Mediaboss Marketing

Refugees and migrants trapped along the Balkans migration route, including some 500 unaccompanied children and 400 children with family who are currently in Bosnia and Herzegovina, are facing increased risks from smugglers, traffickers and border authorities.

Tighter border controls and pushbacks, both at the EU border and between EU countries, have led to an increase in violence and other abuses against children and other vulnerable people, Save the Children warned today.

As EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson visits Bosnia and Albania to assess the situation of migrants in the border areas of Croatia and Greece, Save the Children calls on the EU to ensure child protection measures are implemented immediately for all migrant children.

The agency urged that ongoing reforms of the EU migration legislation, especially on the sharing of responsibilities, will address the suffering of children who are in search of safety and, often, reunification with family members already living in Europe.

"Pushbacks of migrants, including unaccompanied minors and families with children, happen not only at the borders of the EU, but also between Member States", said Anita Bay Bundegaard, Director of Save the Children Europe. "It is vital that the EU and its Member States put an end to illegal pushbacks and at the same time prioritise child protection at its borders. The EU needs to implement procedures that guarantee a proper age assessment and ensure the protection of children, and it must allow regular, independent monitoring mechanisms for the reporting of incidents that are accessible by children."

The EU Commisioner is visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the key transit countries on the Balkans migration route. In BiH, hundreds of identified unaccompanied children and children with families are currently sheltered in reception centres, while over 2,300 people, including children, are sleeping rough or in inadequate conditions. According to Save the Children, there may be minors that are not (yet) identified, as proper age assessment procedures are lacking.

"The EU Commission should continue to provide humanitarian support in BiH and demand concrete results from the authorities", Anita Bay Bundegaard added.* "At the same time, the EU and its members must take concrete steps to provide safe and regular pathways to Europe for refugees and migrants, ensure access to asylum and protection services and share the responsibility for the migration crisis."*

As EU institutions and members are reforming EU legislation on migration, they need to address the worst and very widespread consequences of the current rules, including bottlenecks at the EU borders" recommends Anita Bay Bundegaard. "This opportunity should not be missed. Improving the legislation on migration can help avoid more children's suffering and risks of violence, trafficking and exploitation they are currently facing."

For more information, you can reach out to:

Read the original post:
Hundreds of unaccompanied minors and children with families are trapped on Balkans facing pushbacks, trafficking and exploitation - Bosnia and...

The president of the humanitarian organization Merhamet MDD Kenan Vrbanjac and the directors of Merhamets regional committees in BiH visited the migrants in the Lipa camp near Bihac and distributed food and clothing on the occasion of the 108th anniversary of Merhamet. Migrants were given breakfast, fruit, underwear, undershirts and socks. According to Vrbanjc, Merhamet, in coordination with the Red Cross of Una-Sana Canton, regularly helps migrants in the Lipa camp.

With todays action and visit to the Lipa camp, we wanted to mark the 108th anniversary of the founding of the Muslim charity Merhamet. All of Merhamets regional and basic committees throughout BiH are marking this important anniversary with appropriate actions during February, Vrbanjac said.

President of Merhamet emphasized that this humanitarian organization, after the latest escalation of the migrant crisis in BiH, ie in Bihac, has so far provided assistance for migrants in the Lipa camp in the value of more than 100,000 BAM. Merhamet distributed aid to the migrants, which consisted of meals, bottled water, juices, tea, dates, then blankets, underwear, undershirts, socks, raincoats and hygiene products. Vrbanjac pointed out that Merhamet has been involved in helping this population since the beginning of the migrant crisis in BiH.

By preparing meals, distributing clothes, shoes, blankets and hygiene items, Merhamet helped migrants in Una-Sana Canton, Tuzla, Sarajevo and Mostar. Before that, while the migrant wave had not yet hit our country, we were helping migrants in Serbia, even in Croatia. Also, for six years in a row, Merhamet has been helping migrants and Syrian refugees on the Turkish-Syrian border, for which he has so far delivered about 700,000 kilograms of meat. The value of that assistance amounted to more than 7 million KM , Vrbanjac pointed out.

He added that Merhamet, according to its capabilities, will continue to help migrants. He reminded that Merhamet feeds 8,000 socially endangered citizens in its 30 kitchens and their checkpoints every day, and that taking care of migrants is an additional expense for this humanitarian organization. However, as he concluded, Merhamet will not give up on helping the needy who have currently found refuge in Bosnia and Herzegovina, BHRT writes.

Read the rest here:
Humanitarian Organization Merhamet distributed Clothes and Food to Migrants - Sarajevo Times

Newswise WASHINGTON, February 18, 2021 -- To highlight and enhance the awareness of Black physicists, the American Institute of Physics is partnering with Black in Physics to host a Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon to address inaccuracies and incomplete information on the popular resource website about African American and Black scientists.

The event will take place during the last week of Black History Month, Feb. 22-26, and bring together volunteers in the physics community to build and edit Wikipedia pages about Black physicists. Wikipedia editors will provide training and information to assist the volunteers with the Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon.

Members of AIPs Center for History of Physics and the Niels Bohr Library & Archives will host information drop-in sessions for Wikithon editors seeking resources and best practices for citing sources on Wikipedia pages. The AIP oral history collection will be utilized as a resource for Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon volunteers to find citable material.

The Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon drop-in sessions will last about an hour but could extend depending on the work being done. Volunteers from Black in Physics will be participating in the weeklong event.

###

About American Institute of Physics

The American Institute of Physics (AIP) is a 501(c)(3) membership corporation of scientific societies. AIP pursues its missionto advance, promote, and serve the physical sciences for the benefit of humanitywith a unifying voice of strength from diversity. In its role as a federation, AIP advances the success of its Member Societies by providing the means to pool, coordinate, and leverage their diverse expertise and contributions in pursuit of a shared goal of advancing the physical sciences in the research enterprise, in the economy, in education, and in society. In its role as an institute, AIP operates as a center of excellence using policy analysis, social science, and historical research to promote future progress in the physical sciences.

###

See the original post here:
American Institute of Physics to Host Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon, Raise Awareness of Black Physicists - Newswise

As part of the Israeli entitys advancing levels of fear of Hezbollah, the official Twitter account of the Israeli military posted a call on Tuesday for Wikipedia in English to edit its article on the Lebanese resistance movement to reflect its identification by 26 countries as a terrorist organization.

The diagnosis, in the Zionist case, would better be onomatophobia, which is the fear of names, in our case it is Hezbollah.

The worth-mocking step exposes how the Zionist occupation entitys fear has switched from its main battlefield with the resistance group, in military, to the educational one, where it should be the least among the supposed undefeatable armys concerns.

In this regard, some experts claim that Wikipedia is a battleground for competing viewpoints, and the Hezbollah page is no exception.

The resistance groups English Wikipedia entry, which currently describes it as a Shia Islamist political party and militant group, didnt satisfy the Israeli military Spokespersons Unit, prompting it to to tweet on Tuesday that its time for an update, calling for the organizations definition to reflect its labeling as a terrorist group.

David Gerard is a veteran Wikipedia editor based in the UK. In a conversation with The Media Line, he explained the argumentative phrasing, as well as Wikipedias treatment of controversial subjects in general, saying that the sites political position is basically very centrist about things, and always gives both sides of every issue. Because of this, he said, you end up with these understated, overly polite descriptions that people may consider quite controversial.

With controversial issues, Gerard explains, there are editors pulling in different directions and the final product has to be acceptable for all parties. Therefore, the aim is to create readable entries, but better entries could be written.

The editor also points out that Hezbollahs entry contains all the information you need.

Added to its misfortune, the Israeli military Spokespersons Unit confessed their intrusion in a statement to The Media Line, stating that our office occasionally looks at Wikipedia entries when the subject matter is relevant to the messaging we want to get across. We do this in order to better understand what information is given to the average individual on the internet and to find misinformation that should be dispelled.

Further, the Zionist Spokespersons Unit claimed that, It is our hope that our tweet will inspire some of Wikipedias editors to update Hezbollah Wikipedia entry by highlighting the fact that Hezbollah has been recognized as a terrorist organization by some of the worlds most influential nations, such as the US, UK, Germany, Japan, and Canada.

Read this article:
Israeli Onomatophobia: Zionist Military's Fear of Hezbollah Shifts to Wikipedia - Ahlul Bayt News Agency: Providing Shia News

Exercises include shooting at sea and air targets and liberating hijacked ships, as well as search-and-rescue and anti-piracy operations.

Tehran, Iran Iranian forces have concluded a two-day naval exercise with Russia in the northern part of the Indian Ocean.

Forces and vessels from the navy divisions of both the Iranian army and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) participated in the drill, which kicked off on Tuesday, alongside several vessels from the Russian navy.

Admiral Gholamreza Tahani, spokesman for the drill, said the exercise his country was conducting with Russia was flexibly designed to allow several other countries to join it at any time, adding that the Indian navy had requested to join.

Hossein Khanzadi, commander of the Iranian navy, had said the Chinese navy would participate in the drill over an area of 17,000 square kilometres (6,500 square miles).

Iran, Russia and China held similar exercises in 2019.

But on Thursday, an Indian news website, timesnownews.com, carried a statement by the Indian navy denying New Delhis participation in the naval exercise.

Participation of China also could not be confirmed, and Tahani, spokesman, did not mention Beijing and New Delhi as the exercise concluded on Wednesday.

Tahani said the all-Iranian frigate Jamaran, unveiled in 2010, led the exercise while Iranian and Russian navy helicopters provided air monitoring and support.

The exercises will include shooting at sea and air targets and liberating hijacked ships, as well as search-and-rescue and anti-piracy operations. Iran says it hopes to exchange information and technical and tactical experience while becoming better-equipped to fight sea theft and terrorism.

Irans army and the IRGC have conducted several drills in the past two months in a show of force amid tensions with the United States.

These exercises saw a variety of locally manufactured long-range missiles, drones, tanks, warships, submarines and helicopters tested on land, sea and air targets.

View post:
Iran, Russia conduct joint naval drill in Indian Ocean | Military News | Al Jazeera