communications, Author at Franciscans International

The “Love Never Fails” International Congress, hosted by the Pontifical Council Cor Unum in Vatican City, on February 25-26th 2016, gave an opportunity for Catholic charitable organisations to come together to discuss the relevance of their work in today’s world. The Congress was organized to mark the 10th anniversary of the Pope Benedict XI’s Encyclical Deus Caritas Est (God Is Charity).

Featuring inter-religious perspectives on love and mercy, and testimonies about the work of Catholic charitable organizations in some of the world’s most difficult places, the Congress reaffirmed the relevance of Deus Caritas Est and the work of charitable organisations in the world. In his message to the Congress, Pope Francis restated the importance of caritas and indicated that it “is at the center of the life of the Church and […] is truly the heart of the Church.”

President of Franciscans International’s (FI) board of directors, Doug Clorey, attending the Congress as FI’s representative, was able to meet Pope Francis. He took the opportunity to present FI’s work to him, explaining how FI advocates at the United Nations for the promotion, protection, and respect of human rights, social rights, and environmental justice.

The need to address systemic change was noted at various points during the Congress, but no organization was asked to speak in depth on the subject. “This is an area in which FI could make a valuable contribution and better balance charity with justice”, reflects Doug Clorey. As is stated by Pope Benedict XI in his Encyclical, “we need to build a just social order in which all receive their share of the world’s goods and no longer have to depend on charity.” Convinced that eradicating poverty is more than a moral duty, and that it is in fact a legal obligation under existing human rights law, FI can indeed to contribute to the dialogue in this area.

Greatly concerned by the increasing number of people who find themselves excluded and marginalized from the current global economic system, Pope Francis has urged the Church to give particular attention to vulnerable and poor populations who are often “without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape.” In his recent inauguration of the Jubilee Year of Mercy on December 8th 2015, Pope Francis encouraged Catholics worldwide to “open wide the doors of their hearts” to forgive others and work against social exclusion. “Mercy and forgiveness must not remain beautiful words,” he said, “but must be realized in daily life.”

On December 17th 2015, at a Press Conference held at the Holy See Press Office (Sala Stampa) in Rome, Franciscans International, along with ATD Fourth World and Caritas Internationalis, presented its publication “Making Human Rights Work for People Living in Extreme Poverty: A Handbook for Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human” as a tool for combating extreme poverty; a tool that echoes with the Pope’s concern about today’s “economy of exclusion and inequality.” Defining extreme poverty primarily as a human rights violation, the handbook puts forward key elements for mobilizing and empowering people and communities to advocate for better policies. The handbook’s human-rights based approach recognizes all people as rights-holders and ensures that States are held accountable to upholding those rights.

“The elimination of extreme poverty is not only a moral duty, but also a legal obligation, by virtue of the provisions of international law on human rights. As is enshrined in the UN’s Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights: ‘Extreme poverty is not inevitable. It is, at least in part, created, enabled and perpetuated by acts and omissions of States and other economic actors; the tools for ending it are within reach,'” stated Francesca Restifo, FI’s Advocacy Director. “Our starting point was the expertise, knowledge and experience of our partners at local level,” she explained about the development of the handbook. “This handbook is the result of their concerns and their contributions.”

Mgr. Bernardo Johannes Bahlmann OFM, Bishop of the Diocese Óbidos in the North-East of Brazil shared the potential impact of the handbook on the communities of his diocese, mostly indigenous communities whose rights are so often being violated by deforestation. “Franciscans live in close contact with communities affected by poverty in all parts of the world,” added Fr. Michael Perry OFM, Minister General of the Order of Friars Minor, noting how a rights-based approach to poverty is in line with Franciscan spirituality, putting human dignity at the center of poverty reduction efforts. “These Franciscans seek to establish a strong bond between the protection of human rights and the protection of the environment.”

FI is using the launch and promotion of its handbook “Making Human Rights Work for People Living in Extreme Poverty: A Handbook for Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights,” and the movie “Extreme Poverty: Standing Up For Rights” to push for and exemplify a rights-based approach to addressing extreme poverty at the UN, among Catholic leaders, and with our partners on the field.

Watch summary video of Press Conference here.

Download the handbook here.

Background: Extreme poverty is a result of injustice – people living in poverty do not just suffer from a lack of income, they usually face considerable barriers that prevent them from enjoying fundamental rights, such as the right to food and nutrition, to housing, to work, to health, and to education. They have to accept dangerous working conditions, unsafe housing, and limited access to healthcare, and bear the consequences of a lack of nutritious food, unequal access to justice, and lack of political power. These barriers and subsequent deprivations are interrelated and mutually reinforcing, resulting in a vicious circle of poverty, powerlessness, stigmatization, discrimination, and exclusion. FI and partners developed the handbook “Making Human Rights Work for People Living in Extreme Poverty: A Handbook for Implementing the UN Guiding Principles on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights,” and the movie “Extreme Poverty: Standing Up For Rights” to promote an approach to extreme poverty that centers on rights and empowers those living in poverty to participate in decisions and policies that affect them. FI is promoting the handbook both at the UN, and with its partners at field level, and is currently developing training material and support workshops in the field, so as to have an even wider-reaching impact.

Fracking is the process of breaking up shale underneath the Earth’s surface to extract natural gas and oil. It has been hailed as the new direction to take in energy production, and promoted as a safe alternative to traditional fossil fuel sources, especially coal.

Often overlooked in the fracking debate, however, are the systematic breaches of international human rights law that accompany fracking, especially those related to the destruction of the environment necessary for the enjoyment of human rights. Human rights law recognizes that human rights and environmental protection depend on each other: to enjoy human rights fully, it is necessary to have a safe and healthy environment; and to have a safe and healthy environment, it is critical to protect human rights.

Fracking poses severe threats to the environment: not only does it release dangerous amounts of methane into the atmosphere (a 2011 United Nations Environment Program study states that methane is 105 times more powerful than carbon dioxide in the short term and has quicker climate impacts) but it can also contaminate and deplete water, pollute the air, lead to deforestation, and increase the risk for earthquakes. For communities who live near fracking wells, the impacts on their rights are numerous and far-reaching: damage to crops and livestock threatens their right to food and right to livelihood; water and air pollution endangers their right to health and to safe drinking water. Fracking operations can also impact their rights to housing, to access information, and to public participation.

In continued efforts to expose and denounce the human rights violations connected to fracking, FI co-sponsored a debate at the COP21 Meeting in Paris. The event provided further evidence of fracking’s adverse impact on the environment and human rights, from experts in the United States, where fracking has been taking place for years, and from other activists from around the world who are facing the imminent threat of fracking in their countries. Participants also highlighted the role of faith communities in the struggle to ban fracking, pointing specifically to the Pope’s encyclical, ‘Laudato Si,’ and how it can be used to support the movement. The debate at COP21 is part of FI’s strategy to raise awareness about and contribute to banning the practice of fracking. It comes after a series of specific advocacy actions, including formal denouncements at the Human Rights Council, reports for UN country reviews (namely Canada’s review by the Human Rights Committee), and advocacy in the Sustainable Development Goals process.

For more information about fracking and human rights, please see the “Guide to Rights- Based Advocacy: International Human Rights Law and Fracking”, a publication by the Sisters of Mercy, for which FI was a contributor.

The adverse impacts of climate change are a matter of justice and inequality. Communities who are dependent on the environment for their livelihood – pastoralists, indigenous people, people living on small islands and low coastal zones – and people living in poverty are the ones most affected by both climate change and the responses taken to address its impacts. The increase of droughts, floods, cyclones and typhoons threaten their right to life, to adequate food, to safe drinking water, to adequate housing, to health. Those communities whose rights are most threatened are also those most at risk for being left behind and marginalised in talks about mitigating climate change. FI and partners are therefore advocating for climate talks to highlight the protection of human rights as a key element in mitigating the impacts of global warming. They are also pushing to ensure that marginalised communities are involved in any future climate actions.

As governments discuss the terms of a new global climate change deal at COP21 in Paris, FI and its partners are calling for strong binding human rights language to be included in the text of the agreement. FI’s representatives are participating in specific events at the COP21* – speaking in debates within the official meetings and taking part in parallel discussions with activists and civil society – seeking to influence the language of the deal, insisting that governments must be held accountable to protecting human rights when addressing climate change and seeking to mitigate its impacts. FI is also meeting face to face with different representatives of affected countries to stress the message in person.

The Paris agreement will have an influence on the discussion on climate change at the Human Rights Council, which is of particular interest for FI and partners working closely with the Council. If human rights language is used in the agreement, human rights advocates and NGOs will have a stronger argument to convince the Human Rights Council to set up a mandate for a Special Rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights.

Side events FI was involved in:

Leaving No One Behind, Establishing Climate Justice
Climate Change: One of the Greatest Human Rights Challenges of Our Time
Keeping Fossil Fuels in the Ground: The International Movement to Ban Fracking

Context: A human rights based approach to climate change puts human beings at the centre of the discussion on climate, underlining the fact that climate change has direct consequences on people’s rights. The increase of droughts, floods, cyclones and typhoons threaten the right to life, the right to adequate food, to safe drinking water, to adequate housing, to health. The Human Rights Council, since 2008, has been building a strong legal argument, including resolutions and studies, on the impact of climate change on the full enjoyment of human rights. Over the recent years, FI has been adding to the evidence, by inviting its partners working in areas most affected by climate change to speak in international forums about their experience, and pushing the Human Rights Council to take further actions in ensuring that human rights become central in legally binding measures to mitigate climate change.

Geneva hosted its 4th Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights, at the UN, from November 16th to 18th, 2015. The meeting brings together civil society, governments, NGOs, and the business sector to discuss global standards for addressing business activities’ negative impacts on human rights.

Along with NGO partners ESCR-Net, FIDH, Friends of the Earth Europe, IBFAN, and Al-Haq, Franciscans International hosted a discussion at the UN in Geneva to offer a platform for members of civil society to share their experiences and give recommendations for a legally binding treaty on business and human rights. Speakers from different regions of the world all gave examples of specific situations in which serious human rights abuses had been perpetrated by corporations, with no access to remedy for the victims. From the killing, in complete impunity, of an entire family for opposing a gold and copper mine in the Philippines, to companies establishing themselves in illegal settlements in Palestine with no direct liability, to corporations not being held legally accountable for truthful reporting in Switzerland; the stories from civil society all pointed to three conclusions: 1) a legally-binding treaty is indeed necessary, as is demonstrated by the continued shortcomings of mere voluntary measures; 2) the treaty needs to include extra-territoriality, access to remedy, and direct liability, and 3) the treaty needs to apply to all corporations, not just transnational ones.

The representative of the mission of Ecuador, one of the States sponsoring the process towards a treaty on business and human rights, concluded the event by challenging the audience and civil society to take this unique opportunity to contribute to a legally binding treaty on business and human rights, reminding them that “they were in fact building history.”

The event allowed for people from every sector – States, the business sector, and international NGOs – to hear stories on why this treaty is a necessity, and encouraged them to take into account local, well-researched perspectives on what judicial areas the treaty needs to cover.

Context:

For the past four years, since the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights were endorsed by the UN, Franciscans International and a vast coalition of other NGOs have been seeking to convince decision makers that the Guiding Principles are not enough to effectively address human rights abuses because they are only voluntary measures. The campaigning successfully lead to the Human Rights Council adopting a resolution in June 2014, that put a working group into place to develop a legally binding treaty to hold business accountable to upholding human rights. As the working group begins its work on developing a Treaty, FI is seeking to ensure that the voices of civil society and of those most marginalised and affected by the adverse effects of corporations are taken into account.

Franciscans International, along with the Franciscan Action Network and the General Office of Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation in Rome, held a webinar on November 24th 2015, to present the Franciscans’ engagement in the XXI International Conference of Parties (known as COP21) on Climate Change.

As Pope Francis said, “[On climate] there is a clear, definitive and urgent ethical imperative to act.” The webinar explains this international conference, introduces the Franciscan delegation that will participate in person, and also gives examples of what everyone can do locally, from their own communities.

Listen to the webinar here.

On November 5, 2015 the UN Human Rights Committee released its recommendations addressed to Benin after monitoring the civil and political rights situation in the country. As part of the review, a coalition of 24 civil society organisations including Franciscans International (FI) submitted information to assist the Human Rights Committee in carrying out a complete and effective assessment. FI’s contribution focused on two issues: the situation of Beninese children being accused of witchcraft, which jeopardises their rights to life, health, and development; and the slowness of the government towards achieving full birth registration rates.

During Benin’s review on October 27th – 28th, the Beninese government explained that it has been recently carrying out successful awareness-raising campaigns with Franciscains-Benin, one of FI’s main partners, and that this has resulted in the diminishing of killings and abandonments of children accused of witchcraft. While acknowledging the Government’s collaboration with civil society organisations, FI had warned the Human Rights Committee that such improvement are mainly the results of actions initiated by Beninese civil society. In their final observations, the Human Rights Committee recommended that “the State Party should take rigorous measures to punish infanticide.”

The Human Rights Committee also echoed FI’s concern about birth registration in Benin. In this area again, despite recent efforts by the authorities, too many obstacles still hinder the birth registration of all children. The State should act through legislative measures and awareness-raising, and should allocate additional financial means to local civil registration centres “in order to achieve the registration of all children’s births, both in urban and rural areas”.

FI and its local partner Franciscains-Bénin will use the Human Rights Committee’s recommendations as a basis to continue their advocacy work at international and national level towards better protection of marginalised children in Benin.

For more information:

Context: Ritualistic infanticide is a phenomenon still widely practiced in certain areas of Northern Benin. In these traditional communities, a child born breach, or premature, born with teeth, or a visible handicap, runs the risk of being labelled a “witch,” bringing bad luck to the family, and therefore disposed of. The practice of ritual infanticide jeopardises the rights to life, health, and development of thousands of children in several African countries. Addressing the issue remains a taboo, impeding significant improvements. FI and its local partner Franciscains-Bénin have been collaborating for several years to carry out awareness-raising projects on the ground, and to advocate at the UN.

In an effort to build stronger coordination among its African partners, FI has been conducting a series of regional training workshops across the continent to mobilise partners in the field to engage with UN human rights mechanisms, and to provide a space for partners to share the issues they face in their work. This has allowed for networking and new collaborations. The workshops coincide with various country reviews by these mechanisms, such as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and the Treaty Bodies.

From October 9 to 13, 2015, FI lead a workshop in Tanzania, for the East Africa region, focusing on economic, social, and cultural rights. Thirty partners attended, hailing from Kenya, Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda and Ethiopia. The workshop went over the basics about ESC rights, and provided participants with the necessary tools to be able to document cases of rights violations in ways that can be used and highlighted at the UN. It aimed to emphasize the vital role that FI’s partners have in promoting economic, social, and cultural rights in their communities and in the region as a whole.

The workshop also encouraged these human rights defenders and civil society actors to exchange experiences, network, and explore possible collaborations. It was a good opportunity for FI to connect them to and train them further on relevant UN mechanisms, so that their work, and FI’s work, can have a greater outreach and influence decision makers at national and international levels.

Participants left the workshop with new knowledge and consolidated partnerships. Many felt empowered to work beyond their specific areas, analysing the situations they face through their newly acquired lens of economic, social, and cultural rights. Many stated that workshops like these remind them of the value of their work in the fight for justice and peace, and fans the flames of their common commitment to defending human rights.

“I do not want your understanding, I want you to do something,”
Detainee on Manus Island

This is the sentence that changed everything for Carol, a former counsellor and caseworker that had been recently mandated to work with asylum seekers in Australia’s offshore detention center on Manus Island, Papua New Guinea (PNG). Carol had applied to the job for humble reasons: she wanted to experience working abroad. The experience on Manus turned her life around.

Manus Island is one of Australia’s offshore asylum seekers processing centres. From 2001 to 2008 and now again since 2012, all incoming asylum seekers arriving by boat are to be detained in these offshore centres while they wait for their application for refugee status to be processed.

As Carol got to know the men detained on Manus Island, seeking asylum from countries like Iran, Iraq, Sudan, Sri Lanka and Somalia, she felt increasing unease with how her government was treating them. Their living conditions were dreadful: insufferable heat and humidity in the tents that housed them, fences around the compounds, limited access to drinking water, very little health care, loss of personal property, violence perpetrated by staff, but most importantly, a cut-off date for resettlement in Australia that left them without hope and with a decreased sense of dignity. Anyone who had arrived after July 19th 2013 was to be processed for PNG Resettlement, and unbeknownst to the men, the PNG government wanted the men to be able to speak fluent Pidgin and English before they were considered for their refugee status– which meant, at least, a good 5 more years in detention.

Carol was on Manus Island in early 2014 when a riot broke out – just after the announcement from the Australian government to the men that they would certainly not be resettled to Australia, and that their detention was indefinite. The riot left one detainee dead, and many horrifically injured. Carol saw the blood on the ground; she held IV bags for the injured men laying on the floor. She felt prompted to write about her experience, to share the stories of the men detained, so that their lives and experiences would not be forgotten or silenced.

Franciscans International invited Carol to share her experience and the stories of the men at the UN Human Rights Council on September 15th, 2015 in the context of a debate organised with Edmund Rice International, Destination Justice, The Refugee Council of Australia and Human Rights Law Center, to highlight the human rights situation for asylum seekers to Australia, seeking international protection. Carol was able to bring the voices of the men on Manus Island to the United Nations, which is one among many other steps she is taking to heed the call of one detainee who challenged her during her first rotation to Manus Island: “I do not want your understanding, I want you to do something.”

From September 25th to 27th, 2015, Heads of States and Governments gathered at the United Nations headquarters in New York City to adopt the new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and a 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development that promises to “transform our world” and “leave no one behind.” This agreed text comes to us in the face of overwhelming evidence of persistent poverty, deepening inequality, ecological degradation, unprecedented loss of biodiversity, and climate change accelerating under neo-liberal globalization.

Can the new development agenda live up to the hype and rhetoric? Will the SDGs usher a just and transformative mode of development?

On September 28th, a coalition of concerned organisations, including Franciscans International (FI) and the NGO Mining Working Group, organised a dialogue in New York to hear from and strategize with representatives of social movements and communities coming from the margins, those who are most affected by the current unjust and unsustainable mode of development. Participants took stock of the UN Agenda and pledges made by global leaders in relation to their struggles against land grabs, austerity, rapid urbanization and migration, militarization, gender-based violence, and other issues faced by marginalized groups in society, especially in the global South.

For FI, a key objective was to join the moment and content of Laudato Si‘, the Pope’s encyclical on environmental justice, with the concerns and demands of represented social movements calling for deep, transformational, and structural change. Fr. Peter Hughes, an Irish Colombian Missionary priest representing the Pan-Amazonic Ecclesial Network (REPAM) was invited as a panellist to challenge participants to consider Laudato Si’ in this way.

From this dialogue comes a set of joint analyses and recommendations that the coalition can bring to the Paris Conference on Climate Change (COP21) in December 2015 to gather more support and continue to build a critical assessment of and engagement with the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The draft document will be used as an outreach and education tool in the lead up to these climate talks throughout the month of November.