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The Iraqi Parliament has approved almost unanimously the new election law, paving the way for the vote in 2010. The green light came during an emergency session that ended shortly before the deadline for an agreement. It should put an end to a period of political deadlock. Sources in Baghdad have called it a “truce” between political factions, but warn that “tension remains high.”
The world celebrated recently the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, approved on 20 November 1989.
Seven children die of hunger every minute because they do not have access to treatment, but the impact of climate change on the drivers of undernutrition – food insecurity, health threats and water stress – could push up this number, the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition (UNSCN) said at the UN Conference on Climate Change in Copenhagen (COP15).
Among civilians in Cotabato and neighboring provinces, there is great fear and indignation at what they call, in Mindanao, “war road”: violence between paramilitary groups and the proliferation of various militia groups. These armed forces belonging to clans with strong political or ideological-religious reference (defined by “Muslim” or “Christian” antagonism), are often manipulated by the interests of powerful men in local areas or by corrupt members of the army.
Commercial sexual exploitation of children is booming in Southeast Asia, with governments failing to do enough to protect young people. “The recent economic downturn is set to drive more vulnerable children and young people to be exploited by the global sex trade,” said Carmen Madrinan, executive director of End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes (ECPAT). “The indifference that sustains the criminality, greed and perverse demands of adults for sex with children and young people needs to end.”
A .45 caliber pistol is tucked into the waistband of a tricycle driver as he speeds along a desolate stretch of highway that cuts through a Muslim rebel stronghold in the southern Philippine town of Datu Piang in Mindanao. “I can get attacked by bandits, rebels or my enemies, and my gun spells the difference between life and death,” he explains.
“The priest and the pastoral ministry in the digital world: new media at the service of the Word” is the theme chosen by Benedict XVI for the 44th World Day for Social Communications (that will be celebrated on the Sunday before Pentecost, which in 2010 falls on May 16). Commenting on the theme chosen by the Pope, the Pontifical Council for Social Communications said “the main task of the priest is to proclaim the Word of God made flesh, man and history, thus becoming a sign of the communion that God makes with man. The effectiveness of this ministry then requires that the priest lives an intimate relationship with God, rooted in a deep love and deep knowledge of scripture, written ‘witness’ of the Word of God.”
In an era marked by “growing” conflicts in “our beloved land,” as in “many parts of the world,” today, more than ever, there is a need to promote the “powerful message of non-violence” or “ Ahimsa, as the Father of the nation called it.” These were the words of Msgr. Thomas Menamparampil, Archbishop of Guwahati, to mark the 140th year of the birth of Mahatma Gandhi on October 2, which is also International Day of Non-violence.
Christians are tempted to flee Lebanon as the country becomes increasingly “Islamized,” according to the founder of the Center for Arab Christian Research and Documentation (CEDRAC). One-third of the nation’s Christian population has left since the beginning of the 1975-90 civil war, and a recent surge in emigration means Christians now make up just 34% of Lebanon’s population, Father Samir Khalil, a Jesuit teacher at Beirut’s St. Joseph University’s CEDRAC department, told Vatican Radio.
Agriculture is in danger of being ignored in any final deal made would be made at the key climate talks in Copenhagen in December, says a top negotiator. Michael Zammit-Cutajar, who chairs the working group on financing for adaptation measures in developing countries, said agriculture was “flagged” in the working text but would probably not get more of a mention than that.
