Alliance Youth secretary Michael Bower has praised police in rescuing two victims of human trafficking in the greater Belfast area, but has warned that this is a growing trend which requires more investment of police resources.
Michael Bower stated, “I congratulate the police for their work in rescuing these women from the living hell that they must have experienced. Human trafficking is a disgusting feature of modern society which must be tackled as robustly as possible.
“Last year, Alliance Youth ran a campaign to raise awareness about human trafficking in Northern Ireland and organised a petition signed by over 200 young people. Our campaign called for the Executive and the PSNI to take this issue seriously and to invest further resources into tackling the problem.
“Since then, the PSNI has set up an office to specifically investigate incidents of human trafficking, but we also heard Security Minister Paul Goggins state that it is not a real problem in Northern Ireland. We do however welcome the fact that following a meeting with Alliance Representatives, Paul Goggins is taking this issue more seriously.
“This police rescue shows that this sickening trade is a real problem and this incident is probably just the tip of the iceberg here.
Alliance Youth secretary Michael Bower has expressed outrage at the terrorist attacks that started last night in Mumbai.
Michael Bower stated, “These vile attacks are not just an attack on India, they are an attack on the international community as a whole. The magnitude of these incidents is deeply disturbing.
“As someone who has visited India on a number of occasions, I have experienced at first hand what a vibrant, diverse and friendly country it is. I urge the international community to stand shoulder to shoulder with India at this time and to do everything in its power to help it bring the perpetrators of this attack to justice.
“The world is changing, there will soon be a new President in the White House and we want to see a change in approach to help resolve conflicts around the world more effectively and more peacefully.”
Alliance Youth Chair Stephen Martin today hailed World Diabetes Day (Friday 14th September 2008) as essential in raising awareness of a condition that had a huge impact on sufferers here in Northern Ireland and is on the increase.
The Lisburn man commented: “World Diabetes Day is part of an awareness campaign bringing to the public’s attention what diabetes is and what its effects are on those who develop it. Since 2006, World Diabetes Day has been recognised by the United Nations which has helped to increase its appeal. This year sees the focus on Children and Adolescents. Type 1 diabetes is growing by 3% per year amongst young people with around 200 children and adolescents developing the condition worldwide every day.
“A recent report published by Diabetes UK showed that diabetes is costing the National Health Service in NI around £ 1 million a day, which is a large sum of money for a condition that unfortunately does not attract much public attention.”
The Alliance Youth Chair concluded: “Given Minister McGimpsey’s recent announcement on tackling childhood obesity, I would call on all of us to examine what we are doing in our lifestyles and see if what we consume is putting ourselves and our young people in danger of developing diabetes. It is important to recognise all the health and lifestyle consequences the onset of diabetes can bring about – heart disease, strokes, amputations, kidney failure and blindness.”
Alliance Youth Secretary Michael Bower has berated the Minister for Employment and Learning Reg Empey’s plans to increase student tuition fees by £80.
Michael Bower said, “This will be yet another financial burden on students and will hit people from families from low to middle income backgrounds hard. Instead of helping our students, Reg Empey is holding them to ransom. For those who have to pay their own way through university, this is a total kick in the teeth. It also adds increasing pressure on parents who have saved what little money they have throughout their lives to enable their sons and daughters to go through third level education.
“These increases will lead to the situation where students have to work even more hours to fund their way through university to the total detriment of their studies: the reason why they go to university in the first place. We want to see an end to tuition fees as they are totally unfair and they diminish the prospects of our young people.
“Given the current dismal economic climate, increasing the financial burden on those who are struggling the most is completely out of order. I call on the Minister to reconsider his plans to increase fees and urgently reconsider the entire tuition fee structure.”
Chair of Queen’s University Alliance Mark Bailie said: “The Executive should look at ways of redirecting part of the £1.5 billion spent on maintaining segregation each year in Northern Ireland to remove the burden of these unfair fees from students.”
Alliance Youth Chair Stephen Martin today hailed the historic election of Senator Barack Obama as President of the United States.
Speaking following Alliance Youth’s highly successful Election Night Party, the Lisburn man commented: “I remember sitting up to the small hours watching the 2004 Democratic Convention when Barack Obama, a little known State Senator from Illinois, gave his now famous ‘One America’ speech. It was clear right from that moment that the man who would soon win a resounding victory in his race to be a US Senator had the ability to inspire by his very words a whole generation of young Americans from every background to get involved.’
“In the years since his election to the US Senate, the President-elect has time and again illustrated his ability to bring people together. President-elect Obama’s primary victory over Senator Hillary Clinton, who has been a stalwart of the Northern Ireland peace process and to whom together with her husband the people of Northern Ireland owe a debt of gratitude, was a sign of a changing of the guard in American politics.
“The 2008 American election may very well go down as a water-shed moment in world history. We have major global issues ranging from the economic crisis, climate change, stalled global trade talks, international development and the so-called ‘War on Terror’. It often puts our problems here at home into perspective. Surely our politicians can get on with the job that we sent them to do at Stormont and get down to business by bringing us together and working towards a united community.”
“I am delighted to send our International Liberal Youth colleagues in the Young Democrats of America our warmest congratulations on the election of Barack Obama and their gains in the US Congress.”
