Brazil’s Yanomami people victims of illegal gold rush in Amazon rainforest


Issued on: 13/03/2020 

REPORTERS © FRANCE 24

By:Fanny LOTHAIRE|Laura DAMASE

In the northern Brazilian state of Roraima, more and more illegal gold miners are invading indigenous land. This gold rush comes with the blessing of Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro. Our reporters Fanny Lothaire and Laura Damase investigated the illegal activities and met the Yanomami Indians who are fighting to defend their ancestral land in the Amazon rainforest.

"There are 20,000 invaders on our land today! We are constantly afraid," Marinaldo, a Yanomami Indian chief, explains from his threatened reserve. His land is located in Roraima state in the far north of Brazil, right in the middle of the Amazon rainforest.

The Yanomami – "human beings" in their ancestral language – have feared for their lives since 2011 and the invasion of the "garimpeiros”, illegal gold miners who come to extract the precious metal hidden under a layer of Amazonian flora and fauna. Gold has become a major export of Roraima state, even though not a single legal mine is operating.

>> Focus: "In French Guiana, gold mining accused of role in destroying Amazon rainforest"

In Boa Vista, the capital of Roraima state, jewellery stores and shops selling raw gold are widespread. The federal police have arrested a few retailers to keep up appearances, but gold businesses are well established despite being completely illegal.

In the city’s streets, we also meet dozens of Yanomami: whole families who have resolved to leave their land amid the danger and now endure a miserable existence.

In his fiery speech at the UN General Assembly in September 2019, Bolsonaro insisted that the Amazon was not the heritage of humankind. During his mandate, he fully intends to legalise mining in these remote territories.

Indonesia's tin miners who slave away for the world's computer and phone giants


Issued on: 06/03/2020 

REPORTERS © FRANCE 24

By: Arnaud GUIGUITANT|Guillaume COLLANGES

On the island of Bangka, in Indonesia, men dig tirelessly at the face of a giant mine. They're searching for tin, a metal worth as much as gold to them. The island supplies a quarter of global production, feeding the needs of computer and mobile phone giants. Located east of Sumatra, Bangka was once an island paradise but has now become a gigantic surface mine. Official mining companies rub shoulders with thousands of illegal miners, risking their lives in the hope of a lucky break. It's also an environmental catastrophe, with lagoons now devoid of marine life. Our team reports.

A time for excision: European women visiting 'home' countries face the nightmare of FGM

Issued on: 10/04/2020

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every year 180,000 young European women run the risk of undergoing FGM during a stay in their country of origin. © FRANCE 24

By: Miyuki DROZ|Sophie GUIGNON

For families living in Europe and with origins in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, holidays are often synonymous with returning home. But these family reunions sometimes turn into a living nightmare for young girls. Each year, thousands of them suffer female genital mutilation (FGM), without their prior knowledge or consent, in their parents' country.

Our reporters Miyuki Droz Aramaki and Sophie Guignon met with young victims and followed doctors and activists who are working to change mindsets about FGM and treat these women.

Despite feeling deep pain and suffering family pressure, some young Europeans agreed to share their stories with us anonymously. We met a 25-year-old British woman of Somali origin. She can never forget her very first stay in Somaliland, a semi-autonomous region of Somalia, at the eastern end of the Horn of Africa. She was ten years old and suffered genital mutilation by surprise: "I saw a few women sitting inside. One grabbed me, started pulling on my clothes. There was a moment of complete helplessness when I felt a quick but sharp pain." In addition to the pain, she felt deprived of her private life and her humanity.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), every year 180,000 young European women run the risk of undergoing FGM during a stay in their country of origin.

To understand why the custom of genital mutilation persists, we went to Somaliland, where 97 percent of women undergo FGM. Female circumcision is supposed to preserve the honour and virginity of young women, by preventing them from enjoying any sexual pleasure. But it causes severe physical and psychological damage for the rest of their lives, as well as complications during childbirth. Some young women have died from loss of blood while undergoing FFM. In the poor neighbourhoods of the capital Hargeisa, we met a circumciser, a mother in her forties with a large family. For her, performing FGM on young girls, whether they’re locals or Europeans on holiday, represents a simple livelihood to feed her family and children.

Repairing mutilated women

But in Somaliland, activists are mobilising to fight against the practice which is based on false ancestral beliefs. Dr. Edna Adan is one of the pioneers of this battle. At 82, she continues to run the city’s main hospital, which she founded and where she trains doctors, nurses and midwives. These health professionals are trying to convince young mothers not to reproduce the violence that they themselves suffered. Adan believes that protecting young Europeans requires a change of mentality on the ground and legislation that punishes mutilations.

While filming our documentary, we also met doctors in France who treat young women who have been mutilated abroad. Many of these women try to meet the famous urological surgeon Pierre Foldès, who is based in the Paris suburb of Saint-Germain en-Laye. He is the first surgeon in the world to have developed a technique for reconstructing the clitoris, the female organ removed during FGM, and has fought for the surgery to be reimbursed by social security. His method enables traumatised women to be to "repaired", but also to recover sexual pleasure and the hope of giving birth safely. Their healing is both physical and psychological, so that they can finally enjoy the life they have chosen.

EU's Thierry Breton says 'solidarity' is only way out of Covid-19 crisis

Issued on 11/04/2020

By:Caroline DE CAMARET|Anastasia BECCHIO

In an interview with FRANCE 24, Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and former French finance minister, reacted to the rescue deal reached on April 9 between EU finance ministers in response to the coronavirus pandemic. He was speaking after a week which has turned into a psychodrama for the European Union, with an interminable Eurogroup meeting, worrying growth figures and a clear need for recovery.

Thierry Breton, the European Commissioner for the Internal Market, hailed the deal clinched on April 9 between EU finance ministers on a joint response to the economic crisis sparked by the Covid-19 pandemic. "It's good news for the eurozone, it means it's going to be stronger and the 27 member states of the EU will be all the stronger for it as well," he told FRANCE 24's Talking Europe show.

Despite unsuccessful negotiations earlier this week, finance ministers from the 27 EU member states have now agreed to implement a vast stimulus plan to help the hardest-hit European countries cope with the economic crisis created by the Covid-19 pandemic. Some €500 billion is on the table. "This is probably the longest Eurogroup meeting we've ever had... but this is probably the worst crisis since 1929," Breton said.

The former French finance minister denied that the EU was too slow to respond to the coronavirus outbreak, adding that the health sector remains, for now, the "sole jurisdiction of each member state". Explaining that the European Commission has been tasked with coordinating stock levels, especially of face masks, Breton said: "The second that we were given that task of supervision, of oversight, I called and the Commission called on all industrial players, all manufacturers to start thinking about how they can turn their production lines to producing masks."

Finally, asked about French President Emmanuel Macron's handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the European Commissioner insisted that "no one" was prepared for the current crisis, concluding:
"There's only one word to get out of this mess: it's solidarity, solidarity, solidarity."

EU finance ministers reach agreement on coronavirus rescue deal

Issued on: 09/04/2020

French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire speaks with his advisors

 prior to an Eurogroup meeting on April 9, 2020. © Ludovic Marin, AFP

Text by:NEWS WIRES

EU finance ministers agreed a 500-billion-euro ($550-billion) rescue Thursday for European countries hit hard by the coronavirus epidemic, but sidelined a demand by Italy and France for pooled borrowing.


The breakthrough came after the Netherlands softened its position on the crucial question of making countries in need commit to economic reform and outside oversight in return for assistance.

The Hague blocked the talks two days earlier by insisting that Italy, or any other country in need, deliver on governance targets — which Rome saw as a shocking demand during a health crisis.

"Europe has decided and is ready to meet the gravity of the crisis," French Finance Minister Bruno Le Maire tweeted after the talks.

As a compromise, the final statement clearly states that the rescue would be specifically earmarked for costs related to the COVID-19 crisis, which has killed more than 65,000 people in Europe.

The ministers, however, set to one side a proposal from Italy, Spain, and France for a joint borrowing instrument, sometimes dubbed a "coronabond", that would have raised money towards a recovery after the outbreak.

Germany, the EU's most powerful member, has refused the pooled debt proposal and ministers agreed only to "explore" the idea under the direction of EU leaders, who are set to meet later in the month.

The package agreed is worth about 500 billion euros ($546 billion), short of what many observers believe is necessary to restart the European economy when the health crisis recedes.

Data indicate that the economy across the continent is already in a historic meltdown, with everyday life paralysed to fight the spread of the virus.

Despite 19 EU countries sharing a common currency, member states have reacted unilaterally to save their economies, giving richer countries such as Germany a big advantage over those with less spending power.

'Other ways'

The main component of the rescue plan involves the European Stability Mechanism, the EU's bailout fund which would make 240 billion euros available to guarantee spending by indebted countries under pressure.

Italy and Spain had the backing of the majority of member states to keep the conditions for tapping the ESM to an absolute minimum, but the Netherlands fought hard for something tougher.

Putting conditions on support is seen as a humiliation in Rome and Madrid, evoking bad memories of the eurozone debt crisis when auditors from Brussels dictated policy to bailed out Greece, Portugal and Ireland.

But the mutualisation of debts was a bridge too far for Berlin and The Hague, which refuse to take on joint loans with highly indebted states such as Italy, France or Spain which they consider too lax in their public spending.

Repeating her well-known position, German Chancellor Angela Merkel on Thursday firmly rejected the notion of pooled debt in Europe.

"But there are so many other ways to show solidarity and I think we can find good solutions here," she added.

In addition to the eurozone rescue fund, the EU ministers agreed 200 billion euros in guarantees from the European Investment Bank (EIB) and a European Commission project for national short-time working schemes.

(AFP)

ASIAN RACISM & XENOPHOBIA
'If you're black you can't go out': Africans in China face racism in Covid-19 crackdown

Issued on: 11/04/2020

This file photo taken on March 2, 2018 shows people gathering on a street in the "Little Africa" district in Guangzhou, the capital of southern China's Guangdong province. © Fred Dufour / AFP

Text by:FRANCE 24

Africans in southern China's largest city say they have become targets of suspicion and subjected to forced evictions, arbitrary quarantines and mass coronavirus testing as the country steps up its fight against imported infections.

China says it has largely curbed its Covid-19 outbreak but a recent cluster of cases linked to the Nigerian community in Guangzhou sparked the alleged discrimination by locals and virus prevention officials.

Local authorities in the industrial centre of 15 million said at least eight people diagnosed with the illness had spent time in the city's Yuexiu district, known as "Little Africa".

Five were Nigerian nationals who faced widespread anger after reports surfaced that they had broken a mandatory quarantine and been to eight restaurants and other public places instead of staying home.

As a result, nearly 2,000 people they came into contact with had to be tested for Covid-19 or undergo quarantine, state media said.

Guangzhou had confirmed 114 imported coronavirus cases as of Thursday – 16 of which were Africans. The rest were returning Chinese nationals.

It has led to Africans becoming targets of suspicion, distrust and racism in China.

Several Africans told AFP they had been forcibly evicted from their homes and turned away by hotels.

"I've been sleeping under the bridge for four days with no food to eat... I cannot buy food anywhere, no shops or restaurants will serve me," said Tony Mathias, an exchange student from Uganda who was forced from his apartment on Monday.

"We're like beggars on the street," the 24-year-old said.

Mathias added that police had given him no information about testing or quarantine but instead told him "to go to another city".

Police in Guangzhou declined to comment when contacted by AFP.

A Nigerian businessman said he was evicted from his apartment earlier this week.

"Everywhere the police see us, they will come and pursue us and tell us to go home. But where can we go?" he said.

Growing tensions

Other Africans said the community had been subject to mass Covid-19 testing even though many had not left China recently, and placed under arbitrary quarantine at home or in hotels.

China has banned foreign nationals from entering the country and many travellers are being sent into 14-day quarantines either in their own accommodation or at centralised facilities.

Thiam, an exchange student from Guinea, said police ordered him to stay home on Tuesday even after he tested negative for Covid-19 and told officers he had not left China in almost four years.

He believes the measures are specifically and unfairly targeting Africans.

"All the people I've seen tested are Africans. Chinese are walking around freely but if you're black you can't go out," he said.

The US State Department on Saturday issued an alert advising African Americans, or those with potential contact with African nationals, to avoid Guangzhou.

Denny, a Nigerian trader evicted from his flat on Tuesday, said police moved him to a hotel for quarantine after he spent several days sleeping on the streets.

"Even if we have a negative test result, police don't let us stay (in our accommodation) and they don't give a reason why," he said.

'Crazy fear'

The infections in Guangzhou have sparked a torrent of abuse online, with many Chinese internet users posting racist comments and calling for all Africans to be deported.

Last week a controversial cartoon depicting foreigners as different types of trash to be sorted through went viral on social media.

"There's just this crazy fear that anybody who's African might have been in contact with somebody who was sick," said David, a Canadian living in Guangzhou who did not want to give his full name.

China's foreign ministry acknowledged this week that there had been some "misunderstandings" with the African community.

"I want to emphasise that the Chinese government treats all foreigners in China equally," said spokesman Zhao Lijian on Thursday, urging local officials to "improve their working mechanisms".

Separately, in an unusually open critique, the speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives tweeted a video of himself pressing the Chinese ambassador on the issue.

Today I met with the Chinese🇨🇳 Ambassador to Nigeria on the disturbing allegation of ill treatment of Nigerian citizens in China. I showed him the video clip that had made the rounds. He promised to look into it and get back to my office on Tuesday. pic.twitter.com/9SUxH0rI7X— Femi Gbajabiamila (@femigbaja) April 10, 2020

“It’s almost undiplomatic the way I’m talking, but it’s because I’m upset about what’s going on,” Femi Gbajabiamila says.

“We take it very seriously,” Ambassador Zhou Pingjian replies.

Nigerian Foreign Minister Geoffrey Onyeama said he summoned the ambassador to express “extreme concern” and call for an immediate government response.

The complaints in Guangzhou contrast with a welcome reception to Chinese efforts in battling the coronavirus across the African continent, where Beijing this week donated medical supplies to 18 countries.

"When China engages Africa it's the central government that does that, but when it comes to immigration enforcement that happens at the local level," said Eric Olander, managing editor of the China Africa Project.

"That explains why there's an inconsistency in the more upbeat messaging we hear about Chinese diplomacy on the continent and the increasingly difficult realities that African traders, students and other expatriates face in their day-to-day lives in China."

(FRANCE 24 with AFP and AP)

Future of Wuhan’s ‘wet’ markets uncertain as Covid-19 fears remain

Issued on: 12/04/2020

A resident pays for groceries by standing on a tree stump to peer over barriers set up to ring-fence a wet market on a street in Wuhan, China on April 1, 2020. © Aly Song, Reuters

Text by:NEWS WIRES

Fish and vegetable merchants are reopening stalls at wet markets in China's central city of Wuhan as it lifts a months-long lockdown against the coronavirus pandemic, but their future looks uncertain with few customers as the virus stigma persists.


The virus, which has infected 1.6 million people and killed 106,000 in 214 countries, is believed to have originated late last year among wild animals on sale in a seafood market in Wuhan that has been closed and boarded up since January.

That has prompted heavy scrutiny for wet markets, a key facet of China's daily life, even though only a few sell wildlife. Some U.S. officials have called for them, and others across Asia, to be closed.

"This is a person-to-person virus, no matter where you are," said Jin Qinzhi, a vegetable and meat vendor at a wet market, when asked what she thought about demands for their closure.

"Even the supermarket is full of people. Here people are more scattered. As long as we take precautionary measures, and we pay attention to disinfecting, it should be fine.”

A common sight across Asia, wet markets traditionally sell fresh produce and live animals, such as fish, in the open air. They tend to be popular with shoppers who believe the items on sale are cheaper and fresher than in supermarkets.

'Everyone is scared'

Stall owners in Wuhan said they were not optimistic after their business was badly hurt by the strict shutdowns in China, which ordered a temporary ban on trade and consumption of wildlife in January.

"There is no business and no one is coming," said a worker chopping fish who only gave her surname, Zhang. "Everywhere is blocked and people cannot come in. Everyone is scared to go out and contract the virus.”

Wuhan will spend 200 million yuan ($28 million) to upgrade its 425 farmers' markets, in a campaign to improve hygiene, city officials said on Friday. Still, some worry they may not stay around long enough to see it.

"We don't have any income and business," said Jin. "If it goes on like this, it will be very difficult for us to survive."

Many stores remain shut and some curbs continue, even though a sharp drop in new local cases prompted lifting of the lockdown.

China reported 99 new virus infections on Saturday, taking its tally to 82,052, with a death toll of 3,339. Globally, the virus has reached 214 countries.

(REUTERS)

PERMANENT ARMS ECONOMY
German arms sale approvals jump slightly in first quarter of 2020

The first-quarter increase comes on the heels of a record annual German arms sales in 2019. Sales to third world countries nearly tripled, including to countries involved in the Yemeni Civil War.



German arms sale approvals increased slightly in the first quarter of 2020 compared to the same period last year, the nation's Economy Ministry said on Thursday.

The ministry, responding to a formal question by the Left Party (die Linke), said the government approved arms exports worth €1.16 billion ($1.27 billion) in the first three months of 2020, a €43.5 million increase from the same period in 2019.

Government-approved arms sales hit a record high in 2019, totaling €7.95 billion. Sales had declined the previous three years after a previous record of €7.86 billion in exports in 2015.

The Left Party, probably the most critical of Germany's arms export policies, condemned the increase in arms sales amid the coronavirus pandemic.

"While the UN is calling for a global ceasefire to fight the coronavirus pandemic, the German government continues to pour oil on the fire with its war weapons in crisis areas," die Linke's disarmament specialist Sevim Dagdelen said in response to the figures. "We need an immediate halt to arms exports and convert the defense industry to make civilian goods such as medical equipment. It is time to produce for life instead of death."


CHINESE SOLDIERS TRAIN FOR EPIDEMIC IN BAVARIA
Special delivery

This Chinese armored medical evacuation vehicle arrived by ship at the port in Hamburg, before being shipped to southern Germany and the Bavarian town of Feldkirchen. A total of 92 Chinese and 120 German soldiers are taking part in the Combined Aid 2019 exercise, along with 120 men and women in supporting roles.

Controversial sale to Egypt

Though sales to EU and NATO countries declined slightly, sales to non-NATO and non-EU members nearly tripled from €134 million in the first quarter of 2019 to €360 million in the first three months of 2020.

The Economy Ministry said the increase was due to a deal struck with Egypt involving a frigate and a submarine. At €290 million in sales, Egypt's nominally civilian government led by the former head of the army was by far the largest arms buyer from Germany in the first quarter of this year.

The deal with the African nation was finalized despite Germany affirming in 2018 that it would not sell weapons to parties involved in the conflict in Yemen, a conflict that has killed over 100,000 people. This resolution followed sharp criticism of a series of high-profile sales to Saudi Arabia, which is leading the international coalition attacking Yemen's Houthi rebels.

Egypt recently dispatched warships to assist with a Saudi-led naval blockade of Yemen.

Since early 2019, German arms manufacturers have sold over €1 billion worth of weapons to Egypt, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and other countries part of the Saudi-backed coalition in Yemen.

Dagdelen told DW earlier this month that Germany's pledge to not provide arms to countries involved in the conflict in Yemen was "nothing but hot air."

"The UAE and Saudi Arabia are to blame for the biggest humanitarian catastrophe of our times," she said. She has called for Germany to halt exports to the UAE immediately.

Coronavirus: German lawmaker calls for delay to EU climate targets

The COVID-19 pandemic's effects are expected to cause a deep recession in Europe and elsewhere. A key German politician thinks the EU’s climate targets should be deferred in the face of the potential economic crisis.


AU CONTRAIRE THIS IS EXACTLY THE TIME TO DEAL WITH CLIMATE CHANG DEMANDING THE TRANSITION FROM CAPITALISM TO SOCIALISM

The coronavirus crisis calls for an urgent review of Germany's climate targets under goals set by the European Union, the leader of the economic council of the conservative Christian Democrat party (CDU) said on Saturday.

The COVID-19 pandemic is "putting the German economy to the test," and the EU should consider a "deferment of climate policy targets," Wolfgang Steiger said in comments published in the German newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung.

Steiger said the fallout from the pandemic on the economy could amount to a new "de-industrialization" of Germany. Experts are predicting a global recession as a result of the business shutdown and subsequent layoffs.

Germany has offered financial aid for many businesses and individuals affected by lockdowns and social distancing measures. Chancellor Angela Merkel’s government pledged €750 billion in emergency aid funding in March to prop up the economy. Small companies and freelancers are eligible for up to €15,000 in direct subsidies, while larger companies can be stabilized with larger capital funds.

Despite the huge stimulus, Steiger told the paper the German economy could, for now, do without the financial burden of climate change goals.

Read more: Corona stimulus plans overlook 'historic' chance for climate crisis

Could the crisis help sustainability policy?

However, Germany's environment minister, Svenja Schulze, warned against "connecting climate protection and economic prosperity." It may be possible "to use the exit from the corona crisis to promote climate-compatible and sustainable economic structures," she said.

Meanwhile, Jennifer Morgan of the environmental activist group Greenpeace is among those who believe the coronavirus pandemic has laid bare the weaknesses of the global economic system.

"We are being offered the chance to fundamentally change how things work," said Morgan of the shutdown brought about by the health emergency.

With flights grounded, some manufacturing limited and a reduction in commuting, global lockdowns may offer some temporary reprieve for global environmental problems like air pollution.

Read more: NGOs fear COP26 postponement could scuttle climate change policy

What are EU climate targets?

The EU's ambitious 2030 climate goals include a 40% cut in greenhouse gas emissions from 1990 levels and at least a 32% market share for renewable energy. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has pledged that a large amount of the bloc's budget would go towards achieving the EU Green Deal.

On Thursday, EU finance ministers agreed to free up half a trillion euros to help limit the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. It is expected more investment may be needed in the coming months, depending on how long lockdowns continue.

In a meeting on March 26, EU leaders invited the commission to start working on a comprehensive coronavirus recovery plan, incorporating green transition.

5G protesters sabotage Dutch phone towers

Opponents of the rollout of a new 5G data network have damaged and set alight several towers in the Netherlands. Activists have expressed concerns over possible health risks and privacy violations.


Protesters targeted a number of cellular broadcasting towers throughout the Netherlands to oppose the new 5G telecommunications network, Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf reported on Saturday.

Towers in Rotterdam, Liessel, Beesd and Nuenen were severely damaged by fire, Rob Bongelaar told the newspaper. Bongelaar is director of The Monet Foundation, an association that oversees the placement of cell towers and coordinates with state governments on behalf of network operators including KPN, T-Mobile and Vodafone.

"The operators are doing their utmost to keep the mobile networks up and running in this difficult time," Bongelaar added. He said that the words, "F*** 5G" were written on the transmission box at one of the attack sites.

Read more: What does 5G have to do with coronavirus? Where did it come from? Your questions answered

'Desperately needed' for hospitals

"The availability of a reliable digital infrastructure is essential. The connections are desperately needed for hospitals and care homes … and then there are those who deliberately set radio masts on fire. Incomprehensible and unacceptable," Bongelaar said.

De Telegraaf also reported a possible arson incident on Friday evening in the northern city of Groningen.

In a statement, the Dutch government's Security and Counter-Terrorism (NCTV) announced it had registered "various incidents" around broadcasting antennas in the past week, including arson and sabotage, adding that opposition to the 5G plan is a possible cause.

"This is a concerning development," NCTV said. The body added that similar attacks have been occurring recently in the UK.

Read more: EU rules out Huawei ban — but maps out strict rules on 5G

Health and privacy concerns

Various groups in the Netherlands have been opposed to the 5G network for some time, largely due to health concerns such as radio waves that could potentially be harmful to human health. Others say that the network could violate privacy rights.

In January, around a hundred people rallied against the 5G network at Amsterdam's Dam Square, calling for its rejection on the basis of health and wellbeing.

As the major telecommunications providers in the country await a June spectrum auction before it can commence a nationwide rollout of 5G telecommunications, a testing phase is currently in place.

Nazi death camp Buchenwald quietly marks 75 years since liberation

Only employees of Buchenwald's memorial site attended the anniversary event due to Germany's coronavirus lockdown measures. Authorities called out increasing right-wing extremism in a "Thuringian declaration.

75th anniversary of Buchenwald death camp liberation


With the coronavirus lockdown still in force across Germany, authorities in the state of Thuringia were forced to cancel multiple commemoration events dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the Buchenwald concentration camp. Instead of survivors meeting at the site, only employees of the camp's present-day museum marked the occasion by laying wreaths at the memorial on Saturday.

Around 56,000 people were killed at Buchenwald and the nearby satellite installation Dora before it was freed by US soldiers in April 1945.

Leaders, surviviors unite against far right

On Saturday, authorities published the "Thuringian Declaration," describing it as a centerpiece of this year's memorial events and urging members of the public to sign it. The document was initially signed by top officials including Thuringian State Premier Bodo Ramelow and the Buchenwald memorial site head Volkhard Knigge, as well Buchenwald survivors Ivan Ivanji, Eva Fahidi-Pusztei and Naftali Fürst.

"We know and seriously appreciate that Germany did not free itself from National Socialism by dint of its own efforts; that a large number of crimes went unpunished; and that too many perpetrators and criminals could continue their lives after 1945 as though nothing had happened," the declaration states.

Individual visitors have come to the gates of Buchenwald to pay their respects, but the camp remains closed as part of Germany's COVID-19 pandemic mitigation measures

Yesterday's 'poisons' touted as 'universal remedy'

The signatories warn that today "right-wing radicalism and authoritarianism are on the rise, as are a form of populism emboldened by a racially motivated superiority complex, nationalism."

"Racism and anti-Semitism are openly propagated and have led to acts of violence in Germany that would have been inconceivable even several years ago," the document reads, adding that "yesterday's destructive poisons are once again being touted as a universal remedy for society's ills."

Germany has seen several deadly right-wing attacks in recent years, including the racist killing spree in February in Hanau, in which a far-right gunman killed nine people in two shisha bars, and an attempted mass shooting at a synagogue in Halle last October on Judaism's holiest day. In January, it was reported that groups of neo-Nazis have been disrupting the tours in Buchenwald, and a package with explosive materials was found at the site.

Read more: Germany and the new dimension of right-wing terrorism

State premier targets far-right AfD party's rhetoric

In a separate video address, Thuringian State Premier Ramelow slammed those who seek to downplay the Nazi era with a direct reference to a statement made by Alexander Gauland from the right-wing populist AfD party. In 2018, Gauland characterized the Nazi era and the Holocaust as "only a bird shit on over 1,000 years of German history."

"The curse of Buchenwald still applies," Ramelow said, noting that "bird shit" was "not the right expression to explain the [Buchenwald] crimes."

Addressing the public, Ramelow urged people to fight against normalization of crimes such as the ones committed in Buchenwald. "The curse of Buchenwald is our daily work."