Pope addresses tension in eastern Mediterranean sea
Pope Francis prays for dialogue and a resolution to the conflicts threatening peace on the Mediterranean.
By Vatican News
After the recitation of the Marian Prayer during his Sunday Angelus, Pope Francis prayed for the "instability" in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. "I follow with concern the tensions in the eastern Mediterranean", he said. The Pope did not mention the countries involved.
"I appeal for constructive dialogue and respect for international law in order to resolve the conflicts that threaten the peace of the peoples of that region", he added.
Tension
Tensions have grown in the last few weeks in the eastern Mediterranean between Greece and Turkey. It is over the vast gas and oil deposits discovered a decade ago. The two countries recently signed maritime agreements: last year Turkey with Libya, and last month Greece with Egypt.
Greece and Turkey are now at odds with the interpretation of their respective territorial waters borders and, therefore, their right to explore and use energy resources.
The tension between Ankara and Athens rose after 10 August with the deployment of the Turkish research vessel Oruc Reis.
The EU has warned Turkey that it could face new sanctions, including tough economic measures, unless progress is made in reducing tensions.
On Wednesday, Turkey said it was open to talks with Greece without preconditions, although yesterday it announced new military training manoeuvres for another two weeks.
The countries of the European Union are trying, on their part, to avoid escalating the confrontation.
The UN Special Envoy for Yemen has called on all parties to urgently work together with his Office, in order to find a solution that ensures people in the country can access basic fuel supplies, amid major shortages in areas controlled by the Houthis, formally known as Ansar Allah.
“Life in Yemen is unforgiving enough without forcing Yemenis to struggle even harder for their everyday needs that are connected to fuel such as clean water, electricity and transportation”, he said.
“The flow of essential commercial imports, including of food, fuel and medical supplies, and their distribution to the civilian population across the country must be ensured,” he added.
According to the UN humanitarian affairs office (OCHA), the shortage has led to skyrocketing fuel costs in the informal market, long queues at petrol stations, and inflated costs for water, transport and other goods. The situation has also impacted the humanitarian response, causing a reduction and suspension of some aid programmes.
The humanitarian crisis in Yemen remains one of the worst in the world, driven by conflict, disease, economic collapse, and the breakdown of public institutions and services. After six years of conflict, millions of people are hungry, ill, destitute and acutely vulnerable, and a staggering 80 per cent of the country’s population requires some form of humanitarian assistance and protection.
Engage constructively, in good faith
Mr. Griffiths said that detailed discussions were held with both parties to reach a solution that ensures Yemenis’ ability to receive the fuel and oil derivatives they need through the port of Hudaydah, and the use of associated revenues to pay the salaries of public sector employees.
“I urge the parties to engage constructively, urgently, in good faith and with no preconditions with the efforts of my Office in that regard,” Mr. Griffiths said.
The Office of the Special Envoy has consistently worked to support the parties to agree on continued and regular flow of commercial fuel imports into Yemen through Hudaydah port – a major commercial and humanitarian lifeline into the country – and to put associated revenues toward paying civil servant salaries, based on the 2014 database.
In December 2018, the Special Envoy facilitated the talks between the parties, in Stockholm, to reach the Hudaydah Agreement. He also facilitated an agreement on temporary arrangements that allowed for the entry of some 72 ships carrying over 1.3 million tons of commercial fuel imports into Hudaydah port from November 2019 until April 2020.
Since the suspension of the temporary arrangements, Mr. Griffiths has been engaging with the parties to find an urgent solution for the import of fuel and use of associated revenues for payment of salaries, making several attempts to convene the parties to discuss the terms of a disbursement mechanism.
“However, to the Office’s regret, this meeting has not yet materialized. The Office renews its invitation to the Parties to convene this meeting as soon as possible."
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The UN chief is “deeply concerned” about the condition of the FSO Safer oil tanker, moored off the western coast of Yemen, his spokesperson said on Friday.
In a wide-ranging interview for UN News on Wednesday, Martin Griffiths, the UN’s Special Envoy in Yemen, addresses the protracted peace process in the country, and the enormous challenges that still need to be overcome.
The wisdom and knowledge of indigenous people in Guatemala is central to the realization of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs, targets agreed by countries around the world to end poverty, maintain peace and preserve the health of the planet. In this blog, the UN Resident Coordinator in Guatemala Rebeca Arias Flores explains how sustainable development is not new, but simply a new name that draws on ancient wisdom that is renewed with each generation of indigenous people.
“Now more than ever, we must heed the wisdom of indigenous peoples. This wisdom calls upon us to care for the earth so that not only our generation may enjoy it, but that future generations may as well."
The UN Resident Coordinator in Guatemala, Rebeca Arias, Flores promotes the Sustainable Development Goals with the help of two young children., by UN Guatemala/Hector Delgado
This wisdom is passed down to us through stories and spirits. Consider the example of Nawal, a supernatural spirit of harvests that can take on animal forms, according to Mesoamerican beliefs. On certain days in the indigenous calendar, people call on Nawal for a good harvest. It is a fine thing to have one good harvest. It is even better for the earth to yield its bounty again and again. To enjoy such repeated success, farmers in the area know they must respect the seasons, to plant, to sow, to let the land lay fallow for a time.
This wisdom was also articulated in a declaration from 2012, on an auspicious date in the Mayan calendar. It was Oxlajuj B’aktun or a “change of era,” the end of a cycle that lasts more than 5,000 years. On that date, the three UN entities working with indigenous peoples came together in Guatemala, their first joint meeting outside the UN’s New York headquarters.
Together, they issued a declaration pleading with humanity to respect human rights, promote harmony with nature, and pursue development that respects ancestral wisdom. These three bodies included the Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues, the Mechanism of Experts on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, and the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
This wisdom found its way into “K’atun: Our Guatemala 2032”, the national plan which has guided sustainable development of three successive administrations. It serves as the compass for the country’s UN Cooperation Framework for Sustainable Development 2020-2024, created in collaboration with the Government of Guatemala.
WFP
The UN in Guatemala has been supporting K’iche’ indigenous farmers during the pandemic.
Indigenous Guatemalans hit hardest by coronavirus pandemic
To pursue K’atun, we must look at the status of indigenous peoples. In Guatemala, they are amongst the most vulnerable people because they are constantly displaced from their ancestral lands. Data from recent years show that the poverty rate among indigenous people was 79 per cent, almost 30 points above the national average. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic eight out of every 10 indigenous girls, boys and adolescents, live in poverty. Only six finish primary school, only two go to secondary school, and one goes to university. Six in 10 indigenous children under five years of age suffer from chronic malnutrition.
COVID-19 is devastating for all of Guatemala. Many people are sick, some are dying, and countless others are losing their livelihoods because of the disease itself and because the quarantine prevents them from working and earning money.
However hard the pandemic hits Guatemala, it will hit the indigenous peoples even harder. They were already the furthest left behind, and now they will be set back even more. The situation of indigenous women, who are often the main providers for their families, is even more worrisome.
UN Women/Ryan Brown
The knowledge held by indigenous people in Guatemala is passed on through stories and art.
Indigenous people hold key to collective survival
And yet, indigenous people are seeking their own solutions, drawing on their own ingenuity. They are using traditional knowledge and practices to contain the disease.
We all must concern ourselves with the wellbeing of indigenous peoples, for their sake. We must respect their wisdom, for their sake. We must protect their human rights, for their sake. We must include them in decision-making, for their sake. It is only right.
But we must also do this for the sake of all Guatemalans. All of Guatemala, indeed, the whole world, has much to learn from indigenous peoples. It is a painful irony that they have been so exploited and oppressed, and yet they may hold a key to our collective survival. It is a painful irony, too, that indigenous people are among those most affected by climate change, and yet they contribute the least to it.
Without indigenous people, neither Guatemala nor the rest of the world will achieve sustainable development. Without indigenous people we cannot enjoy the gifts of the earth and maintain them for all those who will come after us. This is and must be the work of all governments and all people.
75 years ago, the signatories of the United Nations Charter reaffirmed “the dignity and worth of the human person.”
Now, let us reaffirm that belief once more. And let us ensure that indigenous people are included in it.”
The UN Resident Coordinator
The UN Resident Coordinator, sometimes called the RC, is the highest-ranking representative of the UN development system at the country level. In this occasional series, UN News is inviting RCs to blog on issues important to the United Nations and the country where they serve.
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Inclusion and participation of the world’s 476 million indigenous peoples must be ensured in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic and on the road ahead towards recovery, UN Secretary-General António Guterres has underscored.
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