UNITED STATES: Biden Officially Wins Presidential Election
Despite constant legal challenges and allegations of voter fraud, the results of the 2020 Presidential Election will hold true.
On Dec. 14, electors from all 50 states held an official confirmation of the election results. As expected, President-elect Joe Biden amassed 306 electoral votes, while outgoing President Donald Trump took just 232. The 306-232 margin mirrored Trump’s win over Hillary Clinton in 2016.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell acknowledged Biden’s win, and also welcomed the nation’s first female vice president in Kamala Harris. Russian President Vladimir Putin also congratulated Biden.
All that is left to do with the election results is for Congress to certify them in January, but that is only a formality. However, despite these developments and more than 80 court losses, Trump is still putting up resistance to the election results.
“Tremendous problems being found with voting machines,” Trump posted on Twitter. “They are so far off it is ridiculous. Able to take a landslide victory and reduce it to a tight loss. This is not what the USA is all about. Law enforcement shielding machines. DO NOT TAMPER, a crime. Much more to come!
“68% error rate in Michigan Voting Machines. Should be, by law, a tiny percentage of one percent. Did Michigan Secretary of State break the law? Stay tuned!” Trump tweeted. (Twitter marked each tweet with the disclaimer: “This claim about election fraud is disputed.”)
In other news, Biden nominated one-time Democratic Primary opponent Pete Buttigieg to serve as Transportation Secretary. If confirmation, Buttigieg will become the first openly gay Cabinet member in U.S. History .
AFRICA: Boko Haram Kidnaps Over 300 Boys
The United Nations Secretary-General has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of hundreds of boys, believed abducted by suspected bandits, after an attack on their school in northwest Nigeria.
More than three hundred children are reported to be still missing, with many feared abducted, after armed gunmen stormed the all-boys Government Science Secondary School in Kankara, Katsina state, late Friday evening (local time, Dec. 11).
In a statement issued by his spokesperson, Secretary-General António Guterres strongly condemned the attack and called for the children’s safe return to their families.
“He reiterates that attacks on schools and other educational facilities constitute a grave violation of human rights. He urges the Nigerian authorities to bring those responsible for this act to justice,” the statement added.
Meanwhile, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) also denounced the attack and called for the children’s release.
In a separate statement, Marie-Pierre Poirier, UNICEF Regional Director for West and Central Africa, said that the violence “is a grim reminder” that abductions of children and widespread grave violations of children’s rights continue to take place in northern Nigeria.
“Children should feel safe at home, in schools and in their playgrounds at all times. We stand with the families of the missing children and the community affected by this horrifying event.”
In February 2018, Boko Haram insurgents kidnapped over 100 schoolgirls from a secondary school in the town of Dapchi, in northeast Nigeria. Six years ago, in 2014, the militant group abducted 276 girls from their school dormitory in Chibok. Many of them remain missing.
EUROPE: Agreement Made on Health Program
On Dec. 14, Parliament negotiators agreed on a deal with member states to significantly step up the EU’s action in the health sector through a dedicated 5.1 billion EUR “EU4Health Program” as part of the EU’s recently agreed long-term budget.
The new program will support actions in areas where the EU’s contribution will clearly be valuable, invest in health promotion and disease prevention measures and prepare European health systems to face future health threats.
Supporting member states in developing quality healthcare standards at national level will be one of the program’s specific objectives. By making health systems more resilient, EU4Health will prepare the EU more thoroughly for major cross-border health threats. This should enable the EU to face not only future epidemics, but also long-term challenges such as an ageing population and health inequalities.
The new European Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority will be created to support a better EU-level response to cross-border health threats. It will also be eligible for funding through EU4Health.
As a well-informed public is vital in preventing and responding to diseases, the program also supports communication activities to promote disease prevention and a healthy lifestyle and to counter misinformation.
The COVID-19 crisis has highlighted many weaknesses in national health systems including their dependence on non-EU countries to supply medicines, medical devices as well as personal protective equipment. The program will therefore support actions, which foster the production, procurement and management of such crisis-relevant products in the EU in order to make them more available and affordable. Actions to develop medicinal products and medical devices that are less harmful for the environment are also eligible.
Twenty percent of the total budget shall be reserved for health promotion and disease prevention by addressing health risks such as the harmful use of alcohol and tobacco. Digitalizing healthcare, including by supporting the creation of a European health data space, is also part of the deal.
Supporting actions to promote access to quality healthcare, including access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and the EU’s fight against cancer is also a priority. In addition, it will be possible to support global health initiatives, e.g. actions proposed by the WHO.
After the deal, Parliament’s rapporteur Cristian-Silviu Buşoi (EPP, RO) said: “The COVID-19 crisis has exposed the need for well-defined and adequately-financed health instruments. We also need to boost innovation and invest more in health in general. It was crucial to increase funding for the EU4Health Program from €1.7 billion to €5.1 billion in order to be able to deal with future pandemics and health threats, and to make our health systems more resilient. I am also happy that this deal will contribute to the establishment of a reserve of health crisis relevant products, such as essential medicines, vaccines and medical devices.”
The provisional deal still needs to be approved by Parliament as a whole as well as Council.
MIDDLE EAST: Another Disputed Iran Execution
The Coast Guard Cutter Joseph Napier repatriated 12 migrants from an interdicted illegal voyage and transferred two men, who were rescued in a separate case, to a Dominican Republic Navy vessel Dec. 7 near Punta Cana, Dominican Republic.
Iran’s decision to hang media activist Ruhollah Zam on Dec. 12 was an appalling violation of human rights that followed a deeply flawed trial process, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet said in a statement on Dec. 14.
“I am appalled at the execution in Iran on 12 December of Ruhollah Zam, activist and founder of the AmadNews Telegram channel,” Bachelet said in a statement.
“His death sentence and execution by hanging are emblematic of a pattern of forced confessions extracted under torture and broadcast on state media being used as a basis to convict people. There were, in addition, serious concerns that the apprehension of Zam outside the territory of Iran could amount to an abduction and that his subsequent transfer to Iran for trial may not have respected due process guarantees.”
Bachelet called on Iran’s government to immediately free all those detained for exercising their human rights, and to immediately halt the use of the death penalty and “vague national security charges” to suppress independent voices and dissent.
She said she condemned the use of the death penalty in all circumstances, saying that it was irreconcilable with human dignity, often arbitrarily used, and wrongful executions could be never be rectified.
“Under international human rights law, if applied at all, the death penalty must be limited only to the most serious crimes, involving intentional killing, and after proceedings that fully respect the guarantees of fair trial, appeal and the right to seek clemency – cumulative conditions clearly not met in Ruhollah Zam’s case,” Bachelet said.
In a separate statement, two UN Special Rapporteurs – independent rights experts mandated by the UN Human Rights Council – called Mr. Zam’s conviction and subsequent hanging, “unconscionable.”
The statement from Javaid Rehman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, and Agnes Callamard, Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, said Mr. Zam had been convicted for allegedly “spreading corruption on earth.”
They said Mr. Zam was accused of helping to inspire nationwide anti-government protests in 2017 and revealing damaging accusations about State officials.
“It is clear that Ruhollah Zam was executed for expressing opinions and providing information on AmadNews that dissented from the official views of the Iranian Government,” they said.
In January this year, Mr. Rehman, submitted a report to the UN Human Rights Council that raised concerns about Zam’s case, saying that Iranian television had aired a statement by Zam in which he expressed his “regret” over trusting the Governments of France and other countries.
“It has been reported that Mr. Zam was persuaded, under false pretenses, to go to Iraq from France, where he had refugee status. In Iraq, he was captured and returned to the Islamic Republic of Iran by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,” the report said.
