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Published 27 November 2019

The seminar, “Reporting on Human Rights” aimed to give a comprehensive understanding of the topic and face the challenges that threaten the scope of Human Rights.

Two journalists from the Thomson Reuters Foundation delivered the workshop; they shared their knowledge with journalists through practical activities and focused on the production of high impact reporting. The workshop was an opportunity for journalists to acquire new tools, expand their knowledge on international conventions and protocols and work on reports with the guidance of experienced journalists.

The journalists also addressed the role of the media and the sensitization of public opinion, vulnerability reduction and government accountability. In addition, elements were discussed to overcome the preconceptions that reporters themselves have about human rights. Moreover, aspects regarding journalist’s security were also addressed; as they might find themselves threaten by reporting on high impact stories.

In November 2018, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office launched the Media Freedom Global Campaign with two main objectives: to shine a global spotlight on the issue of media freedom and to increase the costs to those who attempt to restrict it.

This workshop is part of the UK’s global campaign to support Media Freedom in Honduras, sharing best practices and working together on this agenda.

Eduardo Smith, spokesperson of the British Embassy for Honduras, said:

Without any doubt, where journalists and media are free to do their job, societies are more prosperous and resilient. The liberty to share opinions and information allows communities to identify and pursue opportunities and identify issues that must be addressed.

The projects were among five collaborative consortia, comprising almost 30 organisations, which have spent the last two years taking their conceptual ideas from the drawing board to reality.

Launched in 2017, the £8.5 million Integrated Innovation in Nuclear Decommissioning competition was funded by the NDA, Innovate UK and BEIS. The first stage of the competition identified 15 submissions with potential, and five were subsequently shortlisted. Each received up to £1.5 million to build prototype demonstrators for testing in a simulated radioactive environment

After testing integrated working models in a realistic non-radioactive environment, the projects will now progress to demonstrating their solutions in one of Sellafield’s radioactive facilities.

If successful, the new systems could help to decommission scores of Sellafield cells that were used to reprocess spent nuclear fuel over many decades. High radiation levels mean all clean-up operations must be carried out using remotely operated equipment, ensuring the workforce is protected.

The challenge set by the competition was to gain access to spaces that have been sealed for a number of years, establish the nature of the contents, accurately measure radioactivity levels, and deploy robotic equipment to cut up large items (including large vessels and pipework), segregate the waste and retrieve it for safe storage. The winning projects demonstrated highly innovative solutions which integrated a range of technologies and capabilities and have the potential to enable a step change for nuclear decommissioning.

As well as robots, all the solutions featured VR, 3D imaging and autonomous navigation. They can potentially be up-scaled for larger challenges and transferred to different facilities at Sellafield, as well as other nuclear sites and non-nuclear hazardous environments.

All the projects were led by private-sector consortia and include large corporations, academic institutions and small businesses, some of which are new to the nuclear sector.

Fascinating to see projects progress from drawing board to reality

Robots compete in nuclear decommissioning challenge

Ramallah, 25 Nov 2019 – A 16-day joint campaign “Together Against Violence” was launched today, calling for prompt adoption of the Family Protection Bill and better access to services for gender-based violence (GBV) survivors. The campaign gathered a record-high of 68 national and international partners, which will roll out more than 100 coordinated activities throughout the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

The joint campaign is part of the global solidarity movement, 16 Days of Activism against Gender-based Violence, and is further expanded from last year’s successful 16-day joint campaign in Palestine and the latest 2019 International Women’s Day joint campaign “My Rights, Our Power”. The latter involved over 30 partners to advocate for the adoption of the Family Protection Bill, regarded as the first step to prevent gender-based violence, protect survivors of gender-based violence, and hold the perpetrators accountable. The draft Bill, endorsed by the previous Cabinet at the end of December 2018, has not been passed yet, despite the high anticipation and demand from various national and international actors.

“This year’s 16 Days joint campaign, which grew three times in size from last year, clearly shows the aspiration of national and international actors in Palestine to see the actual adoption of the Family Protection Bill, after 15 years of rigorous push from the national women’s organizations and international actors supporting women’s rights,“ said one of the partners of the “Together Against Violence” joint campaign, referring to the case of Ms. Israa Ghrayeb, a 21-year-old woman from Bethlehem who died in suspicious circumstances caused by “torture and abuse,” creating enormous national and regional outcry demanding legal protection for women and girls subject to violence. According to the results of the National Violence Survey by the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) launched in November 2019, 29 per cent of women in Palestine experience a form of violence in her lifetime.

In addition, better access to services for the GBV survivors was put forward as the top GBV priority by the GBV Sub-Cluster in the Gaza Strip, especially for the women who have been affected by the Great March of Return and those with severe medical conditions such as cancer and kidney failure to name a few. Hemaya Network based in East Jerusalem, also highlighted the need for “alternative GBV services” for survivors of violence in East Jerusalem, owing to the Israeli occupation, which contributes to survivor’s negative experiences in GBV services and fears of being forcibly separated from their children by Israeli law enforcement. Awareness raising and behavior change, especially among youth and men, was also highlighted as another important objective of the campaign.

During the joint campaign period, over 100 coordinated on-site activities will be rolled out throughout Palestinian cities and villages, in the form of orange lightings, policy dialogues, youth camps, awareness raising sessions, film competitions, Ted-style talks, billboard displays, and cultural performances, while social media campaigns will reach audience online with messages against gender-based violence and useful information for survivors of violence in seeking legal, medical, psychosocial, and sheltering support. The “Orange the Sea” event, which lights 50 boats at the Gaza port to signal messages of solidarity and symbolize a bright and optimistic future of Palestine free from gender-based violence, will open the 16-day journey of the joint campaign this evening. The closing event of the joint campaign on 10 Dec 2019 will take place at An-Najah National University in Nablus, inviting more than 1,000 participants, including students and survivors of gender-based violence, to raise awareness on gender-based violence through cultural and music performances.

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence is a global solidarity campaign that takes place worldwide each year from 25 November, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, until 10 December, Human Rights Day. This year’s 16-day campaign coincides with a critical moment, only eight months before Palestine is requested to provide written information on the steps taken to implement four recommendations from the Concluding Observations of the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, which include the adoption of the Family Protection Bill and the publishing of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in the National Gazette. Palestine acceded to the CEDAW in April 2014 and following its submission of the CEDAW State Report, CEDAW Committee’s Concluding Observations were issued on 20 July 2018.

Violence against women and girls is a grave violation of human rights. The impact of violence has serious physical, sexual and mental consequences for women and girls. It negatively affects women’s general well-being, health, and prevents women from fully participating in society, while being detrimental to the entire family, the community, and the country at large.

The joint calendar of the “Together Against Violence” can be found here.

For more information, please contact Eunjin Jeong at UN Women via eunjin.jeong@unwomen.org or 059 2321 308, Majd Beltaji at UNESCO via m.beltaji@unesco.org or 059 4501 506.

END.

At 6pm on 23 November, Belfast coastguard operations centre was alerted to the incident. The fishing vessel’s EPIRB activated after they had abandoned their boat and the Isle Of Man registered 10 metre fishing vessel sank shortly afterwards.

HM Coastguard requested the launch of RNLI lifeboats from Port St Mary and Port Erin and the coastguard rescue helicopter from Caernarfon. The crew were found and very fortunately for them they were both wearing their life jackets and they were recovered safely by another fishing vessel and escorted ashore by the Port Erin RNLI lifeboat.

Published 27 November 2019