Daily Archives: January 28, 2015

trafficking

Nigerian women caught in Italy’s sex-trade trap

AlJazeera

Many are raped, beaten, and psychologically abused by members of the Nigerian mafia that controls the sex trade.

Flaminia Giambalvo

More than 1,200 Nigerian women arrived in Italy by boat in 2014 [Getty Images]
More than 1,200 Nigerian women arrived in Italy by boat in 2014 [Getty Images]

Rome, Italy – A record number of women from Nigeria arrived in Italy over the past year and fears have been raised that many fell victim to Europe’s growing sex trade.

More than 1,200 Nigerian women came to Italy by boat in 2014 compared to 300 the previous year, according to a new report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

“We don’t have the official figures yet but estimates suggest as many as 80 percent of the women are earmarked for sex work,” said the migration agency’s spokesperson Flavio Di Giacomo. Continue reading Nigerian women caught in Italy’s sex-trade trap →

South Africa

XENOPHOBIC VIOLENCE IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE

PRESS STATEMENT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Jesuit Institute South Africa

The ongoing violence in Soweto against foreign persons and their businesses constitutes another episode in South Africa’s shameful history of xenophobia. The savagery demonstrated and the failure to put a stop to the current (and earlier) incidents of xenophobic violence is deeply disturbing and displays a failure of the State to put an end to such behavior both by the enforcement of the law and the education of citizens in respect of the rights of foreign nationals. This is a national disgrace. Continue reading XENOPHOBIC VIOLENCE IS A NATIONAL DISGRACE →

Economy, Environment

Setting Precedent for Public Institutions, Maine University System Pulls Funds From Fossil Fuels

Common Dreams

Following years of student organizing, state-wide university system voted Monday to withdraw direct holdings from coal industry

Sarah Lazare, staff writer

"This is an exciting new precedent for public institutions," said Meaghan LaSala, organizer with Divest UMaine. (Image courtesy of Divest UMaine)
“This is an exciting new precedent for public institutions,” said Meaghan LaSala, organizer with Divest UMaine. (Image courtesy of Divest UMaine)

After two years of student organizing, the University of Maine state-wide system on Monday became the first public land grant institution—and first university system—in the United States to divest any of its fossil fuel holdings, in step with world-wide grassroots efforts to take on the powerful industries driving global warming. Continue reading Setting Precedent for Public Institutions, Maine University System Pulls Funds From Fossil Fuels →