Swords into Plowshares

Justice and Peace Links—Words Matter

Check out the current issue of Links:

Words can hurt, words can heal, and words shape our realities, coloring the ways we experience the world. They are the tools we use to interpret our experiences, to relate to one another, and to build a relationship with God.  Learn more about Words Matter, an ecumenical project to reinvigorate deeper conversations about the power of our words.

Links is the electronic newsletter of Presbyterian Women’s Justice and Peace Committee. Each issue explores a topic of justice and peace and offers suggestions for how to be involved and advocate on the topic.

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.

Interreligious Working Group on Domestic Human Needs Webinar!

Budget Debates 102*:
Debt Ceiling, Spending Caps and Program Cuts
Why you should care & what you can do about it

May 26
12:00-1:00 Eastern
Contact [email protected] to register

Debt limit!  Triggers!  Spending caps! What does it all mean for your community?  For children?  Older adults?  People living with hunger or homelessness?  How can you protect vulnerable people from cuts to important services?
 
The budget debates in Congress pose some of the biggest threats to poor and hungry people that we have seen in decades.  Find out what they are and how they would make state and local budget cuts even worse.  Cut through the rhetoric and learn the simple truth about our budget, debt and deficits.  Learn how to respond and take action.
 
The Senate will be coming home for recess May 30-Jun 5.  Call their offices and set up meetings now!  Here’s how: http://fcnl.org/resources/toolkit/schedule_lobby_visit/ Our webinar will provide talking points for meetings and other actions.
 
*This webinar will not assume prior knowledge.  We’ll start from a beginner’s level.  However, for Budget Debates 101, you can review our last webinar and resources at http://www.ncjw.org/dhnbudget/.

United Nations Human Rights Council voting on Friday

The election of fifteen members of the Human Rights Council of the United Nations will be held on Friday, 20 May 2011, at 10 a.m. in the General Assembly Hall. Here, you see information from the United Nations General Assembly regarding the election of the Human Rights Council:

In accordance with paragraph 7 of General Assembly resolution 60/251 the Council shall consist of 47 Member States, which shall be elected directly and individually by secret ballot by the majority of the members of the General Assembly.

The membership shall be based on equitable geographical distribution, and seats shall be distributed as follows among regional groups:

• Group of African States (13)
• Group of Asian States (13)
• Group of Eastern European States (6)
• Group of Latin American and Caribbean States (8)
• Group of Western European and other States (7)

The members of the Council shall serve for a period of three years and shall not be eligible for immediate re-election after two consecutive terms.

Member States who have chosen to announce their candidacies in writing are listed below. Voluntary pledges that Member States have chosen to provide in support of their respective candidacies, in accordance with paragraph 8 of General Assembly resolution 60/251, are issued as General Assembly documents in all official languages.

More information about the list of candidates as well as the list of retiring members is available here.

So what does this mean to Presbyterians?  The Human Rights Council is the main body within the United Nations system set to ensure that member states of the United Nations support human rights around the world.  One such human right is the freedom of religion or belief.

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) affirms that religious freedom is a universal human right. This affirmation is expressed through our deep commitment to religious freedom around the world in our policies and programs. We are particularly concerned for people of any faith who find themselves as a religious minority in any country.

Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) policy identifies responsibilities and actions that governments should take and actions that governments should avoid as well as commitments of the church itself. These include:

• Governments have responsibility to promote and protect religious freedom and should:
  • Give specific protections concerning religious freedom in their official policies, constitution and practices;
  • Give full cooperation to the UN in the performance of its responsibilities for protecting human rights;
• And should not:
  • Co-opt, manipulate, or constrain religious practice by any persons, groups, or religious bodies except as may properly be necessary for the protection of human rights for all;
  • Limit or deny religious participation in public life; or
  • Discriminate either for or against any religious tradition or organization.

• The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), as a national church, has committed to:
  • Advocate for the religious freedom of any persons, groups, and religious bodies such as is consistent with the human rights for all;
  • Advocate that no official U.S. government relationship or diplomatic status be accorded any religious group or organization;
  • Urge the U.S. government to accord a key role to the United Nations in issues of religious freedom abroad even as it recognizes that a U.S. government role, based upon U.S. policies, is appropriate;
  • Give deference to partner churches’ determination of how to address issues of religious freedom in their own contexts and advocate, when consistent with General Assembly policies, as appropriate;
  • Be aware of the role of media and educate its members about general stereotypes and particular complexities in situations of curtailed religious freedom abroad.

The Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations works within the United Nations system and with United Nations member states working to protect religious freedom throughout the world.

 

Looking for a Mother's Day gift?

Reprinted with permission from Walking with Guatemalan Sisters in Faith by Amanda Craft. Below are several suggestions about what we can do for our own mothers and /or for other mothers:

1. International Violence Against Women Act

The International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA), first introduced in the Congress in 2007, has yet to be passed. It passed the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in December 2010 and is to be reintroduced to Congress this year. It would, for the first time, make stopping violence against women and girls a priority in United States diplomacy and foreign aid. The legislation is designed to stop the brutal violence against girls and women that afflicts communities and countries across the globe—domestic violence, rape, acid burnings, so-called honor killings and other gross violations of human rights.

What you can do
Urge your legislators to cosponsor the International Violence Against Women Act when it is reintroduced.  The Presbyterian Office of Public Witness has a few easy ways for you to get involved.
Visit the Presbyterians Against Domestic Violence Network to learn more about what the network and local churches are doing.
For more on Presbyterian Women’s justice and peace efforts, contact Meagan Manas, PW’s justice and peace program specialist, 718/839-3782, [email protected].

2.  Make something special for your mom this year.  Treat her to spa products that are healthy and environmentally friendly.  This will require some extra work on your part, but think of the love that is mixed in with each recipe.  The Healthy Spa Kit from the Eco-Justice Program of the National Council of Churches even suggests holding a spa event.  What a great idea – a special girls' day for those who are way too busy to take time for themselves.

3.  Take time to pray for the important “mothers” in your life.  The women who have touched you in some way and inspired you to be the person God desires you to be.  Reach out and remind them of the importance they have played in your life.  Let us give thanks for everything they have done and continue to do.

4.  Pray for the women and men that will take the difficult path to push for an alternative to the grave inequality in this country.  It is only through working together that change will come.  However, it will be the women of Guatemala who will carry the more difficult burden, risking personal safety and security, risking alienation and comfort, to demand this change.  It will be the tireless work of mothers who will raise their children, both girls and boys, to see, perceive, and live in the world differently.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY TO ALL THE MOTHERS IN YOUR LIFE!

World Malaria Day

As a student, I travelled to Tanga, Tanzania to do community development work and research for 3 months.  Before I left for Tanzania, I received every vaccination that was required, received the most expensive and top-of-the-line antimalarial pills and bought a treated mosquito net. 

I lived in a house with indoor plumbing with a group of British expatriates and worked in a rural village.  I bought bottled water from the market everyday, I used this bottled water to brush my teeth, clean my fruit and for hydration.   I wore long pants and long sleeve shirts, even though some days the temperature reached well over 120 degrees Fahrenheit.  I wore insect repellent. I did everything “right.”  

Then it happened.  My house flooded one morning and I broke out in a rash.  I went to the local hospital where I volunteered teaching English and received tests.  About a half hour later, I found out that I had Malaria.  I was confused, I had done everything right…now…I had Malaria.

For me, malaria was a sickness, treatable and curable.  For so many others, malaria takes their life.  Today is important because it is World Malaria Day.  World Malaria Day works to bring attention to this treatable, yet deadly disease.  

World Malaria Day 2011 is:

…a time for examining the progress we have made towards malaria control and elimination and to renew efforts towards achieving the target of zero malaria deaths by 2015. 

We have come a long way towards realising this goal since the first World Malaria Day four years ago, when it was estimated that a child died every 30 seconds of malaria. The huge increase in support for malaria control interventions in recent years means we can now acknowledge a reduction in the death rate; where once over a million people died of the disease annually, the figure is now closer to 790,000. This is progress and it shows that what we are doing is working. However we can’t afford to ease back until this number is zero, and this year everyone in the malaria community is discussing the remaining obstacles we face in the fight against malaria. (http://www.worldmalariaday.org/home_en.cfm)

The Presbyterian Ministry at the United Nations recognizes the importance of international work to reduce deaths due to malaria and works with International Health and Development, Presbyterian Disaster Assistance and ecumenical and UN partners on working to achieve the United Nations Millennium Development Goal of eradicating deaths to malaria worldwide by 2015. 

Like so many other issues that challenge our world, we pray for the future.  We pray that malaria deaths will be eliminated and the other Millennium Development Goals will be achieved by 2015.  Let’s work together so that others may survive as I have.

 

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.

 

Arms Down on Global Day of Action Against Military Spending

Send an email to the five Permanent Members of the UN Security Council asking their countries to take the lead in shifting spending priorities from military to development.

The Religions for Peace Shared Security Campaign suggests this action for the Global Day of Action on Military Spending:

The Global Day of Action on Military Spending is a world-wide effort by individuals and organizations to bring awareness to the excessive amount of funds being spent on military and defense budgets by many nations of the world. In 2010, the world’s governments collectively spent USD$1.6 trillion on their military budgets. By contrast, around one billion people live on less than USD$1.25 a day.

You can play a role in shifting spending priorities toward development by sending a message to the five Permanent Members  of  the United Nations Security Council (United States of America, the French Republic, Russian Federation, People’s Republic of China and the United Kingdom). As Permanent Members  of the United Nations Security Council,  these countries have a unique opportunity and a special  responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security.  We urge you to share with them this urgent message.

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. 

State of Food and Agriculture: 2010

This week, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its 2010-2011 State of Food and Agriculture Report.  I had the opportunity to attend the release of this report in New York at the United Nations, hosted by His Excellency Ambassador Abulkalam Abdul Momen, the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh who is Vice President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council.  Amb. Momem with representatives from FAO, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and UN Women explored the latest and most comprehensive report Women in Agriculture: Closing the gender gap for development. 

Key messages from this report include:

• Women comprise, on average, 43 percent of the agricultural labour force in developing countries.
• Women in agriculture and rural areas have less access than men to productive resources and opportunities.
• Female farmers produce less than male farmers, but not because they are less-efficient farmers.
• Closing the gender gap in agriculture would generate significant gains for the agriculture sector and for society.
• Production gains of this magnitude could reduce the number of hungry people in the world by 12-17 percent.
• These potential productivity gains are just the first round of social benefits that would come from closing the gender gap.
• Policy interventions can help close the gender gap in agriculture and rural labour markets.

The report comes in a time of volatility in global food prices and global economic development. One panelist suggested that increasing the production level of women farmers to that of their male counterparts would result in a decrease in the number of undernourished people by 100 to 150 million.  The panelists noted that the effects of reducing the gender inequity tie into action steps towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals, such as the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger, promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment, and reducing childhood mortality.

The report comes as organizers for the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) begin preparations for next year’s Commission with the focus on rural women. The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), through the Presbyterian Hunger Program provides educational, mission and action programs for Presbyterians passionate about living out God's call to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly.