Latest news with #HadjaLahbib
Yemen Online
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yemen Online
EU Warns of Looming Famine in Yemen, Pledges Emergency Aid
The European Union has issued a stark warning about the escalating risk of famine in Yemen, calling the situation 'real and urgent' amid deepening humanitarian and economic crises. In response, the EU announced a €9 million emergency funding package to support the World Food Programme (WFP) and other humanitarian partners working in the region. The aid targets vulnerable communities in conflict-affected areas such as Hajjah, Taiz, and Hodeidah, where acute food insecurity has reached alarming levels. The funding will be used for malnutrition treatment, agricultural support, and livelihood restoration, with a particular focus on women and children. EU Commissioner for Crisis Management Hadja Lahbib emphasized the gravity of the crisis: 'Millions of Yemenis are on the brink of starvation. This funding is a lifeline to those most at risk. We urge all parties to facilitate humanitarian access and uphold international humanitarian law'. This initiative follows the 7th Senior Officials Meeting on Yemen held in Brussels, where the EU reaffirmed its commitment to coordinating international efforts to prevent famine and support long-term recovery. Since the outbreak of conflict in 2015, the EU has contributed nearly €1.6 billion in aid to Yemen, including food, health, education, and mine clearance programs. Humanitarian agencies warn that without sustained global support, famine could become widespread, especially as funding shortfalls force aid groups to scale back operations.
The Hindu
2 days ago
- Politics
- The Hindu
U.K., France, 23 other countries say war in Gaza ‘must end now'
Twenty-five countries including Britain, France and a host of European nations issued a joint statement on Monday (July 21, 2025) that puts more pressure on Israel, saying the war in Gaza 'must end now' and Israel must comply with international law. The Foreign Ministers of countries including Australia, Canada and Japan said 'the suffering of civilians in Gaza has reached new depths." They condemned 'the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food." The statement described as 'horrifying' the deaths of over 800 Palestinians who were seeking aid, according to the figures released by Gaza's Health Ministry and the UN human rights office. 'The Israeli government's aid delivery model is dangerous, fuels instability and deprives Gazans of human dignity,' the statement said. 'The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable. Israel must comply with its obligations under international humanitarian law," it added. Gaza's population of more than 2 million Palestinians is in a catastrophic humanitarian crisis, now relying largely on the limited aid allowed into the territory. Many people have been displaced multiple times. Most of the food supplies Israel has allowed into Gaza go to the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, an American contractor backed by Israel. Since the group's operations began in late May, hundreds of Palestinians have been killed in shootings by Israeli soldiers while on roads heading to the sites, according to witnesses and health officials. The statement's signatories included the foreign ministers of about 20 European countries as well as Canada, Australia and New Zealand, and the EU commissioner for equality, preparedness and crisis management, Hadja Lahbib. Notably absent from the list were the U.S. and Germany. The signatories called for an immediate ceasefire, adding they are prepared to take action to support a political pathway to peace in the region. The statement from so many of Israel's Western allies deepens its isolation 21 months into its war against Hamas, which has pushed Gaza to the brink of famine, sparked worldwide protests and led to an international arrest warrant against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel rejects criticism of its wartime conduct, saying its forces have acted lawfully and blaming civilian deaths on Hamas because the militants operate in populated areas. It says it has allowed enough food in to sustain Gaza and accuses Hamas of siphoning much of it off. The United Nations says there is no evidence for widespread diversion of humanitarian aid. Hamas triggered the war when militants stormed into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing around 1,200 people and taking 251 others hostage. Fifty remain in Gaza, but fewer than half are thought to be alive. Israel's military offensive has killed more than 59,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between militants and civilians but the ministry says more than half of the dead are women and children. The ministry is part of the Hamas government, but the UN and other international organisations see it as the most reliable source of data on casualties. Israel and Hamas have been engaged in ceasefire talks, but there appears to be no breakthrough and it's not clear whether any truce would bring the war to a lasting halt. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has repeatedly asserted that expanding Israel's military operations in Gaza will pressure Hamas in negotiations.
Euractiv
7 days ago
- Politics
- Euractiv
Commission revives anti-discrimination directive after 17-year standstill
A directive to enshrine anti-discrimination rules into EU and national law is being resurrected after 17 years of political limbo and threats of withdrawal. The Equal Treatment Directive would instruct EU countries to implement national laws addressing anti-discrimination and ensure equal access to social rights, education, goods and services, and protection on grounds of religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation. The bill, which was originally presented in 2008, has been stuck in the Council for nearly two decades, and the European Commission signalled earlier this year that it intended to scrap it altogether. Now, as first reported by Euractiv, the Commission has reversed its decision, saying it "has decided to maintain for further political discussion the proposal for the Equal Treatment Directive," a Commission spokesperson said on Wednesday. Back and forth In its 2025 work programme released early this year, the Commission listed the proposal amongst legislation the executive was looking to scrap, citing that "the proposal is blocked and further progress is unlikely." In May, however, Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib told dismayed lawmakers in the Parliament's civil liberties committee that the Commission would take feedback from MEPs into account. While the Parliament's political leaders endorsed the Commission's plans to withdraw, the committee chairs in June urged the executive to keep it alive. A month later, 14 EU countries signed a letter, asking the Commission to drop its plans to withdraw the proposal. Eventually, the Commission budged and is now keeping the directive on the agenda, "having considered the supportive position expressed by the Parliament and by a large majority of member states in the Council," a Commission spokesperson told Euractiv. "We will therefore redouble our efforts in supporting the [Danish] presidency and the member states with all possible means to help find an agreement on this important proposal." Movement in December The Danish presidency is expected to bring the issue to the agenda when EU employment and social ministers meet in early December. "We will do our best to bring progress and continue bilateral consultations with the countries still opposed," Danish Minister of Social Affairs, Sophie Hæstorp Andersen, told MEPs in the Parliament's employment committee last week. A February briefing from the Parliament's research service suggests that many EU countries have improved their legislation in the 17 years that have passed since the original proposal. Germany, Czechia, and Italy are understood to be the three main holdouts in the Council. Parliamentarians have been celebrating the U-turn, taking credit for it. "Thanks to progressive political forces refusing to accept the Commission's idea of withdrawing the legislation, we managed, after much persistent lobbying, to get the Commission to change its mind," Green Swedish lawmaker Alice Bah Kuhnke told Euractiv. "It is a result of months of hard work from myself and fellow negotiators," centre-right MEP Maria Walsh wrote on her website. (mm)
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First Post
21-07-2025
- Politics
- First Post
UK, 24 other nations demand 'immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire' in Gaza
The nations' statement delivered a sharp rebuke to Israel over its handling of humanitarian aid, describing the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as 'dangerous' read more Palestinians mourn at al-Shifa hospital in Gaza City, where the victims of an Israeli strike which hit the Mustafa Hafez school, sheltering Palestinians displaced by the war, were brought, on July 3, 2025. AFP Britain and 24 other Western nations on Monday (July 21) demanded an immediate end to the war in Gaza, declaring that the humanitarian crisis had 'reached new depths' and urging an 'immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire'. In a joint statement, the group, which includes Australia, Canada, France, Italy, Japan, Switzerland, New Zealand and several EU countries, warned that 'further bloodshed serves no purpose' and pledged full support for the ceasefire efforts led by the United States, Qatar and Egypt. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD 'We urge the parties and the international community to unite in a common effort to bring this terrible conflict to an end,' the statement said, adding that the signatories were 'prepared to take further action to support an immediate ceasefire'. The statement delivered a sharp rebuke to Israel over its handling of humanitarian aid, describing the Israeli-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF) as 'dangerous' and accusing it of stripping Palestinians of 'human dignity'. 'We condemn the drip feeding of aid and the inhumane killing of civilians, including children, seeking to meet their most basic needs of water and food,' the statement said. 'The Israeli government's denial of essential humanitarian assistance to the civilian population is unacceptable.' It called on Israel to 'immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid' and enable UN agencies and humanitarian organisations 'to do their life saving work safely and effectively'. The UN reported last week that 875 Palestinians had been killed while trying to obtain food from GHF aid convoys. The GHF has largely supplanted traditional UN relief agencies in the besieged enclave. The signatories also condemned Hamas's continued detention of hostages, calling for 'their immediate and unconditional release', and argued that a negotiated ceasefire 'offers the best hope of bringing them home'. STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD The joint statement further warned against Israeli plans to relocate Palestinians into a designated 'humanitarian city', rejecting it as a form of 'permanent forced displacement' and a violation of international law. 'We strongly oppose any steps towards territorial or demographic change in the Occupied Palestinian Territories,' the group said. The statement was also signed by Hadja Lahbib, EU Commissioner for Equality, Preparedness and Crisis Management.
Euractiv
21-07-2025
- Politics
- Euractiv
Foreign ministers call for immediate Gaza ceasefire in joint statement
Foreign ministers from several countries — including EU member states and Hadja Lahbib, the bloc's equality commissioner — signed a joint statement on Monday calling for an immediate end to the war in Gaza and the negotiation of a ceasefire. The joint statement, led by the UK government and endorsed by several EU foreign ministers as well as countries such as Canada, Australia, and Japan, declared that 'the war in Gaza must end now.' The letter called on the Israeli government to 'immediately lift restrictions on the flow of aid' and to allow the UN and humanitarian NGOs to operate freely and deliver assistance to civilians. It also expressed opposition to any steps aimed at altering the status of the occupied Palestinian Territories, specifically referencing Israel's E1 settlement plan. "If implemented, [it] would divide a Palestinian state in two, marking a flagrant breach of international law and critically undermine the two-state solution," it said. Equality Commission Hadja Lahbib, who also signed the letter, stated in a post on X that the crisis in Gaza had reached 'an intolerable level.' She added: 'Only an immediate, unconditional and permanent ceasefire can end the suffering.' The signatories also said they were prepared to take 'further action' to support an immediate ceasefire and advance 'a political pathway to security and peace for Israelis, Palestinians and the entire region.' (aw)
