In this issue
In this issue
- Nepalese earthquake survivors feed back on aid
- Pakistan to consider case of juvenile facing hanging
- Pfizer blocks drug sales to US executioners
- LGBTQI clergy write ‘love letter’ to United Methodist Church
- The Queen’s Speech: a reality check
- Faith groups’ dismay at UK boycott of UN disarmament meeting
- UN-mediated Yemen peace talks find consensus on some issues
- Peace union calls for ‘conscientious objection in everyday life’
- When to ban nuclear weapons is key issue at UN work group
- ‘Subversive peacemaking’ theme at Pax Christi conference
- General accused of ‘fantasy’ after calling UK policy ‘semi-pacifist’
- ‘Extraordinary rebellion’ of conscientious objectors preserved
- Quakers say ‘no’ to TTIP
- Liberty clients condemn plans to scrap Human Rights Act
- Cities in polluting countries most at risk from flooding
- New poll shows overwhelming support in UK for refugees
- Christian Aid challenges David Cameron on tax haven secrecy
- Homelessness in Scotland ‘obscene’ says church leader
- Latest figures show one third of UK population experience poverty
- Making a difference, from a bed or a chair
18 May 2016
Nepalese earthquake survivors feed back on aid
In the run-up to the first ever World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul (23-24 May), Christian Aid has launched Nepal Aftershocks: the people’s truth about aid, a new multimedia project that asked nearly 200 people who survived the 2015 earthquakes what they really thought about the aid the world gave.
19 May 2016
Pakistan to consider case of juvenile facing hanging
The Supreme Court in Pakistan is to consider the case of a prisoner who could be hanged at as little as three days’ notice, despite evidence that he was arrested as a child.
14 May 2016
Pfizer blocks drug sales to US executioners
The world’s second largest pharmaceutical firm has officially withdrawn from the lethal injection drug trade, imposing strict distribution controls to prevent its drugs reaching execution chambers across the USA.
16 May 2016
LGBTQI clergy write ‘love letter’ to United Methodist Church
A ‘love letter’ from 123 LGBTQI clergy and candidates to the United Methodist Church in the US was released on 9 May 2016.
Friday 20 May 2016
19 May 2016
The Queen’s Speech: a reality check
Watching the Queen’s Speech was like observing the behaviour of an absentee landlord
16 May 2016
Faith groups’ dismay at UK boycott of UN disarmament meeting
The UN Open-ended Working Group has completed its second session (13 May 2016) on working out how to bring in new treaties that could lead to multi-lateral disarmament. The UK government is boycotting this intergovernmental meeting.
16 May 2016
UN-mediated Yemen peace talks find consensus on some issues
In his latest update on the Yemeni peace talks currently under way in Kuwait, the UN envoy for the conflict-torn country has reported that the two delegations discussed proposals to bridge the gap between their respective visions, reaching consensus on some issues.
16 May 2016
Peace union calls for ‘conscientious objection in everyday life’
British pacifists have urged opponents of war to become “conscientious objectors” by challenging militarist values and attitudes in everyday life.
17 May 2016
When to ban nuclear weapons is key issue at UN work group
When is the right time to ban a very bad thing? Nations have faced the question in banning slavery, torture, chemical weapons and more. Over one hundred governments and civil society organisations including the World Council of Churches are debating the question again at a UN working group on nuclear weapons.
18 May 2016
‘Subversive peacemaking’ theme at Pax Christi conference
Members and supporters of Pax Christi from around the country will gather in Leeds on 21 May for the movement’s Annual General Meeting and Conference on ‘Subversive Peacemakers – from the First World War to today’.
19 May 2016
General accused of ‘fantasy’ after calling UK policy ‘semi-pacifist’
A retired NATO commander has accused David Cameron of making the UK ‘semi-pacifist’, sparking derision from pacifist groups.
14 May 2016
‘Extraordinary rebellion’ of conscientious objectors preserved
When Norman Gaudie refused to participate in World War I he acted from the deepest conviction that all life is sacred.He knew it was wrong to take a life and so he refused to fight. Faced with conscription, he was prepared to die for his belief.
20 May 2016
Quakers say ‘no’ to TTIP
Five Quaker organisations from Europe and the United States have asked governments to say ‘no’ to the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP), the controversial ‘mega’ trade deal being negotiated between the European Union and the United States.
19 May 2016
Liberty clients condemn plans to scrap Human Rights Act
Following yesterday’s Queen’s Speech, the families of Private Cheryl James, Corporal Anne-Marie Ellement and Alice Gross have condemned the Government’s plans to scrap the Human Rights Act in favour of a weakened ‘British Bill of Rights’.
16 May 2016
Cities in polluting countries most at risk from flooding
To mark the start of Christian Aid Week, a new report by the charity highlights the world cities most at risk from future coastal flooding.
19 May 2016
New poll shows overwhelming support in UK for refugees
More than three quarters of the British public would accept refugees in their neighbourhood or home, according to a new Amnesty International survey published yesterday (18 May 2016), showing that anti-refugee political rhetoric is “out of step” with public opinion
19 May 2016
Christian Aid challenges David Cameron on tax haven secrecy
The UK will only successfully tackle corruption when its tax havens apply UK levels of transparency, Christian Aid said yesterday after the Queen’s Speech highlighted plans for action against money laundering, corruption and tax evasion.
18 May 2016
Homelessness in Scotland ‘obscene’ says church leader
The scale of homelessness in Scotland is a “damning indictment” on modern society and politicians must do much more to tackle the problem, a Church leader has said.
17 May 2016
Latest figures show one third of UK population experience poverty
Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures released on 16 May 2016 show 3.9 million people in the UK are in persistent poverty. The figures show one in three people have experienced poverty in recent years, underlinng the precarious nature of work in Britain.
17 May 2016
Making a difference, from a bed or a chair
The term ‘armchair activists’ tends to be used in a rather pejorative way, implying that people who campaign through social media are not doing anything that has significance or impact in the real