Maryknoll missioners’ work overseas with women is extensive and diverse, in areas including, but not limited to, refugees; HIV and AIDS victims and prevention; domestic violence; prostitution; sexual exploitation and trafficking; women in jail; income generation; agriculture; indigenous rights; nutrition; health and mental health; human rights; and formal and informal education.
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns (MOGC) follows issues affecting women because in most societies, in general, women endure a lower status than men. Since women comprise half of the world’s population, this gender inequality remains one of the major challenges for global justice and peace. Gender inequality and the lack of implementation of women’s rights is based mainly in cultural traditions, but is reinforced by poverty, lack of opportunities, armed conflict, and migration, among others. Full recognition of women’s rights and dignity brings positive effects to communities.
Our framework for this work are the UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979, along with its Optional Protocol adopted in 1999; and the Beijing Platform for Action, adopted in 1995.
The CEDAW is legally binding, meaning that countries that ratify this treaty have to review their legislation to match CEDAW’s provisions. (The U.S. has not ratified CEDAW, despite being a major player in the drafting process of this treaty.) The Beijing Platform for Action is not a treaty, but is a major agreement on actions to which governments committed in order to advance the status of women worldwide.
The MOGC links Maryknoll work’s in the field with global issues and promotes the direct participation of Maryknoll members and their local coworkers in UN gatherings: global meetings and regular sessions, especially the annual session related with the UN Commission on the Advancement of Women. To reverse gender inequality, we give special attention to the girl child through the UNICEF/NGO Working Group on the Girl Child.
Learn more at UN Women, the United Nations entity for gender equality and the empowerment of women.
On November 20, 14 Catholic organizations, including the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns, sent a statement to members of Congress regarding the Syrian refugee crisis and the need to welcome Syrian refugees.
Call the White House at (202) 456-1414.
December 8, 2015 was Gender Day at the Paris Climate Summit. Watch our video of one of the actions for gender justice that happened at the negotiations.
Send a letter to your governor and members of Congress urging them to support Syrian refugee resettlement in the U.S.
The U.S. and Mexican governments have not addressed the root causes of the flow of migrants from Central America to the U.S.; rather, they have worked together to stop the flow by force.
The death and displacement that occurs in the out-migration from Africa and the plight of internally displaced peoples across the continent were the subject of a recent hearing before the House Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations. What emerged in the testimony of several governmental and NGO experts was a picture of tragic human suffering.
Chloe Schwabe, Faith-Economy-Ecology program director, reports from the 2015 Annual Meetings of the World Bank Group and the IMF in Peru.
In a recent letter to Congress, Gerry Lee of the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns (MOGC) and more than 400 religious leaders called on the United States to welcome Syrian refugees from all faith traditions.
More than 4 million refugees have fled Syria. This is the largest refugee crisis since World War II. Sign the Petition: Tell President Obama to welcome more refugees.
The U.S. Department of State’s 2015 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report has received more than the usual scrutiny due to ongoing negotiations around the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) involving the U.S. and 11 Pacific Rim nations, and Malaysia’s changing rank on the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) compliance list, compiled by the State Department.
On August 11, the U.S. announced that it would not reinstate Bangladesh to a list of developing countries that receive trade preferences for lower or zero-duty tariffs due to labor rights and workplace safety issues.
On June 12, at the height of the Fast Track fight on Capitol Hill, the following opinion piece by Maryknoll Sister Helene O’Sullivan in support of the Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) bill’s "No Fast Track for Human Traffickers" amendment was published in The Hill, an influential news source on Capitol Hill.
Public Citizen released this press release on the occasion of the publication of the State Department's annual human rights report on June 25.
The following opinion piece by Sr. Helene O'Sullivan, MM was published in the Hill newspaper on June 12, 2015.
Held two decades after the 1995 Fourth World Conference on Women, which took place in Beijing, a repeated theme at this year’s Commission on the Status of Women was that, in too many places, not enough progress has been made.
The U.S. has the largest immigration detention infrastructure in the world. The expansion of this system in recent years is partly due to the immigration detention bed quota, policy passed by Congress under which 34,000 immigrants are held in ICE detention at any given time: “. . . funding made available under this heading shall maintain a level of not less than 34,000 detention beds.” This policy is unprecedented; no other law enforcement agency operates on a quota system.
Today's reflection is written by Sr. Janice McLaughlin, president of the Maryknoll Sisters.
This week's reflection on the readings is written by Sr. Rose Bernadette Gallagher, who, after decades of work in Asia, now serves as a Maryknoll representative to the UN's NGO community.
This Sunday's reflection is written by Fr. Jim Kroeger, who has served as a missioner in Asia for many years.
Lay missioner Liz Mach, who has lived and worked in Africa, writes today's reflection.
This week's reflection was written by Maryknoll lay missioner Heidi Cerneka, who works in prison ministry in Brazil.
Sr. Roni Schweyen writes this week's reflection, drawing on her years of mission work in Tanzania.
This week's reflection is written by Sr. Euphrasia Nyaki, who lives and works in João Pessoa, Brazil.
Booklet: What price a girl's life?
UN Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW)
UN Women
UNICEF/NGO Working Group on the Girl Child