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The Disasters Emergency Committee in the UK has expressed grave concern following reports of cholera in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.

The Disasters Emergency Committee in the UK has expressed grave concern following reports of cholera in Pakistan’s Swat Valley.

With floodwaters affecting a fifth of the country, and stretching for more than 600 miles, the DEC warned that millions of people are at risk of potentially deadly water borne diseases.

Disasters Emergency Committee chief executive Brendan Gormley says: “We are extremely concerned by reports of cholera in the Swat valley. The numbers reportedly affected so far appear to be small but cholera causes acute watery diarrhoea which allows it to spread very quickly in cramped, unhygienic conditions."

“Aid workers greatly fear cholera after a disaster because, without treatment, more than half those infected are likely to die. Cholera can be prevented by providing clean drinking water, good sanitation and rapid treatment of those affected. Our member agencies will be redoubling their efforts to improve the provision of clean water and sanitation to the huge number of people affected by the flooding. Any outbreaks of highly infectious diarrhoeal diseases need to be contained as quickly as possible in order to prevent further deaths,” he added.

Millions of survivors are currently struggling without access to safe water, more than two weeks after the disaster first struck. Merlin, a member agency of the DEC, has seen a significant rise in cases of acute watery diarrhoea throughout the worst affected areas, particularly in young children. With as many as 20% of patients in some areas affected.

Linda Doull, Director of Health and Policy at Merlin, commented: “If left untreated, the rapid loss of fluids caused by acute watery diarrhoea, such as with cholera, can prove fatal within hours."

She continued: “We need to ensure patients have access to medical staff, that enough diarrhoea treatment units are set up swiftly and that the delivery of safe water is made an absolute priority."

“Most cholera cases can be effectively and easily treated with oral rehydration salts, costing just 3p per sachet," she said.

UN officials have said there have been 86,000 suspected cases of acute watery diarrhoea reported so far. Acute watery diarrhoea is one of the main symptoms of cholera although it can also be caused by other water borne diseases.

DEC member agency efforts to treat and prevent waterborne diseases include:

* Oxfam has provided clean water for over 150,000 people by fixing water systems and trucking clean water supplies. As well as purchasing aid in- country, they have sent 19,000 water purification tablets, 455 latrine slabs/squatting plates and six de-watering kits (pumps for cleaning contaminated wells).

* Merlin has delivered 4,000 packets of water purification tablets - enough to make 400,000 litres of safe drinking water - 48,000 packs of oral rehydration salts and 20,000 doses of antibiotics to help fight the rising number of diarrhoeal disease and other infections. They are also setting up 3 Diarrhoea Treatment Units in three districts, capable of treating 300 patients at any one time.

* Save the Children has established a diarrhoea treatment center in Swat for children and adults, and is distributing hygiene kits, and conducting hygiene promotion to prevent rise in water-borne diseases like acute watery diarrhoea.

* Concern have given clean drinking water to 12,400 in Swat and Charsadda.

To make a donation to the DEC Pakistan Floods Appeal call the 24 hour hotline on 0370 60 60 900, visit http://www.dec.org.uk or donate over the counter at any post office or high street bank, or send a cheque. You can also donate £5 by texting the word GIVE to 70707

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The National Council of Churches in Australia has welcomed plans for a World Council of Churches delegation to visit the country's Indigenous Peoples.

The National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) has welcomed the decision by the World Council of Churches to send an international ecumenical delegation to visit the Indigenous Peoples of Australia from 12 -17 September 2010.

The visit is in response to an invitation extended by the NCCA with the view to shed light on the human rights situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and to show solidarity with the Indigenous people who feel their voices are not heard. The focus of this visit will be the impact of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER).

The invitation to the WCC was extended following a forum held in 2009 by the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission (NATSIEC) of the NCCA.

This forum brought together Indigenous Church leaders from around Australia to discuss the Australian Government’s NTER. The aim of the forum was to show solidarity with Aboriginal people in the NT, and to formulate a common response and plan for action.

A key recommendation arising from that forum was to ask the NCCA to extend an invitation to the WCC to send a Living Letters team to visit the Northern Territory .

Living Letters are small ecumenical teams visiting a country to listen, learn, share approaches and challenges in overcoming violence and in peace making, and to pray together for peace in the community and in the world

A Living Letters team previously visited Australia in 1981 to assess the situation for Aborigines. They travelled around the country for three weeks and met with a wide number of individuals, communities and organisations.

The 1981 report of this visit reflected the concerns, hopes, dreams and aspirations of Aboriginal people as heard by the Living Letters team. The report gave guidance to the Churches and hope to Aboriginal people. Independent points of view proved valuable in highlighting to government the areas where Australia needed to do better.

From this, relations with Indigenous people have improved with better co-operation and representation within Churches, says NCCA. "It is our hope and prayer that a similar outcome can be achieved by a contemporary visit, particularly in relation to the NTER. The NCCA and NATSIEC have consistently expressed concern, along with Church leaders and other organisations, since the inception of the NTER."

The General Secretary of the National Council of Churches in Australia, the Rev Tara Curlewis, commented: “We feel that there is an urgent need to shine a light on the impact of the NTER on Aboriginal people. We welcome the arrival of an international and neutral team to listen, learn and bear witness to the situation for Aboriginal people in the New Territories”.

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For more information on the visit, go to: http://www.overcomingviolence.org/en/peace-convocation/preparatory-proce...

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The Action of Churches Together (ACT) Alliance has made a global appeal for assistance to people affected by flash floods and Landslides in India.

The Action of Churches Together (ACT) Alliance has made a global appeal for assistance to people affected by flash floods and Landslides in India.

The town of Leh in Ladakh, in northeastern Jammu and Kashmir state, experienced deadly flash floods caused by a cloudburst lasting several hours on 6 August 2010. This in turn triggered raging floods and landslides.

Hundreds of homes were destroyed and people marooned, says ACT. More than 200 mud-built houses were washed away. The district hospital is submerged and the radio station damaged. Electricity cables and telecommunication pylons have been damaged or washed away. Assistance is now urgently needed, the development alliance confirms.

The affected area stretches from the village of Phayang on the Rohtang-Leh highway to Nimoo on the Leh-Srinagar highway (a distance of more than 150 km). Five villages were severely affected in the sudden downpour and flash floods, including Choglumsar and Shapoo. Leh town was among the worst-hit areas.

Leh has a population of 117,000, most of whom are taking shelter in the higher mountains around them. Over 200 people are still reported to be missing from the worst-hit village of Choglumsar, where nearly all homes were washed away. Phayang was also badly hit and is completely submerged. Phayang had a population of around 700 Muslim and Buddhist families before the disaster, of which six families are missing and presumed drowned.

Official figures report a death toll so far of around 200, though it is feared this could reach over 500. Around 600 people are reported missing, and at least 350 injured are being treated in an army hospital. Many more people are trapped under collapsed houses and buildings.

ACT Alliance members, Church's Auxiliary for Social Action (CASA) and the Lutheran World Federation/Lutheran World Service India Trust (LWF/LWSIT) are responding to this emergency. Their response aims to mitigate the effects of the flash floods by providing life-saving and life-sustaining assistance to approximately 20,000 affected families.

The ACT Secretariat says it expects to receive elaborated and revised proposals for this response by 26 August 2010, following further in-depth assessments. This will include further proposed recovery assistance and will take account of actual and potential funding contributions as indicated by ACT members and other supporters around the world.

The full ACT report on the Indian flash floods and the response can be read here (*.PDF Adobe Acrobat file) -
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&shorti...

The government has retained support despite promises of swingeing cuts, the Lib Dems have gained little credit for their coalescing, and Labour has been on the up despite being leaderless and rudderless. Simon Barrow looks at the unreal politics of the parliamentary recess.

It may seem as if formal political life gets replaced by its own burning embers during the parliamentary recess in Westminster, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. But surface appearances are deceptive.

David Cameron has already skipped one holiday to pursue his ‘cuts road show’, inviting the great British public to debate how and where the debt-and-recession scalpel should be inserted. Now he's conducting a PR campaign for 'the first 100 days' while on another.

At the same time, the technical war of words between MPs of all parties and the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority over the new system of Commons’ allowances has continued unabated.

Then there’s the Labour Party leadership hustings. The post-Brown and Blair beauty contest rumbles on in partially filled halls and internet chat rooms across the land. It may be attracting comparatively little publicity outside the dedicated politicos – but that will change again in September.

Meanwhile, what passes for an official opposition is in much better shape than most of its movers and shakers would have predicted three months ago - indeed, level-pegging with the Conservatives, according to an 18 August 2010 Guardian/ICM poll.

In the immediate aftermath of the May general election it seemed as if most established political bets were off. The voters had hung precedent out to dry, and the inevitable ‘honeymoon period’ for the new government was not so much aimed at the cabinet and Prime Minister as at the very idea of a coalition administration nuzzled up on the banks of the Thames. Surely “this sort of thing” was meant for the “Celtic fringes”?

Some habits die hard, however. The briefly resurgent Liberal Democrats sunk to a record low of 12 per cent in opinion polls following an arrangement which many of their brightest-eyed supporters saw as a deal with the devil. By contrast, the Conservatives have maintained a dignified public posture while simultaneously engaging in a crafty softening-up exercise for a reduction in public expenditure on a scale that turns Thatcherites green with envy. It's the contortionists who are running the show now.

Equally intriguing has been the persistence of not-so-new Labour. With no clear leader, no defined policy alternative, and a debate on the future shape of centre-left politics that bypasses an electorate more attuned to the impact of emerging policies on the wallet, the party has already clawed its way back from 29 to 37 percentage points.

The general lack of bloodletting and the media focus on Posh and Clegg has helped, naturally. But imagine what new shifts might happen when the Autumn Spending Review reveals the full scale and (for many, not least the most vulnerable) the full horror of the Coalition’s cuts? The architectonic upheaval we have seen in the political landscape looks set to go on for a while longer, and no one is quite sure where it will all end.

In part that may depend upon the outcome of a referendum on voting reform which neither changers nor non-changers want in its present form. The Alternative Vote (AV) belies its name. But it may yet be the last saving hope of those whose motto remains: “We’re all in favour of change. So long as it doesn’t make any difference,” politically at least. Economically, the knives continue to be sharpened and poised.

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(c) Simon Barrow is co-director of Ekklesia. This article is adapted from his regular 'Westminster Watch' column in Third Way, the magazine of Christian social and cultural comment.

Church World Service has urged a more robust response from the international donor community to Pakistan’s devastating flooding disaster.

Church World Service officials have urged a more robust response from the international donor community to Pakistan’s devastating flooding disaster.

The US-based global relief and development agency (http://www.churchworldservice.org/) has voiced even deeper worries over whether or not pledges will be fulfilled.

While the international community has so far committed close to US$229.5 million in support and another US$142 million in additional pledges, those pledge amounts alone are insufficient to cover even the initial three-month relief needs outlined by the United Nations, says Donna Derr, Director of Humanitarian Assistance for Church World Service.

“Thankfully the flood’s death toll has remained relatively low but disasters can’t be measured by just the number of dead,” says CWS’s Derr. “Effective humanitarian response must be measured against the all the people affected, just struggling to survive,” she said.

The initial UN plan calls for US$460 million. The Pakistan Humanitarian Forum, of which CWS is a member, calls on government and private sources to dramatically increase funding in order to save lives.

With offices in Pakistan since 1954, CWS relief and development experts are concerned Pakistan’s already weak social services may crumble without adequate and immediate help now. Millions of Pakistanis risk sinking deeper into chronic poverty for the next generation, compromising human rights and basic needs.

Making pledges pay off on the ground is a chronic challenge among the world donor community. In recent UN appeals for the internally displaced in Pakistan’s northwest, some donors were moderately quick to pledge funding but hesitant to follow through with actual commitments.

Church World Service is continuing to distribute food and non-food items across Pakistan. The agency’s health teams and mobile health units are focusing on providing preventive and curative health services. Another CWS mobile health unit was dispatched on 16 August 2010 to Kewaii Union Council, Mansehra District, rescheduled from its original assignment in Kohistan, which is still inaccessible to aid teams.

As its response expands, CWS’s completed, ongoing and planned activities will benefit a total of 237,950 individuals in seven districts of three provinces, Khyber Pakhtunkwa, Balochistan and Sindh, the agency says.

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At least 67 people are missing and 25 injured, nine severely, after mudslides hit a remote town in southwest China's Yunnan Province.

At least 67 people are missing and 25 were injured, nine severely, after mudslides hit a remote town in southwest China's Yunnan Province early on 18 August 2010.

Details are being released by local authorities through the Xinhua News Agency.

Most of the missing people are employees of the Yujin Iron Mine and villagers in the Puladi Township, in the Drung-Nu Autonomous County of Gongshan, where the mudslides struck at around 1.30 am local time.

"I suddenly heard rumbling late last night and then rushed to a safe place with fellow villagers. I hadn't expected mudslides could come so quickly," said Yu Zhizhong, of Litoudi Village, about 10 kilometres from Puladi township seat.

The mudslides were about 300 metres across, villagers and rescuers said.

At least 10 trucks transporting iron ore and 21 houses were buried, said Zhong Zhifang, a spokesperson for local border troops involved in the search and rescue operation.

Roads, power supplies and telecommunications were cut following the mudslides, which were triggered by days of torrential rain, Zhong said.

The first group of 24 border troops arrived at the site, about 17 km from the Gongshan county seat, at 9:30 a.m., and another 103 troops are en route to the area, Zhong said.

The injured had been taken to hospital, Zhong said.

The mudslides also destroyed a bridge and blocked parts of the Nujiang River flowing through the mountains, lifting the water level in the upper reaches by up to six metres, said a statement from the Yunan Provincial Emergency Response Office Wednesday.

The local government had also dispatched rescuers to the area high in the mountains bordering Myanmar, said a spokesman with the government of Lisu Autonomous Prefecture of Nujiang, which administers Gongshan.

The county faced more rain in the next two days, according to local meteorological authorities.

On 26 June in Puladi, a mudslide killed 11 people at the construction site of a hydropower station.

Torrential rains have wreaked havoc across China this summer, incurring the worst flooding and landslides in decades.

A massive mudslide on 8 August in Zhouqu County, in northwestern Gansu Province, left 1,270 people dead and 474 missing.

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In the five years since the 2005 earthquake devastated parts of Pakistan, not one year has gone by in which the people of Pakistan have not suffered from disaster, says Church World Service staff working in the country.

In the five years since the 2005 earthquake devastated parts of Pakistan, not one year has gone by in which the people of Pakistan have not suffered from disaster.

The years 2006 and 2007 brought floods; although not even close to the destruction brought by this year’s floods, people still lost their lives, homes, crops and livestock.

In 2008, a powerful earthquake rendered thousands homeless in Balochistan at the onset of winter. In 2009, millions of people were displaced by the conflict between the Pakistan military and militants in Khyber Pakhtunkwa and Waziristan.

Throughout these years, severe drought and water shortages plagued the agricultural communities, which constantly live with the reality of food insecurity. Now, 2010, a year that was supposed to be a time of new beginnings and the continued road to recovery from previous disasters, has turned into a record-breaking year for flood destruction - and not just in one province, but throughout the entire country.

Resilient is a word often used to describe the people of Pakistan, but this cycle of loss and destruction is truly testing this attribute. Thousands of people have been living in pre-fabricated shelters, still trying to regain their lives and livelihoods lost five years ago.

Entire communities began to experience rebirth - but now these very same people must start over again after the floodwaters are gone. Displaced persons, many who have only recently returned home to Swat and other areas, once again find themselves without homes and property. Farmers who were already struggling with food insecurity have lost or may lose this year’s harvest, thus, pushing them farther away from achieving food security for their families.

Undoubtedly the floods have caused widespread damage to agricultural and croplands, adding further threats of food insecurity to flood-affected families. Particularly affected are the croplands in the province of Punjab, known as the breadbasket of Pakistan - thereby exacerbating the problems facing the country. As sources of food supply remain underwater, families face the possibility of not being able to harvest and sow their crops. Worsening the situation are increased prices for essentials like sugar.

What is most worrisome is the harsh test of time, and a cycle of never-ending disasters: Flood-affected families in Kashmir, Muzaffarabad, Gilgit-Baltistan and Balakot had already experienced massive devastation in the 2005 South Asian earthquake.

“People in the affected areas are most vulnerable and they had hardly managed to get their lives back together after the earthquake. Again, everything they had is taken away from them,” said Dennis Joseph, associate director of the CWS program in Pakistan. “At this moment it is not just their material well-being but also their physical well-being, which includes their mental well-being that is important.”

Dennis shared the story of Mehr Nisar, a 50-year-old widow from Punda Balla Village. She told Joseph: “I lost my husband in the earthquake, and I was living in a [pre-fabricated] shelter with my son after that. This has now been destroyed as half of the land under the shelter was washed away.”

There are many more like Mehr Nisar whose lives are at a standstill and await better times.

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This article was contributed by CWS staff in Islamabad, Pakistan. It is reproduced with grateful thanks.

Contributions to support the emergency needs in Pakistan may be made online (http://www.churchworldservice.org/) or by phone in the US (800.297.1516), or may be sent to your denomination or to Church World Service, P.O. Box 968, Elkhart, IN 46515.

Church World Service is a member of the ACT Alliance, a global coalition of churches and agencies engaged in development, humanitarian assistance and advocacy.

Anti-poverty activists have expressed astonishment at George Osborne's claim that massive public spending cuts will create a "more just society".

Anti-poverty activists have expressed astonishment at Chancellor George Osborne's claim that massive public spending cuts will create a "more just society".

Attacking 'deficit deniers' in his recent defence of coalition government policies - which analysts say will hit the poorest hardest through a combination of low wages, unemployment, benefit reductions and increased costs - Mr Osborne, who is a millionaire, claimed that "we are all in this together".

He said that income distribution - which has widened significantly in recent years - is not the only measure of fairness, stressing opportunity over actual outcomes.

But Martin Narey, chief executive of the children's charity Barnado's, said on BBC TV's 'Newsnight' programme yesterday that the government had to tackle the jobs and wages crisis if it was serious about attacking poverty. He described the current minimum wage as "shameful".

The Trades Union Congress (TUC) has also warned that the growing income and wealth gap in Britain makes it more and more difficult for those at the bottom to lever themselves up, rendering talk of opportunity without redistribution illusory.

Brendan Barber, General Secretary of the TUC, suggested that the Chancellor "has a different definition of fairness to the rest of us".

He declared: "Mr Osborne's spending cuts are hitting the most vulnerable, his one big tax rise was VAT – the unfairest tax of all – and his economic policies are bearing down on the young, trapped between unemployment and an education sector with not enough places."

"Meanwhile those in banks and finance who caused the recession are back collecting their bonuses and celebrating their biggest windfall, their escape from being asked to make a proper tax contribution to clearing up the mess they made," said Mr Barber.

The Green Party has also attacked the fundamental logic of the cuts, which the Chancellor says are about ensuring that debts are not handed from one generation to the next, calling them "destructive and unnecessary."

Cuts “are not an economic inevitability but an ideological choice”, says party leader Dr Caroline Lucas, the new MP for Brighton Pavilion.

Politicians from the main parties have been “sharpening their axes to slash public spending, forcing those on lower incomes, who depend on public services the most, to pay the highest price for the recent excesses of the bankers," she declared after the budget.

“There is a choice," said the Green leader. "We should ask those best able to pay to foot the bill through fairer taxation... and [tackle the economic crisis] through a basic shift towards a low carbon economy through investment in renewable technologies."

Meanwhile, Church Action on Poverty (http://www.church-poverty.org.uk/) is reminding supporters that there are still three weeks in which to apply for one of its Tackling Poverty Awards.

The awards, for which nominations end on 27 August 2010, will identify and celebrate projects that are providing meaningful and effective support to people of working age living in poverty in the UK.

Mr Osborne is heir to the Osborne baronetcy of Ballentaylor in County Tipperary.

Also on Ekklesia: We are not 'all in this together', by Jill Segger - http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/node/12859

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A Somali Christian leader has condemned the halting of the work of three relief organisations in Somalia by Al Shabaab, an Islamic militant group.

A Somali Christian leader has condemned the halting of the work of three relief organisations in Somalia by Al Shabaab, an Islamic militant group, which alleged the agencies were propagating Christianity - writes Fredrick Nzwili.

"Now that they have suspended their work, it is the local people who will suffer," Pastor Ahmed Abukar Mukhtar, the leader in exile of a small Christian community in Somalia, told ENInews in Nairobi last week.

Abukar, who fled Somalia for Kenya, criticised Al Shabaab, which controls most of southern Somalia, for claiming that the agencies engaged in attempting to convert Muslims, who account for almost all of Somalia's people.

"I think the allegations are not true. They have used this excuse to expel the agencies," said Abukar.

On 8 August, Harakat Al Shabaab Al-Mujahideen (Movement of Warrior Youth) demanded that World Vision, the Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA), and Diakonia, a Swedish agency, immediately cease operations in Somalia.

"Acting as missionaries under the guise of humanitarian work, the organisations have been spreading their corrupted ideologies in order to taint the pure creed of the Muslims in Somalia," Al Shabaab said in a statement.

Bishop Giorgio Bertin of Djibouti, who is the Roman Catholic apostolic administrator for Somalia, told ENInews he condemned the "intolerant approach" of Al Shabaab in forcing out the three agencies.

"Of course [the agencies] were inspired by their faith," said Bertin. "But since they were giving a good service according to international humanitarian criteria, they are not to be impeded in their charitable work."

In a 9 August statement, World Vision said keys to its offices and assets were taken from staff by Al Shabaab. It said that its operations in affected areas of Somalia have been temporarily suspended while it plans its next steps.

"World Vision is surprised and disappointed by the move, which is apparently based on false accusations of spreading Christianity," the agency said.

It quoted its Somalia programme director, Chris Smoot, as saying that while World Vision is a Christian organisation, "we have specific policies that prohibit proselytising and we are a signatory to the Red Cross code of conduct that guarantees impartiality in our distribution of aid".

ADRA, which has worked in Somalia since 1992, said closing operations in south-central Somalia, where it has been rehabilitating wells, working to provide livelihoods and increasing access to education, would adversely affect 180,000 people.

It noted that it is a signatory to the code of conduct that bans proselytising.

Diakonia, a Swedish Christian development agency that has been working in Somalia since 1994, said, "Our efforts are aimed at people harmed by poverty, oppression and violence in various forms, regardless of their faith, skin colour or gender. A diversity of religious convictions and non-religious organisations is represented in our network."

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

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Amnesty International calls for an end to the harrassment of the mother of a Cuban prisoner of conscience who died following a hunger strike.

Amnesty International called yesterday (17 August) on the Cuban authorities to end the ongoing harassment of the mother of a prisoner of conscience who died following a hunger strike.

Reina Luisa Tamayo, whose son Orlando Zapata Tamayo died in February this year, has been repeatedly harassed by authorities and government supporters during the regular marches she carries out in the town of Banes, in memory of her son.

Reina Luisa Tamayo told Amnesty how on Sunday 15 August government supporters arrived early in the morning and surrounded her house, preventing her and her relatives and friends from marching and attending mass at the church.

Ahead of the march Cuban security forces also allegedly detained some of the women due to attend in their homes for up to 48 hours, without providing any explanation.

Amnesty International’s Deputy Americas Director, Kerrie Howard said:

“Reina Luisa Tamayo is simply paying tribute to her son who died in tragic circumstances, and that must be respected by the authorities."

Every Sunday Reina Luisa Tamayo, who is usually accompanied by relatives and friends, walks from her home to the church of Nuestra Señora de la Caridad, to attend mass, from where they march to the cemetery, where Orlando is buried.

Reina Luisa also told Amnesty that six loudspeakers were installed near her house and were used to shout slogans against her and the Ladies in White, an organisation of female relatives of prisoners of conscience campaigning for their release.

Amnesty International has also expressed its concern at a series of recent detentions by the police of independent journalists and dissidents. Writer Luis Felipe Rojas Rozabal was detained by the police at 7am on 16 August, at his home in the town of San Germán, province of Holguín.

Luis Felipe’s family is unaware of the reasons of his arrest, but they have said they suspect this might be related to his criticism of the government. He has been arbitrarily detained on several previous occasions in similar circumstances.

Several members of the Eastern Democratic Alliance, a network of political dissident organisations, have also been detained.

Kerrie Howard continued: “At a time when the Cuban government has begun to release prisoners of conscience, the campaign of harassment against Reina Luisa Tamayo and the arbitrary detention of journalists and dissident figures shows that the authorities are yet to make significant progress on human rights.”

Orlando Zapata Tamayo was arrested in March 2003 and, a year later, sentenced to three years in prison for “disrespect”, “public disorder” and “resistance”. This was the first of a series of convictions for “disobedience” and “disorder in a penal establishment”.

Orlando was one of dozens of prisoners of conscience adopted by Amnesty International in Cuba at the time. The majority were among the 75 people arrested as part of the massive March 2003 crackdown by authorities against political activists.

In early December 2009, Orlando started a hunger strike to campaign for the release of prisoners of conscience held in Cuba. He died on 23 February 2010.

Currently there are at least 30 prisoners of conscience in Cuba’s jails. Last month following talks held between Cuban authorities and Roman Catholic Church officials in Havana, the Cuban government agreed to release 52 of the 53 prisoners of conscience which remained in Cuba’s jails. So far 23 have been released.

Amnesty International has called for the immediate and unconditional release of all prisoners of conscience currently held in Cuba, including lawyer Rolando Jiménez Posada who is serving a 12-year prison sentence and who is not as yet scheduled for release.

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In the heat and drought that has gripped Russia for two months, an Orthodox archbishop has condemned retailers for profiteering from extreme conditions.

The Russian Orthodox Church has continued to pray for relief from the heat and drought that has gripped Russia for two months, as one archbishop condemned some retailers for profiteering from the extreme weather conditions - writes Sophia Kishkovsky.

"That air conditioners sell for 50,000 roubles [US$1650] instead of 10,000, when people are dying of the heat is immoral and cruel," said Archbishop Feofan of Stavropol and Vladikavkaz, speaking at a youth camp at Pyatigorsk, in the Stavropol region. "Sell them at the old price at least. This is God's command, and compassion for one's neighbour."

The cleric acknowledged that Russia has a market economy that sets the price of goods. However, he said, "This is not always justified, especially at critical moments in life."

In an encyclical on 1 August 2010, Patriarch Kirill I of the Russian Orthodox Church had called for continuous prayers and special church-wide collections.

Monks at the Svyato-Nikolo-Tikhonovsky Monastery in the Ivanovo region urged that water be blessed in churches and used on the fires, the Interfax news agency reported.

"The blessed water, together with the help of aviation and other means … must be sprinkled over burning forests and villages," the monks appealed.

In Voronezh, a region hit by some of the worst of the forest fires that have swept across Russia, Metropolitan Sergius held a prayer service on 9 August to entreat God for rain.

Afterwards Orthodox Christians gathered to start a five-day procession around the region by car, bearing relics of St Mitrofan, a local saint.

Metropolitan Sergius said that prayers raised up during processions in July were heard and brought some relief in the form of rain, the newspaper Komsomolskaya Pravda reported.

Monks at one of the most important monasteries in Orthodoxy, the Kiev Monastery of the Caves in Ukraine, which has suffered from temperatures near 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit), are also praying for rain, the press service of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate reports.

The rector of a cathedral in Dnepropetrovsk was reported by a local news Web site saying that while eliminating parts of church services to shorten them due to the heat is considered a mortal sin, the choir is singing faster to speed things up.

The Russian Orthodox Church has raised more than 6.6 million roubles (US$200 000) in a drive to raise funds for victims, http://miloserdie.ru, the website of the Moscow Patriarchate's charity department, reported.

Smog generated by the fires enveloped Moscow for more than a week, exacerbating the impact of the heat wave that has suffocated the Russian capital with temperatures of over 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) since June.

Moscow received some respite on 10 August as rain came, lifting the smog, while forecasters said the air might remain clear for a few days.

The Rev Mikhail Ryazantsev told the Interfax news agency that air conditioning has been problematic at Christ the Saviour Cathedral, where he is sacristan. The cathedral, which was built under the patronage of Moscow's powerful mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, has sophisticated climate control systems.

Priests at Moscow churches without air conditioning said that despite the heat and smoke the number of worshippers had not declined beyond the usual summer drop-off.

"People are not complaining," the Rev Sergei Rybko told Interfax. "When you serve, and pray, you don't especially notice this smoke and heat. It should be noted that donations have risen significantly in the days since his Holiness the Patriarch announced a collection for the victims of the fire."

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

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The International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in the Jamaican capital Kingston in May 2011 will be a testimony of solidarity for the culture of peace that churches are trying to build on the island, reports Jane Stranz.

The International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) in the Jamaican capital Kingston in May 2011 will be a testimony of solidarity for the culture of peace that churches are trying to build on the island, says the Rev Dr Paul Gardner, the president of the Jamaica Council of Churches, one of the event's hosts.

“It will give enthusiasm and momentum to the groups that are working assiduously for peace in the various communities, that's what I think it will do for Jamaica,” said Gardner, who has been president of the Moravian Church in Jamaica and the Cayman Islands since 2005 and was elected president of the worldwide Moravian Church in 2008.

Gardner was interviewed in Geneva recently where he was taking part in a planning event for the convocation, which is being organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Caribbean Council of Churches.

“The IEPC will bring a tremendous testimony of solidarity for the culture of peace we are trying to build in Jamaica,” say Gardner.

He spoke about Kingston's “garrison communities” where, because one or another political party can almost guarantee 100 percent support, they often ignore criminality. Earlier in the year security forces tried to move into the Tivoli Gardens district resulting in a state of emergency being declared. Such communities are unique to Kingston, he said.

“Political parties turn a blind eye to criminality in those communities. The country was being held hostage” says Gardner. “Politicians need to dismantle the garrison communities so that people feel free to vote for who they want.”

Churches, he says, needed to be proactive in such situations.

"I think it is important that churches take far more interest in the development of communities, far more interest in what is happening to people in depressed inner city communities," he states. "I don't think we can have the luxury of not being involved or believing that nothing will happen."

Deliverance from evil

In Jamaica, Gardner says, the main role of the churches has been in advocacy for justice, peace and social transformation:

"One of the good things, if there is any good thing that has come out of what has happened, is the formation of a civil society group holding government accountable for the proper development of communities and the implementation of the things that they promise,” he said.

“We are not a political party, we are church people, church leaders and we must be able to speak as we discern what God is saying to the churches at this time,” Gardner says.

In recent years an umbrella group, which includes churches that are not members of the Jamaican Council of Churches, has been created. “We have found a way to bring them together,” says Gardner. However, he says, “The state of emergency almost threatened the existence of that group … because some of us felt that we had to speak out that the government is wrong. But there were church leaders who were not prepared to do that.”

Referring to the passage “deliver us from evil” in the Lord’s prayer, Gardner spoke of the challenges churches face in bearing witness in such tense political circumstances.

“Part of the ‘deliverance from evil’ is not to be caught by a political system because you want to be on the good side of the government," he says. "You have to be independent of the political system so that when you speak you speak clearly and your agenda is different from the political parties.”

Gardner says he looks forward with great enthusiasm to the peace convocation in May next year. “Jamaica is still open for business, it’s still safe to come to Jamaica.” he says with a smile.

The experience of the churches in Jamaica in bearing witness and speaking prophetically in such times, Gardner says, is “a powerful testimony for just peace to Christians and churches around the world”.

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(c) Jane Stranz coordinates the WCC language service. She is a pastor of the Reformed Church of France and of the United Reformed Church in Britain.

More on the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation in Kingston: http://www.overcomingviolence.org/en/peace-convocation.html

The Taliban have carried out the first confirmed executions by stoning to be seen in Afghanistan since the arrival of western troops in autumn 2001.

Amnesty International has condemned the first confirmed Taliban executions by stoning carried out in Afghanistan since 2001.

A couple were stoned to death on Sunday (15 August) for “eloping” in a Taliban-controlled village in Kunduz, northern Afghanistan.

The stoning came two days after Afghanistan’s highest Islamic religious body, the Council of Ulema, called on the government to more strictly enforce physical shariah punishments, known as hudood, as a concession to the Taliban in an attempt to end the war. Under the Taliban, hudood punishments included public stoning, amputations and lashing.

The Taliban believe in an extreme and literalistic application of shariah law. The majority of Muslim scholars insist that such an interpretation misses the point of the basic nature of shariah, which is intended to be related to context and carefully applied.

Amnesty has warned that the Afghan government should not sacrifice human rights, particularly the rights of women and minorities, in the name of reconciliation with the Taliban and other groups. The organisation has recently called on the Afghan government to seek the assistance of the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Taliban and all other parties to the war in Afghanistan.

“The stoning of this couple is a heinous crime,” said Amnesty’s Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi, “The Taliban and other insurgent groups are growing increasingly brutal in their abuses against Afghans”.

Zarifi added, ““The Afghan government and the Council of Ulema must condemn the use of stoning following this sickening Taliban execution. Afghan leaders must stand against stoning and other appalling human rights abuses masquerading as ‘justice’, no matter how much pressure they are under to deal with the Taliban.”

This stoning is the first to be confirmed in Afghanistan since the fall of the Taliban in 2001. It is likely to be seen as a failure of the invading armies’ apparent intention of bringing democracy to the country through force.

Local sources told Amnesty that the couple had eloped to Pakistan, but returned to their village of Mullah Qulli in Archi district of Kunduz after being told that their families had agreed to marry them. Instead, they were stoned to death on 15 August by a Taliban council.

On 9 August, a woman in Badghis province was shot dead in public by the Taliban for alleged adultery. Meanwhile, in 2005 a case of stoning for adultery in Afghanistan was reported, allegedly ordered by local religious leaders, although Amnesty say that they have not independently verified this case.

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Ministers been accused of going “backwards”, by delaying plans to introduce an Environmental Performance Standard (EPS) for power companies.

Environmental groups have accused the government of going “backwards”, after ministers delayed plans to introduce an Environmental Performance Standard (EPS) for power companies.

Both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats backed the introduction of the EPS while in opposition. But the government has now said that the EPS will not form part of this autumn’s Energy Bill, as had been expected.

By restricting greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, the EPS was intended to encourage power companies to develop more environmental technology. This was expected to prevent the opening of new coal-fired power stations.

The Environment Secretary Chris Huhne, a Liberal Democrat, insisted that the government is “moving as quickly as possible”. He said that a white paper would be introduced to Parliament next year.

"We are shocked that the Government has gone backwards on plans for a tough environmental performance standard that would have stopped more dirty coal-fired power stations being built,” said Mike Childs, Head of Climate at Friends of the Earth.

In response to criticism, Huhne insisted, “The view that this might raise the possibility of new coal-fired power stations ‘slipping through the system’ is ludicrous. We consider planning applications thoroughly and will not allow any new coal power station to be built unless equipped with carbon capture and storage”.

He added, “an EPS on its own is not a magic bullet to decarbonise our economy”.

But Childs suggested that the government decision sent out the wrong message. "If the government fails to make it clear that polluting coal power stations cannot be built in this country, we will go back to the bad old days of being the Dirty Man of Europe,” he said.

Friends of the Earth reminded the government that its own advisory body, the Committee on Climate Change, has repeatedly said that the UK's power generation needs to be virtually carbon-free by the 2020s if the UK is to meet its targets under the Climate Change Act.

“Shifting to renewables would also provide energy security and create tens of thousands of green jobs,” added Childs.

Joss Garman, Energy Campaigner for Greenpeace, accused both Liberal Democrats and Tories of a “U-turn”.

She pointed out, "David Cameron made the introduction of new rules to stop the most polluting power stations one of his flagship green policies, and Nick Clegg helped ensure it was a key part of the coalition agreement”.

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A devastating report from the Indian government says Vendanta has acted 'with total contempt for the law' in planning to mine on Dongria Kondh tribal land.

Plans by Vedanta Resources to mine on Dongria Kondh land in eastern India "threaten the survival" of the tribe, according to an official government investigation whose report has just been released.

In a devastating report, a committee set up by India’s Environment Minister has ruled that Vedanta has acted illegally and with "total contempt for the law"; that local officials have "colluded" in the company’s illegal activity and falsified documents; that "it is established beyond any doubt that the [mining] area is the cultural, religious and economic habitat of the Dongria Kondh"; and that to allow Vedanta’s mine would be "illegal".

India’s Minister of Environment and Forests has already said he will use the report to decide whether to give Vedanta permission to begin mining.

Vedanta’s scheme to mine the land of the Dongria Kondh tribe has become one of the most notorious projects in the world, with investors including Aviva and the Church of England attacking the company. Celebrities including Bianca Jagger, Joanna Lumley and Michael Palin have given their support to the Dongria tribe, who have been peacefully resisting the mine for years.

A previous investigation for the Environment Ministry found that Vedanta’s mine "may lead to the destruction" of the Dongria Kondh as a tribe. The report concluded that mining should not be allowed.

Stephen Corry, Director of Survival International said today, "This report is utterly scathing about Vedanta’s behaviour and confirms what Survival and others have been saying for years. The investigators have discovered that both Vedanta and the local authorities have already broken the law. The findings are unequivocal – mining will destroy the Dongria Kondh and should not be allowed. Let’s hope this is the final nail in the coffin for Vedanta’s plans."

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The World Bank has announced it will loan £574 milion to Pakistan to help it recover from its worst ever flooding. Others are also stepping in.

The international soft loans affiliate, the World Bank has announced it will loan £574 milion to Pakistan to help it recover from its worst ever flooding.

It is now estimated that the devastating floods have affected up to 25 million people and left over 2,000 dead, according to UN and official figures.

The United Nations says that international aid has been slow in coming and that it has raised only a third of the £294 million needed for emergency relief.

Following criticism from relief agencies and from Britain, more countries have pledged money or increased pledges, including France, Germany and Japan among the G7 richest nations.

Meanwhile, UNESCO, which has an office in the capital, Islamabad, is closely monitoring the situation and working with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) to ensure the most effective and rapid response.

As one of its first assistance measures, UNESCO is preparing to send a scientific mission to Pakistan to help national authorities upgrade their flood management capacity. The mission, which includes experts in geosciences and hydrology, will visit Islamabad and Lahore and meet members of the Federal Flood Commission (FFC), the Pakistan Meteorological Department (PMD), the Pakistan Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO), as well as the UN and other organisations.

Discussions will cover such topics as the use of satellite images in flood mapping and evacuation plans, state-of-the-art computer models for flood forecasting, and the adaptation of training materials for current local needs.

UNESCO says it will will undertake a technical assessment mission to Moenjodaro as soon as the waters have receded, and also to the Historical Monuments at Makli (Thatta), inscribed on the List since 1981.

The remains of the city, capital of three successive dynasties, are close to the Indus delta in the province of Sind.

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Christian and Muslim groups have forthrightly condemned a planned public burning of the Qur'an by a Florida church on the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks.

Christian and Muslim groups have forthrightly condemned a planned public burning of the Qur'an by a Florida church on the ninth anniversary of the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States - writes Chris Herlinger.

A statement released by the Protestant Churches of Egypt through the US United Church of Christ on 10 August 2010 said it "regrets this destructive thought and declares total rejection of any attack against others' religions and beliefs."

It said Christian teaching encourages cooperation and "respect for others regardless [of] their affiliation or religion," and that every human person should be seen as a sibling.

The statement was in reference to a planned action by the Dove World Outreach Center, a Florida-based institution that calls itself a "New Testament Church".

The centre plans to publicly burn copies of the Qur'an on 11 September in a protest against Islam, which it says "is of the devil." The church also refers to the Qur'an as "a lie."

It says, "Christians are called to live and speak the truth, and to tear down the strongholds of the kingdom of darkness". The protest has spawned an "International Burn a Koran Day" page on the social networking site Facebook.

The Egyptian church said in response it would work with other religious bodies to denounce the planned action.

In a statement to mark the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, the US National Council of Churches and other bodies decried "anti-Muslim actions and plans" such as those of the Dove centre and the "International Burn a Koran Day" initiative.

"Such open acts of hatred are not a witness to Christian faith, but a grave trespass against the ninth commandment, a bearing of false witness against our neighbour," the statement said. "They contradict the ministry of Christ and the witness of the church in the world."

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based group, has said it is responding to the Florida church's planned action by distributing copies of the Qur'an to journalists, public officials, law enforcement authorities and others during Ramadan.

"Islamophobia is being promoted by a vocal minority of individuals and groups that seek to marginalise American Muslims and demonise Islam," CAIR spokesperson Ibrahim Hooper recently told the Cairo-based Daily News Egypt.

"CAIR believes it is important to challenge the rising level of anti-Islam sentiment in American society."

CAIR has said it is increasingly concerned about protests and public sentiments against the construction of mosques and Islamic cultural centres in the United States.

[With acknowledgements to ENI. Ecumenical News International is jointly sponsored by the World Council of Churches, the Lutheran World Federation, the World Alliance of Reformed Churches and the Conference of European Churches.]

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The Government must keep funding for debt advice services to help the thousands of families at risk of arrears and repossession, says Shelter.

The Government must keep funding for debt advice services to help the thousands of families at risk of arrears and repossession, the respected housing charity Shelter has urged.

Responding to new Council of Mortgage Lenders figures out this week, showing there were 9,400 repossessions between April and June 2010, Kay Boycott, Shelter’s director of communications, policy and campaigns declared: "Even though repossessions have dropped slightly over the last year, we must not forget that they are still exceptionally high, with thousands of families going through the nightmare of losing their home."

She continued: "With big threats on the horizon - interest rate rises, public sector unemployment, negative equity as a result of falling house prices – any one of these factors could cause people to fall into a dangerous spiral of debt, arrears and ultimately homelessness."

"While Shelter’s advisers will be here to help whoever’s next, it is vital that the Government plays its part too. With advice being so crucial to keeping people in their homes we urge the Government to keep funding for debt advice services in the upcoming Comprehensive Spending Review," said Boycott.

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More on Shelter in England (http://england.shelter.org.uk/) and in Scotland (http://scotland.shelter.org.uk/).

A programme about Jesus filmed from an Islamic perspective was cancelled by two Shi'ite Muslim television stations in Lebanon last week.

A programme about Jesus filmed from an Islamic perspective was cancelled by two Shi'ite Muslim television stations in Lebanon last week.

The decision was taken on Friday 13 August 2010, after it was agreed that the programme might incite sectarian conflict and unrest in the country.

The 17-episode series, which has been produced in Iran, portrays Jesus as a prophet and a teacher, but not Son of God, according to the Muslim faith.

Lebanon has a grim history of communitarian conflict. The four million strong population is comprised religiously of 18 different groups, including Sunni and Shi'ite Muslims, Christians and Druse.

Al-Manar, a television station run by Lebanon's powerful militant group, Hezbollah, and the National Broadcasting Network, NBN, started airing the series this week at the beginning of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

Both clergy and politicians from a Christian background objected, including the Catholic Maronite Archbishop Bechara el-Rai.

Before a news conference from el-Rai, Al-Manar and NBN issued a statement saying that the programme "shows the great personality of God's prophet Jesus, the son of Mary, peace be upon him."

But the stations decided to stop the broadcast "in respect to other Lebanese sects."

Information Minister Tarek Mitri made it clear that he opposes censorship, but he also said that Lebanon's religious diversity needed to be respected, and therefore approved the two stations' decision.

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Three church conferences say foreign delegates' visas were denied by US officials, meaning some nations lacked representation at global assemblies.

When the Baptist World Alliance held its global conference in Hawaii earlier in August, it was missing about 1000 attendees from around the world.

In June, the inaugural meeting of the World Communion of Reformed Churches in Grand Rapids, in the US state of Michigan, was missing 74, and the Seventh-day Adventists' general conference in Atlanta was missing about 200, Religion News Service reports.

The three church groups said foreign delegates' visas were denied by US officials, meaning some nations lacked representation at the global assemblies which occur only once every several years.

The Rev Susan Davies of the United Church of Christ said she was "outraged" at the WCRC visa denials. Organisers of the gathering erected a banner to mark their absence.

''I was deeply saddened" by the visa problems, said the Rev Clifton Kirkpatrick, the former president of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches, which merged with another group in Grand Rapids to form the World Communion of Reformed Churches.

''I don't think you hear of government events or corporate events that have this percentage of people denied visas."

A lot of it had to do with money, he believes, saying "the criteria (for securing visas) are so skewed to the financial status of people involved."

Church officials say they fully complied with State Department rules on international visas for visiting delegates, particularly providing evidence that visitors would return to their country of origin once the meetings ended.

''We registered our session with the US State Department, and they put it on their internal intranet site," said Rosa Banks, associate secretary of the Adventists' General Conference. "And we updated it on a weekly basis when we got into the process."

Like the Reformed gathering, Adventists said they found many of the rejected visas came from poverty-stricken areas of the world.

''The countries where we had the most problems were in West Africa, particularly Nigeria, and districts in India," said Banks. "We have to assure that our delegates are going to return."

Acknowledgements to ENI www.eni.ch