Italian police free 33 Indian farm labourers from ‘slavery’
Rome, Italy Reuters Italian police said on Saturday they had freed 33 Indian farm labourers from slave-like working conditions in the northern Verona province and seized almost half a million euros from their two alleged abusers. Labour exploitation is in the spotlight in Italy following an accident in June in which an Indian fruit picker […]
Indonesian court acquits former official in grisly palm oil slavery case
Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters An Indonesian court has acquitted a former government official accused of human trafficking after people were found in cages near his palm oil plantation, a ruling the country’s rights body said on Tuesday signalled impunity for state actors. Prosecutors have vowed to appeal Monday’s decision by judges of a North Sumatra court […]
Advocates for reparations say Dutch slavery apologies not enough
Reuters As the Netherlands marks on Monday 161 years since the abolition of slavery, activists have questioned the sincerity of recent apologies by Dutch authorities given they have not addressed the politically thorny issue of reparations. In December 2022, then-Prime Minister Mark Rutte acknowledged that the Netherlands bore a responsibility for transatlantic slavery and had […]
Lifestory: On Juneteenth, a journalist honours ancestor at ceremony for Black soldiers who served in Civil War
As the US marked Juneteenth, Associated Press journalist DARREN SANDS reflects on own family history…
The Explainer: What is Juneteenth and how are people marking the day?
Celebrated on 19th June, RICH MACKAY of Reuters, takes a look at a holiday marking the emancipation of enslaved Black Americans…
School board in US state of Virginia votes to restore Confederate names
Woodstock, Virginia, US Reuters The education board for a rural Virginia county voted early on Friday to restore the names of Confederate generals stripped from two schools in 2020, making the mostly white, Republican district the first in the US to take such an action. By a five-to-one vote, the Shenandoah County board overturned its […]
Portugal’s government rejects paying reparations for colonial, slavery legacy
Lisbon, Portugal Reuters Portugal’s government said on Saturday it refuses to initiate any process to pay reparations for atrocities committed during transatlantic slavery and the colonial era, contrary to earlier comments from President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa. From the 15th to the 19th century, six million Africans were kidnapped and forcibly transported across the Atlantic […]
UN rights chief urges states to act on slavery reparations
Geneva, Switzerland Reuters The United Nations human rights chief called for countries to take concrete steps on reparations for people of African descent at a UN meeting on Friday, adding his voice to calls for justice for slavery atrocities. Support is building among Africa and Caribbean nations for the creation of a tribunal to address […]
Caribbean ambassador calls for global action to establish slavery tribunal
Reuters A high-level Caribbean ambassador said on Wednesday it was crucial to establish a new international special tribunal to seek reparations for transatlantic slavery and its legacies in today’s society. Reuters reported earlier this month that support was building among Africa and Caribbean nations for the creation of such a tribunal on atrocities dating to […]
Essay: A dramatic schism over social issues? The United Methodist Church has been here before – but this time, America’s religious landscape is far different
CHRISTOPHER H EVANS, in an article first published on The Conversation, looks at the parallels between the current UMC schism and that which took place in 1844…