Category: Europe

The Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) comes into force in 2023 as part of new measures to cut carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, including taxes on imports such as oil, coal and gas.  In tandem with the EU announcement, UNCTAD has published a report examining the potential implications for countries both within and outside the regional bloc.  “Climate and environmental considerations are… Read More

Belarus has witnessed an unprecedented human rights crisis over the past year, the independent expert appointed to monitor the country said on Monday, calling on authorities to immediately end their policy of repression and fully respect the legitimate aspirations of their people. In her annual report to the Human Rights Council, Anaïs Marin said she had received reports of massive police violence used against… Read More

In a wide-ranging multilingual speech to the European Parliament in Brussels, the UN chief underscored the need to ramp up vaccinations globally.  “The pandemic is causing more deaths today than a year ago.  And vaccines are our only way out of this crisis. They must be considered as a global public good, available and affordable to all,” he said.  “Vaccine… Read More

Josep Borrell, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, said that without “global cooperation based on agreed rules” we risk “the law of the jungle, where problems don’t get solved”.  “Every day we see the cost of the absence of multilateral action: reduced access to vaccines, insufficient climate action, peace and security crises that fester”, he said.   Every… Read More

“Forest Green Rovers began as a rescue mission for me in 2010. This 120-year-old club was facing closure and it happened to be located close to the town, Stroud, where I built Ecotricity, an energy company which aims to replace fossil fuels with sustainable green energy.  I’m a football fan so I thought I’d help out and just a day… Read More

The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals on Tuesday rejected his appeal against  2017 convictions for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.  Mr Mladić, 79, known as “the Butcher of Bosnia”, presided over some of the most horrific crimes to occur in Europe since the Second World War.  He commanded violent ethnic cleansing campaigns across Bosnia and Herzegovina from… Read More

The five Special Rapporteurs expressed outrage at the arrest, alleged torture and forced confession of opposition journalist Roman Protasevich (Raman Pratasevich), who was arbitrarily detained on 23 May in a case that sparked international condemnation.  Mr Protasevich, 26, was on a Ryanair flight from Greece to Lithuania that was forcibly diverted to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, due to a supposed… Read More

Five UN experts issued a statement calling upon the Council of Europe’s Committee on Bioethics to withdraw a draft  Additional Protocol to the Oviedo Convention – a treaty protecting the human rights of people with regard to biology and medicine – that would codify a  mental health policy based on coercion and bring “stigmatization and fear to people with psychosocial disabilities”. … Read More

1) ICAO was set up at the dawn of international civil aviation  The Second World War was a period of rapid developments in aircraft technology. Towards the end of the conflict, in 1944, in anticipation of the growing popularity of civilian and freight air travel, the US Government invited delegates from allied states to Chicago to thrash out the first international Convention on… Read More

Calling for urgent reform of current policies and practices on search and rescue “that too often rob migrants of their lives, dignity and fundamental human rights”, she said “the real tragedy” is that much of the suffering and death at sea is preventable.  “Every year, people drown because help comes too late, or never comes at all. Those who are… Read More