News Archives » Social Justice
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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Oblates Join Religious Coalition Calling for Investigation by US DOJ into use of Torture June 10th, 2009
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate’s Justice, Peace, and Integrity of Creation office has joined the Torture Abolition Survivors Support Coalition and more than 180 other organizations in calling on Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate and prosecute members of the Bush administration for violations of US and International law pertaining to torture.
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International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day, May 17, 2009 May 4th, 2009
Mark ‘Sunday May 17′ on your calendar. A candlelight vigil will be held in 115 countries lead by varied coalitions of some 1,200 community organizations. The International AIDS candlelight vigil is a grassroots mobilization initiative against AIDS organized by the Global Health Council.
With 33 million people living with HIV/AIDS today, this event is a global solidarity effort to fight AIDS. The theme for the 2009 International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day is “Together, We are the Solution”.
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April Action Alert: Support the Border Security and Responsibility Act of 2009 April 28th, 2009
Join the National Week of Lobbying on the Border Wall
This week, April 27- May 1, dozens of concerned citizens and faith groups are visiting Washington, DC, to build support among Members of Congress for H.R. 2076 – the Border Security and Responsibility Act of 2009. Last week, Rep. Grijalva introduced this bill in the House of Representatives. If passed, the Bill would restore the rule of law to the borderlands, and protect communities, national parks and other federal lands – as well as significant wildlife habitat – from the unintended consequences of our nation’s border policy.
The damage that border walls have caused is alarming. To date, infrastructure has been built across more than 600 miles of our shared international border with Mexico. Walls have separated families, caused damaging floods and erosion, and fractured habitat and migration corridors vital to wildlife that has been pushed to the brink of extinction.
Your members of Congress can stop construction of the Border Wall and help mitigate the damage done, but they need to hear from you today.
Legislation to Protect Immigrant Detainees Introduced in the House of Representatives March 10th, 2009
In response to the numerous deaths and cases of abuse in immigrant detention centers across the nation, U.S. Representative Lucille Roybal-Allard (D-CA) has introduced the Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act of 2009 (H.R. 1215). This bill works to “better ensure immigrant detainees receive fair and humane treatment while in detention.”
The Immigration Oversight and Fairness Act seeks to:
- Improve detainees’ access to telephones and medical care, including treatment for survivors of sexual abuse
- Improve mental health care standards, which are critical for persons who have suffered persecution, torture, or other trauma
- Promotes alternatives to detention which enable detainees to be released on their own recognizance, bond, or other non-custodial supervision programs
- Provides protections for unaccompanied children taken into DHS custody.
The Oblate JPIC office supports this proposed legislation. Through a joint letter to Congress, we are joining other faith, human rights, civil liberties, immigrant and community organizations in urging Members to support this bill which would create enforceable and humane treatment standards for immigrants held in detention facilities.
