he needed a special education assistant and only after his parents complained was he allowed to have one. 

However, Rubén began to exhibit difficulties in learning and with school life. A school report noted what it termed Rubén’s “disruptive behaviour”, “psychotic outbreaks” and “developmental delay associated with Down syndrome.” 

In June 2011, the Provincial Directorate of Education authorized Rubén’s enrolment in a special education centre in the face of his parents’ objections, who also approached domestic judicial authorities, but no effective investigation was conducted. His parents also unsuccessfully challenged the education authority’s decision to enrol him in a special education centre. 

Furthermore, the authorities brought criminal charges against the parents for their refusal to send their child to a specialized school.

The Committee 

The Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities monitors States parties’ adherence to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which to date has 182 States parties

The Committee is made up of 18 members who are independent human rights experts drawn from around the world, who serve in their personal capacity and not as representatives of States parties. They are not UN staff and do not receive a salary. 

The Committee’s views and decisions on individual communications are an independent assessment of States’ compliance with their human rights obligations under the Convention. 

BIC marks 75 years of UN, envisages path to just global order | BWNS
BIC marks 75 years of UN, envisages path to just global order | BWNS
BIC NEW YORK — As the United Nations marks its 75th anniversary, the Bahá’í International Community (BIC) has released a statement on the occasion. That the UN has persisted in spite of numerous challenges and has so far lasted three times the 25-year lifespan of the League of Nations—humanity’s first serious attempt at global governance—is an impressive accomplishment, says the BIC.

The statement highlights the need for systems of global cooperation to be strengthened if humanity is to address the serious challenges of our time and seize the immense opportunities of the coming years for progress.

It explores elements necessary for a movement toward enduring, universal peace, including: the acknowledgement of the oneness and interdependence of the human family; a genuine concern for all, without distinction; the ability of nations to learn from one another, and a willing acceptance of setbacks and missteps as inevitable aspects of the learning process; and, the conscious effort to ensure that material progress is connected to spiritual and social progress.

“Collaboration is possible on scales undreamt of in past ages, opening unparalleled prospects for progress,” the statement reads. “The task before the community of nations… is to ensure that the machinery of international politics and power is increasingly directed toward cooperation and unity.”

The BIC, in its statement, sees this to be an opportune moment for the international community to begin building consensus about how it can better organize itself, suggesting several initiatives and innovations that may be worthy of further consideration. For example, a world council on future affairs that could institutionalize consideration of how policies might impact generations to come and give attention to a range of issues such as preparedness for global crises, the use of emerging technologies, or the future of education or employment.

Titled “A Governance Befitting: Humanity and the Path Toward a Just Global Order,” the statement is being released to coincide with the UN General Assembly’s commemoration today of the 75th anniversary. It was sent today to the Secretary General of the UN and to the ambassadors of Member States.

Coming at a time when the global health crisis has prompted a deeper appreciation of humanity’s interdependence, this anniversary year has given rise to discussion about the role of international structures and reforms that can be made to the UN.

The statement is one of several contributions the BIC is making to these discussions. It will continue its exploration of the profound themes in the statement at an online meeting next month with UN officials and ambassadors.

COVID 'group of six' ban in England 'will not apply' to places of worship
COVID ‘group of six’ ban in England ‘will not apply’ to places of worship
(UN Photo/Loey Felipe)The Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby briefs the UN Security Council in New York on August 31, 2018.

The UK government’s “rule of six,” to combat rising coronavirus cases bannig social gatherings of more than six people, comes into force on Sept. 21, but will not apply to public worship in churches.

British authorities said the law would be changed in England to reduce the maximum number of people who can gather from 30 to six, to address an upsurge in COVID-19 cases.

Scotland has different regulations.

There were 390,358 cases and 41,759 deaths during a 14-day upward trend reported ON the UK government’s novel coronavirus dashboard.

The Archbishop of Canterbury tweeted Sept. 16, “After contact with Government, we hear that there is no change to guidance on places of worship. Worship is the work of God — not a social gathering — and gives the strength to love and serve.”

On Facebook, Archbishop Justin Welby wrote, “The increase in COVID cases is very concerning. We must follow the guidance and take all the necessary measures to keep people safe.”

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said at a press conference at Downing Street, “In England, from Monday, we’re introducing the rule of six. You must not meet socially in groups of more than six, and, if you do, you’re break­ing the law.”

PLACES OF WORSHIP EXEMPT

He listed some exempt places, including places of worship, in which more than six people are still permitted to gather, The Church Times said.

“Within those venues, however, there must not be individual groups larger than six, and groups must not mix socially together or form larger groups.”

Earlier, Welby had said he is “deeply concerned” about the impact of the “rule of six” on family life.

A family of five will be allowed to meet only one grandparent at a time, while families of six or more will be prohibited from meeting anyone.

Support bubbles allow adults who live by themselves and single parents – to join up with one other household.

All social gatherings of more than six – whether a book club, dinner party or picnic – are banned in England under the new law.

Support bubbles allow adults who live by themselves and single parents – to join up with one other household.

Police will have the power to break up bigger groups in parks, pubs, and private homes.

Archbishop Welby’s voice carries weight in Britain because he is the Church of England’s principal leader and the head of the worldwide Anglican Communion.

IMPACT OF RULE OF SIX

Welby was said to be concerned about the impact of the “rule of six” “the vulnerable, the needy, the poor and the elderly” in Britain, The Daily Mail reported.

Writing in the Daily Telegraph newspaper, the archbishop said: “It makes sense to look instinctively for central direction in such an acute crisis, and we’re indebted to the roles many played in doing so, especially those who organized the NHS (National Health Service) to cope with the increased demand.

“Within the Church, there are lessons to be learnt about the role and importance of central guidance and its crucial interplay with government rules that exist for the benefit of all.

“But with a vaccine still far from certain, infection rates rising and winter on the horizon, the new normal of living with COVID-19 will only be sustainable – or even endurable – if we challenge our addiction to centralization and go back to an age-old principle: only do centrally what must be done centrally.”

Mike Pompeo Urges Vatican to Call Out China for Religious Freedom Violations
Mike Pompeo Urges Vatican to Call Out China for Religious Freedom Violations

ROME — U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has urged the Vatican to bring its considerable moral authority to bear on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), which persists in oppressing Christians and people of other faiths.

“The Holy See has a unique capacity and duty to focus the world’s attention on human rights violations, especially those perpetrated by totalitarian regimes like Beijing’s,” Pompeo wrote Friday in an essay for First Things. “In the late twentieth century, the Church’s power of moral witness helped inspire those who liberated central and eastern Europe from communism, and those who challenged autocratic and authoritarian regimes in Latin America and East Asia.”

“That same power of moral witness should be deployed today with respect to the Chinese Communist Party,” the secretary insisted.

“What the Church teaches the world about religious freedom and solidarity should now be forcefully and persistently conveyed by the Vatican in the face of the Chinese Communist Party’s relentless efforts to bend all religious communities to the will of the Party and its totalitarian program,” he added.

Secretary Pompeo’s public urging comes just as Vatican diplomats are meeting with their CCP counterparts to renegotiate a 2018 secret agreement between the Holy See and China on the naming of Catholic bishops in China.

“Two years on, it’s clear that the Sino-Vatican agreement has not shielded Catholics from the Party’s depredations, to say nothing of the Party’s horrific treatment of Christians, Tibetan Buddhists, Falun Gong devotees, and other religious believers,” Pompeo noted.

“Communist authorities continue to shutter churches, spy on and harass the faithful, and insist that the Party is the ultimate authority in religious affairs,” he wrote.

This week, the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) similarly urged the Vatican to highlight religious liberty in its deliberations with China prior to renewing a 2018 deal on the naming of bishops.

“Communist China continues to persecute Chinese Catholics. USCIRF hopes any future deal between the Vatican & China is rooted in the protection of #religiousfreedom,” the Commission wrote on its Twitter page.

Both the Vatican and Beijing have signaled a desire to renew their secret 2018 agreement, which conferred on the Chinese Communist Party an unspecified amount of authority in the selection of Catholic bishops in China.

In January 2020, the bipartisan Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC) released its annual report on human rights conditions in China, which revealed an overall deterioration of religious liberty since the signing of the Sino-Vatican accord.

“In September 2018, the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs signed an agreement with the Holy See, paving the way for the unification of state-sanctioned and underground Catholic communities,” the report stated. “Subsequently, local Chinese authorities subjected Catholic believers in China to increased persecution by demolishing churches, removing crosses, and continuing to detain underground clergy.”

“The Party-led Catholic national religious organizations also published a plan to ‘sinicize’ Catholicism in China,” the report continued, referring to the stated aim of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) of obliging all religions to bring their teachings and practices into line with the party.

President Xi Jinping has doubled down on the “sinicization” of religion, the report’s executive summary noted. “Scholars and international rights groups have described religious persecution in China over the last year to be of an intensity not seen since the Cultural Revolution,” it added.

China has intensified its persecution of the underground Catholic church ever since the Holy See softened its position on the state-controlled Catholic Patriotic Association, allowing believers to join despite its assertion of total independence from Rome.

In his essay Friday, Mr. Pompeo wrote that history teaches “that totalitarian regimes can only survive in darkness and silence, their crimes and brutality unnoticed and unremarked.”

“If the Chinese Communist Party manages to bring the Catholic Church and other religious communities to heel, regimes that disdain human rights will be emboldened, and the cost of resisting tyranny will rise for all brave religious believers who honor God above the autocrat of the day,” he warned.

“I pray that, in dealing with the Chinese Communist Party, the Holy See and all who believe in the divine spark enlightening every human life will heed Jesus’s words in the Gospel of John, ‘The truth will set you free,’” he concluded.

Pope: “pharmaceutical marginality” furthers gap between nations - Vatican News
Pope: “pharmaceutical marginality” furthers gap between nations – Vatican News

By Robin Gomes

Pope Francis on Saturday decried the injustice of what he called “pharmaceutical marginality”, saying those who live in poverty are poor even in medicines, treatment and health. 

He made the remark to some 300 representatives of the Italy-based Fondazione Banco Farmaceutico (Medicine Bank Foundation), which collects medicines from donors and companies to deliver them to over 1,800 charities that take care of people in difficulty. 

Injustice in treatment

Speaking to the Foundation on its 20th anniversary this year, the Pope said sometimes people “run the risk of not being able to get treatment for lack of money, or because some people in the world do not have access to certain medicines”. “There is also a “pharmaceutical marginality”, which, he said, “creates a further gap between nations and peoples”. 

 “On the ethical level, if there is the possibility of curing a disease with a medicine, it should be available to everyone, otherwise it creates an injustice.”

The Holy Father lamented that too many people and children are still dying in the world because they cannot have the medications available in other regions. Warning against the danger of globalization of indifference, he proposed the globalization of treatment, which is the “possibility of access to those medications that could save so many lives for all populations”.  

Involving all actors

This, the Pope said, requires a “common effort, a convergence that involves everyone”. Scientific research can help find new solutions to old and new problems, including new paths of healing and treatment. Pharmaceutical companies can help contribute to a more equitable distribution of medicines. 

Pharmacists, he said, can be particularly attentive to those most in need and work for the integral good of those who approach them. Through their legislative and financial choices, those in authority are called to build a more just world in which the poor are not abandoned, or worst still, discarded.

Pandemic and pharmaceutical poverty

Pope Francis drew attention to the current pandemic, which, he said, has claimed nearly a million lives and is also turning into a serious economic crisis. This is increasing the number of poor people and families who don’t know how to go ahead.

“While charitable assistance is being provided,” the Pope said, “it is also a matter of fighting this pharmaceutical poverty, in particular with a wide spread of new vaccines in the world.” He reiterated that “it would be sad if in providing the vaccine, priority is given to the richest, or if this vaccine became the property of this or that country, and not for everyone”.

Collection Day

Through its Medicine Collection Day over the past 20 years, the Banco Farmaceutico Foundation has collected over 5.6 million medicines worth some €34 million. Over 4,900 pharmacies and more than 22,000 volunteers were involved in this year’s Medicine Collection Day in February. More than 473,000 needy people benefitted from the medicines collected.  

EU should check own glasshouses before throwing stones at PH – Prof. Carlos
EU should check own glasshouses before throwing stones at PH – Prof. Carlos

A political analyst took to social media her stand on the recent recommendation of European Union (EU) lawmakers to impose economic sanctions on Philippine goods entering their market because of alleged violation of human rights, closure of a broadcast network, and cases of a detained legislator and a journalist.

clarita carlos
University of the Philippines Professor Clarita R. Carlos (Photo from Prof. Carlos FB page/ PNA/ MANILA BULLETIN)

“While there is the much-debated ‘responsibility to protect’ underpinned on the oneness of humanity, let us also remind the EU that before they start throwing stones in our direction, better check first the glasshouses they also live in,” said University of the Philippines Political Science Professor Clarita R. Carlos in her Facebook post on Sept. 18.

Carlos was reacting to the recommendation of European lawmakers over the revocation of the Philippines’ Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status that provides tariff perks on Philippine goods.

Under the EU’s GSP+ the Philippines could enjoy zero duties on its exports to the EU of products falling under more than 6,000 tariff lines.

The EU Parliament, in its resolution, cited the findings of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights that at least 8,663 people had been killed in relation to the anti-drug campaign as of June 2020; “deteriorating level of press freedom” with the cyber libel conviction of Rappler’s Maria Ressa and a former Rappler researcher-writer; the shutdown of ABS-CBN; and the detention of Senator Leila de Lima. 

“Since the EU wants to take the moral high ground, let us just remind them that right at their shores are thousands of refugees in despicable and inhumane conditions, which the 26 EU members are tossing about as each one refuses to take in any of these refugees,” Carlos said.

In December 2017, the European Commission took Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic to the EU Court of Justice over their refusal to participate in a one-off program for relocating across the bloc refugees who had arrived in Greece and Italy.

“Let us also remind them of the leader of one EU country who had repeatedly declared that it will not accept any refugee because “it will diminish and compromise the Christian tradition of its people,” Carlos added.

She suggested that the Philippine government respond to all allegations/accusations of EU lawmakers and invite an independent team to verify the bases of their claims.

Meanwhile, Presidential spokesman Harry Roque said the Philippine government is unfazed by the EU lawmakers’ push to revoke the tariff perks for Philippine goods

Europe, go ahead. At the time of the pandemic, the whole world will pay tribute to you,” he said in a press briefing Friday. “They will be the biggest contributor to the violation of the right to life in the Philippines.”


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Card. Krajewski: Father Malgesini lived ‘no greater love than this’ - Vatican News
Card. Krajewski: Father Malgesini lived ‘no greater love than this’ – Vatican News

By Vatican News

In the Cathedral of Como on Saturday morning, a Memorial Mass took place for Father Roberto Malgesini, murdered on Tuesday by a homeless person. Bishop Oscar Cantoni celebrated the Mass and Cardinal Konrad Krajewski, the Papal Almoner, represented Pope Francis and concelebrated. At the end of the Mass, the Cardinal spoke on behalf of Pope Francis. The offerings collected during and after the Mass will be used in the charities sustained by Pope Francis as well as by the poor of the Diocese of Como.

“I bring you the Holy Father’s greetings and fraternal embrace”, Cardinal Krajewski said at the end of the funeral Mass for Father Roberto Malgesini. “He is with us. He is united with us in prayer.”

He then related that as soon as Pope Francis heard the news of Father Malgesini’s death, he picked up the words of Como’s Bishop during the General Audience on Wednesday.

“I give praise to God for the witness, that is, for the martyrdom of this witness of charity toward the poorest.”

The Cardinal repeated other words Pope Francis said during the audience: “Pope Francis is with us and is united to the pain and prayers of Father Robert’s relatives…. He is united with the faithful of his Parish, to the needy whom he served with all of his heart until that last morning, and with the entire community in Como.”

“Father Roberto is dead, therefore, he is alive. Love never dies, not even with death,” the Cardinal continued. He then called to mind a Gospel passage that Father Roberto’s death incarnates: “Greater love than this has no one than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends.” Commenting on this passage, Cardinal Krajewski said, “One cannot be a true Christian if we do not make this page our own.”


Crowd participating in Fr Molgesini’s wake outside of the Cathedral of Como

To the question, “why did this happen to Father Roberto and not to me?” the Cardinal responded he does not know. However, one thing is certain, Krejewski added, “in his life, he incorporated Jesus’s prayer: ‘Our Father, your will be done, not mine; hallowed by thy name, not mine; thy kingdom come, not mine.”

That page, the Cardinal reflected, “refers particularly to us priests, who need to live the Gospel in its purity, we who need to spread Jesus’s perfume everywhere we go.” This is the sentiment expressed in a prayer written by Saint John Henry Newman and left by Mother Teresa as a legacy to her sisters in their daily service to the poor:

Dear Jesus, help me to spread Your fragrance everywhere I go.
Flood my soul with Your spirit and life.
Penetrate and possess my whole being so utterly,
That my life may only be a radiance of Yours.

Shine through me, and be so in me
That every soul I come in contact with
May feel Your presence in my soul.
Let them look up and see no longer me, but only Jesus!

Stay with me and then I shall begin to shine as You shine,
So to shine as to be a light to others;
The light, O Jesus will be all from You; none of it will be mine;
It will be you, shining on others through me.

Let me thus praise You the way You love best, by shining on those around me.
Let me preach You without preaching, not by words but by my example,
By the catching force of the sympathetic influence of what I do,
The evident fullness of the love my heart bears to You.

Then turning to the Bishop of Como, Oscar Cantoni, Cardinal Krajewski ended saying:

“I am sure that there are many priests and lay faithful who want to pick up Father Roberto’s evangelical work because this path is the true Gospel in action. If by any chance no one comes forward, I will come to you.”

Pakistan risks Basmati export as India applies GI tag in EU
Pakistan risks Basmati export as India applies GI tag in EU

Islamabad, Sep 19 (IANS) Pakistan is facing another potential threat of a major damage to its exports as India has applied for an exclusive Geographical Indications (GI) tag to Basmati rice in the European Union (EU).

Pakistan on the other hand, is still yet to implement the GI law promulgated in March.

Despite the fact that Pakistan produces a wide range of Basmati rice in the country and benefits from its export to the EU and other parts of the globe, New Delhi has said that it is an Indian-origin product in its application, published on EU’s official journal on September 11.

As per the Indian application, Basmati is special long grain aromatic rice grown and produced in a particular geographical region of the Indian sub-continent.

It added that this region is a part of northern India, below the foothills of the Himalayas forming part of the Indo-Gangetic Plains (IGP).

“The special characteristic of Basmati is grown and produced in all districts of the state of Punjab, Haryana, Delhi, Himanchal Pradesh, Uttarkand as well as in specific districts of western Uttar Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir”, the Indian application maintained.

Leading Pakistani rice exporters have called on the government to immediately oppose the Indian application.

“Indian application at EU must be opposed immediately as it would badly damage Pakistani exports to European countries,” said Taufiq Ahmed, a leading exporter and bearer of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP).

“Despite repeated requests and reminders, concerned authorities in Pakistan have been ignoring this serious issue for years and now if the problem is not handled swiftly then we would be left with no option but to sell Basmati rice with an Indian name/brand,” he added.

Ahmed said that Pakistan must come in immediate consultation with international dictionaries to rectify the definition as the same rice is largely produced in the country.

“Apart from opposing the GI tag from the EU, Pakistan must also consult international dictionaries to rectify the definition.

“Unfortunately, India is also regarding Himalayan salt and Multani Mitti with Indian names in the international market”, he said.

Official sources from the Federal Ministry of Commerce said that the Indian application in the EU will definitely be opposed.

They added that since the GI law has been promulgated, Islamabad would take up the issue of all GI products of Pakistani origin with the EU.

“Basmati was already recognized as a product of both India and Pakistan in the European Rice Regime and its Duty-Free Regime, making it illegal for India to claim exclusive rights of Basmati in the EU,” said an official from Intellectual Property Organization (IPO), an attached department of the Ministry of Commerce.

“The Cambridge dictionary and Wikipedia also show the product as originating from Pakistan and India,” he added.

Pakistan enacted the Geographical Indications (Registration and Protection) Act in March this year, which gives it the right to oppose Indian application for registration of Basmati rice exclusive rights.

As per the EU’s official journal, any country can oppose the application for registration of a name pursuant to Article 50(2) (a) of Regulations (EU) No 1151/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on quality schemes for agricultural products and foodstuffs within three month from the date of publication.

–IANS

hamza/ksk/

European Parliament calls on PHL gov’t to renew ABS-CBN franchise, drop charges vs Ressa, De Lima
European Parliament calls on PHL gov’t to renew ABS-CBN franchise, drop charges vs Ressa, De Lima
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European MPs listen European Commission President’s first state of the union speech during a plenary session at the European Union Parliament in Brussels on September 16, 2020. (Photo by JOHN THYS / AFP)

(Eagle News) – Members of the European Parliament expressed alarm about what they claimed was a “deteriorating level of press freedom in the Philippines” and called on the Philippine government to “renew” the franchise of ABS-CBN, as well as to drop all charges against Rappler CEO Maria Ressa.

This was contained as part of the resolution of the European Parliament which is composed of 705 members,

The text of the resolution which also expressed “deepest concern” at the allegedly “rapidly deteriorating human rights situation in the Philippines under President Rodrigo Duterte” got the vote of 626 members of the European Parliament, with only 7 voting against it, and 52 abstaining.

It also called on the Philippine government to release opposition senator Leila de Lima from detention while she is awaiting trial, and for the authorities “to drop all politically motivated charges” against her.

The full text of the European Parliament resolution was made available on Friday, Sept. 18.

In its resolution, the European Parliament said it “Is alarmed about the deteriorating level of press freedom in the Philippines; condemns all threats, harassment, intimidation, unfair prosecutions, and violence against journalists, including the case of Maria Ressa.”

It also called for the dropping of all allegedly “politically motivated charges” against Ressa and her colleagues as it stressed that “press freedom and freedom of expression are fundamental components of democracy.”

The European Parliament also “calls on the Philippine authorities to renew the broadcast licence of the main audio-visual group, ABS-CBN” as it noted how the Philippine Congress voted to deny the renewal its franchise in July.

It said that the “refusal to renew its broadcasting licence by President Duterte is seen as an act of retaliation for the media’s coverage of the anti-drugs campaign and serious human rights abuses.”

It “calls on the EU Delegation and EU Member States’ representations in Manila to closely monitor the cases against Maria Ressa and Reynaldo Santos Jr, and to provide all necessary assistance,” the resolution also said.

The members of the European Parliament (MEPs) also strongly denounced what they claimed were “the thousands of extrajudicial killings and other serious human rights violations related to the so-called ‘war on drugs’.”

“They also condemn all threats, harassment, intimidation, rape and violence against those who seek to expose allegations of extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations in the country, including human rights and environmental activists, trade unionists and journalists,” a release from the European Parliament read.

-PHL gov’t rejects European Parliament claims-

The Philippine government immediately rejected the claims of the 705-member strong European Parliament.

“The freedom of expression and press freedom have never been and will never be curtailed by the Duterte administration. This as we continue to promote our shared democratic ideals with the international community. In fact, the Philippines continues to enjoy a plurality of voices, expression, opinions, and beliefs; hence, the continued operations of Rappler and Ms. Ressa’s pursuit for self-justification in response to their legal obligations,” said a statement from Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Martin Andanar.

He said that the Duterte administration will continue to remain “concerted and composed towards the promotion of the inherent rights, freedom, and security of media workers and in observance of the rule of law and due process as part of our collective, sincere, honest, and genuine commitment to serve the Filipino people.”

(Eagle News Service)

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