Odi News Network

  UN human rights experts urged Ghana’s Government to reject a proposed ‘family values’ bill, saying it seeks to establish a system of State-sponsored discrimination and violence against the LGBTI community. The bill’s first reading took place on August 2, 2021, and its consideration is expected to resume in October 2021.   “The draft legislation argues that any person who deviates from an arbitrary standard of sexual orientation or gender identity is immediate to be considered dangerous, sick or anti-social,” said the experts. “Such laws are a textbook example of discrimination.  “The proposed law promotes deeply harmful practices that amount to ill-treatment and are conducive to torture, such as so-called ‘conversion therapy’ and other heinous violations like unnecessary medical procedures on intersex children, and so-called corrective rape for women,” they added.  The independent experts, appointed by the Human Rights Council, presented an analysis of the dra...

The Deputy Majority Leader in Parliament, Alexander Afenyo Markin, has confirmed that the United Arab Emirates-based agent, in the botched attempt to procure Sputnik V vaccines, has refunded the sum of $2.47 million to the government. Sheikh Al Maktoum was due to supply about 300,000 Sputnik V vaccines in an agreement signed with the government, but his outfit delivered only 20,000. The Parliamentary ad-hoc committee set up to investigate the controversial Sputnik V vaccine deal ordered the Finance Minister to retrieve the $2.47 million, representing the difference in the amount paid and quantity of vaccines supplied. In a letter addressed to the Chief Director of the Ministry of Health, Sheikh Al Maktoum states that the requested amount of $2.47 million has already been refunded to the designated bank account as communicated by you. The communication had the SWIFT and the payment advice attached   The nine-member ad-hoc Parliamentary Committee was set up to probe the controve...

“ T he Supreme Court of Cape Verde has declared that Alex Saab ,   a special envoy for the South American country, Venezuela  is free. It has now been said on several occasions that because he is under house arrest then he is not ‘in prison,” said Dr. Jose Manuel Pinto Monteiro in Praia today. Dr. Monteiro went on to say. “My colleagues, along with many rational-thinking Cape Verdeans, have been puzzled by this description for some time. Whilst Alex Saab is no longer in a 2x2 metres cell in solitary confinement, the public and global community of civilized nations must be made aware that his current “freedom” means he lives in a house watched by 50 heavily armed guards who all have keys to the house, who are all able to enter his house at any time day or night, all of whom like to engage and disengage their machine guns whenever they pass by Mr. Saab as a reminder of the true extent of his “freedom” and Mr. Saab cannot lock any of his private area doors including the bathroom....

A fter more than a year of detention, the defence team of Venezuelan diplomat Alex Nain Saab Moran,  Deputy Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the African Union and Special Envoy to the Islamic Republic of Iran  who has been imprisoned for over a year in Sal awaiting the outcome of an extradition process to the United States has filed formal complaints against the Republic's Attorney General, José Landim, at the Cape Verdean Public Prosecutor’s Office, Regional Prosecutor, Natalino Correia and Judiciary Police inspectors Domingos de Pina and Maurício Monteiro, for crimes allegedly committed against their client, allafrica.com has reported.  As reported by allafrica.com, the document that has already been lodged with the Attorney General's Office, the accusations against the four defendants relate, in general terms, to an extensive violation and disrespect for the diplomat's rights, and from them, it results, according to the lawyers, that ...

  Venezuelan Diplomat Alex Saab In the absence of economic leadership and with a Prime Minister intent on focussing on doing the bidding of the United States, it is no surprise that Cape Verde’s economy contracted by 14.8 percent in 2020. Since independence, the country has never been faced with an economic, social, financial, and budgetary situation of the magnitude we are facing today, Dr. Olavo Correia, Deputy Prime Minister confirmed. The finance minister attributed the financial crisis to the COVD-19 pandemic, opposition figures insist the economic downturn has been made worse, as the Prime Minister has been busy playing geopolitics to focus on domestic matters. Prime Minister Ulisses Correia continues to look unconcerned and focus more on ensuring Venezuelan Diplomat Alex Saab, who faces extradition to the United States, remains in illegal detention in Cape Verde. The past few months have seen the actions of Ulisses Correia and his Interior Minister resulting in Cape Verde de...

  Venezuelan Diplomat Alex Saab In its decision of June 29, 2021, delivered via email to the defense on 20 July 2021 the Constitutional Court of Cape Verde considered that “there is no international normative basis that would impose on the State of Cape Verde a duty to comply with a request for provisional measures made by the Human Rights Committee” (para 4.5.3.). The ruling was in response to a simple letter sent by Alex Saab to the Constitutional Court informing it that the United Nations Human Rights Committee had registered a complaint against Cape Verde and had sent Cape Verde a request for interim measures, including a request to suspend the extradition procedure. The Constitutional Court issued a lengthy ruling in which it attempted to justify its refusal to comply with the provisional measures ordered by the United Nations Human Rights Committee, inviting Cape Verde, among other things, to suspend Alex Saab’s extradition to the United States. Alex Saab's defense team regre...

A new Covid health pass has come into effect in France amid a surge of new infections. From Wednesday, people need proof of vaccination, a negative test or recent recovery from Covid to enter most museums and cinemas. Later lawmakers will debate whether to extend its use in August for entry to cafes, restaurants, and shopping malls. It comes the day after Health Minister Olivier Véran announced 18,000 new infections in just 24 hours. This was compared to fewer than 7,000 cases a day last week, a surge of 150%, as the highly contagious Delta variant spreads throughout the country. "We have never seen this before," he told the National Assembly, saying Delta had led to far larger rises in cases than previous variants, like those first spotted in the UK or South Africa. President Emmanuel Macron announced the plans for a health pass earlier this month, as well as  compulsory vaccination for all health workers  by September. Surveys suggest there is widespread vaccine hesitancy i...