AITJ Weekly Digest is a flexible but effective report that focus on what is happening in the world in the areas of our interest and concern such as foreign affairs, human rights, enlargement, relations between Africa and Europe and so on. Every week, this press review intends to provide an overview of news of all the week, updates and all new developments concerning the defence of human rights, the fight against impunity and international relations in the broadest sense.
Coronavirus global response: EU Humanitarian Air Bridge and €70 million in additional aid for Yemen
ECO News, 23 july 2020
A new EU Humanitarian Air Bridge flight has departed from Liège, Belgium, with medical and other essential supplies to reinforce the humanitarian response in Yemen. In total, over 220 tons of critical items are being delivered to the most vulnerable Yemenis. It has been facilitated by the collaborative efforts of Sweden and the EU.
Integration of migrants: Commission launches a public consultation and call for an expert group on the views of migrants
ECO News, 22 july 2020
On 22th July the Commissin was launched an EU wide public consultation to gather views on new actions that could be taken at EU level to promote the integration and social inclusion of migrants and people with a migrant background.
Libya: Statement by the Spokesperson on the latest developments
EEAS, 22 july 2020
The Vice-President of the European Commission, Josep Borrell, has once again emphasised that calls for action by regional actors in the Libyan conflict must stop. Threats to resort to military intervention are dangerous, further exacerbate the direct confrontation between the Libyan parties and will lead to further escalation.
Statement by the High Representative/Vice-President Josep Borrell on US sanctions
EEAS, 20 july 2020
On 20th july 2020, the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy in his statement expressed his concering at the growing use of sanctions, or the threat of sanctions, by the United States against European companies and interests. We have witnessed this developing trend in the cases of Iran, Cuba, the International Criminal Court and most recently the Nordstream 2 and Turkstream projects".
Harness multilateralism’s power to urgently advance women’s rights amid COVID recovery
UN News, 21 july 2020
With essential resources for women’s health being diverted to emergency COVID-19 response around the world, Governments, civil society leaders, CEOs and academic experts gathered virtually on Tuesday, to explore ways to accelerate the achievement of landmark targets set 25 years ago for gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Ukraine: Venice Commission adopts an “urgent joint opinion” with ODIHR
Council of Europe Press release, 22 july 2020
The Venice Commission has adopted an “urgent joint opinion” with ODIHR (the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights) on Ukraine’s Draft Law 3612 concerning Democracy Through All-Ukraine Referendum. The opinion, requested in May by the Speaker of the Verkhovna Rada (Ukraine’s parliament), was adopted on 21 July, ahead of the next Venice Commission plenary session, given the need for legal expertise before possible passage in parliament.
Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination
ICJ Press release, 20 july 2020
Extension of the time-limit for the filing of the Counter-Memorial of the Russian Federation
THE HAGUE, 20 July 2020. By an Order dated 13 July 2020, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, extended from 8 December 2020 to 8 April 2021 the time-limit for the filing of the Counter-Memorial of the Russian Federation in the case.
Orgs Demand Apparel Brands End Complicity in Uyghur Forced Labour
POLITICO, 23 july 2020
On 23th july, 72 Uyghur rights groups are joined by over 100 civil society organisations and labour unions from around the world in calling on apparel brands and retailers to stop using forced labour in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (“Uyghur Region”), known to local people as East Turkistan, and end their complicity in the Chinese government’s human rights abuses. The groups have issued a call to action seeking brand commitments to cut all ties with suppliers implicated in forced labour and end all sourcing from the Uyghur Region, from cotton to finished garments, within twelve months.
Security Council stalemate frustrates families of Syria’s missing detainees
UN News, 23 july 2020
Wafa Ali Mustafa, a Syrian journalist, activist and member of Families for Freedom, which campaigns for the release of Syrian detainees, said their numbers are still growing as the Syrian government and armed groups continue to use detention “as a weapon to terrorize civilians” in violation of international law.
Among those detainees is her father, Ali Mustafa, a human rights defender who has not been seen or heard from, since he disappeared in July 2013. “We have never been told why he was taken from us or where he’s being held,” she said.