News Archives » Integrity of Creation
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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People’s Guide to the UN Human Right to Water and Sanitation June 21st, 2011
Photo by Living Water International
The Council of Canadians has released a new report titled Our Right to Water: A People’s Guide to Implementing the United Nations’ Recognition of the Right to Water and Sanitation. Chairperson Maude Barlow wrote the report, available from the Council of Canadians.
On July 28, 2010 the General Assembly passed a non-binding resolution recognizing the Human Right to Water and Sanitation. Two months later, the UN Human Rights Council recognized the human right to water and sanitation in a similar resolution, setting out exactly what this new right entails for governments. Because the Human Rights Council resolution is based on two existing treaties, it rendered binding the first right to water resolution passed by the General Assembly. In other words, as the UN acknowledges, “The right to water and sanitation is a human right, equal to all other human rights, which implies that it is justiciable and enforceable.”
“All governments are now bound by these historic UN resolutions. Whether or not they voted for the two resolutions, every member nation of the UN is now obligated to accept and recognize the human right to water and sanitation and come up with a plan of action based on the obligation to respect, the obligation to protect and the obligation to fulfil these new rights,” says Barlow.
Danger of Mass Extinction of Marine Species June 20th, 2011
Coral Reefs bleached by warming oceans
Marine scientists at a high-level international workshop at the University of Oxford have warned that the world’s ocean is at high risk of entering a phase of extinction of marine species unprecedented in human history.
Delegates called for urgent and unequivocal action to halt further declines in ocean health. Fish, sharks, whales and other marine species are disappearing at a far faster rate than anyone had predicted, a study by the group found. Mass extinction of species will be “inevitable” if current trends continue, researchers said.
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Virtual Tour of the Community Supported Garden at LaVista June 17th, 2011
Watch this virtual field trip to the Oblate-sponsored Community Supported Gardens at LaVista, near Alton Illinois, located on the bluffs of the Mississippi River. LaVista is a CSA/organic farm, offering weekly fresh vegetable shares. The video was created by Green Spiral Tours.
Learn more at LaVista CSA
For the Oblate-sponsored LaVista Ecological Learning Center, go to http://www.lavistaELC.org/
