News Archives » Europe
World Day for Water March 26th, 2009
To underscore both the potential dangers of “water wars” in places that are home to 40 percent of the world’s population – and the promising opportunities for cooperation and development – the United Nations marked the World Day for Water on 22 March with a focus on trans-boundary waters and their management.
“The amount of water we have has remained constant for thousands of years, while the number and types of users have increased massively… population growth, urbanization, land use changes, and global warming … are creating competing pressures on this finite resource,” says UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura in his remarks marking World Water Day. “As a result, the amount of water available for each person is increasingly unequal, and diminishing dramatically.”
This year’s theme, “Shared Water – Shared Opportunities,” aims to explore opportunities to build trust among countries as they manage their common water resources in ways that promote peace, security and sustainable economic growth. Some 900 million people lack access to safe drinking water, making them vulnerable to the water-borne illnesses that kill 4,200 children every day.
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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)
US Airways Combats Child Sex Tourism March 4th, 2009
ICCR members thanked US Airways for its effort to inform passengers of the evil of child sex tourism in an advertisement in a recent issue of US Airways Magazine. At the recent III World Congress Against Sexual Exploitation of Children and Adolescents held in Rio de Janeiro, Nov. 25-28, 2008, Queen Silvia of Sweden stated that “Business executives have to play an active role; the society will not support companies that are indifferent to social problems.” The queen urged “transport, internet, travel and tourism sectors to deepen their commitment within their productive chains to fight child and adolescent sexual tourism world-wide.”
The Oblates are actively engaged in work to combat human trafficking through ICCR, and were a signatory to the letter.
“Philippines: Mining or Food?” – Report launched in London February 23rd, 2009
“Focus on rice production and not on mining” says new report on mining in the Philippines
L to R: Right Hon Clare Short; Clive Wicks; Robert Goodland; Bishop John Arnold auxiliary in the Catholic Diocese of Westminster; Anglican Bishop Michael Doe General Secretary of Anglicans in World Mission
Church opposition in the Philippines to destructive mining on its islands was supported by Church leaders in Britain on 9 February at the launch of a new report at Westminster titled, Philippines: Mining or Food? It was commissioned by the UK-based Working Group on Mining in the Philippines, which is chaired by Clare Short MP and involves Columban Faith and Justice, the Ecumenical Council for Corporate Responsibility, and Philippine Indigenous Peoples Links. The Oblate JPIC Office is preparing a US launch in the coming weeks.
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Europeans Call for a Moral Economic System January 22nd, 2009
Non Governmental Organizations meeting in Paris issued a declaration on the financial crisis that those working with the poor will find very useful. It is a concise and clear call for engagement in the forthcoming debate on the financial system, its purpose and governance.
Paris Declaration (PDF available in English, Spanish, French, German, Italian)
European leaders have stressed the need for Europe to play a significant role in the G20 Summit scheduled for April in London. There, the group of leading and emerging countries will hammer out ways of reinforcing the architecture of global regulation. Speaking at a conference in Paris on the future of capitalism, the leaders of the EU’s powerhouse member states agreed on the need to make long-term changes to the old financial order, which Sarkozy said had been “perverted” by an “amoral” form of unbridled finance capitalism.
