Black Country Churches Engaged
the sub-region’s ecumenical intermediate body
News
A Request from Anti-Slavery International
Take action on forced labour and exploitation of domestic workers in the Philippines
Domestic workers in the Philippines, the vast majority of whom are women and girls,
are not given the same protections as other workers under labour laws and work in other people's homes hidden from public view. This leaves them particularly vulnerable to abuse and exploitation, and many are the victims of forced labour. Many domestic workers migrate from rural areas to the cities and are vulnerable to trafficking, as well as to debt bondage.
For some years now, a Domestic Workers Bill known popularly as Batas Kasambahay, which affords protection to all domestic workers, has been stalled by Presidential impeachment proceedings and various other delays. Its enactment would be a vital step in addressing the abuse and exploitation of domestic workers in the Philippines.
Please click here to urge the President of the Philippines, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, to prioritise the passage of this Bill and ensure it passes without further delay.
You can read background information on this action here
Update: Trafficking and forced labour of migrant domestic workers in the UK
At the time of writing, 76 MPs have signed Early Day Motion 992, which urges the Government to drop the proposed changes to the 1998 immigration rule and retain the protections that it affords to migrant domestic workers in the UK. An Early Day Motion (EDM) operates like a petition for MPs.
We are calling on all UK-based campaigners to write to their MP and urge him or her to sign Early Day Motion 992. You can check whether your MP has signed EDM 992 here.
You can email your MP from Parliament's website or from the website www.theyworkforyou.com.
Please click here for further information on this action.
First UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery appointed
At the recent session of the UN Human Rights Council, Ms Gulnara Shahinian (Armenia) was appointed as the UN's first Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, including its causes and consequences. The position marks a real step forward in strengthening the fight against slavery. The Special Rapporteur will have a three year renewable mandate and the power to investigate all types of slavery and make recommendations to governments on action they need to take to eradicate these practices.
Call to all Co-operative Bank customers- vote for Anti-Slavery!
Anti-Slavery International has been chosen by the Co-operative Bank as one of five charities that will benefit from its Customers Who Care Campaign in 2008. For every £100 that customers spend on Co-operative Bank credit and debit cards, the Bank donates 1.25p to a campaign fund. It then asks its customers to vote to decide which of the chosen charities should benefit. That's where you come in!
Anti-Slavery International will be included in promotional leaflets in the Bank's communications with its customers in June, asking them to vote for the organisations to which they think the Co-operative should donate its money. The funds we raise will be used to support work in West Africa including the establishment of micro-credit schemes, enabling female slaves to undertake small-scale income generating activities as part of the process towards developing alternative livelihoods. It will also go towards a community school programme in Niger for children who have escaped slavery.
Please look out for the leaflets, vote for Anti-Slavery International, and join in the Bank's online campaigns. Thank you!
Thank you for your support in the fight against slavery.
Kate Willingham
Campaigns Officer
k.willingham@antislavery.org
If you would like to make a donation to support Anti-Slavery International's work, go to:
http://www.antislavery.org/support/donations/donation.htm
Christians across the UK are being urged to mark the Windrush 60th Anniversary during 2008 by holding services and special events and by finding out more about this significant era in British history. The SS Empire Windrush was a passenger ship which brought 492 people from the Caribbean to Britain on 22nd June 1948; the arrival of the boat at Tilbury Docks is regarded as a key moment in the development of multi-ethnic Britain. This date also marks the origins of real ethnic diversity within British historic Christian denominations as well as the emergence of the Black Church Movement in Britain.
A number of Christian organisations such as the Black Christian Leaders Forum, the Evangelical Alliance, Christian Aid, the African and Caribbean Evangelical Alliance, the Church of England, the Catholic Church, the Baptist Union, the United Reformed Church, the Methodist Church, several Black-led Pentecostal churches and Churches Together in England, among others, joined forces to ensure a united church response to celebrate Windrush Sunday itself, the 22nd June 2008.
According to Revd Dr David Cornick, General Secretary of Churches Together in England, ‘This anniversary offers a tremendous opportunity for the churches together and in their different ways to acknowledge the significant contributions of Black Christians to British church and society’.
An event in Tilbury Docks, Essex, was organised by a number of Christian denominations, led by the London Baptist Association. Other events took place in London, Birmingham and around the Country to highlight the way Caribbean and other settlers have helped to transform British church life and contributed to society, and acknowledge some of the key individuals involved.
Revd Dr Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance and Chair of the Black Christian Leaders Forum adds: ‘The diversity that is the result of the Windrush phenomenon is to be celebrated and affirmed by all of us, and this anniversary provides churches with a real opportunity to make certain that everyone is given the acknowledgement they deserve’.
Furthermore, this anniversary is also an occasion to reflect on the struggles faced by those first settlers. Residing in an often-hostile environment that greatly restricted their God-given abilities to build up the Church and contribute to society. Equally, it is a time to draw on lessons from the past with regard to meeting the spiritual and social needs of new immigrant Christian communities.
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