Europe’s Oldest Political Body Now Swatting At Mosquitoes

Technology can be used to solve some of mankind’s thorniest problems.

I read about the “mosquito” several years ago. It’s a gizmo that emits an irritating, high-pitched sound that can be heard only by children and people into their early 20s, and is used to prevent teenagers congregating outside shops, schools and railway stations. It was invented by a  British Aerospace engineer, Howard Stapleton, who came up with the device after his daughter was intimidated by a gang of boys hanging around outside shops.

Brilliant.

Eats Mosquitoes

But nothing good goes unpunished.

An investigation by the Council of Europe found that the controversial “mosquito” device should be banned from Britain immediately … It found that “inflicting acoustic pain on young people and treating them as if they were unwanted birds or pests, is harmful [and] highly offensive.” …  Calls for a ban by Europe’s oldest political body are likely to be approved by the council’s parliamentary assembly in Strasbourg this week.

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After I got done chucking about “treating them [young people] as if they were unwanted birds or pests” I read the article a bit more carefully and got curious about what, exactly, is Europe’s oldest political body.

The Council of Europe, Europe’s oldest political body, aims to uphold human rights, democracy and the rule of law across the continent.

It emerged in 1949 from the ashes of World War II and now includes all European countries apart from Belarus … The council oversees the European Court of Human Rights … Lately, the council has become preoccupied with the problems of terrorism, organised crime, money laundering and human trafficking.

Source

Which should now be amended to, ” … the problems of terrorism, organised crime, money laundering, human trafficking and mosquitoes … ”

Ribbit.