Daily Archives: October 21, 2010

trafficking

SAINT JOSEPHINE BAKHITA (of Dafur) – VICTIM OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING

Ursulines of the Roman Union

There’s a move under way in Oregon (USA) to seek Vatican approval for a patron saint of human trafficking and slavery victims.

St. Josephine Bakhita, a Sudanese slave-turned-nun, is the ideal saint for people whose labor and bodies are being exploited, says Brian Willis. He’s a member of St. Mary Cathedral in Portland who has worked for years to help women who have been forced into the sex trade.  Trafficking, despite the name, does not require the crossing of international borders. “You can be born and raised and live in the same house and be a trafficking victim,” says Willis. “It is about exploitation.” Continue reading SAINT JOSEPHINE BAKHITA (of Dafur) – VICTIM OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING →

Zimbabwe

Debt Crowds Out Essential Spending on Health

By Stanley Kwenda

HARARE, Oct 18, 2010 (IPS) –

An activist's t-shirt displays the message of the ZIMCODD anti-debt campaign. / Credit: Stanley Kwenda/IPS

Zimbabwe’s debt burden of about 8,3 billion dollars, owed to internal and external institutions, is crowding out essential national budget items such as health and basic services, with detrimental effects for particularly women. Continue reading Debt Crowds Out Essential Spending on Health →

Peru

Inambari dam: a ticking time bomb

Latin American Press

Puerto Manoa is one of the dozens of communities that will be flooded for for the dam. (Photo: aldosantosblogspot.com)

Hydroelectric project that will displace thousands strokes tensions.

Ramiro Escobar

“Starting here, we´ll be underwater,” says Aldo Santos, who works for the nongovernmental organization Rural Educational Services, as his truck drove along a stretch of the Inter-Oceanic Highway. Continue reading Inambari dam: a ticking time bomb →