News Archives » North America
Compassionate Action Urged for Unaccompanied Migrant Children and Families July 15th, 2014
JPIC Staff Fr. Antionio Ponce OMI visiting Laredo Humanitarian Team shelter collecting donations for migrant children and families
The Missionary Oblates JPIC office joined Interfaith Immigration Coalition in a letter addressed to the President and Congress regarding the recent unaccompanied children who are crossing the US-Mexico border. The interfaith community is expressing concerns for the unaccompanied children and families fleeing violence in Central America and frustrations with the way this humanitarian crisis has been handled. The letter requests that steps be taken in a just, effective, compassionate and comprehensive way to address the needs of children and families who are fleeing harm in Central America.
NOGs and Religious Groups Call for Inclusion of Human Right to Water and Sanitation in SDGs July 7th, 2014
More than 300 Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs), including Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, recently sent a statement to the General Assembly’s Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to explicitly affirm its commitment to protect and promote the human right to water and sanitation within the SDG framework and implementation:
“We join the repeated and insistent calls from civil society around the world to ensure that the SDGs are explicitly aligned to the human rights framework. For the post-2015 development agenda to reach its objective of being just, people-centered, and sustainable, the goals must prioritize-for present and future generations-the human right to water for health, life, food, and culture over other demands on water resources. This is even more critical given the key role of water for achieving other sustainable development objectives such as sustainable energy and food production, gender equality, and climate change mitigation.
SDGs must be designed to catalyze increased capacity and political will for States to fulfill their legally binding obligations to respect, protect, and promote the human right to water and sanitation. Our organizations fear that the human right to water and sanitation continues to be contested within the context of a global competition for scarce water resources. We are concerned that a development agenda that is not explicitly committed to upholding this vital human right may end up undermining it.”
Click here for good resources on the UN Human Right to Water: Human right to water and sanitation | International Decade for Action ‘Water for Life’ 2005-2015
Click here for eight fast facts on the HR to Water and Sanitation (poster)
Carl Kabat,OMI Protests Nuclear Weapons in Kansas City on July 4 July 5th, 2014
Our thanks go to Jane Stoever of PeaceWorks, Kansas City for this article on the anti-nuclear protest action by Oblate Father Carl Kabat on July 4th.
Spray-painted entry sign at the new federal nuclear weapons facility in Kansas City, Missouri
Carl Kabat, 80, a priest in the Order of Mary Immaculate, spray-painted the National Security Campus entry sign at 10 a.m. July 4. This is Carl’s fourth consecutive “interdependence action” in July at the so-called campus, the new home for the Kansas City Plant (in Kansas City, Mo.), where the National Nuclear Security Administration this year will begin making and procuring non-nuclear parts for nuclear weapons. In a phone call to friends at 10:03 a.m., Carl said, “This damned plant has got to be closed somehow, some way.” He chose red paint to signify blood, he said, and after painting was sitting alone by the huge sign, awaiting arrest.
The new $687 million facility replaces the Kansas City Plant at Bannister Federal Complex, also in Kansas City, Mo., where the federal government has documented about 900 toxins–the legacy from radioactive and other substances used at the old plant. The Kansas City Plant makes parts such as wiring, fuses, guidance systems, security devices, and the trigger for nuclear weapons.
It is expected that Carl will spend the weekend in the Kansas City, Mo., Police Department’s holding cell; will come before a judge via TV court on Monday, July 7; will be freed; and will be told to return to Kansas City for a hearing, where he’ll speak truth to power.
About noon on July 4, lawyer Henry Stoever took pictures of Carl’s handiwork, but by 6 p.m., when Jane Stoever went for more pictures, the sign was under cover. Both Stoevers were warned to leave or be charged with trespass.
In a statement Carl prepared before an earlier July 4 resistance action, Carl said, “One of our Minuteman III’s could kill approximately three million of our sisters and brothers. … We have perfected the ‘art’ of killing and burning. … Four Minuteman III’s could kill 12 million of our sisters and brothers. … The opinion of the International Court in 1995 states that nuclear weapons are a Crime Against Humanity!”
In 1980, Kabat became one of the first Plowshares, following Isaiah’s mandate to “beat swords into plowshares.” He has spent about 17 years in prison for resisting nuclear weapons. In his short phone call this July 4, Carl signed off, “God bless! Peace on you!”
Carl Kabat’s paint covered over by officials
USCCB Infographic to Stop Slavery! July 2nd, 2014
Please watch this new info-graphic from the US Catholic Bishops’ Conference Anti-Trafficking Program, and take action today!
2014 Trafficking in Persons Report issued by the US State Department June 23rd, 2014
We want to alert you to the 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report, released by the U.S. Department of State on June 20, 2014. The Report presents an assessment of what countries are doing to combat the scourge of trafficking in persons (TIP). This annual report, mandated by the U.S. Congress, is a valuable source of information for all people working to prevent TIP, as well as those involved in protection and education initiatives. Examining the state of human trafficking both in the United States and abroad, the report reflects the deep concern of the President, members of Congress, and the public over the serious human rights, health, and security implications of human trafficking around the world.
The introduction to the Report and the individual country narratives can be downloaded in PDF and HTML format here…
