Archbishop Jean-Claude Hollerich, president of Justice and Peace Europe, and Bishop Oscar Cantú, chairman of the US bishops’ Committee on International Justice and Peace, issued today a declaration arguing for “the total elimination of nuclear weapons.” Entitled “Nuclear Disarmament: Seeking Human Security,” the declaration was issued to coincide with the conclusion of a meeting hosted this week by the United Nations “to negotiate a legally binding treaty to prohibit nuclear weapons, leading towards their total elimination.” Read the full text of the joint declaration.
What is normalization in the Israel-Palestine context? At its most basic level, “normalization” is the establishment of relations with the State of Israel, its organisms and citizens “as if” the current situation is a normal state of affairs, thus ignoring ongoing war, occupation and discrimination, or consciously obscuring or marginalizing them. Read the full document.
Former countries in Central and Eastern Europe, many of whom are today member states of the European Union, have dealt with their Communist past in different ways. Professor Peter Rožič, S.J., has led an in-depth comparative research of these “lustration” processes and put them in relation with available data on levels of corruption. On Tuesday,16 May 2016, at 11:00 hrs, Prof. Rožič will give a lecture on this topic at the COMECE Secretariat, 19 Sq de Meêus, in Brussels. The event is organised by Justice and Peace Europe with COMECE support. Click here for more information
Justice & Peace Europe submitted together with COMECE and Pax Christi International a contribution to the forthcoming Communication of the EU on Resilience. The contribution puts the emphasis on the human being, family and local community which should build the primary focus of EU’s resilience-fostering efforts. You can read the full contribution here.
In a letter sent today to Cardinal Peter Turkson, the president of the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, the president of Justice and Peace Europe and Archbishop of Luxemburg Jean-Claude Hollerich expressed his support for Pope Francis in his position concerning the abolition of the death penalty.
On 24 February 2017 in Ljubljana the Executive Committee (ExCo) of Justice and Peace Europe met in Ljubljana/Slovenia. Maria Hammershoy, Danish member of ExCo presented her contribution to the series "Signs of the Times" under the title "Do not look back". It is a reflection about living in the era of "alternative facts" and post-truth".
With the beginning of Lent, Justice & Peace Europe launches its annual concerted action. This year it carries the title “Europe at the crossroads”. By publishing a Basic Text with ten concrete proposals, Justice and Peace Europe wants to contribute to the on-going debate about a pragmatic way forward for the European Union. The underlying Basic Text and its short version is available in 3 languages.
About 40 participants took part in the lunch event co-organised by Justice&Peace Europe in Brussels and had an exchange with young people from Medellín (Colombia) and with Fr. Rafael Bejarano sdb, Director de Ciudad Don Bosco (CBD) in Medellín. The Salesians of Don Bosco are helping former child soldiers to re-integrate into society. They shared this example of good practice of placing the human persons at the very centre and allowing them to become builders of peace in the Colombian society.
On 27 January 2017, Justice & Peace Europe organised a Prayer & Breakfast at the Secretariat of COMECE in Brussels on the theme of Pope Francis' Message for the World Day of Peace "Nonviolence: a style of politics for peace". The event gathered around 40 participants from the EU institutions, churches and civil society. The President of Justice & Peace Europe, Mgr. Jean-Claude Hollerich, offered a reflection on this theme which you can read here.
Today, 14 December 2016, Justice & Peace Europe launched its second Memorandum on "EU action to combat money laundering and organised crime". The text was drafted by Mr Enzo Pezzini, researcher at the University Saint-Louis, Brussels. Click here to read the Memorandum.