On Christmas Eve, 1991, I was preparing to celebrate Mass. I was at Casa Romero, a hospitality center for refugees set up by the Diocese of Brownsville in response to a massive number of Central Americans fleeing violence by heading north to the USA. Because I had some time before we were supposed to start Read more
The United Nations Committee against Torture has issued a damning report on the Vatican’s response to the clergy child sex abuse crisis. Among the committee’s accusations were failures to report allegations of abuse to authorities, and refusing to disclose information for criminal proceedings. The report cited Archbishop Paul Gallagher, Papal Nuncio to Australia, who, it Read more
The Vatican has faced intense questioning about child sexual abuse before a United Nations committee that oversees a convention against torture. On May 5 in Geneva, the Vatican’s handling of the global clerical sex abuse scandal was compared with torture. If it does fit the definition of torture, any failure to investigate clergy and their superiors Read more
Jesuthasan Rojananth, a 23-year-old Catholic Tamil from Mannar, heard that the security situation in Sri Lanka had improved for ethnic Tamils. So when he had problems renewing his student visa in Malaysia earlier this year, he decided to return to his home country. He’d been away from Sri Lanka since February of 2010, when he Read more
The United Nations wants more Pacific nations to sign up to a convention against torture. The UN Human Rights Office regional representative, Nancy Robinson says only four nations in our region have ratified the convention so far – Australia, New Zealand, Nauru and Vanuatu. Palau has signed on, but hasn’t ratified it yet. Ms Robinson Read more
Comparing clerical celibacy to torture, a British peer has voiced a public defence of disgraced Cardinal Keith O’Brien and criticised the Catholic Church for not allowing him to have a sex life. Cardinal O’Brien resigned as Archbishop of St Andrews and Edinburgh after the public release of accusations that he had made homosexual advances on Read more
Believe it or not but a funny thing happened at the 16th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Tehran last month. When the new Egyptian president, Mohamed Morsi, denounced the “oppressive” Syrian government, it didn’t go down so well with the pro-Assad Iranians. So, local journalists decided deliberately to mistranslate “Syria”, in Farsi, as “Bahrain”, prompting Read more
Violence on the Israeli-Egypt border has opened up an opportunity for Egypt to rescue African asylum seekers who are being kidnapped on the Sinai Peninsula, according to the Catholic bishops of the Middle East. Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi has declared that Egypt will “control all parts of Sinai”, where clashes have been occurring between militants Read more
Former US vice-president, Dick Cheney says torturing captured al-Qaids leaders was a necessary step in capturing Osama bin Laden. Speaking ahead of ceremonies to mark the 10th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, Cheney said “enhanced interrogation” produced “phenomenal” results, and he rejected the use of torture undermined the moral authority of the United States. Cheney Read more
Lieutenant Colonel Ratu Tevita Mara, Former Fiji army commander, denies the accusations of torture against him, which he claims are false and mischievous Colonel Mara is in New Zealand to meet with the Fiji community and officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFat) to discuss the level of human rights abuse, which he Read more