I subscribe to the mailing list of Avaaz, an independent non-profit making lobby group with a global presence. This morning, I received the below email. The core story it told made my stomach churn. So I decided to reproduce it here. If it has the same effect on you, please kindly add your name to the petition by signing at the below link.
Thank you.
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Date: Fri, Dec 31, 2010 at 4:30 AM
Subject: Predators
To: "ng.steven@gmail.com"
Dear friends,
This holiday season, Josh, a Kenyan student in the Netherlands, scraped together a year's worth of savings and sent it home to support 10 struggling family members. Shockingly, the giant money transfer company Western Union skimmed off 20% of the cash meant for Josh's family in fees.
Josh’s story is painfully retold every day, the world over, on a staggering scale -- an estimated $44.3 billion worldwide was lost in transfer fees last year! The World Bank recommends that transaction costs not exceed 5% of the total, but Western Union has never faced serious pressure to lower its crippling charges. If we unite in a global outcry now, we can expose its predatory practices when its carefully crafted, family-friendly image is most vulnerable: the giving season.
Josh's generosity -- and that of millions of workers around the world -- shouldn't go to waste! Let's call on Western Union to lower its fees to 5% for the poorest countries, and when the petition reaches 250,000 we’ll deliver it to the company’s image-sensitive board of directors. Sign now and then forward this to friends and family:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/make_giving_powerful/?vl
Sacrifices like Josh’s dwarf foreign governmental aid every year and provide a vital lifeline to the world’s poorest economies. Slashing the obscene profits of companies like Western Union would dramatically increase assistance flowing into developing countries. Instead, families around the world received far less than they deserved so that Western Union's CEO could take home $8.1 million in 2009.
The World Bank recommends that transfer companies limit fees to 5% of the amount being transferred, but some banks and companies have astronomical hidden charges. Perversely, the neediest countries coming out of war or disaster suffer the greatest losses, because of transfer companies' monopolistic privileges and exclusive deals with local banks.
The yearly savings of men and women laboring in hospitals, construction sites and restaurants end up padding Western Union's profits. The company funds charity projects to improve its corporate image – but these do nothing to hide the massive inequity that their business model perpetrates. Let's raise our voices loudly to support true generosity during the holiday season – and help bring immediate benefits to workers and the relatives they sustain. Together we can make sure that needy families – rather than CEOs – benefit from holiday giving:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/make_giving_powerful/?vl
When citizens around the world stand together to protest injustice, we can force back unchecked greed and inequality – as we've done together before. Buoyed by the warmth and empathy of the holiday season, let's make sure that generous gifts arrive where they're most needed.
With hope and gratitude,
Luis, Stephanie, Graziela, David, Paula, Ben, and the rest of the Avaaz team
SOURCES:
Western Union CEO's pay more than triples in 2009, Associated Press:
http://abcnews.go.com/Business/wireStory?id=10241684
Past Time for Remittance Justice, ACORN International:
https://secure.avaaz.org/remittance_justice_report
World Bank Remittance Pricing resource:
http://remittanceprices.worldbank.org/
Support the Avaaz community! We're entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way -- donate here.
Avaaz.org is a 6.5-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
This message was sent to ng.steven@gmail.com. To change your email address, language, or other information, contact us via this form -- or simply click here to unsubscribe.
To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US).
 Western Union is taking critical money from the world's working poor by charging predatory transfer fees. As we move through the giving season, let's urgently shame them into action! Add your voice to the petition for fair fees:  |
Josh’s story is painfully retold every day, the world over, on a staggering scale -- an estimated $44.3 billion worldwide was lost in transfer fees last year! The World Bank recommends that transaction costs not exceed 5% of the total, but Western Union has never faced serious pressure to lower its crippling charges. If we unite in a global outcry now, we can expose its predatory practices when its carefully crafted, family-friendly image is most vulnerable: the giving season.
Josh's generosity -- and that of millions of workers around the world -- shouldn't go to waste! Let's call on Western Union to lower its fees to 5% for the poorest countries, and when the petition reaches 250,000 we’ll deliver it to the company’s image-sensitive board of directors. Sign now and then forward this to friends and family:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/
Sacrifices like Josh’s dwarf foreign governmental aid every year and provide a vital lifeline to the world’s poorest economies. Slashing the obscene profits of companies like Western Union would dramatically increase assistance flowing into developing countries. Instead, families around the world received far less than they deserved so that Western Union's CEO could take home $8.1 million in 2009.
The World Bank recommends that transfer companies limit fees to 5% of the amount being transferred, but some banks and companies have astronomical hidden charges. Perversely, the neediest countries coming out of war or disaster suffer the greatest losses, because of transfer companies' monopolistic privileges and exclusive deals with local banks.
The yearly savings of men and women laboring in hospitals, construction sites and restaurants end up padding Western Union's profits. The company funds charity projects to improve its corporate image – but these do nothing to hide the massive inequity that their business model perpetrates. Let's raise our voices loudly to support true generosity during the holiday season – and help bring immediate benefits to workers and the relatives they sustain. Together we can make sure that needy families – rather than CEOs – benefit from holiday giving:
https://secure.avaaz.org/en/
When citizens around the world stand together to protest injustice, we can force back unchecked greed and inequality – as we've done together before. Buoyed by the warmth and empathy of the holiday season, let's make sure that generous gifts arrive where they're most needed.
With hope and gratitude,
Luis, Stephanie, Graziela, David, Paula, Ben, and the rest of the Avaaz team
SOURCES:
Western Union CEO's pay more than triples in 2009, Associated Press:
http://abcnews.go.com/
Past Time for Remittance Justice, ACORN International:
https://secure.avaaz.org/
World Bank Remittance Pricing resource:
http://remittanceprices.
Support the Avaaz community! We're entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way -- donate here.
Avaaz.org is a 6.5-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people shape global decision-making. ("Avaaz" means "voice" or "song" in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz's biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.
This message was sent to ng.steven@gmail.com. To change your email address, language, or other information, contact us via this form -- or simply click here to unsubscribe.
To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US).
''There is food, work and a roof over my head.''
''They are arrested, jailed and deported, but since they are stateless they are taken to the Thai border and often sold to Thai traffickers,'' said Fernandez.
''US Senate foreign relations committee staff are reviewing reports of extortion and human trafficking from Burmese and other migrants in Malaysia, allegedly at the hands of Malaysia government officials,'' a staff official told international news agencies in early January.
Some of the immigrants from Burma and other countries are refugees recognised by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) which has an office in Kuala Lumpur.
An upset foreign minister Rais Yatim told local media on Jan 19 that the allegations were ''baseless, ridiculous and farfetched''.
