In the smallest Gulf kingdoms, upwards of 90 percent of residents are immigrant laborers. Many face unspeakable abuse.
By Sam Badger and Giorgio Cafiero, September 12, 2014.
This article is a joint publication of Foreign Policy In Focus and TheNation.com.
Since FIFA picked Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, the tiny and uber-rich Gulf emirate has increasingly come under scrutiny for its failure to protect the human rights of its burgeoning foreign workforce.
Continue reading Kingdom of Slaves
By JASON HOROWITZ
DES MOINES — At a Vatican meeting a few years ago, Pope Benedict XVI unexpectedly asked Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. for some advice. “You are being entirely too hard on the American nuns,” Mr. Biden offered. “Lighten up.”
Last year, Mr. Biden seized on an audience with Pope Francis as another opportunity to praise the sisters who remained the target of a Vatican crackdown for their activism on issues like poverty and health care. Continue reading Biden, a Catholic School ‘Kid,’ Praises Nuns Under Fire From the Vatican
Polaris has rated all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on 10 categories of laws that are critical to a basic legal framework that combats human trafficking, punishes traffickers and supports survivors. Continue reading 2014 State Ratings on Human Trafficking Laws
‘I will link arms with those marching for climate action,’ says UN secretary general
The secretary general of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon, is to join a public march calling for action on climate change this weekend.
“I will link arms with those marching for climate action,” Ban told a press conference. “We stand with them on the right side of this key issue for our common future.” Continue reading Ban Ki-moon to join climate change march
The most important climate gathering next week will not be happening at the UN, but in the streets: thousands upon thousands of us will be sounding the climate alarm, literally, at the historic People’s Climate March on September 21. While the decision was made not to have speeches during the march, at 12:58pm there will be two minutes of silence followed by the unleashing of a chorus of magnificent sound—part of what organizers are describing as a global call for climate justice—complete with church bells and some 32 marching bands. (Bring your noisemakers!) Continue reading The People’s Climate March: Meet the Next Movement of Movements
Daily Nation
By JOHN MBARIA
It is now clear that every time we engage our collective energies and focus on non-issues, others use the opportunity to put into place nefarious schemes that threaten our very existence.
Unbeknown to many Kenyans, we now have as part of our daily diets foods that have never been eaten by anyone else since the world was created. We also have a law that criminalizes anyone who dares to grow seeds that are not from multinational biotech companies.
Continue reading It’s now illegal to plant any other seed but those produced by multinationals
The meeting preceding World Day on October 16, will debate why Kenya, like many African countries, are dependent on food imports, unable to feed its people on domestic production alone. This is despite Africa’s abundant land and resources.
By George Okore
An international conference on change in land use, subsistence farming, markets and cost of living will be held on September 18-19, 2014 to discuss emerging food security challenges.
The meeting at Catholic University of Eastern Africa, Nairobi comes at when subsistence farming is increasingly becoming under threat from both climatic and market forces. Secondly, there are no clear institutional mechanisms to cushion small scale farmers through well-functioning agricultural and food markets. Continue reading Kenya: Nairobi Meeting to Discuss Food Security Challenges
