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The variety of Quaker service in Aboriginal communities and around the world is extraordinary. In light of the GFC and climate change, the Quakers' emphasis on small-scale food and water security projects will prove prescient.
Professor Martha Nussbaum's recent book Liberty of Conscience provides a rich textured treatment of the place of religion in the public square. If God is taken out of the picture, it may be difficult to maintain a human rights commitment to the weakest and most despised in society.
We were invited to share a meal with a Jewish family in Haifa. They welcomed us, and conversation was happy and inviting. Inevitably, the topic of conflict between Israel and Palestine reared its head. The atmosphere was transformed.
'Lee and Christine Rush are your average Ozzie couple, except that their teenage son Scott is on death row in Bali having been convicted of being a hapless drug mule. It will not go down well on the streets of Jakarta if Australians are baying for the blood of the Bali bombers one month and then pleading to save our sons and daughters the next month.'
Last Wednesday's killing of three foreign aid workers in Afghanistan marked a new low point for non government organisations. NGOs must lose neither heart nor the support of their constituencies in developed countries.
Fibreglass police officers man checkpoints on the road to the Thai-Burmese border crossing at Mai Sai. At a market on the Burma side of the border, child pornography is peddled by the world's most malevolent cottage industry.
Sold to a contractor at the age of 13, Roghini Govindhan was put to work churning out matchboxes 11 hours a day. Now 24, Govindhan has campaigned as part of World Vision's Don't Trade Lives anti-slavery campaign.
Brendan Nelson told Kevin Rudd to direct his war on binge drinking at his own backyard after Young Labor delegates hosted a drunken party in a Canberra hotel. But Australia's addiction to the bottle runs deeper than mere substance abuse.
Aid agencies are working hard, but some fear that once the emergency phase is over, access will again be denied. This would have unspeakable consequences for the people of Burma, who need long-term help to recover from Cyclone Nargis.
Economic Partnership Agreements aim to remove barriers of trade, create sustainable development and contribute to poverty eradication in African, Caribbean and Pacific countries. However, many fear they will lead to the devastation of their respective markets.
It seemed a last minute reprieve for tropical forests could emerge at the UN climate change meeting in Bali. Because 20% of greenhouse emissions are due to forest destruction, stablising greenhouse gas emissions requires reduction in the rate of deforestation.
Some religious schools have withdrawn from Amnesty because it has become pro-choice on abortion. But members of organisations such as Amnesty, which take a full spectrum approach to human rights, do not generally agree to every item in the organisations' policy statements.