WORLD NEWS FLASH
UNITED STATES
Despite not reaching 90 days into the year 2023 at this point, there have been over 190 mass shootings in the U.S. – and one of them is yet another mass school shooting.
The shooter in this case was 28-year-old Audrey Elizabeth Hale, a former student of her target, the Covenant School, a private Christian school in Nashville, TN. Hale used three of seven legally purchased firearms, one being an AR-15 like weapon, in gunning down three 9-year-old students – Evelyn Dieckhaus, William Kinney, and Hallie Scruggs – and three adults: substitute teacher Cynthia Peak, 61; custodian Mike Hill, 61; and head of school Katherine Koonce, 60.
Hale, who is reportedly transgender under a female to male transition, was confronted by authorities into the melee, and according to Police Chief John Drake, Officer Rex Englebert and Officer Michael Collazo delivered the fatal shots to Hale at around 10:27 a.m. local time, 14 minutes after the shooting began.
“Chief John Drake and the men and women of the MNPD join all of Nashville in mourning today’s deaths of six innocent persons, three nine-year-olds and three adults, at the hands of an active shooter at Covenant Church/School on Burton Hills Drive,” the MNPD said in a statement.
Upon speaking to reporters on the tragedy, President Biden said, “I have gone the full extent of my executive authority to do, on my own, anything about guns… The Congress has to act. The majority of the American people think having assault weapons is bizarre; it’s a crazy idea. They’re against that. And so, I think the Congress should be passing the assault weapons ban…
“…I want to remind you, the last time we passed the assault weapons ban, violent shootings went down, mass shootings went down for 10 or however many years it was – 9 years. So I can’t do anything except plead with the Congress to act reasonably.”
WORLD
CONCERNS GROW OVER PANDEMIC MISINFORMATION
The head of the UN World Health Organization on March 23 spoke out forcefully against “misinformation on social media and in the mainstream media” which has falsely alleged that a new global pandemic accord being negotiated, would allow the WHO to override national sovereignty relating to a future outbreak.
Briefing correspondents in Geneva at his regular weekly press conference, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that “the claim that the accord will cede power to WHO is quite simply false. It’s fake news.”
He made clear that countries themselves will decide the wording and scope of any global agreement on how to tackle the next pandemic, “and countries alone.”
“No country will cede any sovereignty to WHO,” the Director-General emphasized.
News reports have highlighted several instances of online news sources and commentators in recent weeks, falsely claiming that the Biden administration in the United States, was negotiating a deal to allow WHO to “control” emergency laws in the event of another pandemic, such as COVID-19.
Earlier this month, Member States of the WHO began negotiations on a draft global accord on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, working from an agreed “zero draft,” designed to protect countries and communities from future pandemic emergencies.
The Intergovernmental Negotiating Body (INB) which is drafting and negotiating the hoped for WHO agreement, is due to meet again early next month, with a view to producing a first draft.
INB Co-Chair, Ms. Precious Matsoso of South Africa, said at the March meeting, that the meeting was “a critical step in ensuring that we do not repeat the mistakes of the COVID-19 response, including in sharing life-saving vaccines, provision of information, and development of local capacities.”
Tedros said that if any politician, business leader, “or anyone at all is confused about what the pandemic accord is and isn’t, we would be more than happy to discuss it and explain it.”
ASIA
INDIA URGED TO LAY OFF ACTIVISTS
India must immediately halt its crackdown on Kashmiri activists, the independent UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, said on March 24, calling for greater accountability.
Her appeal follows the latest arrest of prominent rights defender Khurram Parvez, who has been in detention for more than a year on charges related to conspiracy and terrorism.
“Indian authorities appear to be intensifying the long-standing repression of Kashmiri civil society,” Ms. Lawlor said. “The State must respect its human rights obligations and be held accountable where it violates them.”
Mr. Parvez has documented serious human rights violations in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir and has been detained since November 2021.
He was arrested in a second case after two days’ interrogation by India’s main counter-terrorism body, the National Investigation Agency.
He was charged with financing terrorism under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, through his work with the Jammu and Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society (JKCCS). The non-governmental organization (NGO) is based in the city of Srinagar.
Prior to his arrest, former JKCCS associate Irfan Mehraj, a journalist and human rights activist, was arrested as part of the same case on Monday in Srinagar. He was immediately transferred to India’s capital, New Delhi.
Ms. Lawlor said JKCCS associates and volunteers are facing coercion and intimidation from the authorities, noting that the NGO carries out essential work monitoring human rights.
“Their research and analysis of human rights violations are of huge value, including to international organizations seeking to ensure accountability and non-repetition of abuses,” she said.
She recalled that UN human rights experts have repeatedly highlighted grave concerns regarding the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, which allows the designation of any individual as a “terrorist”, bypassing the requirement to establish membership of, or association with, banned groups.
She said the Act is applied as a means of coercion against civil society, the media, and human rights defenders in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mr. Lawlor called for Kashmiri human rights defenders to be released and for investigations against them to be closed. Her statement was endorsed by Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of peaceful assembly and of association.
