E mail Action. We have an opportunity at the Westminster Parliament to further one of the core aims of the Fairtrade Schoolwear Campaign, raising awareness of issues in the supply of cotton. Early Day Motion 1284 "Human Rights and the Cotton Production Industry in Uzbekistan" refers to the hundreds of thousands of children forced to pick cotton in Uzbekistan. We need people to ask their MPs to sign the EDM. If enough sign, it could lead to a debate. Details of the EDM here. There is also information on the Environmental Justice Foundation website. Only five Scottish MPs have signed the EDM so far:
Child Recruitment, Forced Marriage, and Attacks on Schools
Somalia's warring parties have all failed to protect Somali children from the fighting or serving in their forces, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The Islamist insurgent group al-Shabaab has increasingly targeted children for recruitment, forced marriage, and rape, and attacked teachers and schools.
Human Rights Watch, 21/02/12
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Tar sands produce 3-5 times the carbon emissions associated with crude oil production, bad news for a low carbon economy. Yet the UK Government, under pressure from Canada which produces most of the world’s tar sands, is refusing to support an EU proposal that would effectively ban tar sands from European import. We still have a chance to reverse our government’s position before the vote on 23 February. Tell Norman Baker and Nick Clegg there is no place for dirty oil in a green European Union!
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The government has lost a record eighth vote in the House of Lords over its plans to severely cut and restructure the British welfare system. An amendment to the Welfare Reform Bill, overturning a move to cut payments to specific council tenants with one spare bedroom, was carried by ten votes. The bill is now due to go back before the House of Commons, with the government defiant but a huge swathe of political popular and public opinion - including charities and others making up Mr Cameron's 'Big Society' - wishing to see significant changes. Source Ekklesia
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The numbers game around immigration statistics has turned into a bloody battle. There is a sense in which debates which solely contest the statistics of immigration miss many of the points
of anti-racist campaigning. Behind the statistics, are unsavoury politics. The political polls are suggesting the Con-Dem Coalition is, thus far, successful in both creating and exploiting commonsense racism and xenophobia. Such a climate would, of course, encourage a new wave of dangerous extremist violence. In the short term, though, lies, damn lies and statistics seem to be a useful marketing strategy for the far-right populist party British Conservatives are becoming.
Read the full article: By John Grayson, IRR, 9th February 2012
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That this House strongly condemns the Chinese security forces' unwarranted use of force including opening fire on unarmed demonstrators to quash peaceful protests in Tibet; Primary sponsor: Fabian Hamilton, Jeremy Corbyn, date tabled: 08/02/2012
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