December 2008

Catherine Ferguson, SNJM , director of UNANIMA International, spoke on traffickling at LCWR's large gathering in Boston and is featured in an article in the Pilot, official newspaper of the Boston Archdiocese. The link: http://www.thebostonpilot.com:80/article.asp?ID=.

            Consider the following scorecard…. The AIDS pandemic has been with us for longer than 25 years…

Pandemic – more than 40,000,000 persons HIV+

Cured – 00,000,000

            On November 20, Catherine Ferguson. UI coordinator moderated a panel for the NGO Committee on the Status of Women, to prepare for the 53^rd session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). The session will focus on the theme of Equal sharing of responsibilities of women and men, including caregiving in the context of HIV/AIDS. During the panel one of the speakers, Ms, Nazneen Damji, from UNIFEM described a scorecard the was even more one-sided telling us that recent studies show that unlike earlier years, about half of the new infections are female and in sub-Saharan it is closer to 59 or 60%. 

            Why is this so?  One reason is clearly the systemic discrimination against women which makes them legally, politically and culturally inferior to men and more vulnerable to the harsh effects of the terrible stigma that accompanies a diagnosis of HIV+. These same factors mean that the burden on women and girls for caregiving in the context of HIV and AIDS is much heavier than it is on men.

            During the upcoming meeting of CSW 53 governments will be negotiating a policy document that the NGOs will try to influence to mitigate this discrimination. 

UNANIMA also intends to sponsor a side event which can share some of the best practices related to caregiving in Lesotho – a southern Africa country with a high incidence of HIV.

            Meanwhile, you can find some prayer resources to join in the commemoration of World AIDS DAY on the website of the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance:  www.e-alliance.ch/wad.jsp

 Keynoter for Boston Leadership Conference of Women Religious.

Catherine was a keynote speaker at the Boston LCWR regional meeting on human trafficking on 8 November.  Her topic: Why are we working to end human trafficking?  To read more about the day, google the Boston Catholic paper, the Pilot which features an article about the day and a photo of the participants.

             A very positive outcome of the day for UNANIMA International is that a small group of college students from Boston College under the leadership of Lisbee Mumford, a senior who founded a group against human trafficking called REACT will be meeting with Catherine in December. They are willing to become a student nucleus in planning phase 2 of the STOP THE DEMAND campaign.

 Coming soon:

15 December 2008 is the deadline for members of UNANIMA International to register to participate in the Commission on Social Development which has the theme of Social Integration and also for the Commission on the Status of Women. Please contact Catherine at fergcf@earthlink.net  for more information and if you wish to register for either of these meetings.

 Advent prayers for use in the struggle against human trafficking will be posted on the resource page of the UNANIMA International website: www.unanima-international.org

The prayers are in Spanish, French and English.

Resources in French posted on the French page of the UNANIMA website. 

Thanks to Rhona Burns,fJ,  we have new resources available.  Francophones are encouraged to visit the French resource page.

Environment committee:

UNANIMA Members who volunteered to help focus UNANIMA International’s work on the environment at the UN had their first phone call in mid-November. On the call the participants took on as their first task,: developing ideas for what should be the main thrust for UNANIMA’s work at the United Nations relative to Sustainable Development.

Currently the committee has members from five of UI member congregations who live in Canada, Australia and the US.  If others are interested in being a part of this group, please contact Catherine at the email given above.

Human Rights Kit available in the languages of the UN:

The English is posted already the website of the UN Human Rights Council.
http://www.ohchr.org/EN/UDHR/Pages/60UDHRIntroduction.aspx
Other languages versions (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish) will be posted soon.

Introducing Intern Angela Florio.

When I asked for someone to participate in the Working Group on Girls and the Task Force on Trafficking in Children, Angela Florio, an undergraduate student from the Gallatin School of Individualized Study at New York University responded persistently.  Once she graduates she hopes to work with women and children who have experienced trauma caused by sexual abuse. 

Here is a short paragraph she wrote to describe her experience following the negotiations of government delegates on a resolution on Human Trafficking:

       Sitting with the Big Kids:

My experience observing a draft resolution meeting at the U.N.

What at first seemed to be a glacially slow discussion of words in a text became one of the most intriguing discussions about human trafficking that I have witnessed.  The meeting was held regarding Philippines’ draft resolution on Trafficking in women and girls. The delegates, a fairly equal mix of about 35 delegates representing their respective countries sat quietly around a table in a small, low-lit room, anxiously watching Madame Chair and waiting for their chance to speak up.  I noticed a couple of delegates proposing euphemistic terms that made their amendments - which were essentially taking “the teeth” out of the document - seem innocuous. For example, instead of eliminating trafficking, they called on governments to try to eliminate trafficking. It often seems like taking one step forward followed by two backwards…