NGOs saving lives in the Mediterranean are under attack

Ottavia Spaggiari

This week Italian Deputy Lower House Speaker, Luigi Di Maio, defined NGOs saving lives at sea as “taxis for migrants". This was only the last of a long series of attacks to non-governmental organisations rescuing migrants in the Mediterranean, after Frontex’ accusations of being “a pull factor” for traffickers and the allegations of colluding with smugglers made by Catania chief prosecutor, Carmelo Zuccaro

The photo and video contest promoting human rights

Cristina Barbetta

It’s called Global Campus Visual Contest and it is open to photographers and video-makers, professionals and amateurs, from any part of the world. The visual contest will be open from 1 May and will accept submissions through 30 June. The theme for 2017 is “Memory and Reconciliation”. The aim? Encourage the diffusion of themes related to human rights through photography and video.

Paris, record of tourists

Cristina Barbetta

Following a promotion plan launched by the City of Paris and the State there has been an important increase in tourists in Paris. Today the record level can be compared to that of 2014, before the 2015 terrorist attacks.

Commission proposes €2.6 million from Globalisation Fund to support former Nokia workers in Finland

Staff

Finland applied for support from the European Globalisation Fund following the dismissal of 945 workers in Nokia and three of its suppliers and downstream producers

Central African Republic: Civilians pay the price of renewed, brutal fighting

Staff

In the past weeks, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) teams have witnessed summary executions and terror among civilians

Conakry, World Book Capital City 2017

Cristina Barbetta

For 17 years, in turn, different cities in the world have hosted this initiative by UNESCO: starting from the 23rd of April and for a year Conakry will be committed to book and reading culture.

USA/Russia: Diplomatic meeting must tackle deplorable human rights record at home and abroad

Staff

Though recent developments in Syria are bound to dominate US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s first official visit to Moscow this week, he must also raise the issue of Russia’s wide-ranging denial of human rights at home, Amnesty International said.

Colombia: Prosecution Suspended on Army Killings Case

Staff

On March 28, 2017, the 9th Judge of Judicial Guarantees of Bogotá declined to carry out a hearing to charge 12 soldiers for the murder and enforced disappearance of two men and a boy in 2008, as reads a Human Rights Watch news release. This sets a worrying precedent, 33 Colombian and international human rights groups said.

Welcoming from 1-year-old to 100-year-olds in a house in Seattle

Cristina Barbetta

The Mount St Vincent of Seattle welcomes under the same roof a nursing home for elderly people with 400 guests and a kindergarten with 125 children under the age of 5. The building hosts a centre for intergenerational learning that has won numerous awards.

Changing the world with a click

Cristina Barbetta

As part of the “Change for the planet- Care for the people” campaign, CIDSE, the European platform of Catholic NGOs, of which Focsiv is also part, has launched an international photo competition targeted both at professional photographers and amateurs who particularly care for social and environmental change. Deadline to submit photos: April 23rd 2017.