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World Relief has started a network to help the estimated 800,000 to 900,000 people trafficked across international borders to perform forced labor or participate in the sex trade. The U.S. Department of Justice provided World Relief with a $500,000 grant for the U.S. Network and Emergency Trafficking Services, which will bring together social service, religious, educational, and law enforcement agencies. World Relief says the members of the network will work collaboratively to address needs of victims, with a pilot project slated to begin in Tampa.

Parents in Germany must send their children to state-registered schools. In an important test case, on July 29 an appeals court in Frankfurt upheld a lower-court ruling that Christian parents Michael and Sigrid Bauer may not educate their children at home for reasons of faith or conscience. The Bauers claim certain subjects as taught in the state schools are incompatible with their faith. The Bauers say they may appeal to the national supreme court.

In August, Sri Lanka's supreme court ruled portions of the controversial anticonversion bill to be unconstitutional. The "Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Bill" now needs a two-thirds majority in the Parliament and a national referendum to be passed in its present form. Observers say the bill is all but dead.

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More information about World Relief's grant to help trafficked people is available from their website.

The Homeschool Legal Defense Association has more information about the German decision.

More on Sri Lanka's failed anti-conversion bill includes:

Lankan anti-conversion bill hits the rocks | Sri Lanka's controversial anti-conversion bill seems to have hit the rocks given the Supreme Court's critical observations and the distinct possibility of the mainstream political parties opting for a free, "conscience vote" in parliament (Hindustan Times, India, Aug. 18, 2004)

Sri Lanka to outlaw religious conversions | Passes bill to prevent conversion by force, allurement or by fraudulent measure (Daily Times, Pakistan, Aug. 18, 2004)

Anti-Conversion Bill needs two-thirds majority | Speaker W. J. M. Lokubandara yesterday told Parliament that the Supreme Court has recommended that certain clauses of the Prohibition of Forcible Conversion of Religion Bill violate certain articles of the Constitution and that the Bill in its present form has to be passed by not less than a two thirds majority and approved by the people at a referendum (Daily News, Sri Lanka, Aug. 18, 2004)

Controversial Sri Lanka bill against religious conversion gets court nod | Sri Lanka's Supreme Court has approved a controversial bill seeking to outlaw "unethical" religious conversions in the Buddhist-majority island, the parliament was told (AFP, Aug. 17, 2004)

Sri Lanka's controversial anti conversion bill fails | Sri Lanka's controversial anti conversion bill can be made law only if it gets the support of two thirds of MPs in Parliament and is approved by the people at a referendum, according to the rulng on it by the Supreme Court (TamilNet, August 17, 2004)

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October 2004, Vol. 48, No. 10