The President of the European Council, Donald Tusk received the letters of credentials of the following Ambassadors:
H.E. Mr Bojan ŠARKIĆ, Ambassador, Head of the Mission of Montenegro to the European Union
H.E. Mr Urs BUCHER, Ambassador, Head of the Mission of the Swiss Confederation to the European Union
H.E. Mr Kazuo KODAMA, Ambassador, Head of the Mission of Japan to the European Union
Samstag, 24. September 2016
Wien
11.30 Uhr Teilnahme am Gipfeltreffen zur Migration über die Balkanroute
Dienstag, 27. September 2016
10.30 Uhr Überreichung von Beglaubigungsschreiben durch Botschafter
13.00 Uhr Treffen mit dem Präsidenten der Europäischen Kommission, Jean-Claude Juncker
Mittwoch, 28. September 2016
Kiew
(Ortszeit)
19.00 Uhr Treffen mit Präsident Petro Poroschenko
Donnerstag, 29. September 2016
Kiew
(Ortszeit)
09.00 Uhr Treffen mit Ministerpräsident Wolodymyr Hroisman
15.00 Uhr Teilnahme an der Gedenkzeremonie zum 75. Jahrestag von Babyn Jar
Freitag, 30. September 2016
Israel
Trauerfeier für den ehemaligen Präsidenten Israels, Shimon Peres
The Swazi government has made little progress implementing the recommendations it accepted during its last Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in 2011. There has been no progress on essential rights reforms that Swaziland rejected during the 2011 UPR review. These include: removal of all legislative and practical restrictions on fundamental civil and political rights, in particular those related to freedom of association and expression to allow the registration and operation of political parties; permitting greater political freedoms through free, fair, transparent democratic elections; ensuring the right to health without discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity; abolition of the death penalty; and decriminalization of same-sex relations and prevention of discrimination based on marital status and sexual orientation.
The government has yet to repeal, or amend as appropriate, a number of repressive laws that restrict basic rights guaranteed in Swaziland’s 2005 constitution, including freedom of association and assembly. The laws in need of amendment include the 2008 Suppression of Terrorism Act (STA), the 1938 Sedition and Subversive Activities Act, and the 1963 Public Order Act. Police have sweeping powers under the Public Order Act. The king’s 1973 decree banning political parties remains in force despite repeated calls from local political activists to have it revoked. The constitution does not address the formation or role of political parties.
Human Rights Watch urges the Swazi government to:
"Une autre histoire de la gendarmerie ?", s'interroge, bien sûr faussement candide, l'éditeur. Et l'auteur de répondre: "Non : une première histoire des hommes et des femmes qui incarnent cette institution. Et qui résume en plus, pour la première fois, les résultats des recherches récentes."
Effectivement, L'Histoire des gendarmes. De la maréchaussée à nos jours, que publient les éditions Nouveau monde, renouvelle le genre en prenant en compte les relations des gendarmes avec la population et les autres acteurs de l’ordre public et de la défense. Cette histoire analyse le rôle spécifique des "soldats de la loi" au sein de l’État et de la société. Et elle apporte un autre éclairage à l’histoire des systèmes policiers, des forces armées et des politiques de sécurité, et trouve sa matière dans les romans, les bandes dessinées, au théâtre, au cinéma et dans les séries télévisées.
En prime: une chronologie de 280 dates, des organigrammes, des statistiques (dont un tableau synoptique des composantes du corps entre 1914 et aujourd’hui), une bibliographie commentée de 140 titres.
L’ouvrage est dirigé par Jean-Noël Luc, professeur à l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, où il anime, depuis quinze ans, un séminaire qui a produit plus de cent cinquante travaux; il a organisé plusieurs colloques sur l’histoire des gendarmes. Il est aussi le co-auteur, avec Arnaud-Dominique Houte, de l'ouvrage Les Gendarmeries dans le monde, de la Révolution française à nos jours (Paris, PUPS, mars 2016, 414 p, 28 €). Voir ici le post que j'ai consacré à ce livre.
Jean-Noël Luc (dir.), Histoires des gendarmes, de la maréchaussée à nos jours, Nouveau monde éditions – Livre de poche, 448 pages, 9,90€.
By Dr. Abdulkarim Seid
At a glance, wetlands – large expanses of swamps – seem like public nuisances, a waste of space; occupying prime land which could otherwise be turned into sprawling shopping malls, hotels or theme parks devoid of any green.
Indeed, several wetlands in the Nile Basin have undergone degradation due to multiple contributing factors; settlements and urbanization by an ever growing population, reclamation and conversion for agriculture. Other factors are upstream infrastructural development, over-exploitation by local communities and climate change.
Wetlands represent about five percent of the total basin area and are concentrated in two areas: the Equatorial Lakes region and the Sudd area in South Sudan. The Sudd wetlands – the most extensive wetland system in the Nile Basin – are highly variable in size, averaging roughly 30,000 square kilometres, but extending up to as large as 130,000 square kilometres during the wet seasons. The Nile Delta north of Egypt, once an area of lush natural wetlands, has now been almost entirely converted into agricultural land.
The majority of these transgressions have gone largely unpunished while encroachment on wetlands continues to flourish. However, this ‘honeymoon' usually ends at the onset of the rainy seasons when nature fights back. The difference here is that the dry season is often characterised by light showers, which hardly pose a threat to populations settled in the lowlands. It is a different story when the heavy rains begin, though.
With the advent of climate change and variable weather patterns, there has been a noticeable increase in floods in the Nile Basin. Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda have all witnessed El Nino rains in recent months that swept chunks of property and lives with their deadly force. It is perhaps at such times that many people realise the advantages of wetlands in absorbing excess water in the environment.
These factors threaten the intrinsic hydrological and ecological link between these wetlands and River Nile including its overall health and life. This is exacerbated by inadequate knowledge and experience for mainstreaming wetland conservation and for making full use of ecosystem services in the planning process.
Wetlands are crucial mainly because they act as a buffer for floods. They absorb the excess water or run off in the environment and release it systematically while causing no harm to the neighbourhood. However, when these wetlands are threatened, they implode with no escape route for the large amounts of water. Hence, floods run riot and cause destruction of the surroundings. Wetlands are also valuable ecosystems that play an important role in maintaining environmental quality, sustaining livelihoods and supporting biodiversity.
The wide range of animal and plant species wetlands support, provide an ecosystem that services in the form of fisheries, fuel-wood, timber, medicines, providing high ecological, cultural and economic value through recreation and tourism. Wetlands also exert significant influence on the hydrological cycle, altering flood flows, maintaining low flows and ground water recharge.
In light of these challenges, the Nile Basin Initiative Secretariat is spearheading a wetlands project and forum whose focus is on strengthening the technical and institutional capacities of the riparian States for sustainable management of trans-boundary wetlands and wetlands of trans-boundary relevance in the Nile Basin such as the Sudd, whose extensive network affects annual flows of the Nile in downstream countries.
Interventions include building strategic and demand-driven knowledgebase on trans-boundary wetlands for informed planning and development of river basins; facilitating wetlands management planning for sustainability of the Nile Basin trans-boundary wetlands and wetlands of regional significance.
The expected benefits cannot be overemphasised; improved water security through tapping on restoration and conservation of wetlands ecosystem services; enhanced livelihoods security for largely local population groups whose livelihoods heavily depend on wetlands ecosystems. Let us all remember to save wetlands.
The author is head of water resources management at Nile Basin Initiative Secretariat.