* JUST A THOUGHT - There's more to prostitution than the selling of the body; they that would sell their bodies must first sell their souls.
(By Fano Sibisi, 6 Oct 2009, www.cft.org.za) (to index)

* SYNDICATE TRAINS ABDUCTED GIRLS AS SEX SLAVES - Durban police are warning parents that a syndicate is abducting young girls for "sexual orientation" and also trafficking them abroad to be sex slaves.

This emerged at the Charlotte Maxeke (Beatrice) Street clinic where Superintendent Thuli Mvuyana of Durban Central Police was addressing the public about the rights of crime victims.
Mvuyana said the police recently received an anonymous letter that contained information about how an abduction syndicate was going to operate during the World Cup.

"I urge you to look after your daughters because if you don't you may lose your child to the syndicate that will either turn your child to prostitution in brothels around the country or traffic her abroad to be a sex slave."

The letter described how the syndicate would be mainly targeting teenagers because it was much easier to lure them.
The letter also revealed the syndicate was aiming for the World Cup because people would be travelling into and out of the country, making it easier for them to traffic the girls.

Mvuyana said they would put measures in place to ensure that young girls were protected from such victimisation.
There have been reports of children being abducted in Stanger and Mbumbulu, but it is uncertain whether the cases are related to the syndicate mentioned in the letter.
Mvuyana spoke of a recent case.

A young woman of Molweni was abducted in Durban and drawn into a world of drugs by her captors.
They apparently drugged her before raping her repeatedly, telling her that they were training her for the sex industry.
When they felt she was ready, they took her to a brothel in the city where she was forced to work as a prostitute.
But she was able to contact the police who later rescued her.
(IOL.co.za, 21 Sep 2009) (to index)

* ATTENTION SHIFTS TO SEX WORKERS’ CLIENTS - The City of Cape Town has launched a vice squad to crack down on prostitutes working the streets of the city's suburbs - and their clients can also expect harsher treatment.
As part of the city's new strategy, it also plans to arrest the sex workers' clients, instead of just giving them spot fines as is the current practice.
JP Smith, the city's mayoral committee member for safety and security, said today that the officers had been seconded from the city's law enforcement department to form a vice squad.
The crackdown has already started: 18 prostitutes were arrested along the main road through Bellville, Goodwood and Parow on Friday night. This week the squad plans to focus on the city's other notorious red light areas, such as Main Road in Claremont and Kenilworth, Koeberg Road, Wetton, Somerset West and Kuils River.
(IOL, 28 Sep 2009) (to index)

* DOMINICAN REPUBLIC GIVES FINAL APPROVAL TO PRO-LIFE CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT -The Dominican Republic has given the final approval to a constitutional amendment protecting the right to life.

"The right to life is inviolable from conception until death. In no case can the death penalty be established, pronounced, nor applied," the amendment states.

The vote, which took place last night in a constitutional assembly created to revise the nation's charter document, was an overwhelming 128-34, despite heavy campaigning by international pro-abortion groups and rumoured pressure from the United States.

Dr. Gene Antonio, a Dominican pro-life activist, told LifeSiteNews in early August that "The White House was here during the last vote, and we've been told that another commission of ten people is down here specifically with the intention of pressuring this government in favour of voting for child killing."

The former human rights organization "Amnesty International," which is now a pro-abortion lobbying group, attempted to pressure the government in the days preceding the vote, claiming that the amendment will "put women and girls at risk and potentially increase maternal deaths in the country."

Amnesty continues to make this claim, despite the fact that statistical evidence from countries that have penalized abortion in the past which shows that maternal mortality tends to decline following such reforms. A recent LifeSiteNews exposé on Amnesty International revealed that the organization falsified statistical evidence from Nicaragua's maternal mortality rate in an apparent attempt to cover up the evidence against their position.

Officials from the ironically-named United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) also reportedly pressured the government in April not to pass the amendment, without success.

Frs. Manuel Ruiz and Luis Rosario, who have spearheaded efforts by the Catholic Church to protect the value of human life on the island, said that "the country should be celebrating because what they [pro-abortion groups] were trying to implant was a culture of abortion" and rejoiced that the country chose the right to life instead of "the international disorder," according to the Dominican newspaper Listin Diario.

"God did the miracle," they said. "With this recognition of life, the birth certificate has been given to the right of the mother to all rights, which is the right to life from the moment of conception."
(LifeSiteNews.com, 18 Sep 2009) (to index)

* SUPPORT FOR ABORTION SLIPS - Polls conducted in 2009 have found fewer Americans expressing support for abortion than in previous years. In Pew Research Center polls in 2007 and 2008, supporters of legal abortion clearly outnumbered opponents; now Americans are evenly divided on the question, and there have been modest increases in the numbers who favour reducing abortions or making them harder to obtain. Less support for abortion is evident among most demographic and political groups.

The latest Pew Research Center survey also reveals that the abortion debate has receded in importance, especially among liberals. At the same time, opposition to abortion has grown more firm among conservatives, who have become less supportive of finding a middle ground on the issue and more certain of the correctness of their own views on abortion.

No single reason for the shift in opinions is apparent, but the pattern of changes suggests that the election of a pro-choice Democrat for president may be a contributing factor. Among Republicans, there has been a seven point decline in support for legal abortion and a corresponding six point increase in opposition to abortion. But the change is smaller among Democrats, whose support for legal abortion is down four points with no corresponding increase in pro-life opinion. Indeed, three groups of President Obama’s strongest supporters – African Americans, young people and those unaffiliated with a religion – have not changed their views on abortion at all. At the same time, fully half of conservative Republicans (52%) – the political group most opposed to abortion – say they worry Obama will go too far in supporting abortion rights.

The shift in opinion is broad-based, appearing in most demographic groups in the population. One of the largest shifts (10 points) has occurred among white, non-Hispanic Catholics who attend Mass at least weekly. Substantial change has also occurred among Democratic men (with support for abortion down nine points), but not among Democratic women.
(People-press.org, 1 Oct 2009) (to index)

* SPANISH PARLIAMENT REJECTS LEGALISING PROSTITUTION - A vote in the Spanish parliament last week voted 329-5 against recognising prostitution as a legal profession.
The Federation of Progressive Women welcomed the decision describing it as a form of slavery and violence against women which was supported by many people.
Increasing immigration in Spain has contributed to the growth of prostitution, where it is estimated that up to 300,000 women are plying their trade in the street, hostels, flats, parks or clubs as under-cover brothels.
The Catalan republican party ERC, which put forward the proposal, said that it was preferable that prostitution didn't exist at all, but since it does, it would have been better that the profession was granted legal rights rather than leaving it at the mercy of pimps.
However, it was argued that neither banning prostitution nor legalising it had solved any of the problems in other countries.
As for the proposal to ban newspaper sex-trade advertising, Parliament rejected calls for this saying that it would be better if the media voluntarily self-regulated themselves.
(CanaryIslandNews.com, 29 Sep 2009) (to index)

* OBAMA VOWS TO LET HOMOSEXUALS SERVE OPENLY IN MILITARY - President Barack Obama reaffirmed his campaign pledge to end the ban on homosexuals serving openly in the military in a speech Saturday, but he offered no timetable or specifics for acting on that long-standing promise.
He acknowledged to a cheering crowd that some policy changes he promised on the campaign trail are not coming as quickly as they expected.
"I will end 'don't ask, don't tell,' " Obama said to a standing ovation from the crowd of about 3,000 at the annual dinner of the Human Rights Campaign, a gay-civil-rights advocacy group.

The law was passed by Congress in 1993 and signed by President Bill Clinton, who also promised to repeal the ban on homosexuals in the military but was blunted by opposition in the military and Congress. Obama said he is working with Pentagon and congressional leaders on ending the policy.
Obama said it was no secret "our progress may be taking longer than we like." He then asked supporters to trust his administration's course.
"Do not doubt the direction we are heading and the destination we will reach," he said.
Obama also called on Congress to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act, which limits how state, local and federal bodies can recognize partnerships and determine benefits. He also called for a law to extend benefits to domestic partners.

He expressed strong support for the Human Rights Campaign agenda — ending discrimination against gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender people — but stopped short of laying out a detailed plan for how to get there.
(Denverpost.com, 11 Oct 2009) (to index)

* SOUTH ASIA IN NEED OF ASSISTANCE, PRAYER - Out of sight, out of mind isn’t always necessarily a bad thing. There are undoubtedly happenings in our lives and the world at large we’d just assume ignore and falsely hope related problems will go away through our blissful ignorance.

The string of disasters which has struck South Asia over the past two weeks doesn’t qualify.

At Everyday Christian, we have reported on how Christian aid organizations have helped stand in the gap providing help in the wake of two typhoons and an earthquake. To review, through flooding, mudslides, a tsunami and torrential rains, India, the Philippines, Indonesia and the Samoan islands have all been seriously impacted.

Quickly updating:

• India: Food shortage areas potentially impacting hundreds of thousands of people. (BBC) Madeleen Helmer of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Center said of India’s rapid switch from a drought situation to massive flooding, "The problem with humanitarian aid agencies like ours is, what do you prepare for when after extreme drought, you have extreme floods? Climate change is telling us we have to prepare for both, that we are in an age of more uncertainty. It’s not easy and we’re not geared to do it, but we’ll have to be."
• Indonesia: The quake zone on the island of Sumatra is still digging out from hundreds of deaths and massive damage. (Rueters) According to Jo Ann de Belen, country director of World Relief Indonesia, key needs are medical personnel, water for drinking and sanitation, and jerry cans, generators, blankets, lamps, mobile toilets and baby food.
• Philippines: U.S. Marines are involved in relief efforts in area of the Philippines where additional coffins are needed for the mounting dead bodies. (Associated Press) The area around the capital on Manila was inundated by rain as well. "Meeting the emotional needs of children in the wake of major disasters like this is a high priority for ChildFund," added Dennis O’Brien, ChildFund Philippines national director. "We have five active evacuation centers, housing more than 500 families in metro Manila, where we have set up Child Centered Spaces (CCS) for children."
  Added Boy Bersales, World Vision’s emergency response director in the Philippines, "This is like déjà vu for the people of the Philippines. First, Typhoon Ketsana and now Parma. We've seen the rain, the wind, the flooding, the landslides and now it's happening again. For me, as a relief worker and a Filipino, it's so sad to see so many people suffering."
• Samoa: Digging out and rebuilding is a slow process for the people of the Samoan islands as they try and piece their lives back together. (Voice of America)