WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
After Americans were stunned to hear that one president allegedly mishandled classified documents, now news comes about the current POTUS doing the same.
Over the past two weeks, officials in the Biden Administration have revealed that classified documents were found in areas such as the Penn Biden Center, and even Biden’s Corvette in a garage at his home. The documents were retuned to the correct authorities for proper keeping, but several issues have arisen.
First, the documents were not from Biden’s current tenure in the White House, but during his time as Vice President under President Obama. Although former President Trump had a back and forth with authorities over whether or not he declassified all the sensitive material found at Mar-a-Lago, as POTUS he did have such an authority, properly executed or not. Conversely, Biden as VP did not have such authority, and the documents should have never been in such casual possession unless Obama declassified them.
For the sake of transparency, U.S. Attorney General Merrick B. Garland announced Jan. 12 the appointment of a former career Justice Department prosecutor and former U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland Robert K. Hur to serve as special counsel to conduct the investigation of matters that were the subject of the initial investigation by U.S. Attorney John R. Lausch, Jr. related to the possible unauthorized removal and retention of classified documents or other records discovered at the Penn Biden Center for Diplomacy and Global Engagement and the Wilmington, Delaware, private residence of President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
“Based on Mr. Lausch’s initial investigation, I concluded that, under the Special Counsel regulations, it was in the public interest to appoint a Special Counsel. In the days since, while Mr. Lausch continued the investigation, the Department identified Mr. Hur for appointment as Special Counsel.
“This appointment underscores for the public the Department’s commitment to both independence and accountability in particularly sensitive matters, and to making decisions indisputably guided only by the facts and the law.
“I am confident that Mr. Hur will carry out his responsibility in an even-handed and urgent manner, and in accordance with the highest traditions of this Department.”
WORLD
TEACHING A NEW GENERATION ABOUT MLK
Children from a dozen countries met with the President of the General Assembly and toured the United Nations on a federal holiday in the United States honoring the late civil rights leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Martin Luther King, Jr.
Swarming the office of President Csaba Kőrösi, the children – who ranged in age from toddler to high-school teen – pulled on the UN and Hungarian flags that flank a UN seal in the office and ran around to look at the skyline outside of the balcony. Meanwhile, parents tried to keep them from touching anything and nervously eyed a glass table that usually holds talking points for meetings with Heads of State and Government.
“Will there still be a world by the time we have kids,” one of the children asked the President.
“That’s what the work of the General Assembly tries to guarantee,” replied Mr. Kőrösi, who sometimes mentions his now adult daughter in speeches, recalling the motivation she has given him to keep pushing for a sustainable transformation in the world.
The next stop for the group was a tour of the United Nations, led by UN Tour Guide Jonathan Mishal who helps to lead the UN’s children’s tours twice a week.
Sitting the multilingual group in front of world flags pinned into a wooden tree, Mr. Mishal discussed the importance of the UN for global cooperation: “This is the one place in the world where countries that are at war sit right next to each other, go downstairs for coffee, and discuss why they disagree.”
The group then visited the General Assembly, where they sat in the Member States’ seats and posed for photos at the podium where world leaders and invited guests speak.
Mr. Mishal noted also the importance of young people’s involvement in the UN, referring to Malala and Greta Thunberg – both of whom addressed the chamber.
The setting was known to the older children, whose parents work for the UN, and have grown up in international settings speaking Arabic, French, English, Hebrew, Hungarian, Indonesian, Mandarin, Romanian, and Spanish.
Comfortable in their surroundings, the children made suggestions for improving world affairs on the local stage – “my parents don’t always listen to me” – to improving the actual General Assembly – bigger translation earpieces to accommodate big earrings.
Mr. Mishal continued the tour, with a nod to MLK Day, by discussing discrimination.
Martin Luther King Jr. visited the UN in 1967, meeting to discuss the situation of civil rights in the United States with senior UN official and also Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Ralph Bunche.
In a tweet for the Day, President Kőrösi said Dr. King’s vision aligns with UN ideals of human rights, economic and social justice, and peace around the world: “As we look to crisis management and transformation, the work of the General Assembly is inspired by his courage and conviction.”
JOURNALISTS UNDER FIRE
The number of journalists killed worldwide significantly increased in 2022, following a decline over the previous three years, according to the United Nations’ culture agency (UNESCO).
In the recently released 2021-2022 freedom of expression report, UNESCO noted the deaths of 86 journalists last year, amounting to one every four days, up from 55 killings in 2021.
The findings highlight the grave risks and vulnerabilities that journalists continue to face in the course of their work, the agency said.
“Authorities must step up their efforts to stop these crimes and ensure their perpetrators are punished because indifference is a major factor in this climate of violence,” said UNESCO Director-General Audrey Azoulay, describing the findings as “alarming.”
UNESCO noted that nearly half of the journalists killed were targeted while off duty; some were attacked while travelling, or in parking lots or other public places where they were not on assignment, while others were in their homes at the time of their killing.
The report warned that this implies that “there are no safe spaces for journalists, even in their spare time.”
Despite progress in the past five years, the rate of impunity for journalist killings remains “shockingly high” at 86 percent. Combating impunity remains a pressing commitment on which international cooperation must be further mobilized, the organization said.
In addition to killing, journalists in 2022 also were victims of other forms of violence. This included enforced disappearance, kidnapping, arbitrary detention, legal harassment and digital violence, with women particularly being targeted.
The UNESCO study highlighted challenges for journalists, pointing out that the weaponization of defamation laws, cyber laws, and anti “fake news” legislation, are being used as a means of limiting freedom of speech and creating a toxic environment for journalists to operate in.
UNESCO found that Latin America and the Caribbean were the deadliest for journalists in 2022 with 44 killings, over half of all of those killed worldwide.
Worldwide, the deadliest individual countries were Mexico, with 19 killings, Ukraine with 10 and Haiti with nine. Asia and the Pacific registered 16 killings, while 11 were killed in Eastern Europe.
While the number of journalists killed in countries in conflict rose to 23 in 2022, compared with 20 the previous year, the global increase was primarily driven by killings in non-conflict countries. This number almost doubled from 35 cases in 2021 to 61 in 2022, representing three-quarters of all killings last year.
AFRICA
UGANDAN EBOLA OUTBREAK ENDS
In Uganda, a deadly outbreak of Ebola virus has been stopped in its tracks and declared officially over, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said.
Infections had occurred in the major cities of Kampala and Jinja, fuelling concerns that the disease could extend well into 2023. In 2019, Uganda experienced an outbreak of the Zaire strain of Ebola.
Head of the UN health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, congratulated the authorities for their “robust” response to the outbreak, less than four months after the first case of Sudan Ebola virus was confirmed, in central Mubende district.
“Uganda has shown that Ebola can be defeated when the whole system works together, from having an alert system in place, to finding and caring for people affected and their contacts, to gaining the full participation of affected communities in the response,” Tedros said.
In all, 55 people died and 87 recovered in the latest outbreak, according to WHO, whose Regional Director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti, noted that no vaccines yet exist to treat the Sudan strain.
“This was one of the most challenging Ebola outbreaks in the past five years,” Dr. Moeti said. “But Uganda stayed the course and continuously fine-tuned its response.
“Two months ago, it looked as if Ebola would cast a dark shadow over the country well into 2023…this win starts off the year on a note of great hope for Africa.”
The virus is transmitted to people from wild animals and can spread through direct contact with infected people’s blood or other bodily fluids. Symptoms of Ebola – formerly known as Ebola hemorrhagic fever – include fever and vomiting, accompanied by internal and external bleeding.
To stop further transmission of the virus – which was the country’s first encounter with Sudan Ebola virus in a decade – WHO worked with national health teams to explain the threat to at-risk populations and the need for restricted movement in the infection hot-spots of Mubende and Kasanda.
“While we expanded our efforts to put a strong response in place across the nine affected districts, the magic bullet has been our communities who understood the importance of doing what was needed to end the outbreak, and took action,” said Dr. Jane Ruth Aceng Acero, Uganda’s Minister of Health.
WHO also helped to track more than 4,000 people who came into contact with people infected with the Ebola virus. Once identified, these contacts were monitored for 21 days, before being given the all-clear.
The last patient was released from care on Nov. 30 when the 42-day countdown to the end of the outbreak began, according to WHO, which noted that the case fatality rate for this outbreak, was 47 percent.
EUROPE
PROTECTING DOMESTIC ABUSE VICTIMS
The Home Office of the UK has committed up to £18 million per year over 2 years towards the next phase of the Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Intervention Fund, bringing the total fund to £36 million.
Police and crime commissioners (PCCs) will be given funding to increase the availability of domestic abuse perpetrator intervention schemes in their areas, such as behavior change programs, that aim to improve victim safety and reduce the risk posed by abusers.
Since 2020 the Home Office has awarded over £41 million to PCCs across England and Wales.
Minister for Safeguarding Sarah Dines said: “I am fully committed to tackling domestic abuse and protecting victims from suffering the lasting impacts of these horrific crimes.
“Our vital Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Intervention Fund allows police forces to intervene early, and work with perpetrators to change their behavior and reduce the risk they pose, in order to protect victims.
Previous iterations of the Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Intervention Fund have funded schemes such as the Drive Project, which works with high harm and serial perpetrators to prevent them from abusing again.
Recent evaluation from the Drive Project has shown that participation from dangerous perpetrators resulted in a reduction in abuse and risk amongst users of the service, with 82% fewer perpetrators using physical abuse.
On Jan. 9, the Home Office has also published 7 standards which provide commissioners with the guidance they need to commission effective interventions with perpetrators, whilst also ensuring that victims’ safety and welfare remains paramount. These have been created based on existing evidence of perpetrator interventions.
The standards outline the need for interventions to be conducted at the right time and by highly skilled staff. They also outline the importance of holding the perpetrator accountable for their actions, and highlight that the priority outcomes for such interventions should be enhanced safety and freedom for victims and survivors.
Publication of the standards and launch of the Domestic Abuse Perpetrator Intervention Fund is part of the government’s commitment to tackle domestic abuse, as laid out in the Tackling Domestic Abuse Plan.
The plan signifies the government’s continuous efforts to tackle domestic abuse through prioritizing prevention, supporting victims, pursuing perpetrators, and building a stronger system. In addition, the Domestic Abuse Act 2021 gave clearer guidance as to what constitutes domestic abuse and provides stronger protection for victims of domestic abuse.
