“All it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to do nothing.” The Catalyst program provides a vehicle for local Australian churches to speak out against global injustices.
Are You Going to Voices for Justice?
Voices for Justice is a 4 day gathering in Canberra that will be held in October this year. VFJ will see 200 people from around the country descend on Canberra to learn more about the Millennium Development Goals, how to make their voices heard by Government and to visit our politicians in their Parliament House offices, calling on them to do more to see the MDGs achieved. It's a great event that in the last two years has really raised the profile of the church's call to justice for the poor. More info at the Micah Challenge website.
Offering of Letters
The "Offering of Letters" is an initiative from Micah Challenge to call on the Government to play its part to achieve the Millennium Development Goals. This year the focus is on lifting the amount of aid Australia delivers to improvements in child and maternal health. The idea is to get everyone in your church to write a letter to the Prime Minister and then send them to the Micah Challenge office who will present them to the PM in October. For a downloadable kit with sample letters and instructions see the Micah Challenge website.
Government Acting on Slavery
On June 26 the Commonwealth Attorney General, Bob Debus, hosted a Government-NGO roundtable on trafficking. The forum discussed the issue of human trafficking into Australia and an outcomes report is to be released in the coming weeks.
Catalyst Groups Getting Creative
Catalyst Groups across Australia have been active in pursuit of the "Not for Sale" and "More Aid, Better Aid" campaigns. In April the Syndal Baptist Catalyst group hosted a forum on the global slave trade featuring Tim Costello and their local MP. Although it was a cold, wet night over 150 people crowded into the local high school rooms to learn more.
A number of groups have been promoting fair trade products in their churches and communities.In April the Parramatta Baptist Catalyst group held a very successful "Fair Trade Fair". In July the Muswellbrook group held a "Not for Sale" float in the Aberdeen Highland Games street parade and staffed a well visited stall during the Games where they sold fair trade products and spread the message about slavery.
The Toronto Baptist Catalyst Group has found a really exciting way to spread the news about slavery - they will be running classes on the topic at the local University of the Third Age. They also received a good response after writing to their local supermarkets - one of the major chains is even arranging to sit down and discuss their concerns with them!
At the end of June Gateway Baptist Catalyst group hosted an international aid forum that featured speakers from Baptist World Aid, World Vision, Tear, and the Parliamentary Secretary for International Development, Bob McMullen MP. With over 100 in attendance it was a great way to reinforce our call for the Federal Government to reach the international aid target of an aid budget amounting to 0.7% of Australia's national income.
Cocoa Certification Reports Released July 1, 2008
After the discovery of child and forced labour in the cocoa industry in Ghana and Cote d'Ivorie the Cocoa Initiative was formed in 2002. An alliance of chocoloate manufacturers, NGOs and governments agreed to establish a protocol by which child and forced labour could be eliminated from cocoa farming. The first stage is to conduct extensive surveys of farms to discover the extent of child and forced labour. Stage 2 is for companies and governments to take action to reduce child and forced labour, with stage 3 to independently verify the results. After pilot surveys in 2006 and 2007, the full surveys for Ghana (in English) and Cote D'Ivorie (in French) have been released. We have examined the Ghana survey which suggests worst forms of child labour and forced labour are extremely rare. If accurate this is very good news. We do however have some significant concerns as to whether the methodology was sufficient to uncover forced labour practises. A report on the survey will be released for Catalyst groups to consider. We hope to finish this by the end of August after consultation with anti-slavery NGOs.
