Review of UN agency helping Palestinian refugees found Israel did not express concern about staff

_{Palestinian children who fled with their parents from their houses in the Palestinian refugee camp of Ein el-Hilweh, gather in the backyard of an UNRWA school, in Sidon, Lebanon, Sept. 12, 2023. An independent review released Monday, April 22, 2024, of the neutrality of UNRWA, the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees, has found that Israel has never expressed concern about anyone on the staff lists it has received annually since 2011. The review was carried out after Israel alleged that a dozen of employees of the agency had participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari, File)}

By EDITH M. LEDERER

^{Updated 7:06 PM BRT, April 22, 2024}

UNITED NATIONS (AP) — An independent review of the neutrality of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees found that Israel never expressed concern about anyone on the staff lists it has received annually since 2011. The review was carried out after Israel alleged that a dozen employees of the agency known as UNRWA had participated in Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks.

In a wide-ranging 48-page report released Monday, the independent panel said UNRWA has “robust” procedures to uphold the U.N. principle of neutrality, but it cited serious gaps in implementation, including staff publicly expressing political views, textbooks used in schools the agency runs with “problematic content” and staff unions disrupting operations. It makes 50 recommendations to improve UNRWA’s neutrality.

From 2017 to 2022, the report said, the annual number of allegations of neutrality being breached at UNRWA ranged from seven to 55. But between January 2022 and February 2024, U.N. investigators received 151 allegations, most related to social media posts “made public by external sources,” it said.

In a key section on the neutrality of staff, the panel, which was led by former French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna, said UNRWA shares lists of staff with host countries for its 32,000 staff, including about 13,000 in Gaza. But it said Israeli officials never expressed concern and informed panel members it did not consider the list “a screening or vetting process” but rather a procedure to register diplomats.

The Israeli Foreign Ministry informed the panel that until March 2024 the staff lists did not include Palestinian identification numbers, the report said.

Apparently based on those numbers, “Israel made public claims that a significant number of UNRWA employees are members of terrorist organizations,” the panel said. “However, Israel has yet to provide supporting evidence of this” to the refugee agency.

Colonna stressed that U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres appointed the independent review panel to review UNRWA’s neutrality — not to investigate Israeli allegations that 12 UNRWA staffers participated in the Oct. 7 attacks. Guterres ordered the U.N. internal watchdog, the Office of Internal Oversight Services, known as OIOS, to conduct a separate investigation into those Israeli allegations.

“It is a separate mission. And it is not in our mandate,” Colonna said. She also said it is not surprising that Israel did not provide evidence of its allegations to the refugee agency “because it doesn’t owe this evidence during the investigation to UNRWA but to the OIOS.”

U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters Monday the U,N. hopes to have an update from OIOS “in the coming days.” He said its investigators have been in contact with Israeli security services.

Israel’s allegations led to the suspension of contributions to UNRWA by the United States and more than a dozen other countries. That amounted to a pause in funding worth about $450 million, according to Monday’s report, but a number of countries have resumed contributions.

Israel’s Foreign Ministry on Monday called on donor countries to avoid sending money to the organization.

“The Colonna report ignores the severity of the problem, and offers cosmetic solutions that do not deal with the enormous scope of Hamas’ infiltration of UNRWA,” ministry spokesperson Oren Marmorstein said. “This is not what a genuine and thorough review looks like. This is what an effort to avoid the problem and not address it head on looks like.”

Colonna urged the Israeli government not to discount the independent review. “Of course you will find it is insufficient, but please take it on board. Whatever we recommend, if implemented, will bring good,” she said.

The report stresses the critical importance of UNRWA, calling it “irreplaceable and indispensable to Palestinians’ human and economic development” in the absence of a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and “pivotal in providing life-saving humanitarian aid and essential social services, particularly in health and education, to Palestinian refugees in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and the West Bank.”

Dujarric welcomed this commitment to UNRWA and said the report “lays out clear recommendations, which the secretary-general accepts.” The U.N. hopes to see the return of donors as well as new donors following the report’s release, he said.

Among the recommendations are steps to tackle politicization of UNRWA staff and its staff unions. The report recommends that staff lists with ID numbers be provided to host countries, which would then tell UNRWA the results of their screening and “any red flags.”

The report also calls for stronger oversight of UNRWA’s leadership and operations, “zero-tolerance” of antisemitism or discrimination in textbooks used in its schools, and greater international involvement in supporting the agency as it addresses neutrality issues.

UNRWA’s Commissioner General Philippe Lazzarini said safeguarding the agency’s neutrality is critical to its work and it is developing a plan to implement the report’s recommendations.

With Israel calling for the breakup of the agency, Lazzarini told the U.N. Security Council last week that dismantling UNRWA would deepen Gaza’s humanitarian crisis and speed up the onset of famine.

International experts have warned of imminent famine in northern Gaza and said half the territory’s 2.3 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation if the Israeli-Hamas war intensifies.

The review was conducted over nine weeks by Colonna and three Scandinavian research organizations: the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Sweden, the Chr. Michelsen Institute in Norway, and the Danish Institute for Human Rights. Colonna said the group spoke with more than 200 people, including UNRWA staff in Gaza, and had direct contacts with representatives of 47 countries and organizations.

Fonte: https://apnews.com/article/israel-palestinians-unrwa-united-nations-28a63ddef23efdc4b050b0bcbdb587ff

HISTORY LEGENDS – The Truth of Russia’s Tactical Evolution in its War against Ukraine

Coreia do Norte: Que mísseis tem?

Um homem em Seul assistindo notícias do último lançamento de mísseis norte-coreanos.

A Coreia do Norte disparou um míssil sobre o Japão, que viajou cerca de 4.500 km antes de cair no Oceano Pacífico.

Ele vem realizando testes regulares de mísseis como parte de seu programa de armas, mas este é o primeiro lançamento sobre o Japão desde 2017.

Que mísseis a Coreia do Norte tem testado?

A Coreia do Norte realizou mais de 30 testes de mísseis este ano – usando alguns com um alcance longo o suficiente para chegar aos EUA.

Estes incluem mísseis balísticos, mísseis de cruzeiro e mísseis hipersônicos.

Mísseis hipersônicos voam várias vezes à velocidade do som e em baixa altitude, para escapar da detecção de radares.

Acredita-se que o último míssil testado sobre o Japão seja um Hwasong-12 de alcance intermediário, que tem um alcance de 4.500km – longe o suficiente para atingir a ilha americana de Guam da Coreia do Norte.

“A Coreia do Norte tem testado mísseis com alcances mais longos e longos”, diz Joseph Byrne, pesquisador do Royal United Services Institute.

“Este é o míssil de maior alcance que já disparou sobre o Japão. Pode ser o precursor de testar outra ogiva nuclear, que já foi prevista há algum tempo.”

A Coreia do Norte também tem testado o míssil balístico Hwasong-14.

Isso tem um alcance de 8.000km – embora alguns estudos tenham sugerido que ele poderia viajar até 10.000km, tornando-o capaz de chegar a Nova York.

É o primeiro dos mísseis balísticos intercontinentais da Coreia do Norte (ICBMs).

Mísseis em exibição em um desfile militar de janeiro de 2021.

Acredita-se que o míssil Hwasong-15 tenha um alcance de 13.000km, colocando todos os EUA continentais em suas vistas.

Em outubro de 2020, a Coreia do Norte revelou o mais recente de seus mísseis balísticos – o Hwasong-17. Acredita-se que tenha um alcance de 15.000km ou mais.

Poderia carregar três ou quatro ogivas, em vez de apenas uma, tornando mais difícil para uma nação se defender.

A revelação dos novos mísseis parecia ser uma mensagem para a administração Biden da crescente proeza militar do Norte, dizem especialistas.

Em março de 2021, realizou um lançamento do que chamou de “novo projétil tático guiado”, que, segundo ele, era capaz de transportar uma carga de 2,5 toneladas – tão capaz em teoria de transportar uma ogiva nuclear.

Analistas do James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies disseram à Reuters que parecia ser “uma variante melhorada” de um míssil previamente testado, o KN-23.

Que armas nucleares a Coreia do Norte tem?

A última vez que a Coreia do Norte testou uma bomba nuclear foi em 2017. A explosão em seu local de teste punggye-ri teve uma força, ou “rendimento”, entre 100-370 quilotoneladas.

Uma bomba de 100 quilotons é seis vezes mais poderosa do que a que os EUA lançaram em Hiroshima em 1945.

A Coreia do Norte alegou que este era seu primeiro dispositivo termonuclear – o mais poderoso de todos os tipos de arma atômica.

No entanto, a Coreia do Norte pode agora estar a tentar testar um tipo menor de ogiva nuclear com força explosiva semelhante, de acordo com o senhor deputado Byrne.

“Parece que agora estão testando uma nova capacidade – uma ogiva miniaturizada que pode ser instalada em uma gama de mísseis, incluindo mísseis de curto alcance”, diz ele.

Onde poderiam ocorrer testes nucleares?

Seis testes subterrâneos já foram realizados em Punggye-ri. No entanto, em 2018, a Coreia do Norte disse que fecharia o local, porque havia “verificado” suas capacidades nucleares.

Alguns dos túneis no local foram posteriormente explodidos na presença de jornalistas estrangeiros. No entanto, a Coreia do Norte não convidou especialistas internacionais para verificar se ela havia sido colocada além do uso.

Imagens de satélite divulgadas no início deste ano sugerem que o trabalho para renovar Punggye-ri havia começado.

Qualquer futuro teste nuclear no local violaria resoluções do Conselho de Segurança das Nações Unidas.

Reiniciando o reator nuclear da Coreia do Norte

Em 2018, o líder norte-coreano Kim Jong-un fez uma promessa ao então presidente dos EUA, Donald Trump, de que a Coreia do Norte destruiria todas as suas instalações de enriquecimento de materiais nucleares.

No entanto, a agência atômica da ONU diz que imagens de satélite sugerem que a Coreia do Norte reiniciou o reator que faz seu plutônio de nível de armas.

A Agência Internacional de Energia Atômica (AIEA) também disse que o programa nuclear da Coreia do Norte está indo “a todo vapor à frente”, com trabalhos sobre separação de plutônio, enriquecimento de urânio e outras atividades.

FONTE: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-41174689

North Korea fires ballistic missile over Japan

North Korea missile warnings sound in Japan.

North Korea has fired a ballistic missile over Japan, in what appears to be a deliberate escalation to get the attention of Tokyo and Washington.

The missile travelled 4,500km (2,800 miles) before falling into the Pacific Ocean – far enough to hit the US island of Guam if it took another trajectory.

It is the North’s first missile launch over Japan since 2017. Japan issued an alert to some citizens to take cover.

The US, Japan and South Korea conducted their own military drills in response.

South Korean and US aircraft fired at a mock target on an uninhabited island in the Yellow Sea, while the US and Japan also jointly carried out drills over the Sea of Japan.

The UN prohibits North Korea from testing ballistic and nuclear weapons. Flying missiles towards or over other countries without any warning or consultation also contravenes international norms.

Most countries avoid doing it completely as it can easily be mistaken for an attack. While it is not as big as a nuclear test – which could be next – it can be considered hugely provocative.

South Korean and US fighter jets conducted joint bombing drills in response to the missile launch.

People in the north of Japan, including Hokkaido island and Aomori city, reportedly woke up to the noise of sirens and text alerts which read: “North Korea appears to have launched a missile. Please evacuate into buildings or underground.”

As the missile flew overhead, they were warned to look out for falling debris. Many remained calm, though, with one video showing Tokyo commuters walking normally as loudspeakers blared out warnings.

But others were more shaken. “If a missile hit, I was worried it would be a big problem not only here but also nationwide,” Aomori resident Kazuko Ebina told the Asahi Shimbun newspaper.

Officials later said the intermediate-range ballistic missile fell into the Pacific Ocean far from Japan, and there were no reported injuries.

It had covered the longest distance ever travelled by a North Korean missile, and reached a height of around 1,000km – higher than the International Space Station.

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida described the launch as “violent behaviour”, while defence minister Yasukazu Hamada said Japan would not rule out any options to strengthen its defences including “counterattack capabilities”.

US President Joe Biden reinforced Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to Japan’s defence during a phone call with Mr Kishida, while the two leaders jointly condemned the missile test, a White House statement said.

They confirmed they would work closely with South Korea and the international community to coordinate an immediate and longer-term response to the threat posed by the North, it added.

Last week, the three countries conducted naval exercises together for the first time since 2017. Such drills have long antagonised Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-un, who views them as proof that his enemies are preparing for war.

Following the combined exercises in 2017, North Korea fired two missiles over Japan in response. A week later, it conducted a nuclear test.

Recent intelligence has suggested that North Korea is getting ready to test another nuclear weapon.

It is expected that North Korea would wait until after China – its main ally – holds its Communist party congress later this month.

But some experts are now asking if it could come sooner than expected – they believe Tuesday’s launch shows that North Korea is preparing the ground for a nuclear test.

US President Joe Biden reinforced Washington’s “ironclad commitment” to Japan’s defence during a phone call with Mr Kishida, while the two leaders jointly condemned the missile test, a White House statement said.

They confirmed they would work closely with South Korea and the international community to coordinate an immediate and longer-term response to the threat posed by the North, it added.

Last week, the three countries conducted naval exercises together for the first time since 2017. Such drills have long antagonised Pyongyang leader Kim Jong-un, who views them as proof that his enemies are preparing for war.

Following the combined exercises in 2017, North Korea fired two missiles over Japan in response. A week later, it conducted a nuclear test.

Recent intelligence has suggested that North Korea is getting ready to test another nuclear weapon.

It is expected that North Korea would wait until after China – its main ally – holds its Communist party congress later this month.

But some experts are now asking if it could come sooner than expected – they believe Tuesday’s launch shows that North Korea is preparing the ground for a nuclear test.

FONTE: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-63126534

Ethiopia, Tigray head invited to peace talks in South Africa

By CARA ANNA

_{FILE – In this image from video, Tigray’s regional president Debretsion Gebremichael speaks during an interview in Mekele, in the Tigray region of northern Ethiopia on July 7, 2021. The leader of Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the federal government have been invited to peace talks in South Africa in early October 2022 as part of a pan-African effort, according to a letter seen Wednesday, Oct. 5, 2022 by The Associated Press. (AP Photo)}

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The leader of Ethiopia’s embattled Tigray region and the federal government have been invited to peace talks in South Africa this weekend as part of a pan-African effort to end one of the world’s most overlooked wars, according to a letter seen Wednesday by The Associated Press.

If Debretsion Gebremichael attends the proposed talks between the Tigray and Ethiopian sides, it will be the highest-level effort yet to end the two-year war that has killed thousands of people from conflict and starvation.

Ethiopia’s government has accepted the invitation, national security adviser Redwan Hussein said. In a separate statement, the government called it “consistent with the Ethiopian government’s prior positions” that talks be mediated by the AU and be held without preconditions. The statement, however, does not give details about who might attend.

A diplomat in Addis Ababa said the African Union was still waiting for a response from the Tigray side. The spokesman for the Tigray forces, Getachew Reda, could not immediately be reached. Another member of the Tigray negotiation team, Tsadkan Gebretensae, told a U.S. think tank last week that “we have agreed on an African-led process, but that should not be carte blanche for the AU to impose what should be a peace process.”

The diplomat in Addis Ababa also said representatives from the European Union, the United Nations and the regional Intergovernmental Authority on Development are expected to attend the talks as observers in support of the AU’s mediation team. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The letter from the chair of the AU Commission says the AU-convened talks would be “aimed at laying the foundation for a structured and sustained mediation” between the two sides toward a “durable resolution of the conflict.”

The AU letter says the talks would be facilitated by AU special envoy and former Nigerian President Olesegun Obasanjo with the support of former Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and former South African Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka.

The talks come more than a month after fighting in Tigray renewed following months of relative calm. Forces from neighboring Eritrea, allied with Ethiopia’s government, are again joining the fighting in what Tigray forces have described as a large-scale offensive.

On Tuesday, an airstrike hit the Tigray town of Adi Daero where displaced people were sheltering, a humanitarian worker who visited the site afterward told the AP. They described the scene as “total carnage” and said health workers reported more than 50 people killed. The worker spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.

The Tigray region has been largely cut off from the world since the war began in November 2020, with more than 5 million people without basic services including electricity, phone, internet and banking. Medicines have run desperately low. On Thursday, the U.N. said trapped staffers were finally able to rotate out of the region for the first time since the fighting renewed.

The fighting also has spilled over into Ethiopia’s neighboring regions of Amara and Afar as Tigray forces have tried to pressure the government, putting hundreds of thousands of other civilians at risk.

United Nations-based investigators have said all sides have committed abuses.

Tsadkan, the Tigray negotiation team member, said last week that Tigray representatives had met three times with Ethiopian authorities — in Djibouti and Seychelles — and he thanked the United States government for organizing the meetings, which he said produced a “clear proposal for a cessation of hostilities.” But after that, he asserted, the Tigray side was “betrayed.” He didn’t give details.

The Tigray authorities seek unfettered access for humanitarian aid, the resumption of basic services, respect for constitutional boundary arrangements and the withdrawal of foreign forces, Tsadkan said.

The Tigray authorities “will accept whatever comes out” of an impartial, agreed-upon peace process, he said. He didn’t immediately respond to questions Wednesday.

Fonte: https://apnews.com/article/africa-south-kenya-ethiopia-abiy-ahmed-111e5606197359d5e8160d6f78cd032b

Falta de renovação de trégua no Iêmen não é fim da esperança, diz ONU

Osesgy – Enviado especial disse que projeto de acordo inclui retomada de um processo político inclusivo e temas ligados à economia.

As Nações Unidas expressaram decepção pela falta de renovação do cessar-fogo no Iêmen, mas defendem que ainda existe esperança para beneficiar o povo.

A declaração partiu do porta-voz do secretário-geral António Guterres, nesta segunda-feira.

Discussões 

Stephane Dujarric declarou que ainda há tempo para que as partes concordem em alargar a trégua e que todos os lados “precisam mostrar pelas próprias ações que não recorrerão à violência”.

A ONU lembra que o processo está avançando e o enviado especial Hans Grundberg tem discutido o tema por vários meios.  Mesmo com a situação, espera-se que o processo continue e que apesar da desilusão, “ainda haja tempo para as partes fazerem o necessário.”

O enviado Hans Grundberg informou que os esforços para estender o acordo por mais seis meses não foram bem-sucedidos. O cessar-fogo estava no último dia.

Desde o acordo, em abril de 2021, a medida foi renovada duas vezes.

Aeroporto de Sanaa

Agências de notícias dizem que ambos os lados se responsabilizam por permitir o fim do acordo que prevê a abertura parcial do aeroporto de Sanaa e o principal porto do Mar Vermelho, em Hodeida. Há meses o aeroporto da capital iemenita retomou voos pela primeira vez desde 2016.

O enviado mencionou que a proposta inclui o pagamento de salários e pensões de funcionários públicos, a abertura de estradas específicas em Taíz e outras províncias e definir novos destinos para voos de e para Sanaa.

Outros pontos são permitir a entrada de navios de combustível no porto de Hodeida, o reforço dos mecanismos para conter a escalada pelas Forças Armadas do Comitê de Coordenação e um compromisso urgente com os detalhes.

As outras questões abordadas são o início de negociações para um cessar-fogo, a retomada de um processo político inclusivo e temas ligados à economia e aos serviços públicos.

FONTE: https://news.un.org/pt/story/2022/10/1803147

EUA aprova venda de armas de TAIWAN de US$ 1,1 bilhão, irritando a China

Os EUA concordaram em vender 1,1 bilhão de dólares (955 milhões de libras) em armas para Taiwan, provocando raiva da China.

O acordo proposto inclui um sistema de radar para rastrear ataques e mísseis anti-navio e antia ar.

Ela vem depois que a presidente da Câmara dos Representantes dos EUA, Nancy Pelosi, no mês passado, tornou-se a mais alta autoridade dos EUA em 25 anos a visitar Taipei.

A embaixada chinesa em Washington pediu aos EUA que revogassem o acordo ou enfrentassem “contramedidas”.

O porta-voz Liu Pengyu disse que o acordo “coloca em risco severamente” as relações entre Washington e Pequim.

“A China tomará resolutamente medidas legítimas e necessárias à luz do desenvolvimento da situação”, acrescentou.

Pequim vê a ilha auto-governada como parte de seu território e insiste que ela deve ser unificada com o continente, à força, se necessário.

Lançou exercícios militares em larga escala ao redor de Taiwan no mês passado, após a visita da delegação americana.

A venda de armas dos EUA acordada na sexta-feira ainda precisa ser votada pelo fortemente pró-Congresso dos EUA.

O pacote inclui um sistema de alerta de radar de US$ 655 milhões e US$ 355 milhões para 60 mísseis Harpoon, capazes de afundar navios.

Inclui US$ 85,6 milhões para mísseis terra-ar e ar-ar sidewinder, de acordo com a Agência de Cooperação em Segurança de Defesa do Pentágono.

Um porta-voz do Departamento de Estado disse que o acordo era “essencial para a segurança de Taiwan”, e pediu a Pequim que “cesse sua pressão militar, diplomática e econômica contra Taiwan e, em vez disso, se envolva em um diálogo significativo”.

“Essas vendas propostas são casos rotineiros para apoiar os esforços contínuos de Taiwan para modernizar suas forças armadas e manter uma capacidade defensiva confiável”, disse o porta-voz.

No mês passado, o Pentágono criou uma força-tarefa para ajudar a agilizar a venda de armas americanas para aliados estrangeiros, informou o Wall Street Journal na sexta-feira.

Legisladores americanos dizem que as ordens feitas por Taiwan anos atrás não foram cumpridas. Entre os backlog estão os mísseis Harpoon e Stinger, que foram enviados para a Ucrânia, de acordo com o Defense News.

Em outro movimento que provavelmente irritaria Pequim, o governo Biden disse que manteria em vigor por enquanto bilhões de dólares em tarifas sobre as importações chinesas que foram promulgadas durante o governo Trump.

O escritório do Representante de Comércio dos EUA disse ter recebido pedidos para manter os deveres 2018-19 de empresas e outras partes interessadas.

As autoridades norte-americanas estavam considerando revogar as tarifas, citando a necessidade de aliviar a inflação.

Na sexta-feira, enquanto isso, o presidente Joe Biden pediu ao Congresso que aprovasse US$ 13,7 bilhões em financiamento emergencial para a Ucrânia, em meio à guerra em curso com a Rússia.

O Pentágono disse na semana passada que a ajuda militar total dos EUA à Ucrânia já havia superado US$ 13 bilhões.

FONTE: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-62775544