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Faith-Based Investors Call on Pharmaceutical Companies to Join the Medicines Patent Pool November 30th, 2011
In honor of World AIDS Day and the United Nation’s theme, “Getting to Zero”, members of the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) reiterate their endorsement of the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) created by UNITAID, and call upon pharmaceutical companies to share their licenses for life-savings AIDS medicines.
“The ‘Getting to Zero’ theme has three main goals,” said Christina Herman of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate: “Zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths: The MPP is an effective and powerful strategy against all three. As investors in pharmaceutical companies who view access to medicines as a fundamental human right, we strongly encourage participation.”
Read the ICCR Press Release on the UNITAID Patent Pool…
A Visit to Mongu, Zambia November 29th, 2011
Early November, JPIC Office colleague Kate Walsh, who works with the TRI-State Coalition for Responsible Investment (CRI) in New Jersey, visited Oblates working in Zambia. She writes about her reflection on the trip and experience in Zambia:
Two weeks ago, I traveled to Zambia to speak at conference co-sponsored by Catholic Relief Services and CAFOD on Extractives in Southern African. My task was to speak about ICCR’s work and run a session on Shareholder Advocacy. However, I had a few days to explore the region, visit, before the conference began.
That first weekend, I went to Mongu in the Western Region. This is the poorest region of the country. After a 7-hour bus ride from the capital, I arrived and went to visit the Diocese of Mongu Development Centre (DMDC).
Click here to read more »
South African Archbishop Calls for Action on Climate Change November 22nd, 2011
Archbishop Buti Tlhagale OMI, (Johannesburg – South Africa) has issued a pastoral letter on behalf of the Southern African Catholic Bishops Conference on the upcoming United Nations Conference on Climate Change. The conference will be held in Durban from 28 November–9 December 2011.
The Archbishop said, “This global climate crisis poses a great spiritual challenge to all Christians, people of all faiths, and all people of goodwill as it is the consequence of the destruction of God’s creation in which we have all participated in one way or another. It calls for a change of mindset, and a change of lifestyle to reduce our dependence on fossil-fuel energy like coal and oil. We call on all parishes, communities and organizations at local, regional and national levels, as well as individual Catholics:
- To reduce Greenhouse Gas emissions by using your own properties productively to grow trees that will absorb carbon dioxide;
- To grow vegetables and crops organically to reduce the use of chemical-based fertilizers;
- To share the food thus grown with the hungry and malnourished in your midst.”
Read the document (Download PDF)
House Legislation Introduced to Shed Light on America’s Anonymous Corporations November 16th, 2011
WASHINGTON, DC – Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, Rep. Barney Frank and Rep. Stephen F. Lynch introduced earlier this week, the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act, which would require corporations to provide information about who owns or controls the corporation and benefits from its existence.
This bill, H.R. 3416, is supported by the Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency (FACT) coalition, which includes a broad range of organizations with an interest in seeing the American trade in “anonymous corporations” closed down due to its negative impact on small businesses, human rights, corruption, national security, jobs and critical programs. The JPIC Ministry of the Missionary Oblates is a member of the coalition and is very supportive of this move to generate greater transparency in corporate ownership and activity.
“This legislation is crucial in the fight against corruption and organized crime,” said Stefanie Ostfeld, Global Witness Policy Advisor. “Swift passage of this bill will stop dictators, terrorists and drug traffickers from being able to legally hide their identities, and therefore their dirty money, behind anonymous American shell companies.”
The bill complements bipartisan Senate legislation, S. 1483, introduced in August by Senators Carl Levin and Chuck Grassley.
“Jubilee USA is thrilled to see the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Assistance Act moving forward in the House and applauds Representatives Maloney, Frank and Lynch for introduction. This Act takes important steps in halting the flow of illicit streams of revenue out of developing nations and away from those who need it the most- the world’s poorest. Morality must be brought back into the global financial system, and the Incorporation Transparency and Law Enforcement Act is one important measure in that goal,” said Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of Jubilee USA Network, an alliance of more than 75 religious denominations, faith- based communities, human rights agencies and community organizations that work on matters concerning global economic justice.
The bill will move to the House Committee on Financial Services.
Faith-based Shareholder Activists Profiled in NY Times November 14th, 2011
Religious groups have worked through the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility for 40 years to encourage corporations to ‘do the right thing’ by people and the environment. Sr. Nora Nash, of the Sisters of St. Francis of Philadelphia and active in faith-based shareholder activism since the 1980’s, was profiled in the Sunday edition of the New York Times. She explained their involvement thus: “We’re not here to put corporations down.We’re here to improve their sense of responsibility.”
Seamus Finn, OMI – also deeply involved in the ICCR dialogs with the banks as well as other corporate sectors, was cited in the article: “Companies have learned over time that the issues we’re bringing are not frivolous,” said the Rev. Seamus P. Finn, 61, a Washington-based priest with the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate and a board member of the Interfaith Center. “At the end of every transaction, there are people that are either positively or negatively impacted, and we try to explain that to them.”
