Tunis to host 9th Panorama International Short Film Festival from February 6 to 10Cross Border Crime Developing into Serious Problem: Ethiopian Police

The 9th International Short Film Panorama Festival will take place from February 6 to 10, at the Maghreb Culture Centre of Ibn Khaldoun in Tunis. During the event, a selection of short fictions, animation and documentary films, which do not exceed 26 minutes, will be screened. These films, which were produced in 2022 and 2023, represent Algeria, Egypt, Bulgaria, France, Denmark, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, United Kingdom, Syria, Turkey and Tunisia. Three symbolic prizes (trophies) will be awarded to the three best films in the selection. The jury will be chaired by actor M'hadheb Rmili. The International Short Film Panorama Festival is chaired by Kamel Ouij. Director Brahim Letaief has been named honorary president of this 2024 edition. Launched in December 2016 by the Association of Parents and Friends of the Disabled in Tunisia, this cinematographic event is organized, this year, with the support of the Regional Delegation of Cultural Affairs of Tunis. Source: Agen ce Tunis Afrique Presse Addis Ababa: The destabilizing effect of cross border crime is developing into a serious problem that poses a threat to peace and security of each country globally, Federal Police Deputy Commissioner General Zelalem Mengistie said. Opening the Prosecution and Law Enforcement Dialogue and Roundtable in Ababa Ababa today, the deputy commissioner general said the destabilizing effects of cross border crime as a global phenomenon is developing into a serious problem that poses a threat to peace and security of each country. 'We are living at a time when technological and communication advancements have shrunk distances between states and opened up new frontiers of opportunities for economic, political and social interactions,' he noted. This process of globalization has also led to unprecedented opportunities for illegitimate transactions such as human trafficking and smuggling of migrants by criminal organizations. Due to this, people are suffering owing to traffickers and smugglers who are making enormous a mounts of money through exploitation with no care for the safety of those they move, the deputy commissioner general pointed out. Not only are many migrants have been victims of extortion, torture, detention for ransom, sexual violence and exploitation, forced labor and domestic servitude, but also dying every day. To fight criminal networks involved in human trafficking and smuggling of migrants, the Regional Operational Center in support of the Khartoum process and the African Union (AU) Horn of Africa Initiative (ROCK), and the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa of the European Union played a pivotal role by funding the project attributed to this particular issue, it was learned. According to the deputy commissioner general, Ethiopia is playing its leading role in fighting criminal activities in human trafficking and smuggling of migrants. ROCK Technical Director, Heve Jamet said that the main goal of the roundtable is to gather people from the justice, the prosecutor office, and the police in order to ex change ideas on how to implement the cooperation and the smooth transmission of information between all the forces. The ROCK is a project which focuses on human trafficking and human smuggling funded by the European Union. 'I just want to underline that Ethiopia is a very important partner for us. It is one of the main partners of this project,' the technical director noted. The objective of ROCK is to fight criminal networks involved in human trafficking and migrant smuggling and to mitigate the dangers and often fatal consequences that migrants face in the hands of the smugglers. Source: Ethiopian News Agency