Category: World Touch

Slavery: Hidden Crime Of The 21st Century

Migrants represent 3% of the global population. Put another way, 200 million people live in a different country from the one in which they were born. If put together, this population would be the world’s 10th largest country. Nearly half of all migrants are women – a new phenomenon as more women move independently of their families or male partners. This “feminization of migration” has resulted in other problems, known as the “care drain” where families are left without their womenfolk. The United Nations High Commission for Refugees has 33 million people under its mandate – refugees, asylum seekers, exiles, internally displaced persons and stateless persons. At least 15% of all migrants are estimated to be involved in illegal immigration which is often fed by a parallel market of human trafficking and smuggling, and frequently run by organized criminals. These are some of the stark facts and figures presented in Rome at the Sixth World Congress on the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Refugees. The challenge is put before the Church – how does a body that represents Jesus and continues His mission respond to such an overwhelming need? The response offered at the Congress could be summarized as twofold: to assume a theology of abundance and to engender a culture of solidarity. A theology of abundance says there is more than enough on earth for everyone to live with dignity. We just have to share what God has given us, recognizing that God has given creation for the use of all. A culture of solidarity says that we all belong together as members of the human family, interdependent, each with a place and a part to play. There is no need to feel threatened by newcomers to our patch as there is enough for everyone and we all belong together. So don’t turn migrants and refugees into the bad guys. They have a place and have something to offer just as the rest of us do. Rather, see them as an opportunity for society to be enriched and grow. As they come our way, they are not simply taking from what we have but are potential assets for our societies as they develop. There would be fewer cases like Ms. A’s if we approach the whole question in a different way, as the Church’s Congress hammered home in Rome. The Eternal City itself holds a message. It is a magnet attracting people from around the world to its glories, its treasures, its culture, its history and as a center of faith. There, is a place where everyone can feel that they belong. We don’t have to be exceptional, just human and in touch with our humanity.

www.ucanews.com; by Augustinian Father John Murray, who works with migrants in Thailand.

Obama Receives Nobel Peace Prize

In a speech at the award ceremony in the Norwegian capital, Obama said violent conflict would not be eradicated “in our lifetimes”, and there would be times when countries would need to fight just wars. “Where force is necessary, we have a moral and strategic interest in binding ourselves to certain rules of conduct. And even as we confront a vicious adversary that abides by no rules, I believe that the United States of America must remain a standard bearer in the conduct of war,” he declared. While acknowledging the message of non-violence of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Obama, the first sitting US president in 90 years to win the Nobel Peace Prize, said sometimes force was necessary. “I face the world as it is,” Obama said, insisting that he is obliged to protect and defend the US. “A nonviolent movement could not have halted Hitler’s armies. Negotiations cannot convince al-Qaida’s leaders to lay down their arms,” Obama said. “To say that force is sometimes necessary is not a call to cynicism, it is a recognition of history.” At a news conference earlier, Obama reaffirmed that US troops would begin transferring responsibility for Afghan security to local forces in July 2011 but said there would be no “precipitous drawdown.” Days ago, Obama announced that he was ordering 30,000 more US troops to Afghanistan, disappointing those who had hoped that he would disengage America from an increasingly unpopular war. The Nobel peace committee has been criticized for awarding Obama the prize before he has any major accomplishments in international relations. But its chairman, Thorbjørn Jagland, praised Obama for doing more than anyone else this year to promote peace, citing his efforts to reach a new agreement on nuclear weapons with Russia. Acknowledging the controversy surrounding his prize, Obama said: “I have no doubt that there are others who may be more deserving. My task here is to continue on the path that I believe is not only important for America but important for lasting peace in the world.”

www.guardian.co.uk

Iraqi Parliament Approves Electoral Law

With the approval of the law, the date of elections remains to be discussed, originally planned for January 16. The vice-president of Parliament announced that it could be held February 27, 2010, but is not yet clear if all the necessary steps will be completed in time for the vote to be held. Sunni Vice-President Tareq al-Hashemi has congratulated “all the Iraqi people for this historic victory” and adds that the compromise “will pull the country out of the impasse” into which it had slipped. He had rejected the previous reform of the electoral law, because it did not provide enough seats for the ethnic Sunni minority in Iraq, even if it held power under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussein. Another element of contrast is Kirkuk, a city in the north, the centre of a dispute between Arabs, Kurds and Turkmen over its vast oil reserves. The new law provides for an increase in the number of parliamentary seats, from the current 275 to 325. Kurds will get 41 seats for the three northern provinces and a further dozen additional seats. Iraqis abroad can also vote for the provincial college of their place of origin. The Christian minority will have eight seats. One-third of Parliament will be formed by women. Sources in Baghdad show a cautious optimism about the signing of the agreement. “The tension – they explain from the capital – among the ethnic groups remains high.” Its ratification seems more like a “truce,” because the leadership has understood “that the Iraqi people are tired of quarrels, divisions and violence that blood the country.”

www.asianews.it

200 Million Children In Danger Of Death

The general picture shows a dramatic situation: in developing countries, one in four children are malnourished; more than 72 million do not attend school; and each year, worldwide, 9 million children under 5 years of age die from preventable or curable causes, almost 2 million of them on the day of their birth, while everyday over 4 thousand children under 5 die from lack of drinking water. Worldwide, there are more than 15 million orphaned by AIDS. The majority of malaria deaths are in sub-Saharan children under 5 years of age. Two million children are involved in child prostitution rings and over 215 million spend their childhood working.

Climate Change Costs A Lot

Sönke Kreft, climate policy advisor at Germanwatch, said: “Developing countries top the list of 10 countries identified as the most vulnerable to climate risks – the findings underline the need to provide funds for near-term finance in the next three years – 2010 to 2012 – [when the first phase of the Kyoto Protocol expires].” Small, medium-sized and large climate events causing damage, injury or loss of life have all been occurring more frequently, but Bangladesh, Myanmar and Vietnam are among the nations most vulnerable to extreme climate events, costing them millions of dollars every year, according to the index. The 10 countries most affected by extreme climate events fall into two groups: those that rank high because of exceptional catastrophes, such as Myanmar; and countries continuously hit by extreme events, such as Bangladesh and the Philippines. The losses resulting from climate events could be much higher. The study did not factor the “affected people,” because the impact of slow-onset disasters, such as droughts which affected predominantly African countries, could not be verified. “That is the weakness in our study,” Kreft commented.

www.irinnews.org

The Link Between Undernutrition And Climate Change

Andrew Mitchell of the French NGO Action contre la Faim (Action Against Hunger), a member of the UN Committee, pointed out that links between climate change and nutrition were not restricted to getting enough food. “Malnutrition could potentially be the output of climate change’s impact on sectors such as health and water.” Over 19 million children face hunger-related death at any given moment but only 3% of them receive treatment, the UNSCN said in a statement as the two-week climate change conference began on 7 December. According to climate change projections, food production could shrink by as much as 50% by 2020 in some African countries, and by 30% in Central and South Asia, creating a very high risk of hunger. The UNSCN noted that undernutrition was caused by inadequate nutrition and disease, which stemmed from insufficient food, poor maternal and child care practices, and poor access to clean drinking water, unsafe sanitation and ill health – all of which were directly affected by climate change. A study by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), a US-based think-tank, called for “aggressive” investment – ranging from US$7.1 to $7.3 billion a year – to raise calorie consumption enough to offset the negative impacts of climate change on the health and well-being of children. The UNSCN has called for the development of a knowledge base to inform future programming on climate change and nutrition, the establishment of a comprehensive nutrition surveillance system, and identification, validation and costing of the interventions required to protect nutrition from climate change and related hazards. It urged governments and aid agencies to scale up interventions that successfully reduced the impacts of climate change on nutrition, and increased community resilience to climate change.

www.irinnews.org

Leading The World In Women Religious

In Asia, India recorded an increase of 9,398 Women Religious during 2002-2007 while Vietnam added 2,545 more nuns. South Korea and the Philippines increased by about 500. Three Kerala-based congregations and Blessed Mother Teresa’s Missionaries of Charity were among those showing an upward trend in worldwide scenario. Upward trend was noticed all across Africa: Tanzania and the Congo increased by around 1,500 while Nigeria, Madagascar, Kenya and Angola added 500 to 800 more nuns. The Middle East and the Caribbean also have added more nuns. Women Religious have increased in 99 nations since 2000, according to the analysis. Unfortunately, their gains are not yet quite enough to offset the 4.6% decline among Women Religious worldwide during 2002-2007. Most losers are the Western nations. For example, Italy had 11,156 less nuns during 2002-2007. The United States came second, losing 10,454 nuns during the period. All together, there are about 750,000 Women Religious serving around the world, or approximately one nun for every 9,000 people.

Illegal Weapons Are A Plague In Mindanao

The climate of violence, lawlessness and impunity makes life difficult for the people of Mindanao. The incident of kidnapping and barbaric execution of 57 people in the province of Maguindanao has gained the attention of the international press. Philippine President Gloria Arroyo declared Martial Law (lifted after eight days) in the southern provinces of Maguindanao, Sultan Kudarat, and Cotabato City allegedly to prevent further violence among the clans (especially among the Mangudadatu and Ampatuan, long-time rivals). Thousands of soldiers have been deployed and the Government has assured that they will make “every effort to punish those responsible with utmost rigor.” But the issue is upstream, according to Fr. Eliseo Mercado of the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Professor at Notre Dame of Cotabato and well-informed on the area of Mindanao: “There is no doubt that the proliferation of illegal small arms in southern Philippines is the main problem, which contributes to an increase in the number of wounded and dead, to human rights violations, and to fueling the war between rival gangs.” The point is that even the civilians have begun to arm themselves to defend themselves from the violence that abounds. It is estimated that over 1.1 million illegal weapons without license are in circulation in the Philippines, a large majority of the percentage being in the South. In addition, there are 1.8 million legally held weapons in the entire nation. According to data from the police, 97% of crimes recorded between 2004 and 2008 were committed using illegal weapons. “It’s a phenomenon that helps to create instability and deteriorates peace and public order,” notes Fr. Mercado. Recently, the government issued an “amnesty” in which the owners of illegal weapons that had them registered would not incur penalties. But the results were not satisfactory, indicating that most of the weapons are in the hands of criminal gangs. “This is an important issue that the new legislators and the new government (elections are in 2010) must urgently address,” notes the missionary. “It is the future and social peace in Mindanao.” The world’s biggest exporter of small arms is the United States, from whence come the vast majority of the weapons found in the Philippines. Recently, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton publicly declared that its government will work to stop the proliferation of small arms in the world. “It is a position we welcome, hoping that it could affect the plight of the Southern Philippines,” said Father Mercado.

www.fides.org

Three-Quarters Of The Hungry Are Rural Poor

Lodesani said three-quarters of the more than one billion hungry people in the world are poor farmers, a vulnerable population that will bear the brunt of the consequences of global warming through catastrophes like drought and flooding. “We are already seeing the impact of climate change on food production patterns. We know there are poor areas of the world that will become poorer through lack of rainfall. Desertification is already happening,” he warned. “We have to address this now, through specific measures,” said the expert, who previously coordinated emergency food aid plans in countries like Sudan and Ivory Coast. The WFP report titled Climate Change and Hunger: Responding to the Challenge says that “by 2050, the number of people at risk of hunger as a result of climate change is expected to increase by 10 to 20% more than would be expected without climate change.” Lodesani emphasized the need for specific programs to encourage sustainable development, through “the use of land resources to produce food” without further harming the environment. With respect to biofuels, produced by Brazil and other countries, the WFP official’s view is that they reduce environmental pollution, but that further research on their disadvantages is needed. Biofuels, such as ethanol and biodiesel, are derived from crops like sugarcane and vegetable oils and, therefore, take up agricultural land. Lodesani stressed that growing plants for biofuels must not displace food crops, “especially since world population will be over nine billion in 40 years’ time.” Population growth is another challenge to be faced “when over one billion people already lack access to enough food to meet the nutritional recommendations of international bodies like the World Health Organization,” Lodesani said. When global population reaches over nine billion in 2050, it will be even more difficult to meet nutritional needs, creating a new vicious circle of poverty to be solved, he warned. “Three-quarters of the more than one billion people who are hungry today are poor farmers. This means they don’t have enough food to live a normal life, and above all a productive life, while they are the very people who are relied on to produce food,” he added. In recent years, the WFP has made it a top priority to buy food from developing countries for its aid programs. Lodesani said that, in the last three years, WFP food purchases from developing countries amounted to 80% of the total outlay of close to 2.9 billion dollars. In 2008 alone, 427 million dollars were spent in African countries, out of a total of 1.4 billion dollars. “WFP’s policy is to buy food as close to where it is needed as possible. We used to buy it through the regular markets, which is a good thing, but they don’t always benefit poor small-scale producers,” he said, referring to a new WFP program called Purchase for Progress. This program aims to give poor farmers access to a market for their surplus produce, providing them with more income while guaranteeing the subsistence needs of

www.ipsnews.net

Kung Fu Monks Become A Money-Making Brand

According to available details, the monastery does not form part of future joint ventures and its abbot, Shi Yongxin, has been kept in the dark regarding negotiations. However, many Buddhist faithful in the area have accused him of being the true promoter of the initiative: the expensive tastes of the abbot are well known; at the beginning of 2009, he “accepted” a garment woven with gold worth 160,000 yuan [15,500 euros] from a private firm. According to Bejing News, rights of entry into the monastery and the exploitation of suggestive scenarios of Mount Song – where the religious site is located – are around 49 million yuan [approximately 5 million euros]. The government of Dengfeng is entitled to 49% of the total. The deal, however, seems to be decreasing: last year, in admission tickets alone, the monastery grossed 10 million euros. However, the deal has not gone unnoticed in atheist China: the Shaolin monastery, 1,500 years old, is considered a place of national interest and, therefore, should not enrich anyone in particular. Home and birthplace of kung fu and Zen Buddhism, it has evolved into a tourist attraction and movie set. Its turnover includes even the production of medicines, apart from the famous monks who often travel around the world giving performances of their martial art. Many believe that the abbot, Shi, is behind this mutation of the monastery, from a place of prayer to an amusement park. He hit headlines after accepting some 20,000 euros from businessmen who sought his blessing, and an ultra-luxury SUV, worth 100,000 euros, given to him by the local government for his contribution to the local economy. For his part, the cleric denies all the charges. After 11 months of controversy, he returned the robe of gold (but not the SUV). In an interview with Hunan TV, he said he has no intention of selling off the monastery which “houses a priceless cultural heritage.”

www.asianews.it and Agencies

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