 |
Justice and Peace
|
Justice and Peace Department Promotion of Justice and Peace The understanding and application of basic human right, democracy and good governance is at a very low level in Ethiopia. Human rights violation is common in Ethiopia. Gender disparity is high. The majority of women are left without any power over the resources and decision-making both at the family and the community levels. Sexual harassment and abuse of women and children are common. HIV/AIDS is spreading like a raging wild fire in the country. Stigma and discrimination of the HIV/AIDS infected and affected individuals and groups are enormous. There are a number of marginalized people within different communities due to tradition, belief and culture. Furthermore, inter and intra ethnic conflict, boarder disputes, and political unrest are common in the country. The Ethiopian Catholic Church has been present in the society nearly over a century and a half promoting basic education, health services and social welfare work to the most marginalized people living in unreached areas. Ethiopian Catholic Church believes that it is the Church's moral and theological responsibility to empower the minority and marginalized part of the society to be recognized, capacitated and empowered to take responsibility of their own destiny. It is also the felt need and responsibility of the Church to create awareness and concern to transform traditionally passive society to become active in the daily concerns of the nation Likewise ECC believes that promotion of peace, justice and reconciliation at different levels; families, groups, villagers, communities of different settings would have a significant contribution in community development efforts. The Church faces the consequences of the war; thousands of widows, orphans, displaced and jobless people. Ethiopian Catholic Church is committed to creating options for the poor and the marginalized. In her efforts of combating dehumanizing poverty, the Church works strongly towards ensuring the legitimate position of women in the society, the rights of the socially and economically marginalized groups and physically or mentally disabled individuals and groups. The Church raises her voice on behalf of all the poor and socially marginalized people. In relation to Justice, Equity, Human Rights and Democracy, the ECC/ECS strategic plan has adopted the following strategic options/choices Þ Promote the causes of justice through public awareness (parishes, schools, seminarians, youth groups, Catholic newspaper, and Church bulletins). Þ Clarify policies and implications for concerned Dioceses and projects; strengthen them for negotiations etc. with their Regional governments. Þ Make ethnicity and corruption issues for both pastoral and development work. Þ Work for human dignity and equity. Þ Make Justice, Equity, Human Rights and Democracy a priority for the Church’s work. Take a more independent and outspoken stance. One of the results of the Second Vatican Council has been the series of Synods. The outcome of the 1971 Bishops' Synod and the Second Vatican and Ecumenical Council emphasised the duty of the Church in the promotion of Justice and Peace and its involvement in all spheres of human Society with the light of the Gospel. Experience from various African and Latin American countries show that the Catholic Church has contributed a lot in promoting Justice and Peace as part of the social teaching of the church and contributed towards achieving good governance and building the culture of peace making in the countries. In line with the formation of Justice and Peace, the ECC established the justice and peace commission in 1995 which serves as a key organ of the Ethiopian Episcopal Conference charged with the responsibility of examining and studying problems connected with Justice and Peace, with the aim of awakening God's people to full understanding of these problems and awareness for the part they play and of the duties that the development of people, human advancement, peace and human rights. Based on the social teaching of the Universal Catholic Church, the following are the major areas where the Ethiopian Catholic Church participates in improving the social and economic life of the Ethiopian people. Promotion of Human Rights The Ethiopian Catholic Church believes and commits itself to promoting human rights based development approach. The human rights approach recognizes development as the process by which people realize their rights, and based on this principle, the Church believes that the ultimate aim of development is the stage where all human rights are guaranteed and enjoyed by all. The human rights based development approach enables the Church to look at the root causes of poverty and to address issues of discrimination and marginalization. Conflict Resolution The Ethiopian Catholic Church understands that conflict handling is, largely, based on the understanding of the context of the conflict. This step identifies which conflicts are dangerous in terms of their destructiveness or violence. In the peace and justice approach, analysis of the root cause of conflicts and injustice is important. Under the Ethiopian condition, conflicts may arise from many sources including economic relations, geography, demography, politics or religion. The Church is heavily involved in the rehabilitation of the war-affected people through encouraging the positive social and cultural values within the communities. Advocacy for the Marginalized The Ethiopian Catholic Church is committed to creating options for the poor and the marginalized. In her efforts to combat dehumanizing poverty, the Church works strongly towards ensuring the legitimate position of women in the society, the rights of the socially and economically marginalized groups and physically or mentally disabled individuals and groups. The Church raises her voice on behalf of all the poor and socially marginalized people. Coordination of the ECC Justice and Peace work The Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat (ECS) established the Justice and Peace desk to organize and coordinate the activities of all the dioceses through capacity building, facilitation and networking of all the activities of the Ethiopian Catholic Church. The Ethiopian Catholic Church has a mission of promoting Justice and Peace through all the programs under its responsibility, be it development or pastoral activities. The programs will be a means to point out and eradicate all the injustices and violations of human rights committed within the society. However, to take the issues related to human rights, justice and peace, social teaching of the church, and conflict transformation, the establishment of the Justice and Peace Desk is considered as an inevitable component within ECS. The specific objectives of the ECS Justice and Peace Desk are: § Create a strong sense of justice by making individuals more conscious of the requirements of justice in their own lives and that of their neighbours (Sense of Solidarity). § Work for the eradication of injustices whenever it exists by: · Analysing the situation in the light of the Gospel · Planning relevant steps and actions in order to contribute to their solution · Issuing official statement on the stand of the Catholic Church
Activities The main activities of the Justice and Peace desk would be developing the concept of human rights, peace, justice, reconciliation and integral human development and develop strategies for the involvement of the Church in these issues To materialize the intended objectives, the ECS/Justice and Peace Desk undertakes the following activities:-
Address:
Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat
|
|
©2005 Ethiopian Catholic Secretariat |