“Refresh european project”

adminonDecember 10, 2021January 5, 2022Leave a Comment

There are plenty of political ies Pope Francis could address Tuesday in Strasbourg during his speeches to the EU Parliament and the 47-nation Council of Europe. An overview of expectations from Brussels.

According to Caritas Europa, the Pope must draw the attention of decision-makers in Europe above all to the disadvantaged in society. His speech could provide an impetus "to refresh the European project; to remember again what it was made for and on what values it is based," said the Secretary General of Caritas Europa, Nuno Mayer, of the Catholic News Agency (KNA) in Brussels.

The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Wishes for clear statements by the Pope on solidarity, which is a foundation of Europe and the Christian faith. Above all, greater solidarity with refugees in the Mediterranean is needed, because "the cooperation between the Frontex operation and Triton is good, but not enough," the JRS said.

The President of the EU Bishops' Commission COMECE, Cardinal Reinhard Marx, Hopes upcoming speeches will provide impetus for peace and reconciliation. "He must also talk about the war that is on our continent," said Marx, who is also archbishop of Munich and Freising and president of the German Bishops' Conference. Therefore, he said, the Pope's visit to the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, to which Russia and Ukraine also belong, has a special significance.

The Head of the Brussels office of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD), Katrin Hatzinger, Wishes the Pope's appearance to be a clear sign "that the churches, as social actors, have something to offer to politics". They could bring ethical guidance and discursive power to the political process. "It would be nice if it would not remain only with isolated visits of the Pope, but also representatives of other denominations and religions would be regular guests," said Hatzinger.

The EU social association Eurodiaconia Hopes for strong words from the Pope on the ies of poverty and exclusion. "These are the central ies in the EU that need to be talked about," said Secretary General Heather Roy. The Catholic Development umbrella organization CIDSE would like to see a strong impulse on the topics of environment and climate.

As Francis is "a man of the church, not a politician," expects the former president of the EU parliament Hans-Gert Pottering a speech about Christians' commitment to peace, justice and human rights. The Pope's visit shows a high esteem he has for the European institutions, she said.

A comparison with the speech of John Paul II. in the fall of 1988, which Pottering witnessed as a parliamentarian, is not directly possible. At the time, the EU was "in a completely different global political constellation".

In the view of Green Group in the EU Parliament Francis' speech is a chance for the head of the church to make a strong case for climate protection and action against poverty. The group wants to hand over a letter with demands to the Pope; the exact content is still being worked out. The Greens invited a group of migrants, homosexuals and transgender people to Parliament for the Pope's speech.

According to the Chairman of the EPP Group in the European Parliament, Manfred Weber, the Pope's visit is a "signal for the EU as a peace power and for democracy". The pope has the chance to shake Europe awake, "for example, on the topics of Europe's Christian roots, our responsibility from it for the world".

The SPD Member Bernd Lange Hopes for a special focus of the Pope on those values of Europe that have a strong relation to Christian values. "Europeans should become more aware of this – especially in light of global developments," Lange said. A reference to human rights, social justice and peaceful problem solving in the speech could be a driver for an active foreign and trade policy.

After the death sentence against four rapists, the Catholic development aid organization Misereor calls for a rethink in India. The Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR also does not believe that the verdict could deter other perpetrators.

"Instead of immediate vendettas, there is a need for real reforms, for example in the police and judicial system. That would be a greater satisfaction than the death penalty for the four convicts," said Anna Dirksmeier, the India officer at Misereor, to the Internet portal katholisch on Friday.de in Bonn. "As a Christian charity, we are of course not in favor of the death penalty. Most of our local partners in the country also share this opinion."

Dirksmeier is counting on the worldwide public attention for the mass rapes to lead to changes in India. For example, declining tourist numbers could bring about reforms. The Misereor spokeswoman pointed out that Indian authorities often send women who want to file charges home without having done so. "Too many cases are left by the courts and end with impunity. There are many good laws, but they are not implemented."

According to Misereor, the situation is particularly hostile to women in rural regions. The charity and its local partners supported, among other things, groups where women can come together and talk about their problems with the patriarchy. "In rural areas, society is very misogynistic and women's lives are not worth much," Dirksmeier said.

The four adult rapists and murderers of a 23-year-old student in India had been sentenced to death on Friday. Judge Yogesh Khanna, pronouncing the verdict, said it was a "bestial crime" that had shaken the consciousness of society. He thus followed the request of the prosecution.

Defense lawyers for the men, aged 19 to 26, had demanded prison sentences – one of the young men broke down in tears after the verdict was handed down. The victim's brother said his sister wanted to see the men burned alive. 'Now her soul can rest in peace'."

Pardon petition to the president possible

The four men, along with two other perpetrators, had kidnapped the 23-year-old Indian woman on a bus in New Delhi in December, raped her one after the other and injured her so severely with an iron bar, among other things, that she died of it two weeks later.

The extremely gruesome crime against the student had startled the whole of India and led to weeks of protests against sex crimes. Protesters again stood outside the courthouse Friday demanding the hanging for the rapists.

On Tuesday, the judge had already found the men guilty of murder, gang rape, kidnapping and numerous other crimes. Now he announced the sentence. The death penalty is provided for in the Indian judiciary only in the "rarest of rare cases".

The verdict is not yet final, the defense lawyers want to appeal. The case could go through two more instances, then an appeal for clemency to the president is also possible.

The death penalty was imposed 78 times in India last year, according to human rights organization Amnesty International. Hundreds of people are currently on the death list. However, executions are hardly ever carried out, most recently in 1995, 2004 and 2012 and 2013.

One of the perpetrators of the 16. December was found hanged in his prison cell. Whether it was murder or suicide is not yet clear. Also involved was a youth who received the maximum sentence of three years of juvenile detention at the end of August.

Defendants overburdened

In the courtroom, the four men from poor backgrounds were unable to follow the trial for long stretches because they did not speak English and were not provided with a translator, which is not unusual in India. The request of the defense lawyers to have the more than 1000-page indictment translated into Hindi had been rejected. The victim's family also complained about the language problem: "We don't understand what is going on at all."

The four men worked as cab drivers, assistant conductors, gym employees and fruit vendors before their arrests. Most of them had moved to the capital, living together in a slum. Judge Khanna stated in the ruling that he also wanted to send a signal to others. "In these times when more and more crimes are being committed against women, the penalties must act as a great deterrent to these offenders."Courts should not look the other way in the case of such cruel crimes.

The Asian Centre for Human Rights ACHR, however, does not believe the verdict could deter other offenders. Although a man from the state of West Bengal was hanged in 2004 for the rape and murder of a girl, the number of assaults on women increased thereafter, he said.

In the debate about how to deal with sexual abuse, a duty to report has been brought up for discussion. Federal Justice Minister Sabine Leutheusser-Schnarrenberger is in favor, as are the Bavarian bishops. Lawyers and child protection experts, on the other hand, have major reservations.

Wurzburg law professor Klaus Laubenthal also categorically rejects such a change. Laubenthal specializes in sex crimes law and has been practicing for 13. March Contact person of the diocese of Wurzburg for victims of abuse. According to his catch, mandatory reporting would not be in the interest of the victims. For almost two weeks now, Laubenthal has been dealing with the ie not only theoretically. "Massively traumatized people" contact him by e-mail and telephone. Often he is the first person to whom they confide their terrible secret, sometimes after more than 50 years. In recent cases that are brought to his attention, he says he has also involved the public prosecutor's office, "but only if the victims want it". In Germany, there is a duty to report only very few, most serious crimes, such as treason, murder, kidnapping or arson. Moreover, it does not apply to acts that have already been committed, but only to planned acts. Anyone who becomes aware of them and does not report them faces up to five years in prison. 2003 first bill Earlier it was suggested to extend this threat of punishment to confidants of sexual abuse. The red-green coalition put a bill on the table for this in 2003. The then Federal Minister of Justice Brigitte Zypries (SPD) hoped to improve the protection of children. Their environment, i.e. relatives and neighbors, should be sensitized in this way to look and thus the enormous number of unreported cases should be reduced. Criminologists suggest that for every reported abuse, there are between 20 and 100 unpunished assaults. But Zypries' plan was almost unanimously rejected in an expert hearing in the Bundestag. Even the weakened proposal for mandatory reporting was rejected by the justice ministers of the federal states. Child protectors and aid agencies warned at the time that mandatory reporting would do the opposite of what was intended. The perpetrators would only increase the prere to keep the children secret. They need a lot of courage to confide in adults anyway, according to the Cologne-based association Zartbitter. "That would encourage denunciation" Sexual abuse is about experiences "in an area of the personality that one generally does not like to talk about with a stranger," Laubenthal also objects. The lawyer, who is also a psychologist, considers it absolutely inappropriate to drag the victims into the public eye by law. Laubenthal is also skeptical about an institutionally anchored obligation to report, for example in schools. "That would encourage denunciation," he says, noting that such a suspicious message can also destroy social livelihoods. There would be about the danger of getting rid of a disliked colleague in this way. For the abuse commissioner, the victim's interest has absolute priority – with one exception: If crimes are described to him under the seal of secrecy in the knowledge that the perpetrator still has contact with other potential victims today, he faces a difficult balancing act. Which is more valid, the request for confidential treatment or the defense of a concrete danger of further acts? Laubenthal has not yet experienced such a dilemma. Depending on the situation of the case, however, it could be necessary to press charges, he says.

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