Swords into Plowshares

Big Tent Registration Extended

The registration deadline for the Peacemaking Pre-conference Gun Violence, Gospel Values:   Mobilizing in Response to God’s Call and Conference Growing Christ’s Peace at the Big Tent is extended to JUNE 15.  Peacemaking registration scholarships funds are still available on a first come, first serve basis through June 15.  Scholarship applicants need to register for the Big Tent while awaiting scholarship approval.  No registration funds will be required, simply select the scholarship option.   Although registration for the children and youth programs is closed, a few spaces are available; parents/guardians can contact the G. A. Meeting Service.   Please register online, or download a registration form to complete and return. Contact the G.A. Meeting Service by email or at (800) 728-7228, 2417 if you have difficulties registering.

The cut–off date for reservations in the Big Tent hotels is JUNE 3.  Rooms may continue to be available after this date, but to ensure access to the conference rates ($99/night at the JW Marriott, $97/night at the Marriott Downtown), reserve lodgings as soon as possible online or by calling (800) 266-9432 and specifying “Presbyterian Church Big Tent” as you speak with a reservations agent.

Statement by chairman of Security Council working group on children in armed conflict

Below is a statement by the chairman of the Security Council:

At its thirtieth meeting on 2 May 2011, the Working Group of the Security Council on Children and Armed Conflict agreed, in connection with the third report of the Secretary-General on children and armed conflict in Chad (document S/2011/64), to address the following message to all parties to the conflict in Chad, through a public statement by the Chairman of the Working Group:

(a) Expressing deep concern regarding the continuing violations and abuses committed against children in Chad by all parties to the conflict, and urging the immediate implementation of the previous conclusions of the Working Group on children and armed conflict in Chad (documents S/AC.51/2007/16 and S/AC.51/2008/15);

(b) Strongly urging all parties to the conflict, including those armed groups not engaged in the peace process, to immediately halt the recruitment and use of children in violation of applicable international law, and to release all children remaining within their ranks, as called for in Security Council resolutions 1539 (2004), 1612 (2005) and 1882 (2009);

(c) Expressing deep concern regarding the killing and maiming of children and other civilians in violation of applicable international law, including as a result of the use of anti-personnel mines, reminding all parties to the conflict of their obligations under international law, and calling upon all non-State armed groups to refrain from using anti-personnel mines, which could cause the killing and maiming of children.

To read what Presbyterians are doing to say no to child soldiers, click here.

 

Get home safe

It happens almost every night.

I shut off the computer,
turn out the light,
and leave the office.

I walk down the hall to the elevator
and push the call button.

When the cab arrives, I push "1" and head downstairs.

Hector is always there to see me out.

Sometimes we talk about weather or family.
Often we talk sports.
[Conversations got interesting when
my Steelers beat his Jets.]

Then I head for the door,
and I hear Hector's final words:
always the same
always in the same, kind voice:

"Good night, Marko.
Get home safe."

Get home safe.

We live in a world where so many have not a home but
a tent in a refugee camp
a blanket in the back of a car
a cot in a shelter
a mattress in a brothel
a root of a tree
a spot on a subway grate;

a world where so many homes endure unsafe situations:
domestic violence
sex trafficking
war
exploitation
persecution
occupation

In such a world, Hector's words come as
a blessing
a benediction
a prayer that the day may soon dawn . . .
and a challenge that we work for that day . . .
when
every one has a home
every home is safe
and we all travel there safely.

Get home safe.

May it be so.

Northminster Presbyterian Church puts mission into practice

The Northminster Presbyterian Church visited the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations on Saturday, April 16.

The group had the opportunity to tie mission into advocacy practice.  The group from Northminster had spent days doing mission work close to New York City, including some hands on work like painting.

The use of paint took another form of mission when the group completed participated in making Red Hands for the Red Hand’s Campaign to end the use of child soldiers.

The group also had the opportunity to learn about Presbyterian Mission partners in different countries and educate each other about the work of Presbyterians around the world and far off places.

Later in the day, the group visited the United Nations headquarters and spent some time in the United Nations meditation room. 

Contact the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations to schedule a seminar.

Your gifts make possible the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations.

 

Zonta Club New York Talks about Human Trafficking

April is the National Sexual Assault Awareness month.  As part of this year's celebration, I had the opportunity to speak with the New York Chapter of Zonta International.  The goal of Zonta is to improve the lives of women by the following objectives:

• To improve the legal, political, economic, educational, health and professional status of women at the global and local level through service and advocacy.
• To work for the advancement of understanding, goodwill and peace through a world fellowship of executives in business and the professions.
• To promote justice and universal respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms.
• To be united internationally to foster high ethical standards, to implement service programs, and to provide mutual support and fellowship for members who serve their communities, their nations, and the world.

The Zonta Chapter of New York invited me to speak to the issue of human trafficking and how the local Zonta Club could become active on the topic.  The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has been involved with campaigns to stop the spread of human trafficking for many years. 

In my presentation, we spoke about the different types of human trafficking, including:

• Forced labor
• Sex trafficking
• Bonded labor
• Debt bondage among migrant laborers
• Involuntary domestic servitude
• Forced child labor
• Child soldiers
• Child sex trafficking

There are many ways that groups and individuals can get involved to stop human trafficking.  You can:

• Support federal legislation like S. 596, the Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking Deterrence and Victims Support Act of 2011 and ask your Senators to co-sponsor the legislation.
• Ask businesses to sign onto “the Code,” an agreement by businesses to increase the protection of children from sex tourism. 
• Individuals can also ask their local grocers to take action to ensure the produce sold in their store is from a just work environment. 
• Support the Red Hands Campaign, a campaign with the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations, the Child Advocacy Office of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program to eliminate the use of child soldiers around the world. 

If you are interested in finding out how the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) is involved in human trafficking, please visit our webpage.

 

Ecumenical Advocacy Days

Ecumenical Advocacy Days is meeting in Washington, DC this weekend and the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations is excited to be joining our Presbyterian Church (USA) partners and the Office of Public Witness to be advocating for a just and compassionate world.

The theme of Advocacy Days this year is development, security and economic justice, what does gender have to do with it?

The Presbyterian Church USA has the largest number of members attending this year's conference.  The conference has been an excellent opportunity to meet Presbyterians and ecumenical advocacy partners. 

Tonight, we will celebrate the 65th anniversary of the Office of Public Witness with a boat cruise on the historice Potomac River. 

Where did the Red Hands go?

Red Hands were recently sent to a number of missions of member states at the United Nations asking them to ratify the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict - an international treaty through which member states commit not to use children as soldiers. Ratification sets a standard to which the member states can be held.

The most recent group of Presbyterian Red Hands went to the missions of Cameroon, the Central African Republic, Djibouti, Estonia, the Dominican Republic, the Fiji Islands, the Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Iran, Lebanon, Liberia, the Federated State of Micronesia, Nauru, Nigeria, Pakistan, San Marino, Solomon Islands, Somalia, Suriname, and Zambia. Each of these member states has signed the Optional Protocol, but has not taken the step of ratification.

Of the member states that have received Red Hands from Presbyterians, Georgia and Congo have ratified the treaty; Ethiopia has signed the treaty.

The Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations is coordinating the Presbyterian Red Hand Campaign in partnership with the Presbyterian Peacemaking Program and the Child Advocacy Office.

Support the work of the Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations.

Photo of Red Hands being organized for mailing by Ricky Velez-Negron.

UN chief urges countries to ratify legal treaties to fight slavery

From the United Nations News Centre:

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today marked the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery by urging States to bring into force all the legal instruments necessary to eradicate the scourge.

“Modern slavery is a crime. People who perpetrate, condone or facilitate it must be brought to justice. Victims and survivors have a right to remedies and reparations,” he stated.

Mr. Ban said that many legal instruments exist to fight the practice, praising the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, which entered into force in 2003, and the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure recognition of slavery as a crime against humanity.

Read the whole article.

MADAGASCAR: Fighting a rising tide of sex tourism

IRIN Africa | MADAGASCAR: Fighting a rising tide of sex tourism

Madagascar's declining economy is leading to a increase in sex tourism, according to an article published by IRIN, a service of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The article focuses on the situation on Nosy Be, an island off the northwest coast of Madagascar and its busiest resort. The island and resort has seen an increase in sex tourism. It has also seen the community come together to address the situation.

Children and Armed Conflict

Children and Armed Conflict

From the statement for Universal Children's Day by Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General Radhika Coomaraswamy and Under-Secretary-General Alain Le Roy:

November 20 is Universal Children’s Day, a day to celebrate youth and to demonstrate our universal belief that childhood is sacred for all girls and boys. Millions of children around the world, however, are denied a safe home and community, a functioning school and a protected playground. Growing up in conflict, their innocence is stolen when they are abducted from schools, recruited to fight, wounded or killed, separated from their families and emotionally as well as physically scarred for life.

The statement also highlights some successes in the effort to end the use of children as soldiers:

In a joint effort by our offices, UNICEF and other UN partners, we have achieved notable success in protecting children affected by conflict.  In 2010 alone, with the assistance of UN peacekeepers from the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO), armed forces and groups in the country freed over 1000 girls and boys from their ranks. The United Nations Mission in Sudan (UNMIS) and UNICEF facilitated the demobilization of over 200 children and the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID) played an important role in the release of close to 1000 children over the last year. In Afghanistan, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, three agreements for the release of child fighters are currently being prepared.

• Presbyterians Say No Child Soldiers
• Children and Armed Conflict
• Zero Under 18 Campaign
• Twitter: Office of the Special Representative of Children and Armed Conflict serves to promote and protect the rights of all children affected by armed conflict