Just Comment Vol 13 No 1: War by Remote Control

We may be wired for war but are we wired for weighing the consequences? What happens when science fictions becomes battlefield reality?

I am deeply disturbed by the long-distance murder of poor and  defenceless people that passes for legitimate ‘war’ in our time. It is incredibly cowardly, and I marvel that more people don’t jump up and down in the streets, pointing this out. How much courage does it take to point and shoot a missile at a town you’ve never seen, filled with children whose voices you’ve never heard.

Alice Walker

There are philosophical and ethical questions when a soldier thousands of kilometres away can, as if playing a video game, sit in a control room before a computer and obliterate an Afghan or Pakistani village or Taliban hideout by remote control then sign off, go home for dinner with his family and play with his/her children. It is war by remote control. It is also ‘execution without trial’. The use of drones or Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV’s) will not make the world safe and will lead us to lose trace of the morals of armed conflict?

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Just Comment Vol 12 No 5: Debunking Asylum Myths in 2010

At the height of political dog-whistling in 2002 the Edmund Rice Centre led an important effort to bring clarity to the national debate through the publication of the accessible fact-sheet: Debunking the Myths on Asylum Seekers

It now appears to be necessary to revisit the topic to once again bring a factual spotlight to the debate for this coming election year!

Myth 1 : Australia is being inundated by people in boats.

Fact: This is false. 1 800 boat people have sought asylum in Australia in 2009. This number is tiny when compared to other countries. Even given an increase in 2009, the annual average number of boat arrivals to Australia is tiny in comparison to the 50,000 people that over-stay their visas each year, or when taking into account that on average 95% of asylum seekers actually arrive in Australia by plane.

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ERC Media: The Cry of Copenhagen - We are Tuvalu! We are Kiribati!

"It is our own humanity that is demeaned, by our failure to respond to the humanity of our vulnerable neighbours.”

Copenhagen: Participation by Australian human rights centre at UN Summit

"We can't let ourselves fall in the trap of self-interested and cynical hard-heartedness,” he said. “If we do so as a nation, then it is our own humanity that is demeaned by our failure to respond to the humanity of our vulnerable neighbours.”

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ERC Media: Time to respond to the human face of climate change

Copenhagen: Delegation of Pacific Islanders and Australians depart for UN Summit

Representatives from the Pacific Island communities most threatened by rising sea levels, will travel to the Copenhagen UN summit this week, together with Australian human rights advocates, to ensure that the human face of climate change is not forgotten.

"For too long the climate change discussion has been an elitist debate between scientists, politicians, economists and environmentalists,” explained Phil Glendenning, director of the Edmund Rice Centre, and a member of the Pacific Calling Partnership (PCP) delegation. “Our humanity is at stake and this elitism cannot be allowed to continue.”

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Just Comment Vol 12 No 3: Protection for Asylum Seekers

Shifting the focus: from people-smugglers to protection

Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution.

Article 14 Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Australian government has recently stepped up its effort to form partnerships with regional neighbours to tackle people smuggling, which it identifies as the primary focus of its asylum seeker policy.

This focus detracts attention from the people most affected by this new strategy, those seeking asylum in Australia.

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ERC Media: People Before Politics: Asylum Bids Provoked by Horrendous Violence

“Asylum seekers do not come to Australia because they think that the government has ´softened on border protection´. Asylum seekers come to Australia because of horrendous violence and conflict in places such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.¨

A Well-Founded Fear -- Nationally televised documentary on Asylum Seekers

www.erc.org.au/deport/petition

www.erc.org.au/donate

Just Comment Vol 12 No 1: Carbon Emissions Reduction

Urgent: a fair and effective carbon pollution reduction scheme

Good law must be based on good principles that are widely and clearly understood.

Australia must act now because the world must act now. Global agreement on meaningful targets is absolutely crucial and that also means participation in global cap and trade schemes. To participate in the negotiations and the global mechanisms, Australia must have its own cap and trade scheme.

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Human Rights Acts – Common Misconceptions

A Human Rights Charter / Act is needed to provide an Australian framework by which our society can more transparently and consistently protect and promote the human rights of all Australian society. A Human Rights Act is not a Bill of Rights and therefore not part of our Constitution. The following is a list of common misconceptions about Human Rights Acts.

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ERC Media: Asylum Seeker Documentary Provokes Overwhelming Response -- 20 Nov 08

"Australians urgently need to encourage the Government to continue with immigration reforms” ERC's Glendenning

Just Comment Vol 11 No 7: Public Transport, Urban Renewal & Social Inclusion

A car dominated transport system is a recipe for disaster. They are expensive, unhealthy and dangerous.

Without a total rethink and dramatic changes our cities risk economic and environmental collapse. People are pushed into private vehicles. Building more freeways is seen a solution.

Minimal planning or spending has not gone into healthier alternatives such a cycling and walking. There are rising health costs due to toxic gas and particle emissions; medical costs due to obesity; and the cost associated with accidents. The threat from greenhouse gas emissions to global warming might be the greatest cost.

ERC Submission on Northern Territory Intervention

Time for a New Approach: Consultation and Non-Discrimination the Key

...the NTER in general has suffered from a lack of clarity about key goals and desired outcomes. It is impossible to answer many of these questions for the simple reason that there are not sufficient criteria for measurement of performance.

 from August 2008 ERC Submission to the Review Board of the
Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER)

Policy should be based on good empirical evidence measured with well-known and agreed criteria. Thus far, there is a lack of both good empirical evidence and good criteria in this context.

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ERC Submission: Violence against Women and Children

The Federal government is developing a National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and Children. Lilla: International Women's Network, initiated by the Edmund Rice Centre (ERC) has made a submission to inform the development of this National Plan.

In this submission, Lilla argues that grass-roots women's initiatives are the fundamental building blocks of any effective, sustainable and long-term effort to eliminate violence against women. Lilla urges the National Council overseeing the developement of this new National Plan to adopt as a key over-arching strategy: the empowerment of women from victims of violence to agents of social change.

The full submission can be read here.

ERC Submission: Immigration Detention

The Edmund Rice Centre has made a submission to the Federal Parliament's Inquiry into Immigration Detention. The Inquiry which was called in June by Senator Evans, the Minster for Immigration is being conducted by Parliament's Joint Standing Committee on Migration.

ERC submits that:
• Australian reception of asylum seekers should embrace a continuum of measures ordinarily based on well-supported accommodation with communities which may, in extreme circumstances, include detention.
• Any decisions concerning which measure to apply in particular cases should only be applied after proper judicial review according to the principles of proportionality and necessity consonant with Human Rights Law.
• Wide community involvement and engagement with Government is the best way to fulfil Australia's commitments under the Convention.

The full submission can be read here
 

ERC Media: Visit to ERC of President of Kiribati

Visit to ERC of His Excellency Anote Tong, MP, President of the Republic of Kiribati

Some industrialized countries might be arguing that climate change would hurt their economic development. Sadly, I say no.  Climate change is not an issue of economic growth. It is an issue of human survival.
- President of Kiribati, Anote Tong.

In a bid to remind the Australian community that his small island nation is facing extinction, His Excellency Anote Tong, MP, President of the Republic of Kiribati visited ERC to meet with media and members of the Pacific Calling Partnership on Saturday 21st of June 2008.

ERC Media: Urgent Need to Protect Those Deported To Danger

An Edmund Rice Centre call in the wake of tragic death in China

The tragic death of the man known as Mr Zhang who was forcibly returned to China by Australian immigration is not an isolated case.

Edmund Rice Centre Director, Phil Glendenning, said today that the latest tragedy reveals once more the serious errors in Australia’s treatment of people seeking protection.

Recently returned from a research visit to five countries monitoring rejected asylum seeker safety, Mr Glendenning said, “Australia has deported many rejected asylum seekers to situations where they are being persecuted and their lives are at risk. 

ERC Media: Urgent Call from the Pacific for World Environment Day June 2008

The Pacific Calling Partnership has called for Australians to be reminded of the effects of greenhouse gases on the lives of our Pacific island neighbours at all World Environment Day events this year.

“Too often it is the people who are forgotten in the midst of statistics about emission targets and carbon offsets that characterise much of the environmental debate in this country”, said ERC's Jill Finnane, Coordinator of the Pacific Calling Partnership.

“The needs of countries like Kiribati are urgent and indicate the desperation people are facing now. Their cries must be heard and responded to. The Pacific Calling Partnership is dedicated to ensuring the voices of the people are heard”, Ms Finnane said.

ERC Just News Vol 6 No 26: Buying Bottles of Water!

Many of us do it. It is easy to carry around. It is easy to obtain. It is trendy. For some years the mantra from the sport and health world has been ‘hydrate, hydrate, hydrate’ as they try to get us to drink the so-called daily intake advised by experts. So from backpacks to conference rooms there is bottled water. Clever marketing and advertising have caused people to distrust the quality of tap water. Have we considered whether it is environmentally, economically and politically sustainable? We need to think more consciously about what we are doing. Download document here: .pdf 302KB (6 pages)

Call for Expressions of Interest

Lilla, the international women’s network initiated by the Edmund Rice Centre is organising internships to organizations in Kolkata, India and Chiapas, Mexico working in the area of social justice for women. These internships will offer successful applicants a volunteer position within an exciting women's organisation and are scheduled to run over 2008/2009

ERC Just News 25: Chocolate: Feeding Child Slavery

The bitter taste of chocolate Can you live on chocolate alone? Neither can the countless farming families that depend on cocoa for a living? Nearly half the world’s chocolate is made from cocoa grown in the Cote d’Ivoire, in Africa. 12, 000 children have been trafficked into cocoa farms in Cote d’Ivoire. When we buy chocolate we are being forced to be oppressors ourselves as we have no guarantee that the chocolate we eat is ‘traffik free’. Download document here: .pdf 328KB