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Sharif Jamil, Bangladeshi Environmentalist: Video Interview June 30th, 2011
“Saving the Indigenous people’s environment in Bangladesh” is a story which highlights the collaborative work of the Missionary Oblates in Bangladesh with one of the country’s environmental leaders in responding to the efforts of indigenous peoples in Bangladesh to preserve their traditional lifestyle and culture.
Sharif Jamil is a Bangladeshi environmental activist who works closely with the Oblate JPIC Coordinator in Bangladesh, Fr. Joseph Gomes, OMI. Sharif is National Coordinator of APRA (Adibasi Poribesh Roskhya Andolon or Save Indigenous Environment Movement), Joint Secretary of BAPA (Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon or Bangladesh Environment Movement), and the Buriganga Riverkeeper. BAPA is the largest national environmental movement in Bangladesh.
Sharif, Fr. Joseph and others have been working with the Garo and Khasi communities to prevent illegal logging in their forests, on which they depend for their survival.
Human Right to Water and Sanitation materials available from the UN June 30th, 2011
Popular information materials on the human right to water and sanitation are now available from the UN Water Decade website.
The materials were developed on the occasion of activities jointly organized by the UN-Water Decade Programme on Advocacy and Communication (UNW-DPAC), UN-Habitat, the UN-Water Decade Programme on Capacity Development (UNW-DPC) and the Water Supply and Sanitation Collaborative Council (WSSCC) at Deutsche Welle Global Media Forum (20-22 June 2011). Click on the following links to access the documents:
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Us State Department Trafficking in Persons Report of 2011 Released June 30th, 2011
The US State Department has issued their 2011 Trafficking in Persons Report. Although significant progress has been made in raising awareness and in freeing many who have been enslaved, there are still an estimated 27 million men, women, and children exploited by human trafficking schemes around the world.
Secretary of State Hilary Clinton released the new report, which she explained ranks 184 countries, including the United States. The report does not mince words, and has been credited with significantly increasing the attention given to a long-standing problem.
Learn more about human trafficking on our website…
Oblate JPIC supports Congo Conflict-free Minerals Initiative June 28th, 2011
A workshop on the extractives industry supply chain on June 20th in northern Virginia pulled together more than 80 participants, including representatives from central African governments, the high-tech industry, mining companies, NGOs, and faith based investors, to discuss responsible mineral sourcing from Africa. Freeport McMoRan, Dell, Microsoft, Advanced Micro Devices, Sony and HP were come of the companies attending. Faith Responsible and Socially Responsible investors included the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), Boston Common Asset Management, Trillium Asset Management and members of the Congo Global Coalition.
The workshop was organized by Global e-Sustainability Initiative (GeSI) and the Electronic Industry Coalition (EICC). Apart from the overall usefulness of the meeting, it provided an opportunity for JPIC staff to meet with representatives of companies whom we engage in shareholder dialogues on sustainability issues.
The roundtable discussions focused on responsible mineral sourcing from the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighboring Central Africa countries. Minerals extracted from eastern Congo, mostly the ores that produce tin, tantalum, tungsten – the 3Ts – are essential to the electronics devices we use every day. Unfortunately, some of these minerals have been contributing to violent conflict in Eastern Congo.
The GeSI and EICC workshop was designed to develop a fuller understanding of the issues associated with conflict minerals and the efforts to stop their use in manufacturing. The discussion addressed the Dodd-Frank conflict minerals disclosure law, OECD Due Diligence and the EICC-GeSi conflict free smelter program. Following the workshop, JPIC staff participated in an investors’ meeting with the Security and Exchange Commission staff (SEC) in which the discussion focused on maintaining the protections on sourcing, designed to prevent the use of conflict minerals, written into the Dodd-Frank legislation.
Learn more about the Conflict-free Minerals provisions in the Dodd-Frank legislation
Oblates at International Conference on Mining and the Church in Latin America June 22nd, 2011
Oblates from Bolivia, Peru and the United States have participated in an international conference on Extractive Industries focused on “the problem of natural resources in Latin America and the mission of the church”. The conference was organized and sponsored by the Justice and Solidarity Department of CELAM (Bishops Conference of Latin America) and MISEREOR at a retreat center in Chaclacayo – Lima – Peru, June 14 – 16 2011.
Roberto Carrasco Rojas OMI, Edgar Nolasco OMI from the Oblate mission of St Clothilde, Peru, Gilberto Pauwels OMI from Oruro in Bolivia and Séamus Finn OMI from the USP JPIC office in Washington DC joined more than 70 participants from the diocese and communities situated on the front lines of the extraordinary expansion of the extractive industries in Latin America.
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