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Jehovah’s Witnesses Make Blood Components a Matter of Conscience – The European Times
Members may individually decide whether to accept or donate red cells, white cells, plasma or platelets, while the position on whole blood remains unchanged
Jehovah’s Witnesses have made the use of red cells, white cells, plasma and platelets a matter of individual conscience, significantly widening the medical choices available to members. The decision does not lift the religion’s prohibition on whole-blood transfusions, but it changes a policy that has shaped treatment decisions in hospitals around the world.
A substantial change in the understanding of the doctrine
The Governing Body announced the adjustment on 18 September, extending individual choice to the four primary components derived from another person’s blood. Members may also decide whether to donate blood when its clearly stated purpose is to provide components or fractions for another patient.
The development, first highlighted in a World Religion News report, is the second significant revision of the Witnesses’ blood policy this year. In March, the organisation said members could decide whether to have their own blood collected, stored and returned to them during medical or surgical care.
Previously, fractions derived from blood components, including some proteins and clotting factors, could be accepted as a matter of conscience. The four primary components themselves were rejected. That distinction has now been removed.
In its updated explanation of the policy, the Governing Body says the Bible does not specifically address the products derived from blood and that congregations should neither become involved in individual decisions nor judge members for them.
The organisation continues to teach that blood is sacred, basing its position on biblical instructions to “abstain from blood”. Members are still instructed not to accept whole blood, donate blood for whole-blood transfusion or consume blood.
What changes at the hospital bedside
The practical implications may be extensive. Modern transfusion medicine commonly separates donated blood into components so that patients receive the product required for a particular condition. Red cells restore oxygen-carrying capacity, platelets help control bleeding, and plasma provides proteins involved in clotting. White-cell transfusions are less common and used in specialised circumstances.
A Witness patient may therefore now consider treatments that would previously have conflicted with the religion’s stated rules. That does not mean every member will accept them. Some may continue to reject every product derived from donated blood, while others may accept one component but decline another.
Hospitals should consequently avoid treating “Jehovah’s Witness” as a shorthand for automatic refusal of all blood components. Clinicians will need to ask each patient what they accept, explain the risks and alternatives, and document the decision precisely.
Existing advance directives may also require review. A form completed under the previous policy could record refusals that no longer reflect the patient’s wishes. The organisation says an updated medical directive will be issued and that members do not ordinarily need to disclose their choices beyond the healthcare agents named in that document.
Conscience must work in both directions
The human-rights principle is two-sided. A competent adult has the right to refuse treatment, including treatment that doctors believe is necessary to preserve life. The same person must also be free to accept an available treatment without pressure from relatives, religious representatives or medical professionals.
This balance is especially important in Europe. The European Court of Human Rights has emphasised that medical authorities must establish a patient’s genuine wishes when religious conviction and emergency treatment intersect. The European Times previously examined that principle through the Pindo Mulla blood-transfusion case in Spain.
The new policy’s promise of confidentiality may help members make decisions based on their own beliefs and medical circumstances. Its value, however, will depend on whether that privacy is respected in practice and whether information is communicated quickly in the languages used by the global membership.
The Governing Body has not withdrawn the theological basis of its position or offered a detailed public accounting of the earlier rule. It presents the revision as the result of prayerful consideration and a recognition that leaders should not impose requirements where Scripture is silent.
There are also practical questions about donation. National blood services generally determine how donated blood is processed and used, meaning that a donor’s request that it be reserved exclusively for components or fractions may not be administratively straightforward in every country.
The policy is therefore significant. It opens access to treatments that form a central part of contemporary transfusion medicine, but retains the whole-blood prohibition and leaves implementation to individual patients, clinicians and local healthcare systems.
The measure allow now every Witness patient to receives timely information, confidential counselling and a genuine opportunity to decide.
Yemen’s humanitarian crisis growing by the hour amid spike in displacement
“Our resources are very, very, very limited and our stocks will be depleted very soon,” said Abdusattor Esoev, Chief of Mission in Yemen for the UN migration agency, IOM.
In just two weeks since clashes erupted between Saudi-backed Yemeni Government forces and Iran-backed Houthi militia, more than 112,000 people have been displaced across Aden, Hudaydah, Abyan and Ta’iz.Taiz.
Years of conflict, economic collapse and environmental disaster have already displaced nearly 4.8 million Yemenis, according to the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.
The rapidly escalating hostilities along Yemen’s western coast have also forced more than 3,000 people to embark on dangerous boat journeys across the Bab el-Mandeb Strait to safety in Djibouti, where host communities risk being overwhelmed.
Saving lives
“Yemen civilians are already bearing the consequences of renewed full-scale hostilities and we urge all parties and those with influence over them to act immediately to de-escalate, protect civilians, and facilitate humanitarian access. Preventing further loss of life must take precedence,” said Shabia Mantoo, Spokesperson for UN human rights office, OHCHR.
Alessandra Vellucci, Director of the UN Information Service in Geneva, warned that the delivery of UN humanitarian assistance in Houthi-controlled areas had become “untenable”, with UN personnel detained and the global body’s premises occupied by representatives of the Yemeni opposition forces.
Locked up
“As of today, 73 UN personnel remain arbitrarily detained by the Houthi de facto authorities, some of them since 2021. In addition, five former UN personnel and dozens of personnel from non-governmental organizations, civil society organizations, and diplomatic missions remain detained,” Ms. Vellucci continued.
Echoing concerns about the humanitarian crisis, IOM chief of mission in Yemen Mr. Esoev urged the international community “to come to Yemen’s aid” with urgently needed support including food, shelter, health, water and sanitation for all those uprooted by the violence.
Give me shelter
He recounted the testimony of one woman with four small children who had been displaced in Taiz, where she gave birth to a baby in the open, “without shelter, medical care and any other assistance”.
For protection, her family found a torn piece of plastic tarpaulin “barely covering their heads. These are the real cases that we are seeing in the field,” the IOM official said.
Before the latest escalation in Yemen, nearly half of the country’s 41 million people needed aid, with one in two people in Government-controlled areas in the grip of high levels of hunger, according to UN-backed food insecurity experts, the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) platform.
Also briefing from Yemen, the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, highlighted growing concerns for the many women-led households where mothers are the sole breadwinners, such as Aziza, in Ras Al-Arah.
“She came from Mocha with her four daughters and she’s one of those who had to run away under the shelling, got burned because of the shelling, and did not stop running until she could reach a safe place,” said Francesco Galtieri, Country Representative, UNFPA.
“She told to us that she’s exhausted, and she really hopes that beyond having kept their lives, there will be something else they can build.”
The emergency has increased health needs across Yemen where the UN World Health Organization (WHO) stressed that the country is already facing “multiple concurrent health risks”, including cholera, measles, dengue, diphtheria, malnutrition and trauma.
In an assessment carried out before the escalation in fighting, “already out of more than 5,000 health service delivery units, only 60 were fully functioning,” WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic told journalists in Geneva.
Dangerous crossing
In addition to those displaced in Yemen, thousands more have sought safety in Djibouti, by crossing the Bab el-Mandeb Strait. Most arrivals have been reported in Obock, Khor Angar, Moulhoule and Godoria.
“At the reception centres, the new arrivals recount fleeing sudden bombardment, shelling, gunfire and having to fear for their lives; mothers quickly gathering their children and whatever they can,” said Sandrine Desamours, Representative in Djibouti, for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. “We saw them arrive with very little, some arriving without their family members. And others are also arriving for the second time, having already fled Yemen during the 2015 crisis.”
The UN refugee agency official noted that many of the men who have arrived had left family members in Yemen but were “hoping to be able to go back to Yemen to retrieve them. Unfortunately…there is a shortage of fuel in Yemen and they are not able to return.”
In some cases, the Djibouti Coast Guard has given fuel to some boats left stranded in the open seas and tugged others to safety. “We are discussing with the Government various ways that we can provide assistance so that people can reach the shores and are able to be provided with protection, peace, safety, and assistance,” Ms. Desamours continued.
IOM Chief of Mission in Djibouti, Alexandre Coissac, explained that the 3,000 refugee arrivals from Yemen represented a significant challenge to “a generous country that is already hosting a large number of refugees”.
Nepal floods: ‘Apocalyptic’ destruction signals wider climate threat across Himalayas
The warning comes from Sara Netzer, regional director with UN field operations office UNOPS, which provides infrastructure, procurement and project management services across the world.
Fresh from Nepal, she updated journalists in Geneva on the extent of the destruction, how UNOPS and partners have been supporting the response, and the difficulties of building back after devastation.
“As we think about reconstruction, normally two to three weeks after a disaster, we would start to see communities rebuilding,” she said, speaking from Bangkok. “But that can’t be the case in these communities in Nepal.”
Communities ‘completely obliterated’
The flash floods and landslides – triggered by a glacier collapse in late August – killed more than 1,200 people. Homes were moved wholesale up to 150 metres from where they once stood.
Ms. Netzer described visiting some of the hardest hit areas, including one community of some 400 homes, and 1,200 people, where “everything was completely obliterated” by a wall of water and mud.
“It looks like an apocalypse,” she stressed, adding that the debris left behind is between five and eight metres deep.
Death, destruction and debris
“The debris has everything you can imagine you can see in it,” she continued. “Eyeglasses, schoolbooks, shoes, blankets and, sadly, also likely the remains of loved ones as well.”
Ms. Netzer said that displaced people are now living in what the Nepali government calls holding centres. The UNOPS team visited some of these locations, where adequate water and sanitation are urgent needs.
As many of the displaced are essentially living in schools which the authorities would like to reopen, emergency temporary shelter is also an urgent requirement.
“This is particularly important for children who have experienced this tremendous trauma of seeing loved ones washed away in front of their eyes,” she said.
“Many of them now do not have parents, and they’re also in these holding centres, so as soon as they can return to some sense of normalcy and return to school, that would be beneficial for them.”
Building back on “Jell-O”
Meanwhile, prospects for reconstruction appear less optimistic because “the river has completely changed its course, so it’s not even clear where it is safe for these communities to rebuild and to return”, the UNOPS official continued.
She described the land underfoot as uneven and “very much like Jell-O”, saying it “hasn’t even settled yet to begin to think about rebuilding and reconstruction.”
UNOPS has mobilized funding to support urgent engineering assessments, risk mapping of infrastructure and bridge safety analysis.
The issue of access across waterways is crucial as only one of the 40 bridges in the area is still standing, leaving communities completely cut off. This has also affected humanitarian operations, with the World Food Programme (WFP) having to rely on helicopters to deliver lifesaving aid.
“Overall, it’s a crisis with tremendous human costs, tremendous costs in terms of infrastructure,” she said.
In this recent interview, Ms. Netzer explains how the overall destruction is unlike anything she saw after the 2015 earthquake in NepaL.
Fears of repetition
Ms. Netzer recalled that some of the affected communities had already been displaced by the disastrous earthquake a decade ago. People who spoke to the UNOPS team expressed concern over rebuilding and the psychological impacts they face.
These people “have lost everything”, she said, including loved ones, some of whom were breadwinners in the family. Many relatives are also still missing.
“I think what we’re seeing in Nepal is something that could be repeated across the Himalayas as we look at climate change going forward,” she said.
“It’s a crisis that maybe today is affecting Nepal but has the likelihood of affecting another community or another country going forward.”
Haiti: Child malnutrition crisis worsens amid escalating violence
It estimates that 93,873 children will experience severe acute malnutrition, a potentially life-threatening condition requiring urgent treatment, while another 159,852 children are expected to suffer from moderate acute malnutrition. An estimated 25,750 pregnant and breastfeeding women will also require nutritional support.
The assessment was published by Haiti’s Ministry of Public Health and Population with support from the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP), alongside nutrition partners.
The findings highlight the areas where humanitarian assistance and nutrition services are most urgently needed. The projected deterioration is expected to increase demand for treatment and place additional pressure on already overstretched health and humanitarian services.
Families forced to flee
Approximately 1.47 million people were internally displaced in Haiti as of mid-May 2026, according to the assessment. Continued insecurity has forced families from their homes and disrupted access to food, healthcare and malnutrition treatment.
“Behind these figures are children whose lives can change when they receive the right care at the right time.” UNICEF Representative to Haiti Geeta Narayan said.
“Now we must use that evidence to reach children earlier, prevent malnutrition and make sure no child is left without the support they need,” she further emphasized.
Conditions expected to worsen
The situation is expected to become particularly serious between December 2026 and May 2027. During this period, 29 of Haiti’s 140 municipalities are projected to reach IPC Acute Malnutrition Phase 3, classified as “serious.”
The municipalities of Cite Soleil and Cabaret are projected to reach Phase 4, or “critical,” the second-highest level on the IPC acute malnutrition scale.
FAO Representative in Haiti Pierre Vauthier stressed that tackling malnutrition would also require addressing its underlying causes, including limited access to diverse and nutritious food. He called for greater protection of agricultural livelihoods and support for local food production to help vulnerable families withstand future shocks.
WFP Representative to Haiti and Country Director Lauren Landis similarly urged greater investment in prevention, nutrition, healthcare, school meals and assistance to vulnerable households, warning that worsening malnutrition could carry significant social and economic consequences.
Expand nutrition screening
The three UN agency are calling for urgent action from the Haitian government, donors, civil society and international organizations to prioritize expansion of community screening and treatment, ensure supplies of therapeutic foods, support pregnant and breastfeeding women, improve access to safe water and sanitation, and protecting household food production and livelihoods.
They also urge safe humanitarian access and flexible funding so families can reach essential services and aid organizations can prepare for increased needs.
With violence continuing to disrupt food security, displacement and access to basic services, humanitarian organizations say early intervention will be critical to preventing more children from progressing to severe acute malnutrition and reducing the risk of preventable deaths.
Belgium Faces 300 Recommendations in UN Rights Review – The European Times
Belgium’s fourth Universal Periodic Review puts prisons, discrimination, asylum reception, policing and freedom of religion or belief under renewed international scrutiny.
Belgium has received 300 recommendations from fellow United Nations member states following its latest examination under the UN Universal Periodic Review, with concerns ranging from prison overcrowding and racial discrimination to asylum reception, police conduct and freedom of religion or belief. According to the UN Working Group report on Belgium, the country has already supported 165 recommendations, while 104 were left for further examination and 31 were formally “noted”.
Belgium’s fourth UN human rights review
Belgium appeared before the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group on 6 May 2026, represented by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maxime Prévot.
The UPR is the mechanism through which the human rights record of every UN member state is periodically examined by other governments. Belgium was previously reviewed in 2011, 2016 and 2021. The Belgian Foreign Ministry describes the process as a peer review intended both to recognise progress and to identify areas where further work is needed.
The scale of the latest exercise was considerable: 119 delegations made statements during the interactive dialogue.
Belgium told the Working Group that it remained strongly committed to multilateralism and universal human rights, while acknowledging that challenges persisted in several areas.
The recommendations recorded in the report are not judgments of the Human Rights Council itself. As the document makes clear, they reflect the positions of the individual states that submitted them and should not be understood as collectively endorsed findings by the Working Group.
Prison overcrowding draws repeated criticism
One of the most persistent themes in the review is the condition of Belgium’s prisons.
Belgium itself acknowledged that detention conditions remained under heavy pressure because of persistent prison overcrowding. The government reported that more than €600 million had been released urgently to increase capacity and renovate ageing infrastructure, while expert groups were examining both short-term improvements and structural reforms.
The response did not prevent a long list of governments from calling for further action.
Austria, Czechia, Ghana, Lebanon, Luxembourg, Morocco, Norway, South Korea, Switzerland and several other countries urged Belgium to reduce overcrowding, make greater use of alternatives to imprisonment and ensure that detention conditions comply with international standards, including the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, known as the Nelson Mandela Rules.
Spain specifically recommended greater use of alternatives to imprisonment.
Closely linked to the prison issue is Belgium’s still incomplete ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture, or OPCAT.
More than a dozen countries called on Belgium to complete ratification or establish a fully functioning national preventive mechanism capable of visiting all places where people are deprived of their liberty.
Belgium explained that parliamentary approval for ratification had already been obtained, but that its federal structure complicated creation of a mechanism covering institutions under federal, regional and community jurisdiction.
Racism and ethnic profiling remain major concerns
Another striking feature of the report is the number of recommendations dealing with racism, discrimination and racial or ethnic profiling.
Belgium told the UN that ethnic profiling was prohibited and that a reference framework governing police stops and professional profiling had been adopted in 2023.
It also pointed to the launch in October 2025 of an interministerial conference on equal opportunities, disability and combating racism, intended to improve coordination between Belgium’s different levels of government.
Nevertheless, countries including Canada, Ghana, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Nigeria, Panama, Peru, Portugal and South Africa called for stronger national or inter-federal measures against racism.
Several recommendations specifically address police practices.
Djibouti urged Belgium to continue combating profiling by public administrations and police based on ethnicity or skin colour. Malawi called for continued action against ethnic profiling by law enforcement, while Brazil recommended that Belgium also monitor the impact of new technologies on minority groups.
Belgium supported many of these recommendations.
A further group concerning investigations of racist incidents involving police officers, compulsory recording of identity checks and additional accountability mechanisms remained among the recommendations still being examined.
Police violence and accountability
Police conduct appears separately in numerous recommendations.
Türkiye called for continued efforts to address concerns about excessive use of force and abuse of authority. Malawi recommended independent investigations into allegations of police violence, while Belarus called for accountability for such violence.
Other states proposed stronger oversight mechanisms, publication of police use-of-force statistics and investigations of incidents involving racial discrimination.
Belgium responded that the police statute prohibits discrimination and requires impartiality, integrity and respect for human dignity. It said police training includes non-discrimination, racism, professional profiling and the lawful use of force, while conduct is subject to internal and external oversight.
The number of recommendations nevertheless indicates that policing remains one of the areas receiving sustained scrutiny from other states.
Asylum reception and court rulings
Belgium’s asylum reception system is another significant element of the review.
The Belgian delegation acknowledged that the number of available reception places does not always allow everyone legally entitled to reception to be immediately accommodated in the regular system.
The authorities said that 2,000 federally financed places in Brussels’ homeless reception network had helped provide temporary accommodation for people waiting to enter the regular reception network.
Belgium also referred to measures adopted following the European Court of Human Rights judgment in Camara v. Belgium, which concerned failure by Belgian authorities to execute a domestic court decision ordering accommodation for an asylum seeker.
Several governments called explicitly for stronger compliance with court decisions.
Germany recommended that Belgium ensure full compliance with national and European judgments concerning asylum reception and guarantee adequate accommodation for applicants.
Brazil similarly called for full compliance with reception obligations and implementation of court decisions. Austria and Norway raised comparable concerns.
Other recommendations concern the principle of non-refoulement, access to basic services, protection against arbitrary detention and the particular vulnerabilities of migrant and refugee children.
Religious freedom enters the UN scrutiny
Although freedom of religion or belief occupies a smaller part of the document than prisons, racism or migration, it appears in several notable recommendations.
Belgium supported a recommendation from Côte d’Ivoire stating that religious minorities should not be subjected to any form of discrimination.
Other freedom of religion or belief recommendations were placed among those that Belgium was still to examine.
Malaysia urged Belgium to:
“Ensure the full protection of freedom of religion or belief, including the right to peacefully manifest religion and belief in public institutions.”
Türkiye recommended that Belgium address what it described as recurring legal and administrative obstacles at federal and regional levels disproportionately affecting Muslim communities, including in light of relevant Belgian court rulings.
Tunisia also called for continued efforts against discrimination based on ethnicity, religion and language, as well as hate speech and Islamophobia.
Pakistan separately proposed a national action plan specifically addressing Islamophobia in traditional and new media and political organisations. That recommendation was among those that Belgium noted rather than supported.
The report does not make a general finding that Belgium is violating freedom of religion or belief, nor does it identify most individual religious minorities. The recommendations instead show that religious discrimination and the practical ability to manifest belief have entered the international peer-review discussion concerning Belgium.
That distinction is important. The UPR is a diplomatic human rights review mechanism, not a court, and recommendations express the positions of the governments submitting them.
Employment discrimination also under review
Discrimination in employment appears repeatedly.
Belgium acknowledged during the dialogue that, while numerous measures existed at regional level, sustained efforts were still being made across different levels of government to obtain concrete results against employment discrimination.
Poland recommended stronger implementation of safeguards against discrimination affecting minorities in both housing and employment.
Egypt specifically urged Belgium to combat discrimination in housing and employment against migrants and refugees, while Nepal recommended stronger efforts to promote equality and non-discrimination in the labour market.
Haiti called for action against discrimination in recruitment, including discrimination connected with pregnancy and maternity as well as migration status.
These recommendations place employment within a broader pattern in the report: Belgium has extensive anti-discrimination legislation and institutions, but a number of states questioned whether those protections consistently translate into equal treatment in practice.
Belgium’s human rights institutions remain unfinished
Another recurring issue is the architecture of Belgium’s own human rights institutions.
The Federal Institute for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights was created in 2019 and obtained B-status accreditation in 2023 under the international system governing national human rights institutions.
Belgium told the UN that amendments adopted in 2024 had strengthened the institution’s compliance with the Paris Principles, the UN-recognised standards concerning independence and effectiveness of national human rights bodies.
The Flemish Institute for Human Rights, meanwhile, was established separately in 2022.
What Belgium still lacks is a fully comprehensive national institution covering all fundamental rights throughout the entire territory with the highest A-status accreditation.
Germany recommended further progress towards a fully independent national institution with A status. Canada proposed an inter-federal coordination mechanism, while other states called for stronger institutional coverage, resources and independence.
Belgium supported several of those recommendations.
Gender-based violence and women’s rights
Belgium highlighted several areas of progress concerning women’s rights.
The government reported that the pension gap between women and men fell from 24.4% to 20.5% between 2019 and 2023, while women reached 37.3% representation on the boards of listed companies and public enterprises between 2017 and 2024.
Belgium also pointed to reforms placing consent at the centre of sexual criminal law, the establishment of ten sexual violence support centres and the adoption of legislation dealing with femicide.
Other countries nevertheless called for further action.
Recommendations include increasing shelter capacity for victims of gender-based violence, expanding specialist services, training police officers, prosecutors and judges, and ensuring that services are accessible to women and girls with disabilities.
Children and corporal punishment
Children’s rights generated another significant group of recommendations.
Belgium acknowledged that its legislation does not yet contain an explicit prohibition on corporal punishment of children in all circumstances, although it argued that children’s physical and psychological integrity is already protected through constitutional, criminal and civil law.
Ireland, Norway, Chile and Iceland were among states calling for explicit legal prohibition.
A separate debate concerned marriage before the age of 18.
Belgium explained that marriage involving minors can take place only as a tightly restricted exception requiring consent and judicial authorisation.
Several countries nevertheless recommended eliminating those exceptions altogether. Belgium noted rather than supported those recommendations.
Other proposals deal with child poverty, access to education, children with disabilities, migrant children and protection against online sexual exploitation.
Disability rights and inclusive education
Inclusive education is another major subject.
Belgium pointed to the addition of Article 22 ter to its Constitution in 2021, recognising the right of persons with disabilities to full and effective inclusion in society and to reasonable accommodation.
Yet numerous governments recommended stronger action to remove barriers to mainstream education for children with disabilities.
Italy called for measures to remove barriers that could marginalise children with disabilities, while Peru recommended accessible complaint mechanisms and stronger federal protections.
Switzerland raised another sensitive issue, recommending an end to the detention of people with mental disorders in prisons and access instead to facilities adapted to their needs.
Artificial intelligence becomes a human rights issue
The review also reflects the expanding human rights debate surrounding technology.
Belgium supported a recommendation from Albania calling for the development and use of artificial intelligence to incorporate robust accountability mechanisms capable of preventing human rights violations.
Brazil, in its broader recommendation concerning racism and discrimination, also called for monitoring the impact of new technologies on minorities.
The inclusion of AI alongside longstanding concerns such as prison conditions, racial discrimination and freedom of religion illustrates how the Universal Periodic Review is increasingly extending into emerging areas of human rights governance.
Belgium points to progress but faces a substantial follow-up agenda
Belgium presented itself in Geneva as a country committed to multilateralism and continuous improvement in human rights protection.
Its fourth UPR nevertheless produced a substantial catalogue of concerns.
Of the 300 recommendations contained in the Working Group report, Belgium immediately supported 165. Another 104 were listed for further examination, with Belgium due to provide its position no later than the Human Rights Council’s 63rd session. A further 31 were noted.
The distinction matters because accepted recommendations provide a public benchmark for assessing Belgium’s actions before its next Universal Periodic Review.
The Belgian Foreign Ministry has itself stressed that the value of the UPR lies in recognising that no country has a perfect human rights record and that every state has room for improvement.
For Belgium, the latest review identifies where many of its international counterparts believe that work remains unfinished: overcrowded prisons, racial profiling, discrimination, police accountability, asylum reception, disability inclusion and the effective protection of freedom of religion or belief.
The coming test will not simply be how many recommendations Belgium formally accepts, but how the commitments it supports are translated into legislation, administrative practice and measurable protection for people living in the country.
UN Report Says German Prosperity Leaves Too Many Behind – The European Times
Independent expert urges stronger social protection, equal access and rights-led development policy
Germany’s economic strength and extensive public institutions are not delivering equal opportunities for everyone, according to a United Nations report that calls for stronger social protection, anti-discrimination safeguards and public participation.
The report by UN Special Rapporteur Surya Deva praises Germany’s commitment to sustainable development, refugee protection and infrastructure renewal. It nevertheless finds persistent inequalities affecting women, children, migrants, refugees, people with disabilities and residents of economically weaker regions.
Deva conducted a ten-day country visit in November 2025, holding meetings in Berlin, Cottbus, Düsseldorf and Gelsenkirchen. His findings were presented during the 63rd session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The assessment examines Germany through the “right to development”: the principle that people should be able to participate in, contribute to and benefit from economic, social, cultural and political development. The report treats development as more than economic growth, asking whether public policy allows all communities to exercise their rights and shape decisions affecting their lives. The European Times has reported numerous times in which some citizens are denied this right based on their religion too.
Strong institutions, unequal outcomes
Germany receives credit for embedding the Sustainable Development Goals in public policy. The report highlights the Parliamentary Advisory Council on Sustainable Development and Future-Related Matters, the German Council for Sustainable Development and municipal initiatives such as voluntary local reviews.
It also welcomes the €500 billion special fund for infrastructure and climate neutrality, which is intended to support schools, hospitals, childcare facilities, railways, roads and digital systems.
However, Deva says underinvestment has already left parts of Germany’s public infrastructure showing signs of decay. Housing affordability is becoming a major problem in larger cities, particularly for migrants, students and lower-income households. The report cites an estimated need for approximately 320,000 new homes annually until 2030.
Drawing on 2022 data, it says poverty affected 20.9% of the population. Women, children, people with migrant backgrounds and those living in eastern Germany or the Ruhr region face disproportionate risks.
The report also points to a sharp rise in complaints received by the Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency, from 4,247 in 2019 to 13,067 in 2025. Racial discrimination complaints increased from 1,167 in 2019 to 3,858 in 2024.
Deva recommends amending the General Equal Treatment Act, extending protection to discrimination by public authorities and strengthening the agency’s limited investigative and enforcement powers. He also calls on Germany’s federal states to establish effective anti-discrimination laws and institutions.
The findings echo a wider European concern: formal legal protection does not always produce an accessible remedy for minorities or people with limited resources, as The European Times has previously examined.
Women carry unequal costs
The report credits Germany’s feminist development policy and legislation increasing women’s representation on corporate supervisory boards. Yet it finds that women remain underrepresented in parliament, the judiciary and corporate executive positions.
Women earned an average of 16% less than men, according to figures cited by the report. Deva describes Germany’s gender pay gap as among the highest in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.
The difference is reinforced by unequal care responsibilities. While 93% of fathers with school-age children work full time, the report says the equivalent figure for mothers is 37.1%. Reduced working hours and career interruptions contribute to a pension gap of up to 36% among people over 65 who do not receive survivor benefits.
Deva recommends affordable childcare, greater investment in the care economy, stronger domestic-violence services and decisive measures to close pay and pension gaps. He also urges employers to address harassment and other structural barriers inside workplaces.
Barriers facing migrants, refugees and disabled people
The assessment recognises Germany’s major role in hosting refugees and its need for approximately 400,000 skilled workers annually. It nevertheless records allegations of recruitment debt, wage theft, precarious work and barriers to healthcare among migrant workers.
Deva is particularly critical of rules requiring some public bodies to report undocumented patients to immigration authorities. He argues that this deters people from seeking healthcare and recommends repealing the relevant provision of the Residence Act.
The report also raises serious concerns about refugee and asylum-seeking children. It says lengthy status and family-reunification procedures can damage mental health and development. Children with subsidiary protection have faced a two-year suspension of family reunification since August 2025, while some asylum-seeking children have been directed to schools inside reception facilities rather than mainstream classrooms.
For people with disabilities, the report finds that Germany remains overly dependent on residential institutions and segregated workshops. Workers in those workshops may receive less than the statutory minimum wage because they are not legally classified as employees.
Deva also reports widespread accessibility problems on public transport. He says infrastructure financed through Germany’s special fund should comply with international accessibility standards and allow people with disabilities to travel autonomously.
Aid policy and corporate responsibility
Germany remains one of the world’s largest development donors, providing €30 billion in official development assistance in 2024. However, the report notes that the budget of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development fell from €11.2 billion in 2024 to €10.31 billion in 2025.
German aid amounted to 0.56% of gross national income in 2025, below the internationally agreed 0.7% target. Deva warns that further reductions could worsen poverty, hunger, inequality and instability abroad while also producing consequences for Germany.
He is also concerned by a shift towards aid explicitly linked to German access to raw materials, migration control and contracts for German or European companies. National interests are legitimate, the report says, but should not displace the priorities of communities that development programmes are intended to support.
The Special Rapporteur similarly warns against weakening Germany’s supply-chain due-diligence legislation or European corporate accountability rules. Human rights compliance, he argues, cannot be treated as optional when German businesses operate overseas.
Colonial responsibility remains unresolved
The report calls on Germany to issue an unconditional apology and provide reparations for the genocide of the Ovaherero and Nama peoples in colonial-era Namibia. It distinguishes reparations from development assistance and says affected Indigenous communities must participate meaningfully in negotiations.
Deva also asks Germany to return human remains and cultural objects held by museums, universities and private collections.
Separately, the report raises concerns about a proposed green-hydrogen project on ancestral Nama land in Great Namaqualand. Renewable-energy projects should not bypass requirements for free, prior and informed consent or rigorous human-rights and environmental assessments, it says.
Recommendations are influential but non-binding
UN special rapporteurs are independent experts appointed by the Human Rights Council. Their reports can influence national and international debate, but their recommendations are not judicial decisions and are not legally enforceable. The right to development is rooted in a 1986 UN declaration that is not itself binding, although it incorporates principles found in binding human-rights law.
The German Institute for Human Rights said the report offers concrete measures for achieving inclusive, sustainable and participatory development.
The assessment also has limits. Deva visited four cities over ten days. He was unable to meet several relevant federal ministries, while time constraints prevented meetings with trade unions, individual businesses and academics. Many findings rely on information from civil society organisations and statistics collected in different years.
The report nevertheless presents Germany with a coherent challenge. Development cannot be measured solely through national wealth, infrastructure spending or industrial competitiveness. It must also be judged by whether people can access services, challenge discrimination and participate meaningfully in decisions.
Germany already possesses many of the institutions needed to respond. The central question is whether its investment, social policy and international influence will be directed towards closing the gaps those institutions have not yet overcome.
Ukraine Launches Carpathian Eight Forum – The European Times
New regional initiative links security, energy and EU integration but begins without binding powers or confirmed funding
BUKOVEL, Ukraine — Ukraine and its Central European neighbours have launched a new forum intended to deepen cooperation across the Carpathian region, placing wartime security, energy resilience, transport and European integration on a shared political agenda.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the Carpathian Eight, or C8, on Friday at a founding summit in Bukovel. The wider meeting brought together Ukraine, Austria, Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovakia, alongside European Union representatives, regional authorities and business leaders.
The initiative is designed to connect national governments with border regions, municipalities and investors. Its launch also gives Ukraine another platform through which to pursue practical integration with the EU while full membership negotiations continue.
A broad declaration, but no new alliance
Representatives adopted a Carpathian Integration Initiative declaration proposing annual summits and closer coordination between governments, EU institutions and local authorities.
The document identifies energy infrastructure, transport corridors, border modernisation, civil protection and sustainable development as priorities. It also calls for stronger electricity and gas connections, additional storage capacity, renewable generation and more resilient public infrastructure.
The declaration is politically significant, but it does not create a treaty-based organisation, collective-defence commitment or independently financed institution. It contains no binding timetable or common budget. Delivering its ambitions will therefore depend on national decisions, EU programmes and private investment.
The published text presents another important qualification. It names Austria, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Ukraine as participating states. Czechia and Hungary were involved in the wider eight-country summit format but were not included in that formal list. The document does not explain the difference, and it should not be assumed that all eight governments have endorsed every commitment on identical terms.
War gives infrastructure a security role
The forum opened as Russia continued its aerial campaign against Ukraine. Ukrainian authorities said Russia launched 93 drones overnight, with air defences destroying 72 and impacts recorded at 13 locations, according to a report based on the Ukrainian Air Force statement.
That context gives apparently technical questions about railways, roads and electricity grids a direct security dimension. Border crossings carry humanitarian aid and commercial goods. Energy interconnectors can help communities withstand attacks on generation capacity. Transport routes also affect civilian evacuation, reconstruction and military mobility.
Zelenskyy argued that the Carpathians should be treated as a strategic European corridor connecting the Black Sea, Central Europe and routes from the South Caucasus and Asia. He called for greater freight capacity, modernised roads and railways, energy interconnectors and investment in regional manufacturing.
Some of that integration is already under way. Ukraine opened its first EU-standard-gauge railway section in 2025, a project intended to reduce delays at the border and bring its transport network closer to the Union, as The European Times previously reported.
An EU route built from the regions
The declaration proposes using existing EU instruments, particularly Interreg and Interreg NEXT, to support cross-border projects. It also raises the prospect of a future EU macro-regional strategy for the Carpathians, building on established frameworks for the Baltic, Danube, Alpine and Adriatic-Ionian regions.
For Ukraine and Serbia, the two EU candidates represented in the format, this could offer another route to gradual integration. Joint infrastructure, environmental monitoring and local-government projects can help candidate countries adopt EU standards before accession.
The initiative also acknowledges challenges that cannot be managed through security policy alone. The Carpathians contain vulnerable ecosystems, minority communities and rural areas where inadequate public services and outward migration remain serious concerns. Flood prevention, cultural preservation and sustainable tourism appear alongside logistics and investment in the declaration.
Those commitments will require meaningful participation by municipalities and civil society. Major roads, energy facilities and extractive projects can bring employment and connectivity, but they can also displace communities or damage protected landscapes when consultation and oversight are weak.
The Carpathian Eight therefore begins as a framework rather than a finished institution. Its value will be determined by whether governments turn broad declarations into transparent projects, measurable investment and tangible improvements for people living across the region.
Holding the inaugural meeting in wartime Ukraine gives the initiative immediate political weight. Sustaining it will require the participating states to bridge their differing positions, clarify membership and convert regional solidarity into durable cooperation.
The Most Ordnance-Polluted Country in the World, Over 1,600 Injured
The war is always hard on the civilian population. That is basically the way things go – homes
World News in Brief: Winter aid for Gaza, West Bank; Haiti food production; migrant deaths at sea; human rights funding
Nearly 84 per cent of Gaza’s population – more than 1.76 million people – live in overcrowded displacement sites or damaged shelters, leaving families vulnerable to freezing temperatures, heavy rain and flooding.
At least 11 children, including infants, in the Gaza Strip were reported to have died from hypothermia last winter.
In the West Bank, violence, displacement, movement restrictions and a deepening financial crisis are further limiting vulnerable families’ ability to cope with winter shocks, UNICEF wrote in a press release.
The funding would allow UNICEF to provide more warm clothing, thermal blankets, digital cash assistance, emergency shelter reinforcements and tents. The agency will also work with partners to reduce flood and disease risks.
UNICEF is urging donors to provide flexible, timely funding so it can pre-position supplies before winter arrives.
Meanwhile, UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory Ramiz Alakbarov announced on Thursday that the UN’s aid agency (OCHA) will allocate $2 million to power health facilities in Gaza for four months.
FAO plants seeds of hope in Haiti
In the hills and plains of Haiti’s hardest-hit regions, families who have gone months eating whatever they could find are once again planting their own fields.
Emergency support from the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is reaching 13,000 vulnerable households – roughly 65,000 people – across 10 municipalities in Artibonite, Centre and Ouest, helping them restore local food production amid one of the world’s most severe hunger crises.
More than half of Haiti’s population faces acute food insecurity, driven by violence, economic collapse, broken supply chains and repeated climate shocks, according to FAO.
For many rural families, the FAO programme – funded with more than $16 million through a UN-managed pooled funding mechanism – is arriving at a critical moment. FAO said it will deliver more than 205 tonnes of crop and vegetable seeds and more than 160,000 small livestock to 326,000 vulnerable people.
“In humanitarian crises, emergency food production is a life-saving intervention that empowers vulnerable households to quickly produce food and reduce reliance on importations and repeated humanitarian assistance,” FAO Representative in Haiti Pierre Vauthier said.
Built by Haitians, for Haitians
Local communities are shaping the response by helping FAO identify those most in need and decide what support will help most.
“This emergency food production campaign demonstrates that investing in local capacities is one of the most effective ways to respond to the food crisis,” Mr. Vauthier said. “Implemented by Haitians for Haitians, it enables vulnerable households to rapidly produce their own nutritious food.”
A second phase will bring ducks, poultry, guinea fowls, rabbits and goats to more than 29,394 households, offering families a source of protein and a measure of self-sufficiency at the same time.
Mediterranean migrant deaths rise this year
Arrivals to Europe by sea have fallen sharply this year, but deaths and disappearances along Mediterranean migration routes have increased, according to new data from the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Nearly 60,000 migrants and refugees have reached Europe by sea so far in 2026, a 39 per cent decline from the same period last year. But at least 2,292 people have died or gone missing attempting the journey, up from 1,999 by the same time last year.
Arrivals in Italy from the Central Mediterranean route fell 55 per cent from 48,231 to 21,393, while deaths rose from 844 to 996.
Increasingly desperate
On the Eastern Mediterranean route, arrivals in Greece fell by about 5,000, while deaths increased by 133. Spain also recorded fewer arrivals but maintained a similar number of deaths.
IOM Director General Amy Pope said the figures show migrants are taking increasingly dangerous journeys and called for greater international cooperation, including expanded safe and regular pathways.
The figures cover verified incidents through 15 September. IOM warned the true death toll is likely higher.
‘Entire’ human rights monitoring system risks crumbling: Türk
The protection of human rights is a core founding principle of the UN, but a key part of this mission is on the verge of collapse because of funding cuts, High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk told the Human Rights Council on Thursday.
“Today, I am very concerned that the entire human rights treaty body system is at risk of crumbling,” Mr. Türk said.
He cited funding cuts necessitating staff reductions, which has increased delays in processing requests for help, as well as the declining participation of Member States in reporting alleged violations.
Ten treaty body committees are based in Geneva, made up of independent experts who assess countries’ progress in implementing international accords or conventions, including on the elimination of racial discrimination and the promotion of children’s rights.
This is not the first time the High Commissioner has warned about a serious lack of funding for human rights work.
His appeal to Member States to fulfill their international obligations comes ahead of the publication of a report on the treaty body system by UN Secretary-General António Guterres next week during the UN General Assembly’s high-level week.
