The IBVM NGO Office at the UNITED NATIONS
JPIC News
February 2010
We commit to building right relationships with people and the planet … and allow ourselves and our ministries to be transformed by what they require. (GC’06, Call 3d)
We commit to educate ourselves about global urgencies. (GC’06, Call 3e)
TRAFFICKING IN PERSONS
Imelda Poole (English Province – Albania) collaborates with a number of networks that work against trafficking. She went to a conference in the Netherlands in mid-January. One aspect of the meeting was organizing the campaign against trafficking in union those in S. Africa hosting World Cup in July. The UISG in Rome will facilitate training in February in South Africa.
Jean Okroi (USA Province) was involved in several different activities against trafficking in January. Among them she was interviewed on national radio about Human Trafficking, where and how it exists, and what response individuals can make.
Sabrini Edwards (Mary Ward Social Centre - Darjeeling Region) targets human trafficking with attention to the high risk area that includes the border countries of Nepal, China, Bhutan and Bangladesh, and with a focus on prevention programs and education. They seek to address the factors that may encourage people to trust traffickers, such as lack of job opportunities and the break up of the family unit. MWSC works on four levels of intervention: awareness, law enforcement sensitization, networking with NGO’s and Community Based Organizations, case studies. See the attached for an in-depth description of this work.
One way to engage in the issue of trafficking is through prayer. Rosary Meditations can be found on the Unanima International website.
ENVIRONMENT / INTEGRITY OF CREATION
2010 marks the 10th anniversary of Earth Charter. Events will take place around the world throughout the year. Earth Day, April 22 has been suggested as a good day to organise and hold activities to promote and raise awareness about Earth Charter. What can you do?
http://www.earthcharterinaction.org/content/articles/363/1/Earth-Charter10-plans/Page1.html
Loreto College students, (Kolkata, India) visited the Sunderbans (mangrove deltas south of Kolkata) after the devastation caused by cyclone Aila. Their visit led them to organise a tree plantation this month, February 2010. Coconut seedlings were purchased along with compost and micronutrient for free distribution to families - 2 per family.
Bells Ring For Climate Justice: On 13th December 2009 in solidarity with the United Nations negotiations in Copenhagen, the members of the Darjeeling Region gathered in Champasari, for the Region Assembly, lifted their hearts in prayer for climate justice. At a special prayer service organized to join people of goodwill, in partnership for global justice, they rang bells in gratitude for the gift of creation and in asking for the wisdom and courage to safeguard the environment.
FEMALE GENITAL MUTILATION
We received a detailed report from Ephigenia Gachiri (Eastern Africa). There are many challenges to ending this practice in Africa and almost every country around the globe. While the practice is more endemic in Africa, FGM continues irrespective of national boundaries and/or religious persuasions. There are now six teams of facilitators, three in each of two Kenyan dioceses. Work with the Masai – men as well as women – is growing and there is a hope that later this year the elders, represented by chiefs, will declare FGM a harmful tradition.
In a Reuters news article (22 Jan 2010) it was reported that in Mauritania and Niger, genital cutters face fatwa and jail as part of a tentative trend to eliminate this practice in west Africa. However, as another NGO points out, it must also be understood that laws by themselves will not end the practice, it must be a choice and value of the people. Ephigenia knows this well; education and alternate rites are helping to change attitudes.
SOUTH SUDAN – a new approach to peace building
Good News Agency (15 January 2009) reported on a UN effort to include women in discussions on border security, arms control and migration issues. “The dialogue was the first in the history of peacebuilding in the Abyei area in which women took an active part in the talks.” Peace in Sudan is very fragile thing ...as the country prepares for elections please keep the people of South Sudan in your prayer, our own Sisters in Rumbek, and those congregations involved in the collaborative work of Solidarity with South Sudan. Be alert to any actions you can take or letters you could write.
INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: MARCH 8
You are invited to remember in a special way religious in Kenya. To mark this day they are focusing on women and peace-building. They write: “One of these reasons [to celebrate Int’l Women’s Day] is the need to work for peace. As we hold on to our dream of a better future, we need to heal the hurts of the past and begin to work together again in earnest for a more peaceful and prosperous Kenya . There is a growing belief, right across the country, that peace is needed not only within our own hearts, homes, local communities and work places, but more urgently still, it is needed in the country itself, prior to the proposed Referendum and the 2012 General Elections. Women, recognized worldwide as the primary life givers and nurturers, the country needs you now to promote reconciliation, justice and peace everywhere.”
We learn that women in some parts of our world celebrate at a different time: e.g. South Asian Women’s Day is held on November 30 each year. Sabrina (Darjeeling Region) was sponsored to attend a month long Feminist Capacity Building Course for South Asian Women in Kathmandu. She shared this experience with members of her Region and finds the input helpful in her ministry.
A prayer for use on March 8th, with a theme of trafficking is available in a dozen languages on http://jpicformation.wikispaces.com/EN_8March. This prayer, to be adapted by you to suit your situation, has been prepared by the UISG trafficking group in Rome.
2010 THE UN CELEBRATES THREE INTERNATIONAL YEARS
In 2010 the United Nations as well as governments, civil society organizations, individuals and other stakeholders all over the world will celebrate:
- The International Year of Biodiversity: How does your garden grow? Do you allow a variety of plants and food to grow together?
- The International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures: How do I engage with people and ways of being that are different to my own? “We commit to challenge our own … prejudices.” (GC’06 Call 2a) “We commit to seek ways to claim more fully the richness of our intercultural, international reality.” (GC’06 Call 2c)
- The International Year of Youth: has as its aim to promote dialogue and mutual understanding across generations, focusing on issues of peace, human rights, solidarity, MDG’s. Take a day this month to affirm a teacher and/or a student in a school near you.
FURTHER READING
Go to “IBVM at the UN” on the left hand menu for other articles:
“Far Away in the Sunset”
Loreto Sisters combat trafficking
Rosary Meditations
