MorePraxis has organised Abolitionist Anti-Sweatshop Caroling and a public liturgy event.

Contact Adrian: age@morepraxis.org.au for more info.

For more general information about the campaign go here

STOP PRESS update (4 Dec 09) – it appears that the Word Bookstore may be willing to engage with the Just Holy Hardware campaign. More news to come.

In what appears to be an Australian-first (or even world first) in the Christian goods industry Koorong have issued a Fair Trade Policy, covering the conditions under which the goods they stock should be produced.

This is a great first step. JustAct congratulates Koorong.

The Justice and International Mission Unit of the Uniting Church in Victoria and Tasmania look forward to continued collaboration with Koorong about these issues.

MARK ZIRNSAK November 27, 2009

UCA Funds Management, an entity of the Uniting Church in Australia, operates several investment funds, all of which have investments in ANZ. As an ethical investor, it raised concerns with the bank about the evidence collected in Laos.

More

An event launching a Year of Re-commitment to Addressing the Unfinished Business of Reconciliation” ANTaR Victoria forum Sponsored by the Victorian Equal Opportunity & Human Rights Commission

Welcome to Country: Aunty Joy Murphy Wandin is an Aboriginal Elder of the Wurundjeri people.

Keynote Address: Tom Calma – Retiring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, the Australian Human Rights Commission

Other speakers include: Muriel Bamblett – CEO the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) and former Chair of the Secretariat for National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care (SNAICC) & Richard Frankland – Koorie Activist, Singer Songwriter, Author, Playwright and Film Director (credits include the recent Koorie Comedy feature film Stone Bros)

TIME: Saturday 28 November 4.30pm – 6pm

LOCATION: New Council Chambers Room, Trades Hall, Lygon St, Carlton

FREE ENTRY: Donations welcome at the door. RSVP for tickets to antar@antarvictoria.org.au. Numbers are limited so get in quick.

NCCP statement on the massacre in Maguindanao National Council of Churches in the Philippines November 25, 2009

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines joins the people in mourning. We reach  out in prayer and solidarity to the families of the victims of the massacre in Maguindanao. The  death toll of 46 people as of this writing, includes members of the media and two lawyers known for their human rights advocacy. We also reach out to the relatives of those missing.

May the Holy Comforter be with them.  

Members of the Justice and International Mission Unit were recently in India meeting with Uniting Church partner church, the Church of North India (CNI). The CNI reported that there are at least 3,000 Christians living in tents in Orissa as it is not safe for them to return to what is left of their homes due to the presence of local Hindu nationalist extremists.

While the Indian Government has provided compensation to people who lost their homes in the August and September 2008 rampage by Hindu nationalist extremists, the amount has been inadequate. The Government has paid 40,000 rupees to families who lost their homes and all the furnishings, but a simple one room home with a kitchen costs at least 100,000 rupees to build. An estimated 5,000 houses were destroyed in the riots. Not all those who had their houses destroyed have received the compensation legally entitled to them.

On 2 September the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee passed a resolution in recognition that Christian communities in many parts of the world today are the targets of different forms of religiously motivated violence or find themselves under threat and intimidation. The WCC Central Committee resolution:
A.    Challenges its member churches to hear the cries of sisters and brothers in Christ enduring violence, threat and intimidation throughout the world and to give voice to their suffering so that their pain will not be ignored; pray without ceasing and for an end to violence and a restoration of life; engage in acts of costly solidarity such as pastoral visits, generous sharing of financial resources, sending letters of support and consolation and, when possible, offering hospitality and sanctuary to those who are forced to become refugees while at the same time helping to facilitate their repatriation.
B.    Asks its member churches to engage in public witness challenging their own and, when appropriate, other governments to protect the lives of citizens in accordance with international standards of human rights.
E.    Encourages churches in all contexts to demonstrate interfaith sensitivity in their witness, by preaching and teaching against retaliation, honouring the right to religious freedom for all.
F.    Reminds the churches that their witness against anti-Christian violence is made more credible when it is matched by a clear commitment to protect all vulnerable persons and communities regardless of their religious identity.

The WCC Central Committee offered the following prayer as a resource to enable the churches’ engagement with the issue:
Gracious God and Saviour, the friend of all who suffer
And the hope of all who are driven towards despair,
Make us willing and ready to share the violation of those
Who have had the Cross pressed upon them.
May our embrace offer consolation and our voice call forth justice.
And in all circumstances may ours be a ministry not of vengeance,
But reconciliation, through Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen