Justice & Peace in Creation
We have had Justice & Peace Representatives for the Congregation over the years but at our General Chapter in August 2005, our commitment took on a new focus. Our Foundress, Alice Ingham, would have called a chance meeting with a very active member of Franciscan International as God’s Providence, and so do we. We heard about Franciscan International’s special focus on Human Trafficking especially of women and young girls. This is the second most lucrative organized crime, sandwiched between the Drugs and Arms trades. Franciscans international is a non Governmental Organization at the United Nations and we are automatically recognized as members of FI just by being Franciscans ourselves. We took a unanimous decision to commit ourselves totally as a Congregation to putting our energy into becoming informed and informing others of this heinous crime against humanity.
In the UK we now belong to the Medaille Trust which is a charity founded by Catholic Sisters, Brothers and Priests with the aim of helping women, young men and children who have been freed from sex-trafficking and their empowerment, enabling them to regain their dignity and self-worth. Although our J&P Co-ordinator concentrates particularly on Human Trafficking issues, all our FMSJ have their own special J&P passions:
We have attended the conference in Hull, which remembered the work of William Wilberforce as well as other HT days in London and Manchester. The Medaille Trust work closely with the police and the UKHTC (United Kingdom Human Trafficking Centre) in Sheffield. The UKHTC will have their first National Human Trafficking Day in Leeds on 14th November 2007. Through the FMSJs many people have been made aware of the various forms of injustice especially in Human Trafficking. “The trade in human persons constitutes a shocking offence against human dignity and a grave violation of fundamental human rights”
Franciscan International (FI) FI’s commitment is dictated by its founding principles and vision. Being concerned about the integrity and the dignity of the human being, FI finds it inadmissible that an individual can be the object of any form of trade. Trafficking is on the contrary degrading and deprives human beings of their dignity. Trafficked persons experience painful and traumatizing situations that will certainly be with them for the rest of their lives. From recruitment to exploitation, they lose their dignity and desperately struggle against a situation that reduces them to beasts of burden. In its fight against traffic in persons, FI combines two aspects: although the sexual exploitation dimension of trafficking is proportionally more important, it is necessary not to lose sight of economic exploitation, which increases in scale especially when it comes to forced labour, debt bondage, and domestic work.
Moreover, the protection of trafficked persons is at the heart of all FI’s measures against trafficking. These persons are first of all victims and must be treated as such without additional external considerations. Before being irregular, they are first and foremost human beings experiencing a situation before which they are powerless. Thus FI makes no distinction between irregular or regular victims on the grounds of the official documents they possess. Christ has no body not but yours,
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The Franciscan Missionaries of St. Joseph have always been committed to Justice & peace as our history indicates. Our concern has always been for the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized.
In October 2005, our Leadership Team asked Sr. Isabel Kelly to take on this task as the Justice & Peace & Integrity of Creation Co-Coordinator (JPICC).
In February 2006 Sr. Isabel attended a FI three -day workshop on HT in New York followed by five days of intense assistance at various workshops close to the UN.
Registered Charity 232533