Polish President Warns Government About Refugees Bringing Diseases

by Shelby Vcelka

Impunity Watch Desk Reporter, Europe

WARSAW, Poland–

Poland’s conservative President Andrzej Duda said Wednesday that the Polish government should take steps to protect its citizens from Middle Eastern refugees bringing in “possible epidemics.” Duda told a local Polish new channel that the health and safety of Polish citizens was of utmost importance, rather than the refugees. He also added that if the government was willing and able to accept the refugees, they should take any measure necessary to protect the Polish people.

President Duda’s comments about refugees carrying diseases has been likened to the rhetoric spewed by the Nazis towards the Jewish people during the Second World War. (Photo courtesy of Al-Jazeera)

The comments by Duda, whose role is largely ceremonial in government, closely resemble remarks made by the leader of the Law and Justice Party, Jaroslaw Kaczynski. Duda is a member of the right-wing Law and Justice Party, which is expected to win the elections on October 25th.

Speaking outside a refugee center, Kaczynski spoke about how the refugees had brought in “all kinds of parasites which are not dangerous in their own countries but which could prove dangerous for the local populations.” He later wondered how the Polish government expected to protect Polish citizens from these transient diseases.

Both Duda and Kaczynski’s comments have been condemned internationally, by members of the Polish government, and by the local media as evocative of the hate speech spewed by the Nazis during the Second World War. During that time, the Nazis said the Jewish people had typhus, and used that line of reasoning to force them into ghettos.

The World Health Organization (WHO) said there is no connection between migration and infectious diseases, and these diseases can exist independent of migration. “The risk for importation of exotic and rare infectious agents into Europe, such as Ebola, Marburg and Lassa viruses or Middle East respiratory syndrome [MERS], is extremely low. Experience has shown that, when importation occurs, it involves regular travellers, tourists or health care workers rather than refugees or migrants,” a September report from the WHO said.

Poland has taken its time in accepting refugees, but has agreed to accept 5,000 of the 120,000 migrants to be shared between the 28 member states of the European Union. Poland was initially agreed to take in 2,000 refugees, but later upped the number. Although support for asylum for refugees is high, heavily Catholic Poland has some anti-Muslim sentiments that affect its ability to take in more refugees.

For more information, please see—

The Globe and Mail–Ex-Polish PM slammed for comments migrants carrying diseases to Europe— 14 October 2015

Human Rights Watch– Dispatches: Welcoming Voices from Poland on Refugees— 15 October 2015

Al-Jazeera–Poland’s president warns of refugees bringing epidemics— 18 October 2015

Channel NewsAsia– Migrants may bring epidemics, warns Polish president— 18 October 2015

Voices for Sudan: Focus on outcome of the UN Human Rights Council 30th Session in Geneva, Role of U.S, U.K and A.U

VRS Round table Discussion Forum
  Focus on the Outcome of UN Human Rights Council 30th Session.
Role of U.S, U.K and A.U

(Disappointment over Sudan & South Sudan)

Thursday October 22, 2015

10:30 a.m – 12 noon

 

1400 16th Street N.W # 430

Washington, DC 20036

Conference Room, 4th Floor

 Special Guest Speakers 

Hannah Watson, Foreign and Security Policy (Africa and Conflict issues),British Embassy Washington

Clement Nyaletsossi Voule,Program Manager States in Transition, Head of African Diplomacy (Via Skype)

Office of United States Special Envoy to

Sudan & South Sudan (invited):

 

 
Featured Speakers 

Hanadi Elhadi Board Member
(Focus on Sudan and women empowerment)
Emanuella Bringi, VFS Executive Assistant and Diaspora Progrm Coordinator
(Focus on youth engagement and role of new generation to end impunity)
(Via Skype from Canada)

 

Moderator

 

Katie Campo

Program Officer

Africa Team

National Endowment for Democracy

 

Opening Remarks

Jimmy Mulla

President & Co-Founder, Voices for Sudan.

RSVP: E-mail at ebringi@voicesforsudan.org. For further information e-mail info@voicesforsudan.org
                                              
Bio of Speakers

JIMMY MULLA

Jimmy Mulla’s professional career has shifted between the technical field, research, and important Sudanese human rights advocacy work. He is an engineer by trade. Currently Jimmy is the president and Co-founder of Voices for Sudan (VFS), formerly known as the Southern Sudanese Voice for Freedom (SSVF). Mr. Mulla is a long time Sudan activist and has led a wide range of advocacy and awareness-raising efforts for the North-South conflict including Nuba Mountains & Blue Nile, Darfur genocide, Eastern Sudan and other Sudan issues. He was the founding member and president of Southern Sudanese Voice for Freedom (SSVF). SSVF played an instrumental role in the passage of the U.S. Sudan Peace Act and the appointment of a U.S. Special Envoy to Sudan, which re-energized the civil war peace talks; helped raise awareness of the genocide in Darfur; and helped facilitate an aggressive and successful divestment campaign that raises awareness of companies that do business with Sudan. Mulla has been on CNN, Voice of America TV and Radio, Al-Jazeera, Al-Hura and other major news networks.

Katie Campo Program Officer on the Africa team at the National Endowment for Democracy. Katie manages NED’s grant-making programs in both Sudan and South Sudan. Prior to joining NED, Katie was a Political Officer at the U.S. Embassy in Khartoum, where she specialized in Darfur. Katie holds a BA in International Relations from Brown University and an MA in Journalism from Columbia University. She speaks French, Arabic, and Chinese.

Hanadi Elhadi
Hanadi Elhadi, VFS Board Member
Hanadi Elhadi is a trained Chemist with a degree in pharmacology from Cairo University in Egypt, and an Associate degree from Howard Community College in Maryland. She served as a Quality Control chemist, and a student advisor. She is bilingual in English and Arabic, a skill that used in her work as interpreter and an activist on the issues of women empowerment, child protection and political lobbying for democracy and human rights in her country of origin, Sudan.  She helped found the Broad National Front, a coalition of Sudanese parties and organizations working on change in Sudan.

Emanuella Bringi.
Emanuella Bringi is Voices for Sudan’s Executive Assistant & Diaspora Training Program Coordinator. Ms. Bringi is also currently a National Youth Advisory Board member for a project titled Voices against Violence: Youth Stories Create Change; & a Leader for an initiative titled: Generation of Leaders: South Sudan.As a young leader in her community, Emanuella’s vision is to empower the Sudanese people from a youth perspective. As generations come and go, the need for support from all angles does not change; the visionaries of today and the experts of yesterday must collide and create a powerful force to bring peace to our regions.Emanuella holds a diploma in Social Service Work – Immigrant and Refugees from Seneca College, and a degree in Multicultural and Indigenous Studies from York University. During her studies at York University she held both the Student Life & Advocacy as well as the President position for the York United Black Students’ Alliance; YUBSA is a student run Pan-African organization established to help foster unity and togetherness in the Black community at York University and surrounding areas.

Special Guest Speaker


Clement Voulé – Programme Manager (States in Transition) and Head of African Advocacy
Clement leads our work to support defenders in States in transition and at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. Before joining ISHR in 2006, Clement was Secretary-General of Amnesty International Togo and head of the Togolese Coalition of HRDs. Clement is Vice-Chair of the West African HRDs Network and a member of the African Commission Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment & Human Rights Violation. “Mr. Voule “a long time activist and lawyer, completed his postgraduate studies at the University of Nantes in France. Before joining ISHR in May 2006, he was Secretary General of Amnesty International in Togo (2000-2002) and has occupied several other positions within the organization, such as head of the training program, head of the lobbying team and coordinator of the jurists network and of the campaign for the International Criminal Court in Togo. He was a founding member and Secretary General of the Togolese Coalition of Human Rights Defenders from 2002 and program coordinator of the West African Human Rights Defenders network from April 2005.” [1]

New Tactics in Human Rights: October 2015 New Tactics Newsletter

Join New Tactics in Human Rights for an online conversation on Influencing Policy to Create Inclusive Societies for Persons with Disabilities from October 26 to 30, 2015.

People living with disabilities are the world’s largest minority group. Fifteen percent of the world population or one billion people are unable to fully engage in family, community and politics due to their disability. According to the World Bank, twenty per cent of the world’s poorest people live with a disability. Disability is more prevalent in the most vulnerable societies and further perpetuates disadvantage and poverty. According to the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), eighty percent of persons with disabilities live in developing countries, where they are often denied equal access to health care, education and employment opportunities. Consideration of social determinants is central to creating inclusive and comprehensive policies. Article 19 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) recognizes the equal right of all persons with disabilities to make choices equal to all members of society and requires governments to take effective steps to facilitate the full enjoyment of this basic right by persons with disabilities.

In this conversation, we seek to share tactics and success stories of ways organizations and individuals influence governments to develop and implement socially inclusive policies for people living with disabilities. We aim to investigate local, regional, and national policy issues, including: defining disability under the law, developing partnerships to advocate policy change or legislation, applying international platforms to local and national contexts, drawing public support for disability legislation through grassroots campaigns, including individuals with disabilities advocacy efforts and more.

Tensions Continue to Rise Between Palestine and Israel

By Brittani Howell

Impunity Watch Reporter, The Middle East

JERUSALEM, Israel – The Israeli military air-strikes targeted a Hamas weapons facility on Sunday. A pregnant woman and her toddler, residing in a home nearby were killed.

Relatives of the Palestinian woman and child, who were killed when a house collapsed on them, grieve outside of a hospital morgue. (Photo Courtesy of Reuters)

Since the summer of 2014, the woman and her child are the first Palestinian civilian casualties of an Israeli airstrike.

Israel’s airstrike was in response to a rocket fired from the Gaza Strip territory. On Friday, a rocket from Gaza was also fired, which landed in a field resulting in no causalities.

Israeli military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Peter Lener, stated, “The IDF holds Hamas responsible for any act of aggression from the Gaza Strip.” Hamas has not claimed responsibility for the two rockets.

Also on Sunday, a women allegedly detonated an explosive in her car, on a West Bank road, headed towards Jerusalem. According to a police officer the women shouted, “Allahu Akbar”, God is great, just prior to the explosion.

The officer was slightly hurts, as a result of the explosion. The woman sustained burns to 40% of her body. According to Shin Bet, Israel’s security agency, the woman was not linked to any militant group.

Shin Bet, also reported that the explosion was caused by a single gas canister that was ignited with flammable materials. The agency stated, “We are not taking about an explosive device.”

According to Palestine’s security, the explosion was caused by “a malfunction in her car, and there was no bombing.” Palestine’s news agency reported that an anonymous witness stated that there was an electric issue which caused a small fire inside the car.

Three Israeli’s were stabbed near Hadera, on Sunday. A thirteen-year-old boy was killed by Israeli forces in a clash in West Bank. Tensions have risen over the past week resulting in the deaths of 23 Palestinians and 4 Israelis in the past 12 days.

Part of the increase in tension is in part due to Palestine’s dear that Israel is trying to change the status quo of arrangements made concerning the al-Aqsa mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, also known as the Temple Mount by Jews.

Jewish groups have increased their trips to the compound over the past year and many Muslims see this as a loss of control over the area. Another point of contention is a failure between Palestine and Israel to reach peace talks, as Israeli’s are continuing to build settlements in West Bank.

For more information, please see:

BBC News – Palestinians Killed in Israel Gaza Airstrikes – 11 October 2015

Reuters – Israeli Airstrike Kills Two in Gaza; Israeli Police Say Stop Suspected Car Bomb – 11 October 2015

The New York Times – Israeli Retaliatory Strike in Gaza Kills Woman and Child, Palestinian Officials Say – 11 October 2015

The Wall Street Journal – Israeli Airstrikes into Gaza Strip Kill Palestinian Woman and Daughter  – 11 October 2015