News Archives » North America
Midwestern Productivity at Risk from Unchecked Climate Change January 23rd, 2015
A newly released report by Risky Business finds that unchecked climate change will threaten Midwestern agricultural and industrial productivity. If you live in the Midwest, have family there, or simply eat any of the many agricultural products grown in the region, you will want to read the executive summary, if not the full version, of this report: http://riskybusiness.org/reports/midwest-report/executive-summary. The full report is available also at this link. The report emphasizes that it is still possible to take action to avoid the worst impacts.
Launched in October, 2013, the Risky Business Project focuses on quantifying and publicizing the economic risks from the impacts of a changing climate. It is backed by former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, former US Treasury Secretary and Goldman Sachs executive, Hank Paulson, and Tom Steyer, a wealthy an American hedge fund manager, philanthropist, and environmentalist. They tasked the Rhodium Group, an economic research firm that specializes in analyzing disruptive global trends, with preparing an independent assessment of the economic risks posed by a changing climate in the U.S.
Mexican Migrant Children Forgotten at the Border January 22nd, 2015
Border Patrol and Mexican Authorities Fail to Screen and Protect Mexican Migrant Children
Last year, the issue of Central American children fleeing violence made headlines in the United States. But unlike unaccompanied minors from Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras, Mexican children fleeing violence rarely get an opportunity to tell their story before an immigration judge. The Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) has released an investigative video and report on the treatment of unaccompanied Mexican migrant children detained at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Every year, U.S. Border Patrol apprehends approximately 15,000 unaccompanied Mexican children. According to a 2014 report by the United Nations Refugee Agency, nearly 60 percent of unaccompanied Mexican minors surveyed mentioned violence as one reason for leaving home. But in 2013, less than 5 percent were transferred to the U.S. Office of Refugee Resettlement to be screened and later granted an immigration hearing.
Through interviews with migrant children, Border Patrol officials, Mexican authorities, and experts, WOLA’s video “Forgotten at the Border” demonstrates the plight of Mexican children who migrate to the United States in an attempt to escape violence. Unless these children can prove to a Border Patrol agent that they face a credible risk of persecution or trafficking, they are sent right back home.
WOLA’s video highlights the stories of minors like Esteban, a 17-year-old who describes fleeing from a local cartel, crossing the Arizona border, and being deported by Border Patrol. The video is accompanied by an investigative report, as well as recommendations for the U.S. and Mexican governments to better protect and screen unaccompanied Mexican children.
Report: Forgotten on La Frontera: Mexican Children Fleeing Violence Are Rarely Heard
Recommendations: How the U.S. and Mexican Governments Can Better Protect Unaccompanied Mexican Children Fleeing Violence
Interested in following WOLA on social media? You can find them on Twitter @WOLA_org or link to their Facebook page.
Important Advances in Pediatric AIDS Drug Development December 3rd, 2014
World AIDS Day saw two important announcements regarding development of much-needed pediatric AIDS drugs. This is an issue on which the Oblates and other faith-based investors in the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) have pressed pharmaceutical companies on for years. Since most pediatric AIDS patients are in poor, developing countries, the usual market incentive for drug development does not exist. And, the development of pediatric AIDS drugs, particularly for infants, is challenging. ICCR members have actively encouraged the major pharmaceutical companies to participate in the Medicines Patent Pool, a mechanism established under the auspices of the UN to ‘pool’ patents for drugs to make existing formulations more readily available for generic production and for innovative fixed dose combinations to be developed.
On Monday, World AIDS Day, Abbvie announced a licensing agreement for lopinavir (LPV) and ritonavir (r), top World Health Organization-recommended medicines for children. The license will enable other companies and organizations to re-formulate and manufacture specially designed LPV/r and r pediatric treatments for distribution in low- and middle-income countries where 99% of children with HIV in the developing world live. [Abbvie is a spinoff of Abbott Laboratories that contains the research-based pharmaceutical business.]
On the same day, the HIV Medicines Research Industry Forum announced that the forum is joining PEPFAR, the Global Fund, and the Pediatric HIV Treatment Initiative (PHTI) in the newly established “Global Pediatric Antiretroviral (ARV) Commitment-to-Action” to accelerate innovation and save children’s lives. The initiative is designed to accelerate the development of new, high-priority pediatric ARV co-formulations for first- and second-line treatment by 2017.
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Missionary Oblates Welcome Executive Action for Migrant Families November 24th, 2014
Immigration Reform Rally, Capitol Lawn; photo taken on April 10, 2013; Cool Revolution on Flickr, Some rights reserved
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Missionary Oblates JPIC applauds President Obama’s Administration for taking bold action to protect migrant families. On November 20, President Obama announced an historic action to provide deportation relief to an estimated 5 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States.
It is an historic victory that could not have been accomplished without the determined advocacy efforts of religious communities, immigrants and human rights groups. The executive action on immigration is welcome news for millions of immigrant families who have been living in the shadows for a long time.
The executive action will provide protection against deportation and will provide work permits to parents of U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents (LPR) who have resided in the country for five years. It will also expand legal status protection to young people who came to the United States as children, but who were not able to qualify for DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) when it was first announced in 2012.
“Due to the failure of Congress to move on comprehensive immigration reform, President Obama was right to act to stop deportations, which would lead parents to be separated from their American-born children,” said Fr. John Cox OMI, Pastor of Most Holy Redeemer parish in Ogema MN and a former member of the U.S. Province JPIC Committee.
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Executive Action: Keeping Migrant Families Together November 23rd, 2014
The Oblate JPIC Office joins with other religious communities in celebrating President Obama’s historic action to provide deportation relief to an estimated 5 million of our undocumented immigrant brothers and sisters. See the JPIC blog on the President’s recent announcement.
