Monday, 21 Dec 2009
By Maurice Malanes

When the Rev. Daniel Luis Pantoja, a Filipino Mennonite pastor trained and ordained in Canada, learnt how coffee processing corporations had long short-changed indigenous people in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao, he decided to do something about it.

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The Clean Clothes Campaign is happy to share some good news about human-rights lawyer Remigio Saladero and 60 other activists who had been accused of a political murder in February this year. JustAct has also been following this case.

On November 13, the Provincial Prosecution dropped the case due to “failure to establish probable cause”. In a nine-page resolution, the Prosecutor also noted “serious inconsistencies” and “illogical basis of identification [of respondents]” in the sworn statements and affidavits of the complainant and witnesses “which cannot be ignored.”

In the weeks before Christmas, Triumph International keeps its doors shut for representatives of Thai and Philippine unions that are fighting against mass-dismissals at three Triumph subsidiaries. The unions have come to Europe to put pressure on Triumph International to stop their global restructuring plan at the cost of union jobs.

Support the union workers and confront Triumph with its union-busting practices. Please sign the protest card, and share this message with your friends!

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December 21, 2009
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Across the Middle East, a Christian population that stood at 20 percent a century ago has now sunk to under five percent. Yet the rise of radical Islam is not the only factor. In the Occupied Territories, Christians suffer alongside Muslims from Israeli policies, most recently the new “security wall”.

As the 15th Conference of Parties reaches midway, it is clear that the issue of climate change means survival to some countries and economic growth to others.  The Association of Small Island States have submitted a proposal to secure the twin objectives of survival of the Kyoto Protocol and to strengthen the UNFCCC with a new ‘Copenhagen’ Protocol that can be adopted here in Copenhagen”, said Ambassador Dessima Williams of Grenada. 

Date of publication: November 17, 2009
Full report here
American based – but worth a look, the Sweatshop Hall of Shame 2010 highlights apparel and textile companies that use sweatshops in their global production. Ikea has been found to purchase bed linen from a factory where four workers died as a result of unsafe working conditions. Full report here