European Parliament" "

Debate on immigration” “

An extraordinary debate on European immigration and asylum policy took place on Wednesday, 22 October. The debate had been convened by the Italian Presidency of the EU following the tragic events of Lampedusa and especially the reluctance of the countries of northern Europe to support the need for the EU to assume the costs and […]

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The Erasmus programme is opened to the whole world” “

The European Parliament’s commission for culture and education unanimously approved, in recent days, a report by Marielle De Sarnez on the Erasmus Mundus programme. Complementing the already well-known Erasmus programme for inter-university student exchanges within the EU, the programme is aimed at opening European universities and colleges to students from all over the world. The […]

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Combating violence against women” “

The European Council and Commission should include in future trade and development agreements a specific clause that provides for the application of sanctions and, if need be, the suspension of the accord in the case of serious and recurrent violations of women’s rights, such as genital mutilation, mutilation with acid, corporal punishment inflicted in public, […]

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EU in brief" "

Traffic in human organs and tissues” “

Greece has presented a proposal relating to the Council’s framework decision on the prevention and repression of the traffic in human organs and tissues. The proposal was favourably accepted by the European Parliament’s Commission for the liberties and rights of citizens, which examined it during the EP’s recent plenary session (20-23 October). The traffic in […]

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Holy Land: enough declarations” “

“The shortest way to achieve peace in Iraq passes through Jerusalem” and “the Churches must dedicate themselves to the Palestinians just as they did for South Africa”. So said the Anglican bishop of Jerusalem, Riah Abu El-Assal, in recent days, recalling that since the beginning of the Intifada over 800 Israelis and over 2,400 Palestinians […]

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KEK/WCC" "

Medicine and the destiny of man” “

The “Church and Society” Commission of the Conference of European Churches (KEK, an organization representing 126 Churches of Orthodox, Protestant, Anglican and Old Catholic tradition) recently approved a document with the title “Genetic screening and predictive medicine”. Expressing satisfaction about the progress achieved by medical genetics, the document focuses attention on the “real difficulties” that […]

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human rights" "

Armed childhood” “

The tragedy of child soldiers (300,000) at the ACP-EU assembly. In the 1990s, over two million children died due to armed conflicts, and over a million remained orphaned; over six million were seriously injured or permanently disabled; and over ten million suffered serious psychological traumas. Meanwhile the number of child victims of war continues to […]

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media" "

The injured truth” “

“Among the numerous victims of war, there is one that does not arouse sufficient concern: the truth. Its injuries do not heal rapidly, due to the deliberate disinformation, propaganda and manipulation that condition trust between public and media”. The point is made in the last number of “Signis Media”, the bi-monthly journal of Signis, the […]

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poverty" "

A decent job for all ” “

“Three billion human beings in our world live on less than two dollars per day, of whom one billion, i.e. 23% of the world population, survive on just one dollar”: the fact was reported by Juan Somavia, director general of the International Labour Office, to the “Second European round table on poverty and social exclusion: […]

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Festival of biblical theatre” “

A Festival of Biblical Theatre with 19 plays, 35 actors, 2 exhibitions and 2 round tables on this theme: it’s the second year of this event, held in recent days (until 23 October) in France, at Clermont-Ferrand, Ambert, Issoire and Chatel-Guyon. It was begun on the initiative of the “Culture and Communication” association. The Reformed […]

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