On June 18, the government of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) made a surprise announcement granting nationals of countries suffering from war and disasters a one-year residence visa. Although an important gesture to relieve suffering and provide temporary shelter, Abu Dhabi is not following through on a much more important and sustainable solution to these problems: the permanent resettlement of Syrian refugees from Lebanon, Jordan or other hosting countries to the UAE.
Ooit een symbool van het communistische regime van Albanië is het Skanderbeg-plein omgevormd tot een voetgangersoase op menselijke schaal omringd door bomen en fonteinen.
Once a symbol of Albania’s Communist regime, surrounded by monumental Stalinist buildings and chaotic traffic, Skanderbeg Square –the main plaza in the Albanian capital of Tirana– has been transformed into a human-scale pedestrian oasis surrounded by trees and fountains.
Two new executions have reportedly taken place in Belarus, according to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Aliaksei Mikhalenia and Viktor Liotau were killed in secret in May. Information about the impending executions were withheld from family members, as well as the public.
The results of a comprehensive survey on gender equality in Kosovo were published by the United Nations Kosovo Team on May 31, 2018. The research shows that a legal and policy framework exists, but more needs to be done to involve men in realizing gender equality in Kosovo.
After the collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe, newly elected parliaments adopted legislation to dispose of the former communist elites. Through so-called “lustration” laws (“purification” in Latin) countries addressed the legacy of human rights abuses by identifying and, in some cases, sentencing those responsible for abuses under the prior regime. Lustration, however, was only one of the ways that secret police files could be used.
“Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.” With this quote, article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, opened the first issue of A Chronicle of Current Events. The Chronicle was one of the longest-running samizdat publications in the Soviet Union.
Young Georgians who organized protests over police anti-drug raids last weekend say they will be back on the streets of Tbilisi, Georgia’s capital, on May 19 if their demands are not met, RFE/RL reported. Organizer Beka Tsikarishvili said the rallies would resume if the government fails to change its approach to anti-drug efforts, which critics call misguided and heavy-handed.
Latvia’s recent amendment to its education law, which eliminates Russian language instruction, is part of a larger trend in post-Soviet states. As a result of the amendment, Latvia’s system of bi-lingual secondary education will end by 2021. The government introduced the reforms despite opposition from the Latvian Russian Union, members of the opposition Harmony party –which represents the country’s Russian-speaking minority– and proponents of bi-lingual education. Russians make up about half of the 641,000 inhabitants of Riga, Latvia’s capital.
As the UN renews its mission in Western Sahara, Frank Elbers reports on the continued tension between local governments, natural resource companies and the Sahrawi people.
