His Highness Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, expressed his deep concern and rejection of the measures included in the new Israeli Government’s plans to annex Palestinian lands in the West Bank and impose Israeli sovereignty over them.
 
His Highness warned that this unilateral move is illegal, undermines opportunities for peace, and contradicts all efforts made by the international community to reach a lasting political solution in accordance with relevant international resolutions.

His Highness rejected the statements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in which he referred to an implicit Arab acceptance of these steps, considering that they contradict the Arab consensus, which is fixed in the decisions issued by the League of Arab States and confirmed in many Arab ministerial meetings.

His Highness affirmed that the path of the Middle East peace process is clear and established by the international principles agreed upon to resolve the Palestinian issue and end the Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories. His Highness also reiterated the UAE’s position that any action taken unilaterally impedes and hinders the chances of a lasting peace to which all parties aspire.

Source: UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet praised efforts by the UAE to protect women during the COVID-19 pandemic in a recent webinar titled “COVID-19 and Gender Equality: Living Up to the Challenge.”

The UAE has exerted significant effort to protect women, launching remote work for pregnant women and mothers with children in the 9th grade and younger as early precautions to curb the spread of COVID-19.

“The UAE is fully committed to the promotion of women’s rights and considers the empowerment of women fundamental to the development of a modern and progressive society,” said H.E. Ahmed Abdul Rahman Al Jarman, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation for Human Rights and International Law.

His Excellency noted that the UAE has allowed pregnant women and mothers with young children to work remotely to prevent the spread of the virus. It has also established distance learning for girls and health services for women in order to enhance their physical and psychological wellbeing and ensure access to medical care, particularly during the current crisis.

“The UAE considers the safety and security of women to be critical, as domestic violence is a serious crime in the country and is punishable by law. The UAE reviews and periodically evaluates legislation to ensure the protection of women. Recently, the UAE issued a decree via Federal Law No. 10 of 2019 to prevent domestic violence in the UAE and has adopted policies to protect families,” His Excellency noted.

For her part, the UN High Commissioner praised actions taken by the UAE and the Kingdom of Bahrain to soften the impact of COVID-19 on women and girls. She noted that women and girls have been affected by the pandemic in numerous countries, where they have faced issues in diminished employment opportunities, an increase in domestic violence, and the decreased availability of first responders, posing a threat to pregnant women.

Speaking about efforts to combat domestic violence, Secretary-General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union Martin Chungong called for the adoption of measures to address the global surge in domestic violence against women and girls linked to government-imposed closures as part of efforts to curb COVID-19.

Source: UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Obaid Salem Al Zaabi, UAE Permanent Representative at the United Nations, UN, and Other International Organisations in Geneva, stressed that Gulf Cooperation Council, GCC, member countries are putting in place additional measures to support human rights.

While delivering a speech on behalf of GCC countries at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council, Al Zaabi said that they are committed to promoting human rights and achieving the required balance between civil and political rights, as well as between social and economic rights.

He noted that previous years have witnessed the launch of many related policies and measures in GCC countries, which are prioritising the adoption of national legislation, joining many human rights agreements, and supporting national human rights institutions.

He stressed that this is reflected by the signing of the GCC Human Rights Declaration in 2014, which has achieved progress in terms of ensuring human rights and giving special attention to the rights of children, women, people with disabilities and the elderly.

His statement also pointed out that GCC countries are welcoming the hosting of the 21st meeting of the Working Group of Governmental Experts on the Right to Development to be held in May 2020, as well as the drafting of a binding instrument on the right to development, which will support the adoption of this right and eliminate all measures that may negatively affect its implementation.

Al Zaabi called upon the session’s participants to support national and global efforts to reinforce the right to development, facilitate the work of the group, and strengthen related multilateral efforts.

Source: UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Kuwait, Kuwait’s humanitarian aid activities continued to cover several areas and targeted people that are most in need.

The Kuwaiti Tarahum charitable team affiliated to the International Islamic Charitable Organization organized a ceremony for more than 550 Syrian orphans in the city of Sanliurfa southeast of Turkey.

Head of the Turkish Ataa Association in Sanliurfa, said in a phone conversation with Kuwait News Agency (KUNA) that the ceremony came as part of the team’s campaign (as One Body 95) and on the occasion of the national holidays of Kuwait.

He pointed out that Tarahum team will also organize humanitarian trips for the Syrian refugees in the cities of Gaziantep and Kahraman Marash in cooperation with Ataa organization.

On Friday, Kuwait delivered its voluntary donation worth $ 500,000 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The fund Director General, Peter Sands, met during a ceremony for receiving the Kuwaiti donation with Kuwait’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and International Organizations in Geneva, Jamal Al-Ghunaim.

Sands warned that appearance of coronavirus in countries known for spread of HIV, Malaria and Ebola will lead to repercussions similar to those that had been seen with the Ebola virus eruption in West Africa.

Ambassador Al-Ghunaim has re-affirmed Kuwait’s support for the fund to help it fight TB and Malaria.

Amiri Diwan Advisor and Chairman of the International Islamic Charitable Organization (IICO) Dr. Abdullah Al-Maatouq said that the initiative of providing one billion meals to the poor worldwide achieved great success.

In its endeavor of directing efforts of local, regional and global humanitarian organizations to combat hunger in 2019, the initiative’s programs, projects and partnerships came in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals to eradicate world hunger by 2030.

Al-Maatouq said in a press conference Sunday that participating organizations have multiplied this goal threefold by distributing nearly three billion meals.

He indicated that the number of implemented projects reached 331,961, with a completion rate exceeding 100 percent.

Over 132 million beneficiaries of these projects benefited from the pledges that initially aimed at nearly 99.5 million, with a completion rate of 133 percent, Al-Maatouq explained.

Kuwait-based IICO is one of the largest humanitarian organizations in the Muslim world, operating as an independent, multi-faceted charity that provides its humanitarian services to those in need without discrimination or intolerance away from interference in politics or ethnic conflicts.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

Ludovic Orban, Prime Minister of Romania and President of the National Liberal Party, and Dr. Ahmed Abdullah Saeed Al Matroushi, UAE Ambassador to Romania, have reviewed relations between the UAE and Romania.

During the meeting, which was held at the government headquarters in the capital Bucharest, the parties discussed ways to further develop cooperation, especially in the trade and agricultural fields, to serve the common interests of the two peoples.

The UAE Ambassador stressed the importance of strengthening bilateral relations between the UAE and Romania, which, he said, witnessed a great development over the past years.

For his part, the Romanian Prime Minister welcomed Ambassador Al Matroushi, commending his efforts in developing the bilateral relations between the two countries and the two friendly peoples.

The meeting was attended by Nechita-Adrian Oros, Romanian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; Khadim Abdulla Al Darei, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Al Dahra Holding; along with Saeed Al Shamsi of DP World.

Source: UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Ludovic Orban, Prime Minister of Romania and President of the National Liberal Party, and Dr. Ahmed Abdullah Saeed Al Matroushi, UAE Ambassador to Romania, have reviewed relations between the UAE and Romania.

During the meeting, which was held at the government headquarters in the capital Bucharest, the parties discussed ways to further develop cooperation, especially in the trade and agricultural fields, to serve the common interests of the two peoples.

The UAE Ambassador stressed the importance of strengthening bilateral relations between the UAE and Romania, which, he said, witnessed a great development over the past years.

For his part, the Romanian Prime Minister welcomed Ambassador Al Matroushi, commending his efforts in developing the bilateral relations between the two countries and the two friendly peoples.

The meeting was attended by Nechita-Adrian Oros, Romanian Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development; Khadim Abdulla Al Darei, Vice Chairman and Managing Director of Al Dahra Holding; along with Saeed Al Shamsi of DP World.

Source: UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Rome, Josip Ilicic netted a hat-trick and Luis Muriel a brace for Serie A top scorers Atalanta in a 7-0 annihilation of Torino on Saturday.

The Bergamo guests got over last weekend’s 2-1 defeat to humble SPAL and took their goal tally to 57 goals from 21 games, going fifth on 38 points.

They handed 5-0 defeats to AC Milan and Parma, pummelling Udinese 7-1, in the first half of the season, Deutsche press agency (dpa) reported.

Il Toro are now 10th on 27 as they saw Bologna leapfrog them on goal difference from an earlier 3-1 rally against SPAL.

The Slovenian striker Ilicic opened with a lay-in off Jose Palomino and was floored for a penalty that Duvan Zapata converted after Robin Gosens volleyed home a clearance.

After the break Ilicic lobbed a long-range free-kick past the malpositioned keeper Salvatore Sirigu, who stood no chance when the forward on 54 struck from inside the box for a personal tally of 13 goals.

Il Toro had Armando Izzo dismissed with a second booking on 76 and Muriel, who replaced Gosens, netted the sixth goal from a late penalty and closed the scoring with a low shot before the hosts also lost Sasa Lukic to a red card.

Bologna came from behind in a regional derby at SPAL, approaching the European places while the Ferrara side languish in the drop zone.

The Bolognese and Torino are four points off sixth place that qualifies for the Europa League. SPAL are on 15 points in the three-team relegation zone.

Andrea Petagna put the hosts ahead from the penalty spot, but Bologna levelled by half-time thanks to a Francesco Vicari own goal, and after the break clinched victory as substitute Musa Barrow slammed in and Andrea Poli turned in a cross.

“We played well, it was a battle from the very first minute,” Bologna veteran striker Rodrigo Palacio said. “The most important thing was to get a result: the derby is a game that needs to be won. The coach’s return to the dugout in the second half gave us an added push.”

Bologna helmsman Sinisa Mihajlovic, who in late October had bone marrow transplant to treat leukaemia and is recovering from the illness, watched the first half from the stands at the rainy Paolo Mazza stadium.

Fiorentina inched on 25 points as second-last Genoa held them 0-0 in Florence.

Home defender Nikola Milenkovic saw his header come off the bar and Genoa captain Domenico Criscito had a penalty saved by Bartlomiej Dragowski in the first half.

Both sides changed coach in late December during a league break, with Giuseppe Iachini taking over Fiorentina from Vincenzo Montella and Davide Nicola replacing Thiago Motta, who earlier in the season had been hired for Aurelio Andreazzoli.

Six Sunday games, including Napoli’s late big match against leaders Juventus and the Roma v Lazio derby, complete matchday 21.

AC Milan (31) went sixth after a 1-0 edging of strugglers Brescia on Friday.

Source: Bahrain News Agency

London, An academic currently imprisoned in Iran on charges of espionage has reportedly refused an offer to become a spy for Tehran in return for her freedom.

Kylie Moore-Gilbert, a UK-Australian dual national, made the revelation in a series of letters handed to The Times that were smuggled out of Evin prison, located in the north of the capital, where she is serving 10 years, The Associated Press reported.

In the letters, addressed separately to a Mr. Vasiri, believed to be a deputy prosecutor in the Iranian judiciary, and a Mr. Ghaderi and Mr. Hosseini, who are thought to be officers in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), Moore-Gilbert stated in basic Farsi that she had never been a spy, and I have no intention to work for a spying organization in any country.

She added: Please accept this letter as an official and definitive rejection of your offer to me to work with the intelligence branch of the IRGC.

According to the AP, Moore-Gilbert, a lecturer in Islamic studies at the University of Melbourne in Australia, was arrested in 2018 after attending a conference in Tehran.

She was tried and convicted in secret, and her letters implied that she had been kept in solitary confinement in a wing of Evin prison under the IRGC’s control.

It is reportedly the same wing being used to detain UK-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, also incarcerated for espionage, and away from the all-female cellblock that Moore-Gilbert was meant to have been housed in.

The letters catalog a series of other mistreatments and inhumane conditions, suggesting she had been permitted no contact with her family, and that, having been denied access to vital medication, her health was deteriorating.

She also suggested that she had been subjected to sleep deprivation methods, with lights in her cell kept on 24 hours per day, and that she was often blindfolded when transported.

It is clear that IRGC Intelligence is playing an awful game with me. I am an innocent victim, she wrote.

Australian Foreign Minister Marise Payne met with her Iranian counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in India last week, where the case was discussed.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry later issued a statement claiming that the country would not submit to political games and propaganda over the issue.

This comes at a time when international pressure has ratcheted up on the regime in Tehran following the downing of a Ukrainian passenger plane over the capital on Jan. 8.

Mass demonstrations nationwide followed the news that the plane had been shot down by Iranian forces.

Olympian defects to Germany

Meanwhile, Iran’s only female Olympic medalist, Kimia Alizadeh, announced that she would not return to the country, citing her refusal to continue to be used as a propaganda tool.

She wrote of her decision on Instagram: I wore whatever they told me and repeated whatever they ordered. Every sentence they ordered I repeated. None of us matter for them, we are just tools.

It was revealed on Jan. 20 that the taekwondo martial artist, who had been living and training in Eindhoven in the Netherlands, had elected to move to Hamburg in Germany, for whom she will now compete.

Alizadeh’s defection is just one in a series of high-profile acts of defiance by Iranians outraged by the actions of the regime.

At least two journalists working for Iranian state-owned TV channels are known to have resigned their positions in protest.

One, news anchor Gelare Jabbari, posted on Instagram: It was very hard for me to believe that our people have been killed. Forgive me that I got to know this late. And forgive me for the 13 years I told you lies.

Source: Bahrain News Agency