While our country continues to agonize because of the pandemic, we are terrified to know that our lawmakers have turned their attention more to the anti-terror bill (House Bill 6875) certified urgent and priority bill by our President Rodrigo Duterte on June 1, 2020, to amend the Republic Act 9372 (Human Security Act of 2007).
The Order held a high-level online consultation on the Order’s response and learnings from the global COVID19 crisis. Attendees include the General Minister, Br. Michael Perry, and representatives from Missionszentrale der Franziskaner, Franciscans International, Franciscan Mediterranean Network, Franciscan Network on Migration (RFM) and representatives of the JPIC Office.
In the first weeks of this crisis, we were carefully observing not only the development of the situation but also the reaction of the United Nations (UN), other human rights experts, and States. We continue to do so.
In the time of the pandemic, we remember the importance of washing our hands for public health. But we know that there are more than 2.2 billion people who don’t have access to clean water. They are denied from water, the gift of God, that is the fundamental right of humanity.
West Papua Network in Rome is a network of the religious congregations which are present in West Papua. There, the native Papuans have been suffering from serious human rights violations since the end of the Second World War. The Catholic church has been accompanying the indigenous people mainly through the parish, education, and health care ministries.