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Faith-based and Nongovernmental Groups Condemn Coup in Honduras; Express Concern for Human Rights Situation July 1st, 2009
Faith-based, human rights, and activist groups in the United States joined in condemning the coup carried out June 28th against José Manuel Zelaya Rosales, the elected President of Honduras.
President Zelaya was forcibly removed from his home by the military and put on a plane to Costa Rica. The coup took place on the very day that a controversial non-binding referendum about the Honduran constitution had been scheduled.
Read full text of the June 30 letter (Download PDF)
Learn more: Read “Behind the Honduran Coup”
Bishops of G8 Nations Call On Their Leaders to Assist the Poor in Developing Nations July 1st, 2009
The Catholic Bishop’s Conferences from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, Scotland and USA are urging their leaders, members of the Group of Eight (G8) major industrialized countries, to adopt a set of shared actions designed to protect and assist poor people in developing nations who are suffering from the economic meltdown.
The appeal is contained in a joint statement to the G8 summit 2009, the next meeting of which takes place in Italy on July 8-14. The bishops’ letter refers to an earlier message from Pope Benedict XVI addressed to a G20 meeting where the Holy Father called for more development aid to poor countries. The Pope remonstrated that poor nations did not generate the crisis hence should not be its victims.
Following is the full text of the letter
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$1.2 Billion in Haitian Debt Cancellation: A Welcome Victory July 1st, 2009
Extended Campaign to Win Relief for Haiti Finally Pays Off
The Oblate JPIC Office joins other members of the Jubilee USA Network in welcoming the news that, at last, Haiti has reached “completion point” in the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries program.
This step means the cancellation of $1.2 billion in external debt owed by the impoverished island nation to bilateral and multilateral lenders including the IMF, World Bank, and US government. The Boards of the World Bank and IMF met on June 30 to formally approve Haiti’s debt stock cancellation under HIPC and the Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative.
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Oblates Gather for International Immigration Symposium in Toronto July 1st, 2009
Oblates from North America, Asia-Oceania, Europe, Africa/Madagascar and Latin America gathered in Toronto from June 8-12 to learn, strategize and sensitize themselves on the challenges of migrants and immigrants in every area where the Oblates are working. It was also a moment to share the distributions of migrants where Oblates work. This is the first Oblate international symposium on migration, and was convened by the Assumption Province in collaboration with the Oblate General Administration in Rome.
Report and Recommendations of the Symposium (Download PDF)
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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.
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