Washington, U.S.A. — A new Christian Solidarity International (CSI) report released recently calls on Egypt’s Islamist government and the international community – especially the U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – to investigate and take strong measures to prevent the disappearance, forced marriage and forced conversion to Islam of Coptic Christian women and girls.

The report, entitled “Tell My Mother I Miss Her,” confirms that Coptic women and girls are deceptively lured or abducted into forced marriages with Muslim men and then to conversions to Islam, which frequently take place under duress and physical abuse.

The report’s co-authors, Michele Clark, adjunct professor at George Washington University, and Coptic human rights activist Nadia Ghaly, undertook research in Egypt in November 2011 in the midst of the uprising that resulted in the political ascent of the Muslim Brotherhood and other radical Islamist forces. According to Clark and Ghaly, the disappearance of Coptic women and girls has “escalated” since the overthrow of President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011.

“Tell My Mother I Miss Her” was released in connection with the Congressional Helsinki Commission hearing on violence against Coptic women in Egypt, chaired by Congressman Chris Smith. Speaking as a witness before the hearing, Professor Clark stated, “Coptic women in Egypt are disappearing from their homes, their schools and their jobs.  These cases are not allegations.”

The hearing also featured testimony from an Egyptian Christian woman who received asylum in the United States after narrowly escaping abduction in Alexandria in January 2011. She was rescued by a doorman who saw her and her infant daughter being dragged into a taxi by a man shouting that she was “an enemy of Islam.”

“I’m here today, so I can tell you what happened to me,” she said. “I wonder about the others that weren’t saved. What happened to them?”

Congressman Chris Smith (R-NJ), who chaired the hearing, called the forced disappearances “an outrageous crime,” and called the U.S. State Department’s failure to respond to repeated requests from the Commission to investigate the disappearances “appalling.”

“Unless the Copts and Coptic women and girls are protected,” he said, “Egypt will not be strong, Egyptwill not be stable, and Egypt will not be a successful democracy.”

Dr. John Eibner, the CEO of CSI-USA, called on the U.S. State Department and non-governmental organizations that specialize in women’s rights, human trafficking and religious liberty to conduct further research into this crime, commenting that, “Denial and obfuscation will neither help victimized Christian women, nor challenge the religious bigotry and sexism that impedes the development of democracy inEgypt.”

The new report can be accessed online at: http://csi-usa.org/TellMyMotherIMissHer.pdf. It should be read in conjunction with the 2009 report, which is available at http://www.csi-int.org/pdfs/csi_coptic_report.pdf.

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Washington, U.S.A. - Latino leaders from across the United States gathered to announce that they are taking on Carlos Slim, the world’s richest man, by exposing the alleged predatory, monopolistic practices with which he has amassed his fortune.

The growing coalition point to the fact that Mr. Slim’s wealth has come at a huge cost to the people of Mexico and that his business practices have crippled economic development in Mexico and throughout Latin America.

“We have come together to speak out on behalf of the people in Mexico and Latin America who do not have recourse to speak out for themselves,” said Juan Jose Gutierrez, one of the coalition leaders and affiliated with Vamos Unidos USA.

“Carlos Slim’s monopolistic practices have imposed significant costs to the Mexican economy and burdened the people of Mexico and Latin America. We are exposing his abusive practices so that the harm he has caused can be rectified and that those who might throw praise and honor at this man might know the truth.”

In the first of many planned actions, Two Countries One Voice announced it was calling on George Washington University to sever ties with Carlos Slim and demanded that George Washington University officials disinvite him from the graduation commencement ceremonies on the National Mall and revoke his honorary degree.

Two Countries One Voice will announce additional actions against other American institutions and corporations with strong ties to Slim in the coming weeks.

“It would be a travesty for a respected American institution like George Washington University to honor a man who is a modern day robber baron. His empire has helped keep millions in poverty while he has lined his own pockets,” said Andres Ramirez, one of the coalition leaders who is based in Nevada. “We can not ignore how Slim has made his billions and this is why our first action is to call on George Washington University to sever ties with him immediately.”

Carlos Slim’s power and fortune is made up primarily from his monopoly in the Mexican telecommunications system.  According to the independent and highly respected Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Slim’s company, America Movil, which controls 80% of the total Mexican telecom, cell and internet industries, charges exorbitant prices and provides inadequate services.

Their report also shows that Mexico’s phone industry dominated by Slim’s companies’ overcharged customers a total of $13.4 billion a year for basic telephone and Internet service from 2005 to 2009.  The OCED report points out that those specifically and most profoundly affected by these business practices are rural and poor communities.

Last week, Slim and his company admitted to overcharging under pressure from a proposed one billion dollar fine. The Mexico’s CFC (Federal Competition Commission) had unanimously ruled that one of Slim’s companies, Telcel, holds too much power. Earlier this year the antitrust agency also served Telcel close to a billion dollar fine for “monopoly practices.”

The impact of Carlos Slim’s monopoly has resulted in Mexico ranking LAST in public investment in telecommunications compared with the 33 other OECD countries while Slim’s company Telemex had a profit margin of 47% - one of the highest of the OECD countries.

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