The COVID-19 crisis has resulted in an “overall regression in human rights in Europe,” the Council of Europe’s anti-racism commission (ECRI) highlighted in its 2020 annual report released Thursday. 

Since the Second World War, few crises such as the pandemic have had a global impact on Europe, said Maria Daniella Marouda, the chair of ECRI.

The report identifies key challenges facing the continent: mitigating the disproportional impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vulnerable groups, tackling deep-rooted racism in public life, combating anti-Muslim racism and anti-Semitism in the face of terrorism and addressing the backlash against the protection of human rights of LGBTI people.

She added that in addition to anti-Semitic conspiracy theories on the origin of the pandemic and the targeting of Asian-origin people, the lockdown and economic downturn has hit the marginalized groups the hardest.

Among the groups disproportionately affected by the pandemic, the ECRI report distinguishes the Roma people, whose condition has “deteriorated the most,” migrants and LGBTI people.

Limited access to public utilities, the internet and computers, and social aid have exacerbated the situation of the Roma people, who live in isolated places in groups, and their school-going children.

Migrants, asylum seekers and young LGBTI persons had to bear the brunt of the lockdown over access to housing or cramped living spaces, unemployment, food shortages, exposure to health risks and violence.

The report expressed concern over “racial profiling and racist police abuse” that such groups are subjected to and “singled out based on their skin color or perceived or real ethnic or national origin.”

It also underlined a “dangerous spiral of inter-related forms of racism” developing against Muslims and anti-Semitic hatred, including violence against Jewish people. Pointing out the resurgence of terror attacks by extremists in Germany, France and Austria, the report warned that such horrific murders will “spark further intolerance and discrimination against Muslims.”

In the year 2020, marked by a wave of worldwide protests against racism and the thrusting of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement into the spotlight following the tragic death of George Floyd in the US, the ECRI called on member states to create inclusive policies, institutional culture and increase diversity within the police and training aimed at tackling racism in policing to combat racism and discrimination.

The anti-racism commission appealed to member states to build on the momentum on increased awareness “about the historical dimensions of racism and inequalities, especially colonialism and slavery, whose legacies have affected the whole of Europe.”

It also called for relentless and continued action at all levels to “not only heed the systemic nature of racism but also take a holistic and intersectional approach to dismantle the powerful social hierarchies behind it.”/aa

A UN representative said Thursday that more support should be provided to Turkey and other countries hosting Syrians due to the coronavirus pandemic's heavy burden on refugees as well as the countries hosting them. 

"We advocate for more support to be provided by the international community to Turkey and also to all neighboring countries hosting Syrians in this 11th year," Philippe Leclerc, the Representative of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Turkey, told Anadolu Agency.

Leclerc said responding to a refugee crisis must be a global and shared responsibility.

Remarking that the Syrian conflict after 10 years is the "tragedy of the 21st century,” he emphasized that the pandemic is stretching the capacities of the states to respond to the needs of both their citizens and the refugees.

Leclerc said the Global Compact on Refugees aims at easing the pressures on host countries, enhancing refugee self-reliance, expanding access to third-country solutions and supporting conditions in countries of origin for returns in safety and dignity.

He said the compact provides the necessary basis for sharing the responsibility on countries with a heavy population of refugees.

"More should be done in the spirit of the Global Compact on Refugees, including financial aid, more resettlement places and complementary pathways at a time Turkey is hosting 4 million people in difficult conditions because of the pandemic,” he added.

Leclerc noted that the number of Syrian refugees had shown little decline over the past few years and the lives of refugees have been becoming more difficult.

While funding is critical to address immediate, increasing humanitarian needs, international solidarity, which is essential in refugee situations, has to commit to long-term financial support to host countries, according to Leclerc.

He pointed out that everyone should be able to access health facilities and services including vaccines and the pandemic will only be brought under control when vaccines are available on an equal basis to all people regardless of their status.

Leclerc reminded that Turkey provided refugees in need with free access to protective equipment, tests and medication for COVID-19 irrespective of whether they have social security.

"As a positive approach, we are happy to see that Turkey included refugees and migrants in the vaccination program as well," he said.

Noting the significance of resettlement to a third country, Leclerc said it can save the lives of some of the most vulnerable refugees and give them new hope.

"The gap between needs and actual resettlement has never been so big. While UNHCR continues to search for durable solutions for all refugees, resettlement places made available by third countries remain very limited globally," he added./aa

On the eve of talks with Turkey’s president and a key EU summit, the bloc is holding back on sanctions on more Turkish oil company officials, according to media reports.

"Work has stopped on additional blacklistings of Turkish individuals, and we are not talking of economic sanctions anymore," the Reuters news agency quoted an anonymous EU diplomat as saying.

In February 2020, the EU sanctioned two officials of the Turkish Petroleum Corporation (TPAO) due to Turkey's energy exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean, under license from the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC).

But other diplomats said that the sanctions plans "never really took off" and that "the diplomatic track is being prioritized" instead, in a hopeful sign of progress in Turkish-EU ties.

US and EU diplomats reportedly urged Brussels not to impose sanctions at a time when Turkey, a NATO ally and EU candidate country, appears to be closer to consensus, said the news agency.

The news comes one day before Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan is due to meet via videoconference with top EU officials and ahead of next week EU leaders’ summit, which is set to discuss Turkey.

The conclusions of an EU summit last December suggested more sanctions of Turkish oil executives could come, but that plan seems to have been scuttled.

On Nov. 11, 2019, the European Council adopted a framework for restrictive measures in response to Turkey's "unauthorized drilling activities” in the Eastern Mediterranean.

Ankara rejected the claims, saying it has the right to energy exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean, rejecting Greek efforts to both severely curtail its maritime territory and make a Turkish-Greek issue into a problem with the EU./aa

US President Joe Biden said Thursday he is on pace to achieve his goal of administering 100 million COVID-19 vaccines in just over half the time promised.

"Tomorrow, 58 days into our administration we will have met my goal of administering 100 million shots to our fellow Americans," the US president said. "That’s weeks ahead of schedule."

Biden had initially vowed to meet the milestone within his first 100 days.

The US vaccine push has seen roughly 65% of people 65 and older receive at least one dose of the two-dose vaccines from Moderna or Pfizer-BioNTech, Biden said. That is critical in fighting the virus as the age group has accounted for 80% of the US's nearly 540,000 coronavirus-related deaths.

There are currently about 2.5 million shots going in to arms each day, “outpacing the rest of the world significantly,” Biden said.

"If we keep our guard up, stick together and stick with the science we can look forward to a Fourth of July that feels more normal with small groups able to gather for cookouts in backyards and where we begin to declare our independence on independence day from the virus," he added.

The US remains the country with the highest number of confirmed infections and deaths. There have been 29.6 cases and 538,738 deaths, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

Daily cases and fatalities have been on the decline since January when they hit all-time highs./aa

Italy will restart using the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on Friday following a positive response by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on its benefits compared to possible risks.

Italy was among several countries in Europe that earlier this week temporarily suspended the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, after reports of adverse effects and a few cases of blood issues among people who had just received the shots.

“The government’s priority remains to vaccinate as many people as possible as quickly as possible,” Premier Mario Draghi said in a brief statement following the EMA decision.

The Draghi government is under pressure to speed up its vaccine campaign, which was forced to slow down due to delays in producers’ supplies.

Italy reported 423 coronavirus-related deaths on Thursday, the Health Ministry said, while the daily toll of new infections rose to 24,935 from 23,059 a day before.

The country – one of the first hit hard by the pandemic in Europe – has registered 103,855 deaths related to COVID-19 since its outbreak in February 2020, the second-highest toll in Europe after the UK and the seventh-highest in the world.

The Draghi government aims at speeding up the vaccination campaign to reach herd immunity by the end of the summer, while trying to find new ways to support citizens and businesses hit by an unprecedented economic crisis, aggravated by the pandemic./aa

Spain will resume administering the AstraZeneca vaccine on Wednesday but may change its strategy on which groups receive it, the country’s health minister announced Thursday.

The news comes after the European Medicines Agency (EMA) found that the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risk, but could neither confirm nor rule out a relationship between a rare type of blood clotting and the vaccine.

Spanish health officials will also advise doctors and those receiving the vaccines that the jab may cause this rare side effect.

The safety information that comes with the vaccine will advise people to see their doctors if they have symptoms such as “an intense, persistent headache lasting more than two or three days” or “persistent abdominal pain, or sudden inflammation in the legs or arms,” in the words of Maria Jesus Lamas, head of the Spanish Medicines Agency.

Up until March 16, eighteen cases of a very specific type of thrombosis were notified to the European agency. The death of one schoolteacher who had been recently vaccinated in Spain is under investigation.

“Why do we care if there are so few cases? It could be a new side effect. And it’s mostly happening in the population younger than 55, mostly in women,” said Lamas, adding that women and people younger than 55 may be overrepresented because they have been more likely to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Spain has only approved the vaccine for people under 55 years old and has started vaccinating essential workers like police and teachers.

Over the weekend, authorities will meet with health experts to see if the new information should make the country change its strategy for who to vaccinate. For instance, the age limit could be lifted or it could just be used on men. On Monday, authorities will make a final decision.

On Thursday, Spain’s Health Ministry reported 117 more COVID-19 deaths, bringing the official death toll to 72,910.

The country saw 6,216 new infections, just slightly more than on Wednesday./aa

Turkey is likely to become an attractive center for interest-free Islamic finance after a new economic reform package was unveiled, according to an Istanbul University professor.

Servet Bayindir, who is also a member of Turkey's Presidential Economic Policies Board, told Anadolu Agency that Turkey is in a more advantageous position than Malaysia or the UK, two vital players, in terms of applying Islamic finance and attracting foreign capital.

"But for this, Turkey urgently needs to overcome the deficiencies in the legal infrastructure in banking, insurance, fund management and most importantly money and capital market products in accordance with Islamic principles," he said.

The enactment of an interest-free finance law would increase confidence in the sector, said Bayindir, who noted it would create a flow into Turkish markets from those who have domestic and overseas capital and interest sensibility.

The economic reform package introduced last week by President Recep Tayyip Erdogan showed that Turkey is preparing uniform legislation that will accelerate the development of the participation banking sector.

Erdogan said that with the regulation, a Central Advisory Board for the sector will be set up while participation in the financing sector will be gathered under a single roof.

Bayindir said that the Board is expected to produce and publish principles and standards regarding Islamic finance. "The Board should act as an arbitrator in eliminating the application differences between the institutions."

It also should supervise and inspect the sector in terms of compliance with Islamic financial principles, which ensures the reliability of the system, he added./aa

Sounding the alarm over the precarious situation in Ethiopia’s restive Tigray region, the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Thursday said tens of thousands of people have been displaced over the last few weeks.

“Severely hungry children and pregnant women are among 37,000 displaced people that have arrived into Shiraro [town], northwestern Tigray, over the last few weeks,” the NRC said in a statement.

It added: “They are among thousands of people in urgent need of aid and medical attention across the conflict-stricken region.”

“The situation in Shiraro is beyond dire,” it quoted Jan Egeland, NRC secretary general, as saying.

“Despite families arriving every day, no aid has been delivered for weeks. Food, water and medicine are running out fast. People could die unless they get humanitarian aid now,” he said.

On Nov. 4, the Ethiopian government launched a massive law enforcement operation in Tigray after the Tigray People's Liberation Front attacked the northern command of the Ethiopian defense forces stationed there. The group's forces killed many soldiers and looted military hardware.

On Nov. 28, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed declared the military confrontations over, but sporadic clashes are being reported to this day.

About 700,000 people have been internally displaced in Tigray while more than 60,000 fled fighting to neighboring Sudan.

According to the Ethiopian government, 4.2 million people in Tigray received humanitarian assistance, of which the government contributed 70%, while the balance came from international aid groups./aa

Nearly 200 children younger than aged 14 were abused in Germany’s Catholic church between 1975 and 2018, according to a new independent report on Thursday.

Lawyers Bjoern Gercke and Kerstin Stirner, who carried out the investigation by examining church archives and conducting interviews, told a news conference that they identified 202 abusers, including priests and others working for the church.

Among the 314 victims, nearly 60% were children under the age of 14. They experienced emotional and physical abuse or sexual violence.

The report named several high-ranking church officials who tried to cover up the abuse or failed to properly investigate.

Archbishop of Cologne, Cardinal Rainer Maria Woelki, who attended the news conference, said he immediately discharged two clergymen -- Bishop Dominikus Schwaderlapp and Father Guenter Assenmacher -- for breaches of duty in their handling of the cases.

Hamburg Archbishop Stefan Hesse, who was also heavily criticized in the report, offered his resignation to Pope Francis./aa

The US warned all entities on Thursday to immediately abandon work on the Nord Stream 2 natural gas pipeline.

Secretary of State Antony Blinken reiterated in a statement that any entity involved in the pipeline risks US sanctions and should stop work.

"As the President has said, Nord Stream 2 is a bad deal — for Germany, for Ukraine, and for our Central and Eastern European allies and partners," said the statement. "As multiple U.S. administrations have made clear, this pipeline is a Russian geopolitical project intended to divide Europe and weaken European energy security.”

The US has long opposed the project, claiming that Nord Stream 2 would threaten Europe's energy security by increasing dependence on Russian gas, while giving Russia greater political and economic leverage on Russian gas-dependent countries in Europe, including Germany./aa