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Spring 2010 Issue of JPIC Report Available March 18th, 2010

The Spring 2010 issue of JPIC Report, the newsletter of the US Justice, Peace/Integrity of Creation Office of the Missionary Oblates is now available on line.

This issue features updates on Sri Lanka, Haiti, logging in Bangladesh, immigration, financial regulatory reform, an Eco-Tips page and more.

Read the Spring 2010 Issue (Download PDF)

Protest the Attack on Bangladeshi Indigenous Peoples’ Advocate and Oblate Friend: Sanjeeb Drong January 24th, 2010

Sanjeeb Drong survives but fears further attacks…

Mr Sanjeeb Drong, an important advocate for human rights and indigenous peoples in Bangladesh and SE Asia, and good friend of the Oblates, was brutally attacked last Friday by a group of hired thugs. He and his wife were travelling home from a meeting with the Bishop and a Diocesan Committee. Sanjeeb fled from his attackers and was rescued by the Bishop and several priests who then took him to a hospital. He is now safe in Dhaka. His wife was unharmed.

Please call on US government officials and your elected representatives to press for an inquiry in Bangladesh. Use our suggested letter.

Read our Action Alert, learn more…

Victory after Long Fight to Save Bangladeshi Indigenous Villages and Forest January 20th, 2010

The indigenous Khasi people of Bangladesh have won a significant victory after a long struggle to protect the forest on which they depend for their survival. The indigenous community organized against rampant logging from a local tea estate owner who had secured permission to log the forest allegedly through his political connections. Thousands of trees and many Khasi villages will be saved as a result.

The Oblates have been supportive of the efforts to protect the forest, with Fr. Joseph Gomes, OMI working closely with the Khasi people. APRA (Adibasi Poribesh Roskhya Andolon or Save Indigenous Environment Movement) of BAPA (Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon or Bangladesh Environment Movement). Fr. Gomes was joined by Sharif Jamil, National Coordinator, APRA, Joint Secretary, BAPA in successfully arguing on behalf of the Khasi people before a government panel charged with investigating the logging controversy.

Read the full account…

BANGLADESH ‘Country’s climate-fund demands too low’ December 15th, 2009

Prominent Church people say the claim by Bangladesh for 15 percent of any climate change adaptation fund that may be pledged at the Copenhagen talks, may not be enough.

“Our people are not only suffering from sea-level rise and cyclones but also more people each day become refugees because of river erosion which is an effect of climate change too,” Benedict Alo D’Rozario, executive director of Caritas Bangladesh, told UCA News.

Click here to read more »

Khasi People Continue to Protest Destruction of their Forest May 20th, 2009

The Khasi people of Sylhet, supported by the Oblates there, have been fighting the cutting of the forest on which the people depend for their living. These efforts are also critically important for protecting area ecosystems.

On May 9th, the Khasi people staged a large public gathering to protest the continued logging as well as tea plantation expansion plans by a powerful landowner.

Click here to read more »

Tea Estate Expansion Threatens Bangladeshi Khasi People and Forest March 15th, 2009

In early January 2009, the Zhimai Tea Estate Authority cut-down a number of trees in the Pan-zoom of Zhimai. Thousands of trees have been demarcated to be felled and construction of labor-quarters has begun in an expansion of the tea garden. This activity threatens displacement of the indigenous Khasi people of Zhimai Punji, and directly interferes with their livelihood, which depends on the betel plant which grows on tall trees. Apart from the destruction of the land & livelihood of the Khasi, the tree felling severely affects the bio-diversity, and overall environment of the hills & forest of Sylhet Division, Bangladesh.

Fr. Joseph Gomes, OMI has been working with the Khasi people and APRA (Adibashi Poribesh Roskhya Andolon), the movement administered by BAPA, a national Bangladeshi environmental organization, for the protection & conservation of Bangladeshi forests.

Read report on the forest destruction (Download PDF)

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