WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
On Feb. 21, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ordered Norfolk Southern to conduct all necessary actions associated with the cleanup from the East Palestine, Ohio, train derailment. As part of EPA’s legally binding order, Norfolk Southern will be required to:
- Identify and clean up contaminated soil and water resources.
- Reimburse EPA for cleaning services to be offered to residents and businesses to provide an additional layer of reassurance, which will be conducted by EPA staff and contractors.
- Attend and participate in public meetings at EPA’s request and post information online.
- Pay for EPA’s costs for work performed under this order.
As part of the order, EPA will approve a workplan outlining all steps necessary to clean up the environmental damage caused by the derailment. If the company fails to complete any actions as ordered by EPA, the Agency will immediately step in, conduct the necessary work, and then seek to compel Norfolk Southern to pay triple the cost.
“The Norfolk Southern train derailment has upended the lives of East Palestine families, and EPA’s order will ensure the company is held accountable for jeopardizing the health and safety of this community,” said EPA Administrator Michael S. Regan. “Let me be clear: Norfolk Southern will pay for cleaning up the mess they created and for the trauma they’ve inflicted on this community. I’m deeply grateful to the emergency responders, including EPA personnel, who’ve been on the ground since day one and ensured there was no loss of life as a result of this disaster.
“As we transition from emergency response, EPA will continue to coordinate closely with our local, state, and federal partners through a whole-of-government approach to support the East Palestine community during the remediation phase. To the people of East Palestine, EPA stands with you now and for as long as it may take.”
To address the concerns of residents regarding potential indoor contamination, EPA will offer cleaning services to area businesses and families. The Agency has extensive experience with similar cleaning programs in other Midwestern communities. Under the terms of the order, Norfolk Southern will reimburse EPA for the costs of these cleaning services. More details about how community members can request this service will be available this week.
EPA’s order marks the transition of the multi-agency response from its “emergency phase” to a longer-term remediation phase. To help implement the order, EPA will establish a “unified command structure” to coordinate the clean-up related efforts of FEMA, HHS, Ohio EPA, Ohio EMA, PA DEP, as well as Norfolk Southern. This approach is frequently used in situations where multiple agencies need to work together. In this case, the response includes federal, state and local agencies across multiple states.
EPA issued this unilateral administrative order pursuant to the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, which gives EPA the authority to order those responsible for pollution to clean it up. The order takes effect two days after signature, though the cleanup work has already begun and will continue.
WORLD
MORE EARTHQUAKES HIT TURKEY & SYRIA
Despite reeling from some of the worst tremors in the 21st Century, the shared ordeal of Turkey (Türkiye) and Syria is unfortunately not over.
On Feb. 20, Turkey and Syria were rocked by a 6.3 magnitude main quake, and then a 5.7 aftershock, with other little quakes following, similar to the 7.8 and 7.5 juggernauts that wrecked the region.
Just from the first quakes overall, over 6,000 buildings have reportedly collapsed in Turkey, with that country baring most of the deaths. Syria has been struck by over 200 aftershocks. Even worse for Syria, the country has been mired in the midst of war for ages.
As the death toll since Feb. 6 has topped 41,000 in Türkiye, UN development experts said that 1.5 million people have been made homeless in the south of the country, where at least 500,000 new homes will need to be built.
According to reports, at least “another 294 people injured and another few buildings collapsed in the region around Hatay and some on the Mediterranean coast,” the UNDP official continued.
In northwest Syria, where up to nine million people have been affected, and at least 6,000 killed, the international humanitarian response has continued. A total of 227 trucks loaded with supplies have crossed from Türkiye since Feb. 9: 195 using the Bab al-Hawa crossing, 22 across Bab al-Salam and 10 across Al Ra’ee.
Speaking to journalists via video link from Gaziantep in southern Türkiye, Dr. Catherine Smallwood, Earthquake Incident manager for the UN World Health Organization (WHO) in Europe, noted that the agency had transported “close to 100 tons across the border from Türkiye” since the disaster, in addition to the supplies that were already pre-positioned within Syria.
UKRAINE vs. RUSSIA: ONE YEAR LATER
As the international community prepared to mark one year since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, UN rights investigators on Feb. 21 relayed disturbing testimonies about the high number of civilians killed to date.
Matilda Bogner, Head of the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), told journalists in Geneva that the civilian death toll in the southern city of Mariupol – besieged and bombarded by Russian missiles – had been particularly high.
“My colleagues interviewed a former prisoner of war, and he was from Mariupol and he was forced in Mariupol to collect the bodies on the city streets. He told us that Russian soldiers were expected to meet the daily quota of one truck of corpses per day. And that is, as he said, in Mariupol meeting with that quota was not a problem at all.”
According to latest UN human rights office (OHCHR) data, at least 8,000 non-combatants have been confirmed killed – with nearly 13,300 injured – since the Russian invasion on Feb. 24 last year. The true number is likely to be substantially higher, OHCHR staff have repeated on many occasions.
In a statement deploring the human cost of the conflict, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk said that every day that violations of international human rights and humanitarian law continue, “it becomes harder and harder to find a way forward through mounting suffering and destruction, towards peace.”
Civilians have been killed “in their homes and while simply trying to meet their essential needs, such as collecting water and buying food”, Mr. Türk said. “These included 67-year-old Olha, who was killed in a missile strike just meters from her flat in Kharkiv as she went to buy milk the day after the war began.”
The UN rights chief described how “Serhii, a man in his 60s, choked back tears as he told human rights monitors how he saw his six-year-old granddaughter lose a leg in an artillery attack, when his house in a village near Kherson took a direct hit on April 2, 2022.”
These stories mask the true extent of the suffering in Ukraine, Mr. Türk continued, listing hardships that include electricity and water shortages, and the fact that nearly 18 million people are in dire need of humanitarian assistance, with 14 million people displaced from their homes.
According to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine (HRMMU), men accounted for 61.1 percent of confirmed civilian casualties and women 39.9 percent. At least 487 children were killed and 954 injured.
The rights monitors also found that more than nine in 10 civilian casualties were caused by explosive weapons with “wide area effects,” including artillery shells, cruise and ballistic missiles, and air strikes. Most occurred in populated areas.
The HRMMU team – whose work also includes documenting gross violations of human rights law throughout the past year, such as sexual violence, torture and summary executions – also recorded 632 civilian casualties – 219 killed and 413 injured – caused by mines and explosive remnants of war.
EUROPE
SPAIN GIVING PAID MENSTRUAL LEAVE
Independent UN experts on Feb. 21 welcomed Spain’s adoption of new comprehensive anti-discrimination and feminist legislation.
Describing the new laws as a “fundamental feminist achievement,” they said the move was part of an ambitious agenda for social progress. The legislation guarantees and facilitates access to sexual and reproductive rights in the country.
The new overarching measures ensure safe and accessible abortions provided by national health agencies. They also eliminate “reflection processes” arbitrarily imposed on women, and ensure access of all – including lesbian, bisexual and unmarried women – to assisted reproduction techniques.
In adopting the package of laws, Spain became the first European country to introduce menstrual leave. The legislation also makes comprehensive sexual education a part of all mandatory years of schooling.
The related sexual and reproductive rights measures were enacted alongside comprehensive legislation addressing violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics. Together, they aim at promoting social inclusion in the health, employment, education, cultural, and business sectors.
Elements include the provision of equal parenthood rights for lesbian mothers, a ban on genital mutilation for intersex children, and measures to end so-called “conversion therapy” perpetrated against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex (LGTBI) persons.
The regulations were adopted through a thoughtful and participatory parliamentary process that took six years, and which considered UN expert advice, they said.
“The history of feminism is a story of persistence in the face of social injustice,” the experts said.
They cautioned countries to guard against the populist allure that regressive forces may find in exploiting anti-abortion, anti-education and anti-trans discourse. As an example of this, they pointed to attempts to erase the inherent ties between the struggle against violence and discrimination faced by all women and girls, and gay, bisexual, and trans men, as well as other gender-diverse and intersex persons.
Saluting the role survivors of violence and civil society played throughout the process, they said “every time we observe the adoption of a law, public policy or jurisprudence that promotes equality, we are immediately reminded of the work of human rights defenders, survivors, and activists,” they said.
“They were the ones who provided their stories, compiled the evidence, and carried out the work of advocacy and persuasion so that Spanish authorities could fully embrace the idea that these legislative measures are key elements to ensure that every person can live free and equal in dignity and rights,” they said.
