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Vatican Issues Statement on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights June 25th, 2014
His Excellency Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva submitted a statement on the UN Guiding Principles at the 26th Session of the Human Rights Council on June 11th. The statement, titled “Report of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises” is excellent, calling for the need to broaden dissemination of the principles, attain scale in implementation, build trust among stakeholders and overcome barriers to effective remedy.
The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Guiding Principles) were endorsed by the United Nations Human Rights Council on 16 June 2011. The Guiding Principles provide an authoritative global standard for addressing adverse impacts on human rights linked to business activity around the world.
The Guiding Principles set out, in three pillars, principles concerning the State duty to protect human rights, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, and access to remedy for victims of human rights abuse.
The following gives a flavor of the statement that reflects fully the Vatican’s concern for the impact of powerful economic structures and activity on the lives of ordinary people:
“The ability of international corporations to partially escape territoriality and carve for themselves an existence “in-between” national legislation is rightly one of the concerns of the International Community. Their mobility in terms of their country of incorporation, management, production, and financial flows allows them to navigate national legislations, take advantage of regulatory arbitrage and choose the jurisdictions that may offer the best return in terms of profits. Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel”, and other religious leaders in the International Community have repeatedly pointed out that profit cannot be the only rationale of business activity. Transnational corporations are part of the human family and as such their activity should abide by the standard of human rights.”
“Another point of concern to the International Community is the inherent complexity of the transnational corporations regarding their diverse operating models (modus operandi) which makes them very hard to monitor and supervise. The resulting absence of robust and timely transparency makes it very difficult to measure compliance with rules and legislations. Human rights violations all too often occur out of utter neglect toward consequences that would have been foreseeable had anyone cared to think about them. These sorts of “neglects” are not casual, but systemic.”
June is Torture Awareness Month! June 2nd, 2014
Join the National Religious Campaign Against Torture (NRCAT), which is providing educational, advocacy and worship resources on torture during the month of June. The group is also hosting activities to honor survivors of torture, ensure truth about US torture programs and begin the restoration of human dignity.The theme for the month is Exposing the Truth of U.S. Torture: Restoring Human Dignity.
A Torture Awareness Toolkit is available to help you and your local faith community participate in the awareness initiative. The Missionary Oblates JPIC Office is a member of the National Religious Coalition against Torture (NRCAT), and we encourage you to become involved.
Join “Campaign Nonviolence”. May 19th, 2014
Pax Christi USA, of which OMI JPIC is a member, has endorsed Campaign Nonviolence, a movement to promote non-violence that is being circulated through Pace e Bene.
This campaign works to connect the dots between poverty, militarism, racism and the environment, and is promoting study groups around the country as well as direct action to serve as a public witness. Campaign Nonviolence will take action September 21-27 in cities across the United States as part of the long-term struggle to abolish war, end poverty, reverse climate change, and to build a culture of peace.
Please visit the Pace e Bene website where you will find a wealth of information and suggestions for concrete actions to support the Campaign.
Kidnapping in Nigeria a Tragic Reminder that Trafficking and Slavery Persist Worldwide May 16th, 2014
Constant vigilance and the full participation of all stakeholders is required to guard against hidden human rights abuses.
Over 200 schoolgirls were kidnapped on April 14th by Boko Haram in Nigeria, setting off a firestorm of concern from around the world. In messages to the Nigerian government the extremists have referred to the girls as slaves and threatened to “sell them on the market”. The Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR), a shareholder coalition that has been working to highlight human trafficking and modern slavery in corporate supply chains, adds it voice to the many religious, governmental, non-governmental and international institutions calling for the mobilization of all necessary resources and expertise to help locate and free the missing girls. The Oblates are active participants in ICCR and work through the coalition to abolish human trafficking and modern day slavery.
Click here to read more »
Bring Back Our Girls! May 13th, 2014
Nigerian Oblate Father Ali Nnaemeka Cornelius, OMI writes about the plight of the abducted schoolgirls in Nigeria, prays for the return of the abducted girls and urges for more actions to free them. In the article Fr. Cornelius says, “There are therefore certain reasons that brought us to where we are today. What the world maybe has not known before is that Boko Haram has been causing much other serious havoc in Nigeria over the years. The only problem is that for many reasons we have been dying in silence.”
Read the article at the weekly blog publication of the US Missionary Oblates JPIC office
