Derechos Humanos / Human Rights

Europa debe recomponer los elementos constitutivos de la democracia para responder al nacionalismo violento.

 Estrasburgo, Mayo 6.– Europa debe responder al nacionalismo violento “recomponiendo los elementos básicos de la democracia” para “construir algo más resiliente y más fuerte que nunca”, ha dicho el Secretario General adjunto Bjørn Berge a los delegados en la tercera Conferencia Europea anual para la Democracia y los Derechos Humanos en Kristiansand, Noruega.

Durante la sesión inaugural, Berge dijo a los delegados que la invasión militar rusa de Ucrania es un ejemplo “extremo y urgente” del nacionalismo violento y agresivo que amenaza al multilateralismo y “el propio tejido del orden democrático”.

Upholding Dignity during Distress.

It is better to teach how to fish
than to give away the fish.

Bakau (The Gambia), Oct.30 (DP.net).– Although The Gambia is a predominantly Muslim country, Christian missions are very active in providing assistance and training to its inhabitants, especially in rural areas. Catholics in particular have proclaimed October as a "Mission Month", and prayer, sacrifice, and financial contributions are exhorted all over the World in favor of these missions. Este país de 2,400,000 habitantes cuenta con más de 130,000 cristianos, 50,000 de los cuales son católicos.

Joblessness in The Gambia has significantly contributed to the number of people migrating internationally –especially young men– often with disastrous effects. Those who are not successful face arrest, abuse and exploitation during the harrowing journey.

Among many other lay people who enthusiastically collaborate with missionaries to assist those in need, Sam Jarju is a laudable example. He is a member of a Catholic youth group in The Gambia devoted to assisting young people in their community understand dire migration risks. Sam advocates for young Gambians to stay in their home country and educates young people on exactly what serious risks they will face along the perilous way if they migrate.

 Nueva York, Mayo 7 (DP.net).– La Comisión Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (CIDH), el principal órgano en la región para la protección de los derechos humanos, anunció el martes por la noche que había seleccionado a la mexicana Tania Reneaum para ocupar el cargo de Secretaria Ejecutiva de ese organismo entre un total de 92 candidatos. El Secretario General de los Estados Americanos (OEA), Luis Almagro, aceptó públicamente el miércoles la selección de la Sra. Reneaum, quien asumirá su cargo el 1º de junio. Almagro tomó esta decisión meses después de su decisión de no renovar el mandato de Paulo Abrao.

Almagro dijo que procederá a la designación Reneaum, actual Directora Ejecutiva de Amnistía Internacional en México. “Le deseo éxitos en avanzar la agenda de DDHH en la región,” escribió en Twitter. María Claudia Pulido, de nacionalidad colombiana, ha ocupado el puesto de forma interina desde la salida del anterior Secretario Ejecutivo el 17 de agosto de 2020. La CIDH le expresó el martes su agradecimiento por su servicio.

En agosto de 2020 Almagro informó a la CIDH que no apoyaría su decisión de extender el mandato del brasileño Paulo Abrao, Secretario Ejecutivo de la comisión. 

China, number one far ahead, goes under the radar of statistics failing to publish the slightest figure. Behind China, Iran, Egypt, Iraq and Saudi Arabia practice the death penalty without moderation, according to Amnesty International. It is also well known that Vietnam, North Korea and Syria follow this practice without moderation but it is practically impossible even to estimate its number."

Apr. 21 (DP.net).– Amnesty International recorded at least 657 executions in 20 countries worldwide in 2019. The total —one of the smallest since Amnesty began tracking executions in 1979— was a 5% decrease from the at least 690 executions recorded in 2018 and was down 60% from the 25-year-high total of 1,634 reported executions in 2015.

Those numbers exclude China which treats data on the death penalty as a state secret, but it is well known that even non-violent white-collar crimes such as embezzlement and fraud may also warrant an execution in China. Not counting the political cases. However, many more than 1,000 executions were estimated in that country in 2019, followed by Iran (251), Saudi Arabia (184), Iraq (100+), Egypt (32+) and USA (22). The + sign means that the numbers shown are only those confirmed but more were reported.

In certain countries of Southeast Asia, "information on imminent executions or executions that have already taken place is not publicly available," pointed out the UN Human Rights Office's representative for the region, Cynthia Veliko, in her statement of 26 October 2017. It is also known that in Iran and South Sudan minors have been executed, contravening the Convention on the Rights of the Child.