Upholding human rights enables a society to put people at the center of all policymaking – political, economic and social – thus protecting the life and dignity of the human person whatever its condition or stage of development. In the year 2020, the world entered into the novel coronavirus pandemic, an unprecedented crisis that impacts all aspects of life and presents new threats to upholding human rights.
December 10 is International Human Rights Day. Join us in reciting this prayer by Rabbi Brant Rosen. Explore our Lenten Reflection Guide on human rights.
To understand what our faith teaches about human rights, see “Catholic Social Teaching and Human Rights.”
To learn about Maryknoll mission experience honoring and protecting human rights and the life and dignity of the human person, especially those who are poor and vulnerable, read Maryknoll’s 100 Years of Mission.
To learn about human rights advocacy, watch a 30-minute webinar, “Human Rights Advocacy and the Legacy of Sr. Dianna Ortiz.” You will also find a corresponding page of resources on current human rights issues.
To learn about new threats to human rights, see our articles featured in Maryknoll Magazine:
Upholding Human Rights During the Pandemic
A “David and Goliath” Story of Water Defenders
As the president and a new Congress get back to work, renewing the undemocratic “Fast Track” trade authority and adopting two harmful trade agreements negotiated in the dark by big money are at the top of the agenda. Learn more about these bills and how they will harm our neighbors in the global south in a webinar, “Building an economy of inclusion through fair trade,” January 20 at 3pm Eastern.
On November 21-23, over 2,000 people gathered at the gates of Ft. Benning in Columbus, GA to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the murders of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter at the Universidad Centroamericana (University of Central America, UCA) in El Salvador. Those responsible for the massacre were military leaders who had trained at the U.S. Army School of the Americas (SOA), located at Ft. Benning; the program has been re-named the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC).
According to a formal protest to the World Bank filed on January 7 by the Haiti Mining Justice Collective, the Bank agreed to help the Haitian government rewrite its mining laws in March 2013, and several months later, a task force comprised of representatives of several government ministries and Bank experts began drafting a new mining law.
Former dictator Efrain Rios Montt’s retrial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity was postponed, again, on January 5.
In Honduras, one of the poorest countries in the hemisphere, the government is in the midst of launching a radical neoliberal economic experiment that, aside from being highly unlikely to reduce poverty or inequality, or spur a kind of development that benefits people who are poor, constitutes a major violation of the rights of the Honduran people.
Lay missioner Liz Mach writes about her work in Tanzania, where the holiday time means the closing of schools and the return home of girls in order to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM).
Pope Francis’ address for the World Day of Peace, January 1, 2015 was a strong condemnation of the various systems of slavery that deny our shared humanity.
The following alert is from our colleagues at ActionAid USA.
National Migration Week is celebrated each year by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops.
Pope Francis gives a strong statement condemning modern-day slavery in his 2015 World Day of Peace message.
Along with her family, Joanne Miya serves with the Maryknoll in Tanzania. Her reflection, published here, is also found in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
Fr. John Sivalon, MM, who served in Tanzania, wrote the following reflection. It is also published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
Kathy McNeely served as a Maryknoll lay missioner in Guatemala, and worked for many years in the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns.
Sr. Ellen McDonald, who served as a Maryknoll missioner in Panama, wrote the following reflection; this piece is also published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
The following reflection was written by Maggie Fogarty, a former Maryknoll lay missioner in Bolivia, and is published in A Maryknoll Liturgical Year: Reflections on the Readings for Year B, available from Orbis Books.
Cecelia Aguilar Ortiz, who served as a Maryknoll lay missioner in Thailand, wrote the following reflection.
As has been the case for years now, the town of Bethlehem remains cut off from Jerusalem by the separation wall, and more and more land around the town is threatened with confiscation by the Israeli government
The following letter was sent on December 15, 2014 to Secretary of State John Kerry and USAID administrator Dr. Rajiv Shah.
