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November 29, 2013 was a very big day for religious life in the Church.
Following scattered defiance of the Taliban earlier, a new wave of students is now heading for education in schools and colleges across the troubled north of Pakistan. “There is a steady increase in enrolment of students because parents have realised the significance of education, and now they want to thwart the Taliban’s efforts to deprive students of education,” Pervez Khan, education officer in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA), stated. In 2012, he says, the literacy rate for girls was 3% in FATA. That rose to 10.5% in 2013. The boys literacy rate shot up correspondingly to 36.6% compared to a previous 29.5%.
The cooperation between women religious and London’s Metropolitan Police to combat human trafficking has been of enormous importance and has produced great results. The hope is, therefore, that this experience can be repeated in other countries as well. This is according to the Archbishop of Westminster, Cardinal Vincent Gerard Nichols, who chaired the international conference promoted by the Bishops’ Conference of England and Wales, entitled “Combating Human Trafficking: Church and Law Enforcement in Partnership.”
Joshua Alvarez and his family fear for their lives when the monsoon rains come. Last August, their two-bedroom flat in Manila was flooded when severe tropical storm Trami dumped 15 inches of rain (380mm) in a few hours and the local reservoir overflowed. They fled to a flyover with thousands of others as five large areas of the capital were inundated with muddy waters up to three meters deep and a state of calamity was declared in three Philippine provinces.
A worrisome report by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization predicts that food production may not keep pace with population increases and dietary changes as some people become wealthier and consume more calories. Up to half-a-billion people could be chronically hungry in Asia alone, according to the report. Already, it is Asia, not Africa, which suffers the most from malnourishment and hunger.
For the first time, the U.N. has declared three simultaneous crises – in South Sudan, Syria and the Philippines – as level 3, the highest band of emergency. So this is a period of intense activity for NGOs such as the International Rescue Committee. But it is also a good time to reflect on the goals and working methods of the humanitarian system.
When the former President Lula decided to bring the World Cup of 2014 to Brazil, he thought he was giving a big gift to his people known worldwide for their passion for soccer. Only to know later how equally big the problems would be!
A total of 172 women, up 25% from 2013, have made Forbes 28th annual billionaires’ list. Women now make up 10% of the global super-rich, thanks to a huge influx of female wealth, led by Sheryl Sandberg. With a personal fortune worth more than $1B (£599M), she became one of the highest-profile new entrants to the Forbes list, joining Meg Whitman of Hewlett-Packard as the only other female tech billionaire.
Recent arms seizures and arrests of traffickers in Cameroon’s Far North Region have highlighted the escalating insecurity caused by Boko Haram in neighboring Nigeria and the impact of the unrest on the Central African Republic (CAR) and Sudan.
Despite the best endeavors of so many in so many countries, modern slavery and human trafficking continue to expand. Victims are hidden away: in places of prostitution, in factories and farms, on fishing boats, and illegal establishments, in private homes behind locked doors and in many other places in cities, villages and slums, in the world’s richest nations and poorest nations.
