Universal common good

Issues concerning globalization, international relations, fair trade, international organizations, immigration / refugees, debt-relief, race / ethinicity, third world, war, peace, ...

Australia: Asylum Seekers Free After Malaysia Swap Deal Fails

Asylum seekers who arrived in Australia by boat are being moved into the community on bridging visas after the failure of the Gillard government's Malaysian people-swap deal.

Immigration Minister Chris Bowen says he has approved bridging visas for 27 single men, mostly Afghans and Sri Lankans, who have been in detention for long periods, The Daily Telegraph reported.

It is understood thousands more will be released by the Federal Government over the next six months. Read more »

Franciscans Think UNESCO Status Could Complicate Rules At Holy Sites

Palestinians are hopeful that UNESCO will recognize the city of Bethlehem as the first Palestinian World Heritage Site, but Franciscans in charge of the city's holy places say they do not want them included in the classification.

"We don't want the (UNESCO) recognition for the holy places," said a Franciscan source who asked not to be named. "We fear it could lead to nationalization of the shrines. The shrines are not tourist places, but are places of prayer and worship." Read more »

Registration Of Refugees And Asylum-Seekers In January

Malaysia will start the registration of asylum-seekers and refugees holding UNHCR documents in January, the UN Refugee Agency said.

This follows an agreement between Malaysia and UNHCR on the registration of the asylum seekers. The exercise will be carried out progressively in major cities where refugees are located. Read more »

Pope Outlines Holy See's Global Vision For Diplomacy

Pope Benedict XVI used his address to the new ambassador from the Netherlands to outline how the Catholic Church views its role in diplomatic relations.

“In acting as a voice for the voiceless and defending the rights of the defenseless, including the poor, the sick, the unborn, the elderly, and the members of minority groups who suffer unjust discrimination,” said Pope Benedict, “the Church seeks always to promote natural justice as it is her right and duty to do.” Read more »

Bar Council Moots Monitoring Mechanism For Malaysian-Myanmar Refugee Swap

A proper monitoring mechanism is needed for the planned Malaysian-Myanmar refugee swap to ensure transparency and zero human rights violations, the Bar Council said today.

Lim Chee Wee, who is president of the Malaysian Bar, said it is crucial both governments prove the swap arrangement will stand up to “international scrutiny,” and pointed out that both Malaysia and Myanmar have had less than satisfactory track records in the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers. Read more »

Australia Abandons Refugee-Swap Deal With Malaysia

Australia's government abandoned a refugee-swap deal with Malaysia on Thursday and said it would now process asylum seekers on Australian soil, in a major policy back flip that heads off an embarrassing defeat in parliament.

A day after she celebrated passing landmark carbon tax laws through parliament's lower house, Prime Minister Julia Gillard was forced to dump the Malaysian plan because she did not have the numbers to change migration laws to allow the refugee swap. Read more »

Tunisia: The Nuns Who Teach Dialogue

A school dedicated to inter-religious dialogue where, among other things, respect and tolerance are taught. The institute is run entirely by a community of nuns.

The school (founded in 1880) is located in Bizerte, northwest of Tunis, and every year it welcomes 870 primary school students. Read more »

Egypt: Desire For Divorce Drives Coptic-Muslim Tensions

A desire for divorce is the cause of much of the tension between Muslims and Coptic Orthodox Christians in Egypt, according to a newly published article in the Catholic Near East Welfare Association’s ONE Magazine.

Because Islam is tolerant of divorce and Coptic Orthodoxy by and large is not, many Coptic women have converted to Islam to leave their marriages. The magazine reports: Read more »

US State Department Religious Freedom Round-Up 2010

The U.S. State Department released its latest International Religious Freedom Report. Even though its title is the 2010 report, it only covers the last six months of the year as future editions will shift to a calendar year reporting period.

In his presentation of the report Michael H. Posner, the assistant secretary of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, said that the same eight states designated as Countries of Particular Concern in previous years were re-named in the latest report. They are: Burma, China, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan. Read more »

Christians To New Singapore President: Urgent To Stop Human Trafficking

Singapore is a hub for human traffickers. The fight against this alarming phenomenon must be a priority on the new President, Tony Tan’s agenda, who was elected two weeks ago.

This is what the Christian community in Singapore, about 16% of the population, asks. Read more »

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