News Archives » Economic Justice
UN Days in October October 1st, 2013
Learn about the U.N. Observance Days in October, here. Watch U.N. Web-TV, here.
- October 2, 2013: International Day of Non-Violence is held on Mahatma Gandhi’s birthday and is an occasion to “disseminate the message of non-violence, including through education and public awareness.” Available: In English; in Spanish; In French.
- October 11, 2013: Day of the Girl Child: Innovating for Girls’ Education: The fulfillment of girls’ “right to education” is first and foremost an obligation and moral imperative. Girls’ education, especially at the secondary level, has been proven to be a powerful transformative force for societies and girls themselves. Click here; in Spanish; in French. Read about the Techno Girl program in South Africa, here. Join in the Day of the Girl Summit here.
- October 16, 2013: World Food Day: Sustainable Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition: Healthy People Depend on Healthy Food Systems helps increase understanding of problems and solutions in the drive to end hunger. Available: In English; In Spanish; In French; In Italian.
- October 17, 2013: International Day for the Eradication of Poverty is intended to promote awareness of the need to eradicate poverty and destitution in all countries. Fighting poverty remains at the core of the U.N. development agenda. Available: In English; In Spanish; In French.
- October 20, 2013: World Mission Sunday.
- October 20-24, 2013: CONGO Week will be celebrated all around the world in an effort to bring attention to the ongoing violence in DR-Congo. Visit here.
- October 24, 2013: United Nations Day: Available: In English; In Spanish; In French.
Northern Virginia Community Organization Develops $30 Million Redevelopment Fund October 1st, 2013
VOICE, the northern Virginia community organization that has been addressing housing blight in the region, was highlighted in a Washington Post article recently. The organization has put together the $30 million “Prince William, VA Restoration Fund” from mortgage lenders responsible for a major foreclosure crisis in the area. The fund is designed to address neighborhood blight caused by the foreclosure & predatory loan crisis in town home communities like Georgetown South in Manassas, VA. The Oblates have actively supported VOICE’s efforts to develop this community redevelopment fund through our activist shareholder connections.
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Financial Transparency Coalition Meets in Africa on Problem of Illicit Financial Flows September 30th, 2013
The new Financial Transparency Coalition is meeting in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania on October 1-2. The theme for the conference, is “Towards Transparency: Making the Global Financial System Work for Development.” Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI, US JPIC Office Director, is officially representing ICCR (Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility) at the conference.
Nearly a trillion dollars a year has been secreted out of developing countries, robbing them of revenue needed desperately for development. The coalition was formed to do something about this problem that is central to the development of poor countries. According to the Coalition, half of the illicit financial flows – a staggering $500 billion – is coming from Africa. Flowing from crime, corruption, and tax evasion, these illicit transfers represent a drain on developing economies that is equivalent to eight times the size of global foreign aid.
The US JPIC Office is involved in several inter-connected organizations in Washington, DC, working for greater financial justice and transparency. These include the Tax Justice Network USA, (where Fr. Finn serves on the Board), and the FACT coalition (Financial Accountability and Corporate Transparency Campaign). The international Financial Transparency Coalition was launched in May of 2013, in response to the growing awareness and activism around the problem of illicit financial flows.
World Migration Report 2013 September 26th, 2013
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has published its annual report on migration, World Migration Report, 2013: Migrant Well-being and Development. This comprehensive look at migration patterns and the well being of migrants is available as a PDF download from the IOM website. It is available in English, French and Spanish.
According to the IOM website, “Many reports linking migration and development concentrate on the broad socioeconomic consequences of migratory processes, and the impact of migration on the lives of individuals can easily be overlooked. In contrast, the WMR 2013 focuses on migrants as persons, exploring how migration affects quality of life and human development across a broad range of dimensions.”
Help Save SNAP/Food Stamps September 18th, 2013
4-6 Million People will go hungry if the budget for SNAP/Food Stamps is slashed
Call your Representative, toll-free: 866-456-8824* TODAY, Tuesday, September 17
The U.S. House is expected to take up a bill this week that would cut SNAP by $40 billion over ten years. Every Member of Congress needs to hear that such an extreme proposal is unacceptable. Food stamps have had bipartisan support for decades. (See Stop Playing Politics with Hunger by former Senators Bob Dole and Tom Daschle in the Los Angeles Times as an expression of that bipartisan support.) But now, extremist Members of Congress want to slash SNAP and hurt millions of children and their families, seniors, and poor adults without children.
*TODAY: Call 866-456-8824, listen to the recorded message and enter your zip code. You’ll be connected right to your Representative’s office. Let them know you’re a constituent; tell them your name and the town you are calling from. Tell them:
As your constituent, I urge you to vote against the extreme nutrition-only farm bill which would cut $40 billion from SNAP and deny assistance to 4-6 million poor people. This bill would be devastating to struggling Americans; by making more people hungry, it goes against many years of bipartisan support.
What’s bad about this bill? A few points: the bill would deny SNAP to millions of poor, jobless adults without children whose
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