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Oblate JPIC Action Alert: Protest Killing of Indigenous People in the Amazon June 10th, 2009
URGENT ACTION NEEDED!
Police Massacre of Indigenous Protesters in the Peruvian Amazon is linked to the US-Peru Free Trade Agreement
Over the past weekend, confrontations in the Peruvian Amazon between nonviolent indigenous protesters and police have left more than 60 people dead. As many as 30,000 Indigenous people have been protesting for nearly two months, a series of Presidential Decrees issued last year under the US-Peru FTA implementation law. Several of these decrees directly threaten Indigenous territories and rights.
Last April, 41 Oblate parish priests from the region issued a statement titled, “Protecting and Respecting the Amazon, we protect the indigenous”. The priests spoke directly of “the increase of social injustice and ecological destruction which threatens the very existence of indigenous and peasant communities that are being despoiled of their lands.”
Full Statement available on this website.
Click here to read more »
Congo Conflict Mineral Disclosure Act Introduced May 8th, 2009
Companies registered in the US that sell products using columbite-tantalite (also known as coltan), cassiterite or derivatives from minerals from Democratic Republic of Congo or neighboring countries will be required to annually disclose to the Securities and Exchange Commission the origin of those minerals. This provision is contained in new legislation called the Congo Conflict Mineral Act 2009 (S.891) introduced on April 23 the by Senators Sam Brownback (R-KS), Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Russ Feingold (D-WI).
The sale of minerals is linked to the funding of killings, atrocities and rapes crimes committed by armed groups in Democratic Republic of Congo. The Congo Conflict Mineral Act brings accountability and transparency to the importation and sale of mineral products from Congo by disclosure of their origin. Cassiterite, Colton and tantalite are minerals commonly used in cell phones, laptop computers and other electronic products used by millions of people in the United States and other developed countries.
Click here to read more »
International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day, May 17, 2009 May 4th, 2009
Mark ‘Sunday May 17′ on your calendar. A candlelight vigil will be held in 115 countries lead by varied coalitions of some 1,200 community organizations. The International AIDS candlelight vigil is a grassroots mobilization initiative against AIDS organized by the Global Health Council.
With 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS today, this event is a global solidarity effort to fight AIDS. The theme for the 2009 International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day is “Together, We are the Solution”.
Click here to read more »
April Action Alert: Support the Border Security and Responsibility Act of 2009 April 28th, 2009
Join the National Week of Lobbying on the Border Wall
This week, April 27- May 1, dozens of concerned citizens and faith groups are visiting Washington, DC, to build support among Members of Congress for H.R. 2076 – the Border Security and Responsibility Act of 2009. Last week, Rep. Grijalva introduced this bill in the House of Representatives. If passed, the Bill would restore the rule of law to the borderlands, and protect communities, national parks and other federal lands – as well as significant wildlife habitat – from the unintended consequences of our nation’s border policy.
The damage that border walls have caused is alarming. To date, infrastructure has been built across more than 600 miles of our shared international border with Mexico. Walls have separated families, caused damaging floods and erosion, and fractured habitat and migration corridors vital to wildlife that has been pushed to the brink of extinction.
Your members of Congress can stop construction of the Border Wall and help mitigate the damage done, but they need to hear from you today.
National Call-in Day on March 30 to End the Use of Cluster Bombs March 25th, 2009
When nearly 100 nations – including Britain, France, and Germany – gathered in early December to sign a global treaty banning cluster bombs, the U.S. was conspicuously absent. And yet, the U.S. has been the world’s biggest user of these weapons, which always end up killing more civilians than soldiers.
President Obama and Congress can fix U.S. policy. In fact, they have already started. In March, Congress passed a law permanently banning exports of nearly all U.S.-made cluster bombs.
Now we need Congress to act to prevent any further use by U.S. troops.
Call your senators on Monday, March 30 and ask them to co-sponsor the Cluster Munitions Civilian Protection Act, S. 416.
Learn more – click here to our Action Alert on the subject (with thanks to FCNL)
