Dominicans at the United Nations

Dominican across the United States joined other advocacy groups in Washington, D.C. on April 14-16 to pressue the US congress to address the needs of millions of displaced Iraqis. A ten minute documentary video can be found here.

Quoting the Dominican Friar Francisco de Vitoria, "considered as a precursor of the idea of the United Nations", Pope Benedict XVI recalls that the principle of "responsibility to protect" should be the foundation of every action taken by those in government with regard to the governed.

Citant le frère Dominicain Francisco de Vitoria, "considéré comme le précurseur de l'idée de Nations Unies", le Pape Benoït XVI rappelle que le princippe de "responsabilité de protéger" devrait être le fondement de toute action entreprise par les gouvernants envers ceux qu'ils gouvernent.

Discours en FRANCAIS

Citando al fraile dominico Francisco de Vitoria, calificado como "precursor de la idea de las Naciones Unidas", el Papa Benedicto XVI reafirma que el principio de la “responsabilidad de proteger” deberia de ser considerado como el fundamento de toda actuación de los gobernadores hacia los gobernados.

Discurso en ESPANOL

The Pakistan NGO Support Group 1 urges the new government of Pakistan to immediately withdraw all the cases against lawyers, human rights defenders and political workers, because they were targeted for peaceful protest. Especially after March 9, 2007 and again after November 3, 2007, large numbers of lawyers, judges, human rights activists, journalists and politicians of the opposition parties were illegally detained, put under house arrest, were banned or disappeared, because they took part in the movement for the restoration of democracy and against the emergency.

The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) Working Group of the Human Rights Council has begun its first session, which runs from 7 to 18 April.

Under the UPR mechanism, all UN member states will be reviewed within a period of four years in the first cycle – with 48 countries to be reviewed each year.

L'Ordre Dominicain condamne fermement l'assassinat de Mgr. Faraj Rahho, archevêque Chaldéen de Mossoul (Irak) et appelle au respect des minorités du pays.

 Interview : Dominican Sister Toni Harris o.p. returns from a fact-finding mission to Lebanon where she and a group of religious witnessed the plight of some 70,000 Iraqi refugees first-hand...

Attacks against the Christian community

Brutal attacks against the Christian community took place on Christmas eve, in December 2007, in the Kanhamal district of Orissa. The Christmas festival of joy and peace was ruined by the unwarranted attacks by fundamentalist
forces. There appears to be a  total breakdown of law and order that could curtail such crimes against humanity.
 

 A challenging speech given by High Commissioner Louise Arbour at the end of her recent mission to Mexico.

, 5 February 2008 – Following the agreement late last week from the Government of Kenya, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Louise Arbour, will deploy a fact-finding mission to assess allegations of grave human rights violations committed in Kenya in the recent weeks.