Continued from here ...

From Guatemala, the US Assistant Secretary of Consular Affairs has been talking to reporters, saying that, "improvements need to be made before the U.S. ratifies the Hague Convention on Intercountry Adoptions later this year."

And a mass eviction of Mayans has taken place at a proposed nickel mine.

"Land rights are a challenging issue throughout the country, but we believe that the programmes we already have in place and our continuing commitment to employ as many local people as possible, while we develop the Fenix project, will help us work positively with the community."

And apparently Mel Gibson will not be attending the Mexican premier of his new movie.

What's up with that, Mel? Too many angry Mayans?

For Filipino adoptees, there's a new group formed.

... register to be a member, look at the forums and the chat room. We have made it easier for folks to submit news, links, adoptee stories and so on. We
will also continue to share the many aspects of Filipino/Filipino American culture and heritage.

An interesting report from Rwanda is worth a read, as well.

Written by the wonderfully named Immaculate Chaka Kayonzo, it's about the Minister of Youth, Sport and Culture insisting that caring for orphans should be 'taken as culture' by all Rwandans.

Nice thought, but not terribly helpful in my book, especially when he tells child-headed families to "always have hope for the future" and advises those orphaned by the genocide to "live as one family and strive for the best", then adds lines like:

"Being an orphan does not mean that you're a failure, God works through people, ministries and organizations like Uyisenga N'manzi [a local NGO]to solve your problems," the minister told the orphans.

Gee ...

For a report on Nigeria's new National Plan of Action on Orphans and Vulnerable Children, click here, and from Ghana here's a report on child neglect cases.

From Uganda, an opinion piece called, "How Shall We Sustain These Many Orphans?" deserves a read.

As does this on the demographics of HIV, and this on orphans in Myanmar.

And a tragic fact I've just come across...

More than 155,000 women have been deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan since 2002, and as of the end of last month more have been killed in those two countries than died in the Korean, Vietnam and Gulf wars.