December 2018

HONG KONG (SE): Filipino migrant rights groups expressed concerns that the new United Nations (UN) Global Compact for Migration will intensify the Philippines’ labour export programme with normalised migration. The non-binding accord was signed by 164 countries at the Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (CGM), held in Marrakech, Morocco from December 10 and 11. 
 
UN News quoted Louise Arbour,...

HONG KONG (UCAN): As the #MeToo movement sweeps the globe, some South Koreans have been inspired to expose the mistreatment of women and girls who, nearly four decades ago, demonstrated against military regime of strongman, Chun Doo-hwan, in the southern city of Gwangju.
 
In what was to become known as the Gwangju Incident of May 1980, students and citizens protested against ongoing military rule. The government sent in troops who opened fire. The death toll has...

VATICAN (CNS): As World Youth Day (WYD) in Panama draws near, organisers said they are prepared to make young people from around the globe feel right at home.
 
While warm temperatures will greet thousands of young people in Panama, Father Romero Aguilar, WYD general coordinator, said he hopes that the warmth of hospitality also will make them feel welcome.
 
“People are opening their homes to house young people. We were surprised by how the people...

VATICAN (CNS): The death penalty is an inhumane form of punishment that ignores the primacy of mercy in the name of justice, Pope Francis told a delegation from the International Commission against the Death Penalty on December 17. The pope set aside his prepared remarks and spoke off the cuff, the Vatican said.
 
In his prepared text, the pope said his recent revision teaxching of the Catechism of the Catholic Church against capital punishment was an important step in...