Chile

Two million people have been affected by the 8.8 magnitude earthquake in Chile this weekend. We send out prayers to all who have been affected. We pray especially for the Sisters of Christian Charity in Chile and their families. Some of the best coverage I've seen has been coming from the BBC. Click here to go to the home page of the BBC website for updates.

Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)

The CSW, dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women, will take place March 1-12 at UN HQ New York. More info at: http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/csw/index.html.

Catholic NGO Forum in Rome

The second Forum of Catholic Inspired NGOs, held in Rome, February 12-14, 2010, focused on advancing mutual understanding and collaboration in the areas of: Education, Human Rights, Migration, Healthcare, Environment and Development. Through conversation in small groups representatives shared their concerns and their current activities in these specific areas.

The meeting brought together a wide variety of Catholic inspired NGOs who are active in advocacy in the international arena, including members of the International Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation Network. Nuncios who represent the Vatican Secretary of State in New York, Geneva, Brussels, Nairobi, Vienna, Rome and Paris along with members of various Pontifical Councils also participated. Catholic Social Teaching permeated the discussion of what we currently do as well as what we hope to develop. Specifically, participants expressed a desire to develop a better way to collaborate and network across the different UN centers, especially as means to address the concerns and crises of those who live in the developing world.

Online Discussion on Women and the Media

Only a week left to participate in this conversation:

The United Nations Department of Public Information would like to invite you to an on-line discussion on “Women and the Media.” Scheduled to take place from 1 to 28 February 2010, these discussions will be a contribution to the 54th session of the CSW 1 to 12 March 2010. The online discussion will be moderated by the UN Department of Information. You can access it at: http://tiny.cc/beijing15womenmedia. You can choose to participate in one or all of the issues, depending on your availability and interest.

Support funding for victims' services

From Polaris Project:

Each year, at least 100,000 children fall victim to sex trafficking within the United States, and 200,000 to 300,000 are at risk of being commercially sexually exploited. Domestic victims of sex trafficking, including children, are severely overlooked in most state approaches to fight human trafficking. The Innocence Lost Initiative - created through a partnership of the Department of Justice Child Exploitation and Obscenity Section (CEOS), the FBI, and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children - has rescued more than 900 trafficked and sexually exploited children to date. Unfortunately, there are only a handful of shelters in the entire country that are specifically tailored to restore the victims of this crime.

S. 2925 provides crucial funding to develop and enhance comprehensive, collaborative efforts to combat the sex trafficking, especially of children, in the United States by providing six block grants of $2,500,000 each to state or local government entities who have designed a holistic approach to investigating, prosecuting and deterring sex trafficking, and providing special services and shelter to the victims. We need this legislation! Please click here to support S.2925.

Thank you for your continued support.

"What I Learned About Haiti Today"

Go to the USCCB blog for a brief, informative post about the work of CRS in Haiti.

A Lenten Message

Here's a Lenten message from Marie Lucey, Associate Director for Social Mission of the LCWR. I looked at this calendar, and it's "chock full" of great ideas for each day of Lent. Well worth our time:

As Lent approaches, our reflections turn to the three traditional practices of prayer, fasting, and almsgiving. When the scripture writers described fasting, they never envisioned carbon fasting actions. In 2010, however, given our awareness of reducing our production of climate change pollution, and in light of the LCWR 2009 Assembly Resolution, "Reduce Our Carbon Footprint, you are invited toparticipate in a Lenten Carbon Fast and share it with your members. A carbon fast calendar for Lent is the work of the Environmental Outreach Committee of the Archdiocese of Washington DC, and can be found on the LCWR website. Under SocialJustice Issues, scroll down to Climate Change/Environment.

Reminder: JFI Postcards

Let this serve as our third reminder that Justice for Immigrants postcards can still be sent to your Representative or Senator. Your diocese should have the information. If you're more comfortable with the electronic version, go to www.justiceforimmigrants.org to send postcards. And here's a FIRST reminder about the huge pro-immigration reform rally scheduled for March 21 on the Washington Mall. Details to follow.

Another Request for Haiti

An e-mail from the Partnership for Global Justice contained the following:

From the US State Department:
If your NGO is doing work in Haiti, please send that information to Peggy Kerry at kerryp@state.gov, sending her the name of best contact person with email information. The State Department is collecting this information, but NGOs based outside of the US should contact their own governments to let them know that your organization is present in Haiti. The hope is efforts can be coordinated for maximum benefit to the people of Haiti.

From Partners in Health: Haiti

From the Partners in Health newsletter: As reports of devastation in the field pour in, we continue to be amazed and encouraged by the generosity and support of people who have become our partners over the last week--including Cliff Landis.Cliff Landis is a librarian in Valdosta, Georgia who, until last week, was planning on a post-holiday replenishment of his savings account. However, upon hearing about the suffering the earthquake has wrought, he decided to further deplete his own savings in favor of contributing to PIH's relief efforts in Haiti. But Cliff didn't stop there. He also encouraged friends, family, and readers of his blog to give, promising them he would match every gift up to $10,000. Watch a video of what happened next. Wow! (Worth the time: less than 3 minutes!)

Request for Haiti

This message comes to us from the Partnership for Global Justice:

One of our members forwarded the following request:

We are seeking social workers to spend one month in Haiti to work on child protection issues. Focus of their work would be to provide child protective services at the border and the airport, to identify suspected trafficking of children, to link children to a protective services network, and to assist in basic psychosocial services to unaccompanied children.

We prefer social workers who speak Spanish or French, but it's not essential.

A stipend of $3,000 for a month would be provided. Immediate deployment to Haiti is preferred given the crisis around child protection.

Sid L. Mohn
President
Heartland Alliance for Human Needs & Human Rights
208 South LaSalle, Suite 1818
Chicago, Illinois 60604