Asia

In Pakistan, it has been a month since torrential monsoon rains triggered the country’s worst natural disaster on record. As many as 20 million people have been left homeless due to the massive flooding. UN officials say an estimated 72,000 children in flood-affected areas are at high risk of death because of severe malnutrition.

More than 180 teachers from Gumaca and Lopez of Quezon province participated in and recently concluded two six-day workshop series organized by Ang Komunidad Para Sa Ikauunlad ng Tao, the Philippine organization linked internationally to The Community for Human Development.
Held separately in the towns of Gumaca and Lopez, the workshop lasted the months of July and August.

The United Nations says the number of people suffering from the massive floods in Pakistan has now exceeded 13 million which is more than the combined total of people affected by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake combined, though the death toll in Pakistan is far lower.

The three-term mayor of Hiroshima who spearheaded a global campaign for nuclear disarmament and a photographer who documented river pollution in his native China are among the 2010 winners of the Ramon Magsaysay Awards. The awards are considered Asia’s equivalent of the Nobel Prize. They are named after a popular Philippine president who died in a plane crash in 1957.

Mayors for Peace announced that 4.037 member cities in 144 countries and regions have joined the campaign to eliminate nuclear weapons by 2020. Dr. Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima and President of Mayors for Peace spearheads an international campaign for nuclear weapon states to stop considering cities as targets for weapons of mass destruction.

In the effort to establish a Park of Study and Reflection in Hong Kong we are informing regarding its details. This ‘Park’ intends to be a place of meeting, discussion and involvement of ordinary people who are disenchanted with the usual offerings of this mechanical-materialistic society that is out of control on every front.

Peace Boat’s Global Voyage will be setting sail from the port of Yokohama on April 16 (Fri) on the third Global Voyage for a Nuclear-Free World, in which ten Hibakusha will (atomic bomb survivors) will participate. During the 101 day journey until July 25, they will be visiting 22 ports in 20 countries, giving testimonies of their experiences.

Global warming, global economic crisis, US-Japan alliance, nuclear proliferation, poverty – the 21st century world is now facing multiple crises requiring global solutions. With the election of a new government and the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Review Conference, Japan now has the opportunity to become a world leader in dealing with the challenges of a changing world.

India and Pakistan are holding peace talks today for the first time since the Mumbai attacks of 2008. The Indian and Pakistani foreign ministers are meeting in the Indian capital of New Delhi. India has accused Pakistan of failing to confront militants responsible for attacks inside India territory, while both sides remain divided over competing claims to Kashmir.

In my country the state is ruled by those who have fallen into the traps of delusion and mediocrity, in a world that has reduced human rights into gruesome figures and statistics of politics and economy. The very sacredness of life and liberty has become an elusive and quite expensive concern. Human rights has become a privilege for a few at the expense of a broad humanity.