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PARIS: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has arrived in Rome where he will attend the funeral of Pope Francis, a Ukrainian presidential spokesman said on Saturday.
BELGRADE: Britain and the European Union should stop trying to use the Balkans as a “warehouse for migrants,” Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Monday, adding to debate over the use of third-country “return hubs” for asylum seekers.
The EU and UK have both made moves toward processing would-be immigrants outside their borders, seeking to deal with a surge in arrivals that has become a hot-button political issue.
The EU moved in March to allow members to process migrants outside the 27-nation bloc’s borders, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced his government had opened talks with multiple countries on setting up “return hubs” for rejected asylum seekers to await deportation.
He did not name the countries, but the Balkans look like a probable partner. Starmer made the announcement during a visit to Albania — which already hosts migrant return centers for Italy — and his government has recently unveiled a six-billion-euro investment package in North Macedonia.
“Instead of treating the Balkans as a warehouse for migrants, the EU and the UK could play an important role in supporting the development of functioning asylum systems and better frameworks for the protection of the rights of migrants,” HRW said.
It cited the example of Bosnia, a country “already being used as a dumping ground for people who happen to transit through it on their way to the EU,” according to Hugh Williamson, HRW’s Europe and Central Asia director.
“Adding rejected asylum seekers from the UK, or potentially the EU, to Bosnia’s already troubling detention system would only exacerbate existing issues and worsen abuses,” Williamson said in a statement, saying Bosnian prison inmates have limited access to lawyers and other basic rights.
Bosnia granted refugee status to just four out of 147 applicants in 2023, and asylum seekers often wait months “essentially without rights” for a decision, the group said.
LONDON: A group representing thousands of EU officials has accused the bloc of failing to act meaningfully in response to the worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza, warning its inaction has helped enable Israel’s ongoing military offensive.
The group, EU Staff for Peace, said more than 2,000 staff members from the European Commission, the European Parliament and other EU agencies had signed a letter sharply critical of the bloc’s leadership back in May 2024.
The letter marked its one-year anniversary this week with a renewed appeal to EU leaders, it was reported by The Guardian on Monday.
“The EU institutions have failed to bring the European Union’s political, diplomatic and economic influence to bear in order to ameliorate the situation in Gaza,” the group wrote in its latest letter, addressed to the presidents of the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament.
The letter accuses the EU of “little or no meaningful action” over the past year, saying the bloc’s “inaction” has “contributed to the environment of unaccountability that resulted in the full-scale invasion of the Gaza Strip taking place at this moment.”
The renewed appeal comes just days after EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas announced a long-awaited review of the EU-Israel Association Agreement, following pressure from a large majority of member states.
The staff group welcomed the move but said it had come “devastatingly late for thousands killed in Gaza.”
Zeno Benetti, one of the letter’s co-authors, said: “The recent announcement of a review of the EU-Israel association agreement — 20 months into the conflict, and as thousands of children face starvation due to the renewed blockade on humanitarian aid — raises serious concerns about the adequacy and timing of the EU’s response.”
The EU-Israel agreement, signed in 2000, can only be fully suspended by unanimous agreement among all 27 member states. However, key provisions such as trade cooperation and Israel’s participation in EU research programs can be frozen via a weighted-majority vote.
EU Staff for Peace had previously called for a full suspension of the agreement, an end to EU member states’ arms exports to Israel, and concrete support for the work of the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice.
The group’s new letter also accuses EU institutions of applying an “apparent double standard” for failing to condemn European leaders who have welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu despite an ICC arrest warrant against him for alleged war crimes.
In April, Hungary hosted Netanyahu for a four-day state visit. Poland reportedly considered inviting him to a ceremony marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
In Germany, opposition leader Friedrich Merz pledged to find a way for Netanyahu to visit the country without facing arrest.
The staff group has requested meetings with the offices of the three EU presidents and continues to hold weekly rallies outside the European Council and Commission buildings in Brussels calling for peace in the Middle East.
The European Commission has not immediately responded to a request for comment, but Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said last week that the situation in Gaza was “unacceptable” and called for an end to Israel’s blockade and the immediate release of Israeli hostages.
LONDON: Australia’s prime minister has strongly criticized Israel’s ongoing blockade of humanitarian aid into Gaza, calling the move “an outrage” and the Israeli government’s justifications “completely untenable.”
Speaking at a press conference on Monday, Anthony Albanese said: “Israel’s actions are completely unacceptable. It is outrageous that there be a blockade of food and supplies to people who are in need in Gaza. People are starving. The idea that a democratic state withholds supply is an outrage.”
His comments follow Australia’s decision to join 22 other countries — including the UK, Canada and New Zealand — in condemning Israel over the restricted flow of aid into the war-torn Palestinian territory.
The UN has warned that the entire population of Gaza is facing famine, describing the 80-day blockade as potentially “the cruelest phase of this cruel conflict.”
Albanese said he conveyed Australia’s “deep concern” directly to Israeli President Isaac Herzog during a meeting in Rome last week.
“I made it very clear that Australia finds these actions as completely unacceptable and we find Israel’s excuses and explanations completely untenable and without credibility,” The Guardian newspaper quoted him as saying.
“That is (a position) I have indicated clearly and directly to the Israeli government. It’s one that we will continue to be part of international statements as we were last week.”
While reaffirming that Hamas should have no future role in governing Gaza or the West Bank and calling for the release of remaining Israeli hostages taken during the Oct. 7 attacks, Albanese urged Israel to respect humanitarian obligations.
“States which are democratic states have a responsibility to behave in a way that is consistent with international law and with humanitarian concerns,” he said.
“The whole world is concerned about what has occurred with the blockade and Australia will continue to make clear statements on that.”
Meanwhile, Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong condemned the “abhorrent and outrageous” recent comments from members of the government of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying Israel “cannot allow the suffering” in Gaza to continue.
The statements from Albanese and Wong come amid growing domestic pressure.
Labor Party lawmaker Ed Husic wrote in The Guardian last week that Australia “can and should be doing more” and called on the government to summon the Israeli ambassador and demand the immediate, freer flow of aid.
“Australia has a proud tradition of refusing to be silent on the world stage when it comes to defending vulnerable and oppressed people,” he said.
“We can be emboldened by our legacy of doing so. Two million starving people in Gaza need all the help we can muster alongside others.”
On Monday, Greens Sen. David Shoebridge renewed calls for the government to go further by terminating defense contracts with Israeli arms manufacturers and their subsidiaries.
Despite Netanyahu promising last week to ease the 11-week siege to prevent a “starvation crisis,” aid agencies have said the situation in Gaza is becoming critical.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Friday that what Israel had authorized “amounts to a teaspoon of aid when a flood of assistance is required.”
The Israeli military said 107 aid trucks entered Gaza on Thursday, but the UN and aid groups argue the quantity is grossly inadequate. Israel accuses Hamas of diverting supplies, a claim disputed by the UN and humanitarian organizations.
DHAKA: Bangladesh’s National Consensus Commission, tasked by the caretaker government to lead critical democratic reforms after a mass uprising last year, said Monday that political parties had failed to reach agreement.
The South Asian nation of around 170 million people has been in political turmoil since former prime minister Sheikh Hasina was ousted by a student-led revolt in August 2024, ending her iron-fisted rule of 15 years.
Muhammad Yunus, the 84-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who is leading the caretaker government as its chief adviser until elections are held, has previously said he inherited a “completely broken down” system of public administration.
Yunus has said it required a comprehensive overhaul to prevent a future return to authoritarian rule. He set up six commissions to do that work, overseen by the Consensus Commission, which he heads.
Ali Riaz, the commission’s vice president, said that despite marathon efforts they had not reached a deal.
“It wasn’t possible to reach a consensus on several significant constitutional issues,” Riaz told reporters in Dhaka, saying talks stretched over 45 sessions.
“We have been discussing 166 recommendations with 38 political parties and alliances.”
Riaz, a political science professor at Illinois State University, said the teams would not give up.
“We are going to begin a second round of talks,” he said, adding that the country’s statistics bureau would “conduct a household survey to gauge public opinion.” The commission plans to include 46,000 families in the survey.
Contentious issues include whether a prime minister can serve more than two terms, and the process for selecting the president.
The procedure for appointing the chief of the interim government, and the duration of its tenure, has also divided parties, Riaz said.
Parties also debated recommendations to change the terms of the constitution from “secularism” to “pluralism.”
Bangladesh is a Muslim-majority nation, with Hindus accounting for less than a tenth of the population.
“Although most parties rejected the idea of pluralism, they recommended incorporating some form of protection for minorities,” he said.
Yunus warned on Saturday that political power struggles risked jeopardizing gains that have been made, carrying out two days of talks with more than 20 political party leaders.
Hasina’s rule saw widespread human rights abuses, including the mass detention and extrajudicial killings of her political opponents.
Her government was also accused of politicizing courts and the civil service, as well as staging lopsided elections to dismantle democratic checks on its power.
Yunus has said polls could be held as early as December but that holding them later — with the deadline of June 2026 — would give the government more time for reform.
On Saturday, Yunus met with the key Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP), seen as the election front-runners, who are pushing hard for polls to be held by December.
The military insisted at a press conference on Monday that there was no division with Yunus.
It was the first address to the media since army chief General Waker-Uz-Zaman gave an address to officers on May 21.
He said that elections should be held by December, aligning with BNP demands, according to Bangladeshi media and military sources.
“There is no rift between the government and the Bangladesh Army,” Lt. Col. Muhammad Shafiqul Islam told reporters.
“We share a cordial relationship and are working together for the sake of the country.”
NEW DELHI: From paintings and photographs to graffiti and posters, one of India’s biggest-ever showcases of Palestine-related art is now on view in central New Delhi, featuring works by Indian and Palestinian artists that highlight life under Israeli occupation.
“The Body Called Palestine” exhibition at Jawahar Bhawan — next to key government institutions —is a month-long show that will run until May 31.
Organized by the art collective Safdar Hashmi Memorial Trust, it features 140 works focusing on themes of resistance, identity and solidarity with Palestine. Some 40 of the contributing artists are Palestinians, 30 are Indians, and others come from places such as the US, Poland, Egypt and Sweden.
“‘The Body Called Palestine’” is the largest-ever exhibition in India on Palestine,” Amit Mukhopadhyay, the art historian who curated the show, told Arab News.
“(It is) the largest in terms of size, in terms of the number of works, in terms of the number of artists.”
Among the displayed works is “Searching for Life” by Sliman Mansour, a leading figure among contemporary Palestinian artists. Painted in 2024, it shows three women carefully brushing through the rubble. They are surrounded by destruction and fire in the background — evoking the Gaza Strip, where in the past 19 months Israeli forces have killed tens of thousands of people and reduced much of the region’s cities to rubble.
“The Wave,” by sculptor Abdul Rahman Katanani, is a 3-meter-high wave made from barbed wire, representing the Gaza Sea.
“Homes for The Disembodied,” an installation by Mary Tuma, shows five flowing black dresses made from one piece of chiffon — a memorial to the Palestinians displaced from Jerusalem who were unable to return to their homes before their death.
“Palestinian artists display the violence of life under occupation and subjugatory difference. The nostalgia and the desire to return to their homeland, the human emotions of alienation, loss, grief, anger, all are reflected in their artistic language and practice,” Mukhopadhyay says in his curator’s note for the exhibition.
“This expression and language of art may not be similar to any previously existing language system of the world.”
Many of the participating Palestinian artists were only able to submit their work digitally.
“Their houses and their residential areas and their villages are constantly being bombed ... It was impossible for them to send their physical works to us,” trust member Suhail Hashmi told Arab News.
It did not deter the organizers from displaying them. SAHMAT has prepared huge printouts to present them properly and include as many voices as possible.
“The world has to know, and people in India have to know, the great injustice that is being done to the Palestinian people — how barbaric this continuous, ongoing onslaught on unarmed people is,” Hashmi said.
“When we were fighting for our freedom, people all over the world supported our struggle. It is important for us to support anybody, anywhere in the world, fighting for freedom and the right to live peacefully. And the more people know what is going on, there will be at least some reaction.”
Vijendra Vij, an Indian artist who has contributed to the exhibition, based his work on the Palestinian poetry of Taha Muhammad Ali, Khaled Juma, Ghassan Zaqtan and others who have been translated into Hindi.
“When I read the poetry of all these poets, they recall the people, places and experience of left-behind homes, trees, fruits, flowers, the earth, the sea, the sky, colors and scents. Even after decades of hard work and attainment of comfort and professional success, the enduring connection to Palestine remains unbroken. That is behind the inspiration of (my) work,” he said.
The works have generally received emotional responses, with fear and anger followed by thoughtful observation.
“If you look at some of the works that are quite graphic, you see a bit of fear, you fear for yourself, and you also feel extremely despondent about how people are actually going through those situations,” said Saurabh Wasan, an art manager in Delhi.
“Exhibitions like this are very important and very much needed ... in whatever small way, we’re kind of keeping their voices going. Their voices are still being heard.”
