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Publications - JULY 2023 - STRASBOURG - Subcommittee on Human Rights

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Wednesday, August 23, 2023

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JULY 2023 - STRASBOURG
JULY 2023 - STRASBOURG
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The political disqualifications in Venezuela
India, the situation in Manipur
Crackdown on the media and freedom of expression in Kyrgyzstan

Out of the shadows: why making NZ’s security threat assessment public for the first time is the right move

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Friday, August 11, 2023

Today’s release of the threat assessment by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS) is the final piece in a defence and security puzzle that marks a genuine shift towards more open and public discussion of these crucial policy areas.

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Today’s release of the threat assessment by the New Zealand Security Intelligence Service (SIS) is the final piece in a defence and security puzzle that marks a genuine shift towards more open and public discussion of these crucial policy areas.
Together with July’s strategic foreign policy assessment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the national security strategy released last week, it rounds out the picture of New Zealand’s place in a fast-evolving geopolitical landscape.

Low threat of violent extremism

If there is good news in the SIS assessment, it is that the threat of violent extremism is still considered “low”.
That means no change since the threat level was reassessed last year, with a terror attack considered “possible” rather than “probable”.
It’s a welcome development since the threat level was lifted to “high” in the
immediate aftermath of the Christchurch terror attack in 2019.

Changing patterns of extremism

But right now, at least publicly, the SIS is not aware of any specific or credible attack planning.
And there are those motivated by identity (with white supremacist extremism the dominant strand) or faith (such as support for Islamic State, a decreasing and “very small number”).

Espionage and cyber-security risks

There also seems to be a revival of the espionage and spying cultures last seen during the Cold War.
There is already the first military case of espionage before the courts, and the SIS is aware of individuals on the margins of government being cultivated and offered financial and other incentives to provide sensitive information.
The SIS says espionage operations by foreign intelligence agencies against New Zealand, both at home and abroad, are persistent, opportunistic and increasingly wide ranging.

Russia, Iran and China

The SIS identifies Russia, Iran and China as the three offenders.
We see these activities carried out by groups and individuals linked to the intelligence arm of the People’s Republic of China.
We see these activities carried out by groups and individuals linked to the intelligence arm of the People’s Republic of China.

The 'number 8 wire' days for NZ's defence force are over – new priorities will demand bigger budgets

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Thursday, August 10, 2023

New Zealanders have been put on notice that defence and security are among the bigger challenges the country faces this century.

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New Zealanders have been put on notice that defence and security are among the bigger challenges the country faces this century.
The release last week of a new national security strategy and defence policy strategy statement underscored the urgency of the required response.
But this will require financial and social investment in the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) at a scale not seen for decades.

Underfunding and apathy

At the end of the Cold War in 1991, defence expenditure was 2.26% of GDP.
Analysts have previously pointed to a degree of public apathy and negative perception of the NZDF.
A poll in 2007 showed a majority of New Zealanders were unwilling to see taxes increase to pay for defence.
The documents identify several challenges that logic dictates will require increased funding and better public support for defence.

The technology deficit

The strategy statement notes that military technology is “evolving at an exponential rate”.
The NZDF “needs to be more agile in adopting new technologies, including those that will help protect New Zealand and those that can project force”.
By contrast, the cover of the design principles document offers a clue to the challenge by featuring a 1980s-designed ANZAC frigate warship.
As one critical assessment in 2020 argued, “The decision to scrap air combat [fighter jet] capability in 2001 appears particularly reckless.”

Skills, people and pay

The NZDF needs to “adapt to a changing labour force to attract appropriate personnel”.
The 2022 NZDF annual report noted how the challenges in recruiting and retaining personnel affect operational readiness and resilience.
Given the employment market offers “remuneration rates greater than the NZDF currently provides”, a new pay model is needed.
Finally, the NZDF “will be called upon more often” for contingencies that include armed conflict, humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

Latest news - Next DROI meeting - 7 September 2023 - Subcommittee on Human Rights

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Monday, August 7, 2023

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News
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Special Committee on foreign interference and disinformation, and on strengthening integrity in the EP
Foreign Interference in all Democratic Processes in the European Union, including Disinformation
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Protection of Animals during Transport
Use of Pegasus and equivalent surveillance spyware
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Next DROI meeting - 7 September 2023
Next DROI meeting - 7 September 2023
07-08-2023 - 11:37
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The next meeting of the Subcommittee on Human Rights will be held on
Thurs
day, 7 September 2023, 9.00-12.00 in room SPINELLI 5G3.
DROI Meetings 2023
Urgency Resolutions on human rights

Teachers in England accept pay settlement, but the issues causing so many vacancies have not gone away

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Thursday, August 3, 2023

More than 80% of teachers who voted in three unions and 77% in the other accepted the pay deal.

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More than 80% of teachers who voted in three unions and 77% in the other accepted the pay deal.
However, with inflation still running well above the 6.5% rate of the rise, some teachers may feel that the government could have gone further.
The union’s leaders suggested they would be campaigning for a further increase in pay in next year’s pay round.
However, this pay settlement seems unlikely to address the fundamental issues behind the teacher shortage that continues to plague the profession.

South Africa's new vaping tax won't deter young smokers

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Thursday, August 3, 2023

The new vaping tax has enraged vaping lobby groups and vaping manufacturers.

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The new vaping tax has enraged vaping lobby groups and vaping manufacturers.
We conclude that the vaping tax is flawed because it is not well-targeted at reducing the consumption of vaping products among the youth.
As currently structured, the excise tax is not sufficiently targeted at reducing, or preventing, the use of vaping products among youth.

Youth and lifelong addiction

Disposable vapes, which are closed systems thrown away once the liquid is finished, have become increasingly popular among the youth.
These are not teenagers switching from smoking cigarettes to e-cigarettes, but rather teenagers who are initiating a potential lifelong addiction to nicotine through vapes.
The vaping industry claims it sells only to people aged 18 and older, but this isn’t true.
Among the 5,583 learners in grades 8-12 (high school learners) who completed the survey, 15% used vaping devices.
Read more:
Marketers are targeting teens with cheap and addictive vapes: 9 ways to stem rising rates of youth vaping
These high prevalence rates are not surprising given that vaping devices are marketed to the youth.
This is a problem, because the excise tax is not well-targeted at reducing the consumption of vaping products among the youth.

Addressing the flaws

Most vaping products will experience only limited price increases under the new tax.
The excise tax on vaping products will go some way to reduce the demand for these products.
Unfortunately, there are flaws in the current tax system.

The illusion and implications of 'just following the science' COVID-19 messaging

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was common to hear politicians say that they were “just following the science” when explaining their policies.

Key Points:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, it was common to hear politicians say that they were “just following the science” when explaining their policies.
Such claims also risk damaging the credibility of the very scientific experts who are crucial to an effective public health response.

Decisions and ‘the science’

However, this does not mean that scientific evidence should be the only input into such decisions, or that scientific advisors are responsible for those decisions.
Science can guide decisions, but it is not a magic eight-ball dictating what should be done.

Policy and evolving evidence

In representative democracies, politicians are elected to make decisions that balance multiple priorities and interests — including scientific evidence, but also economic impacts, budgets, ethics, equity, time constraints and public opinion.
This is one reason why governments in the same country or region with access to the same scientific evidence and advice made different decisions about addressing the spread of COVID-19.
Stating or implying that policy responses are prescribed by advisors can confuse the public about who is responsible for decisions and risks weakening the relationship between public servants and politicians.

Messaging and mistrust

Early in the pandemic, elected leaders’ “just following the science” messaging implied that scientific evidence and advisors held straightforward answers to complex questions.
In Canada, the resulting mistrust was potentially made worse by the lack of transparency around government decision-making, which prevented citizens from understanding the extent to which scientific advice informed policy decisions.
Such an erosion of trust between scientific advisors and the public has implications for governments’ ability to handle both chronic and acute public health emergencies.

Trust and transparency

It is in politicians’ interest to maintain relationships of trust with their senior public health officials, and between those officials and the public.
Trust matters not just for managing the next pandemic, but for tackling the major public health challenges of our time, including health inequities, the opioid epidemic and the existential threat of climate change.

To fight financial illiteracy, we mapped our money system as waterworks

Retrieved on:

Wednesday, August 2, 2023

This influx of easy money has shored up markets for yacht-backed-loans and securities, dividends, share buy-backs, and merger and acquisition deals.

Key Points:

This influx of easy money has shored up markets for yacht-backed-loans and securities, dividends, share buy-backs, and merger and acquisition deals.
Time and again, the financial sector has flooded certain parts of the economy while other parts remained parched.

Two parts of financial literacy

Lack of financial literacy among most citizens is at least one of the causes – though there are competing definitions of the latter.
On 7 June, the European Commission (EC) lamented that “levels of financial literacy in the EU are too low”, posing a threat to “personal and financial well-being, households and society more broadly.” However, here the institution takes a rather narrow view of financial education, limited to personal finance – i.e., teaching people how to manage budgets, achieve saving goals, and understand different financial products.
Earlier in March, Sigrid Kaag, the Dutch Minister of Finance echoed a similarly minimalist view of financial literacy: “By practising how to save, plan and make choices from a young age onwards, children learn how to make sound financial decisions.” The other view of financial literacy, which we support, entails a far more ambitious understanding of the money system.
“In the age of the CDS and CDO, most of us are financial illiterates”, wrote US financial journalist Matt Taibbi in 2009, referring to the complex financial products that triggered the Great Recession.

The waterworks

For two and half years, we developed the “waterworks of money”, an architectural visualisation of our money system that bypasses the economic jargon.
In an animated video, we walk you through a metaphorical representation of our money system, its hidden power made manifest.

What do we water?

Indeed, the financial sector is to the economy what an irrigation system is for farming lands.
The architecture of our financial irrigation system and the way the sluices and floodgates are operated impacts us all.
That’s where banks, pension funds, asset managers, and insurance firms can make a difference,” she said.
In reality, trickle-down economics popularised by US president Ronald Reagan and UK prime minister Margaret Thatcher, does not take place.
In democracies, higher levels of systemic financial literacy are a prerequisite to change this architecture and make the financial sector serve society better.

Oppenheimer’s warning lives on: international laws and treaties are failing to stop a new arms race

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Thursday, July 27, 2023

Bush spoke of a “peace dividend” that would see money saved from reduced defence budgets transferred into more socially productive enterprises.

Key Points:

Bush spoke of a “peace dividend” that would see money saved from reduced defence budgets transferred into more socially productive enterprises.
Long-term benefits and rises in gross domestic product could have been substantial, according to modelling by the International Monetary Fund, especially for developing nations.
With Russia ($86.4 billion) and China ($292 billion), the top three spenders account for 56% of global defence spending.
Aside from the opportunity cost represented by these alarming figures, weak international law in crucial areas means current military spending is largely immune to effective regulation.

The new nuclear arms race

Although the world’s nuclear powers agree “a nuclear war cannot be won and must never be fought”, there are still about 12,500 nuclear warheads on the planet.
According to the United Nations’ disarmament chief, the risk of nuclear war is greater than at any time since the end of the Cold War.
Beyond the promise of non-proliferation, the other nuclear-armed countries are not subject to any other international controls, including relatively simple measures to prevent accidental nuclear war.

The threat of autonomous weaponry

AI is not without its benefits, but it also presents many risks when applied to weapons systems.
There have been numerous warnings from developers about the unforeseeable consequences and potential existential threat posed by true digital intelligence.
But despite at least a decade of negotiation and expert input, a treaty governing the development of “lethal autonomous weapons systems” remains elusive.

Plagues and pathogens

There are 51 known biosafety level-4 (BSL-4) labs in 27 countries – double the number that existed a decade ago.
Finally, there are fears the World Health Organization’s new pandemic preparedness treaty, based on lessons from the COVID-19 disaster, is being watered down.

International drug policy: at a crossroads or a dead-end?

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Wednesday, July 26, 2023

People, Adoption, Plasma protein binding, HIV, International Narcotics Control Board, Public, Farmer, Research, Climate change, Morphine, Drug, Developed country, Patient, UN, Budget, Cannabis, Compliance

The international drug control regime was established more than a century ago, yet rarely has the issue received as much attention as it has since the 2010s.

Key Points:

The international drug control regime was established more than a century ago, yet rarely has the issue received as much attention as it has since the 2010s.
Moreover, the current poly-crisis in the aftermath of a global pandemic, combining Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, economic frictions and climate change, make drug policy a low-priority area for policymakers and the public at large.

Immense challenges, wide impacts

The challenges are immense, and they directly influence public health, criminal justice, citizen safety and the integrity of the international drug-control regime.
First, harm-reduction services for overdoses and HIV prevention are caught in the battle over drug-control reform.
Second, research on the medicinal and wellbeing benefits of cannabis or psychedelics has been attracting attention.
People who use drugs are still considered to engage in a criminal activity in the vast majority of countries around the world.

Same old, same old

Its dedicated budgets and implementation continue to focus on supply and demand reduction through repression.
Affected populations are likely to continue being criminalised in most countries, and civil society will be left outside of the decision-making process.
What is certain is that in the current context, any meaningful reform is now far from a priority on public agendas.