Edmund Rice International

   In a joint submission for the Universal Periodic Review of the United Kingdom, Edmund Rice International joined with Franciscans International, VIVAT International and United for Change – a coalition of fifteen community and faith-based support groups for asylum seekers and refugees (including the Christian Brothers) in the Greater Manchester area – to recommend that [...]

  Mental health is a frequently neglected issue, reflected in the shortage of hospitals and treatment centres available to serve an increasing number of sufferers worldwide. Zimbabwe is no exception to this situation, so students from the Edmund Rice Society (ERS) at St Patrick’s College Bulawayo, partnered with Bulawayo Mental Health hospital officials and others [...]

On October 24 and 25, a Christian Brothers’ Oceania Province training workshop in advocacy was conducted in which the Province Directors of Formation- Mary Murphy, Ministry- Peter Clinch and Networking/Communication-Bernie Gartland met with the Regional Coordinators of Ministry and Formation. Another person, already working for the province from each region, was invited to attend and [...]

Immediately after its UPR session in May, the government of Papua New Guinea indicated its acceptance of seventy five of the one hundred and forty six recommendations put to it in the course of its review. However only two recommendations were rejected outright with the remaining sixty nine to be the subject of further consideration. [...]

To be effective, the work of ERI in Geneva very much depends on having an active Edmund Rice Network engaged in advocacy at the local level. This has required the appointment of a ‘contact person’ in each province or region. Again in order to carry out the role, the contact person needs the support and [...]

“Already the MDGs have helped lift millions of people out of poverty, save countless children’s lives and ensure that they attend school” said UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon at the launch of the Millennium Development Goals Report 2011 in Geneva earlier this month. “They have reduced maternal deaths, expanded opportunities for women, increased access to [...]

“After adoption, ratification!” was the call of over 70 NGOs and labour groups from 5 continents, including domestic workers themselves, at a conference hosted by the International Catholic Centre of Geneva on June 3rd and 4th, 2011. Organised by a network of Catholic-inspired NGOs and their partners, the consultation was held in anticipation of the [...]

The day following Australia Day (Jan 26th), Australia faced the Human Rights Council in Geneva on its record on human rights, as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This was a historic occasion, the first time Australia had entered into dialogue with its peers in the United Nations on its overall respect for human [...]

Speaking at a Human Rights Day Event (10th December) in Geneva, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay called on Governments “to acknowledge that criticism is not a crime, and to release all those people who have been detained for peacefully exercising their fundamental freedoms to defend democratic principles and human rights.” The [...]

On November 1st 2010, the human rights situation in Liberia was put under the microscope by its peers as part of the country’s first Universal Periodic Review. (UPR) Liberia has recently emerged from a long history of instability, turmoil and conflict, including two violent civil wars. Out of a pre-war population of 3,000,000 an estimated [...]