Colette Lespinasse is director of the Support Group for the Repatriated and Refugees (GARR, by its French acronym) in Port-au-Prince. Here are her thoughts on solutions to the crisis in which 1.9 million homeless people are still living in precarious tents and other makeshift structures, six months after the earthquake.
Source: Venezuela Analysis
Following Colombian accusations before the Organisation of American States (OAS) yesterday that Venezuela is “protecting” its guerrillas, Chavez announced that Venezuela would break off diplomatic relations with Colombia and withdraw its ambassador. Venezuelan institutions and international social organisations have expressed their support for Venezuela, while the U.S has supported Colombia’s proposal to the OAS.
President Hugo Chavez and various other government leaders have justified the move as defending Venezuela’s “dignity” in the face of “constant aggressions and false accusations” by Colombia against Venezuela.
Americans may believe the United States is set up for the middle class, and Europe is set up for the bourgeois. Or let’s put it this way: America is a great place to buy kitty litter at Wal-Mart and relatively cheap gas. But it is not designed for me, a professional without a lot of money. That’s who Europe is for: people like me.
Diallo Ibrahima traveled to France from his homeland of Mali with dreams of a decent life. Nine years later, he’s still waiting. “I came here to find a better life,” he said at Place de Bastille, in central Paris, where he and hundreds others had camped out for nearly a month. “And I still haven’t found it.”
Source: IPS News
(IPS) – Hoping for better opportunities than they can find at home, many families from Kyrgyzstan travel to find work. Neighbouring Kazakhstan has the strongest economy in Central Asia, and tobacco farms attract workers fleeing Kyrgyzstan’s high unemployment.
Upon arriving at their new employers’ farms, however, many find hardship and exploitation instead of the advantages they’d hoped for, as a new report by Human Rights Watch reveals.
Kyrgyz workers travel to Kazakhstan for the nine-month growing and harvesting season, often with their children in tow. Those interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported that they performed difficult physical labour far more hours per day than permitted under Kazakhstan’s labour laws, and received very little rest, often not getting time off for weekends or holidays.
Simon was 11 years old when soldiers from the Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) forced him into the military. “When the SPLA came to us, the older people ran away,” Simon, whose name has been changed to protect his identity, explained. “I didn’t run because I was a child. So they captured me. When I refused, they kept beating me. I didn’t want to go but they forced me to join the SPLA.” The SPLA, the predominantly Christian Black African south’s military, fought against the mostly Muslim Arab north in a two decade-long civil war that left two million dead.
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