Israel/Palestine: New action by UN Security Council
On December 23 the UN Security Council passed a resolution calling for an end to Israeli settlements with a vote of fourteen in favor and one abstention – the United States.
WOLA: U.S. must condemn killings in the Philippines
On December 9, the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA) released the following statement entitled “President-elect Trump Should Repudiate Duterte’s Claims of U.S. Support for His Murderous Drug Policy.”
The Philippines: Archbishop condemns extrajudicial killings
Archbishop Socrates Villegas of Lingayen-Dagupan, the president of the Conference of Catholic Bishops of the Philippines, condemned extrajudicial killings of suspected drug dealers and addicts in his Christmas message.
Colombia: Hurdles remain for peace
Colombia's Congress approved a landmark treaty with the FARC guerrilla rebels moving the country closer to a sustainable peace for the first time in fifty years.
Cuba: Reflection on life after Fidel Castro
Fidel Castro, known as the father of the Cuban revolution, died November 25. Maryknoll Sister Ann Braudis, who visited Cuba in 2012, wrote the following reflection on the questions that hang over the future of Cuba.
Haiti: UN apologizes for bringing cholera
In one of his final acts as UN Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon said the United Nations was "profoundly sorry" for the outbreak in Haiti, which first developed near a UN base in 2010, and committed to mobilizing a response by UN member states.
U.S.-Mexico border: Radical hospitality
When Maryknoll Sister Lil Mattingly in El Paso, Texas, shared the urgent need for volunteers to help the growing numbers of refugees and migrants there, the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns sent Alfonso Buzzo, our peace fellow, to live and work at Annunciation House, a home of hospitality in El Paso. The following article is Alfonso’s reflection on his month-long experience there.
Economic justice: The commons movement
The commons refers to the cultural and natural resources accessible to all members of a society, such as air, water, and a habitable earth. Members of a growing social and political movement known as the commons movement believe such resources, when held in common, best serve the people whose lives they affected.
U.S. trade policy after the TPP
Faith communities joined labor, environmental, development, and farm groups in celebrating the demise in the United States of the proposed Trans-Pacific Partnership trade agreement.
Trade: The Human Thread Campaign
The Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns distributed more than 8,000 postcards for people to sign and mail to the CEOs of Macy’s and Kohl’s as part of the Human Thread Campaign during the final months of 2016.
Environmental justice under President Trump
The challenges facing care for creation are great, but the Maryknoll Office for Global Concerns is committed to protecting and advocating for strong environmental protections in the next four years.
Climate “trial of the century” moves ahead
A group of children has taken the U.S. government – and soon Donald Trump – to court for failing to protect them from climate change. The landmark lawsuit, Julian v. U.S., first reported in the May-June 2016 issue of NewsNotes is likely to go to trial by Fall 2017.