Jesuit Refugee Service

Jesuit Refugee Service/USA (jrsusa.org) is an international Catholic non-governmental organization whose mission is to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons.

As one of the ten geographic regions of the Jesuit Refugee Service, JRS/USA serves as the major refugee outreach arm of U.S. Jesuits and their institutional ministries, mobilizing their response to refugee situations in the U.S. and abroad. Through our advocacy and fund raising efforts, JRS/USA also provides support for the work of JRS throughout the world.

JRS/USA gives help, hope, ear and voice to vulnerable people on the move by being present to and bearing witness to their plight; by relieving their human suffering and restoring hope; by addressing the root causes of their displacement and improving international responses to refugee situations.

In addition, JRS/USA inspires the Ignatian family and others to respond together to the needs of refugees and displaced persons worldwide and forges strong partnerships with like-minded institutions and agencies devoted to the cause of refugees and displaced persons.

JRS works in more than 57 countries worldwide to meet the educational, health, social and other needs of refugees and other forcibly displaced persons. JRS services are made available to refugees and displaced persons regardless of their race, ethnic origin, or religious beliefs.

JRS provides primary and secondary education to approximately 170,000 children, and undertakes advocacy to ensure that all displaced children are provided with a quality education.

Jesuit Refugee Service/USA is a registered 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Donations are tax-deductible to the fullest extent allowed by law. jrsusa.org/donate.cfm?LID=201

School educates youth, lifts community in Haiti

A two-year commitment and $225,000 from Jesuit Refugee Service/USA is enabling a new preschool here to provide education, and nutritious meals, to more than 195 students.

A group of Catholic nuns from the Carmelitas de La Caridad de Vedruna order had been providing the service to 60 children, but with the help of JRS they’ve been able to expand the educational program. Classes were once held in the community chapel, but the new school just outside of the town center opened last September. In addition to the classroom block, a latrine was built, and a well for fresh water.

Fond Parisien is located only about one and a half hours from the Haitian capital of Port au Prince, and saw an influx of displaced families from the capital following the January 2010 earthquake.

“When we began thinking about this project we realized there was no preschool; schooling began here at the elementary level. They were forgetting about the most basic education. We saw a gap,” said Sr. Nuria, one of the school founders.

Read the full story on the Jesuit Refugee Service/USA website: bit.ly/Honti2

Jesuit Refugee Service and Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins

Jesuit Refugee Service International Director Fr. Peter Balleis, S.J. talks about the unique partnership between JRS and Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins.

Combining forces for good, the two organizations have brought U.S. higher education to refugees at camps in Malawi and Kenya, and to urban refugees in Syria.

Learn more at jrsusa.org

School educates youth, lifts community in Haiti

A two-year commitment and $225,000 from Jesuit Refugee Service/USA is enabling a new preschool here to provide education, and nutritious meals, to more than 195 students.

A group of Catholic nuns from the Carmelitas de La Caridad de Vedruna order had been providing the service to 60 children, but with the help of JRS they’ve been able to expand the educational program. Classes were once held in the community chapel, but the new school just outside of the town center opened last September. In addition to the classroom block, a latrine was built, and a well for fresh water.

Fond Parisien is located only about one and a half hours from the Haitian capital of Port au Prince, and saw an influx of displaced families from the capital following the January 2010 earthquake.

“When we began thinking about this project we realized there was no preschool; schooling began here at the elementary level. They were forgetting about the most basic education. We saw a gap,” said Sr. Nuria, one of the school founders.

Read the full story on the Jesuit Refugee Service/USA website.

Foreign aid cuts would damage U.S. interests

WASHINGTON, D.C. July 27, 2011 — House Republican appropriators today continued their assault on U.S. international efforts to reduce poverty, address climate change, and respond to famine and other disasters. This comes a week after the House Foreign Affairs Committee also sought to gut core development accounts.

“These cuts will not only harm U.S. national interests, they will have a huge impact on the lives of those who are already marginalized in the poorest corners of the earth,” said Samuel A. Worthington, president and CEO of InterAction, the largest alliance of U.S.-based international NGOs.

He added: “The argument that a nation with an annual GDP of $14.6 trillion cannot afford to invest a fraction of 1% of that to proactively work to build a safer, more prosperous world, and to fully fund desperately needed humanitarian activity, is simply false.”

Some of the deepest cuts suggested by appropriators today include:

• USAID Operating Expenses slashed  by 27% to $982.5 million (was $1.3 billion in FY11)

• Overall poverty-focused international development and humanitarian assistance cut by 13% to $13.95 billion (was $15.95 billion in FY11)

• Development Assistance cut by 18% to $2.1 billion (was $2.5 billion in FY11)

• International Disaster Assistance: cut by 12% to $758 million (was $863 million in FY11, $1.3 billion in FY10 including emergency funding);

• Contributions to multilateral efforts to combat climate change: Cut to zero from $248 million in FY11, $388 million in FY10.

“With the worst drought in 60 years hitting parts of the Horn of Africa, these cuts amount to the U.S. turning its back on its own strategic interests and walking away from long held international commitments.   For America’s own good and for those around the world who look to the U.S. for leadership, we need to do better,” said Worthington.

***************************************************

InterAction is the largest alliance of U.S.-based nongovernmental international organizations, with more than 190 members. Our members operate in every developing country, working with local communities to overcome poverty and suffering by helping to improve their quality of life. Visit www.interaction.org

Summer Institute on Forced Migration Studies

The Center for Forced Migration Studies (CFMS) at Northwestern University, Chicago, USA is launching its first annual Summer Institute on Forced Migration Studies: “Unsettling Resettlement” from July 10th-17th, 2011.

The Northwestern Center for Forced Migration Studies Summer Institute is a one-week, non-degree earning certificate program. The Summer Institute offers participants an interdisciplinary and comparative understanding of the causes and consequences of forced migration and refugee situations. Focused each year on a key topic of concern in the field of forced migration, the Summer Institute is structured to provide participants expert knowledge and a team based forum where participants actively engage to develop new approaches, policy recommendations and implementation strategies. In commemoration of the 60^th anniversary of the UNHCR and the 1951 Refugee Convention, the topic for 2011 is “Unsettling Resettlement” and seeks to engage participants in examining the current refugee regime concerning resettlement and become part of designing durable solutions.

The summer institute is open to both academics and practitioners seeking to expand their knowledge of contemporary critical elements of forced migration/refugee issues. Participants range from government officials and NGO personnel to university faculty and graduate students.

To register, please visit our website at: http://www.bcics.northwestern.edu/programs/migration/summer.html. Application deadlines are April 15th, 2011 for visa applicants and June 1st, 2011 for non-visa applicants.

For more information about CFMS please visit:

http://www.bcics.northwestern.edu/programs/migration/summer.html

 

UN urges calm in wake of Southern Sudan election

(UNITED NATIONS)  January 31, 2011 — United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged both parties to the peace agreement that ended Sudan’s North-South war to remain calm as the results of the referendum on the future of the south are finalized, commending the two sides for the peaceful conduct of the plebiscite.

The  referendum earlier this month on the self-determination of Southern Sudan was the culmination of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) signed in 2005 to end two decades of civil war between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A).

Preliminary results indicate that the people of Southern Sudan voted overwhelming in favour of secession.

“Sudan has reached a historic point. All reports indicate a generally peaceful referendum process with a large turnout,” Mr. Ban said in an address to a high-level meeting on Sudan convened by the United Nations and the African Union (AU) in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, on the sidelines of the AU’s annual summit.

“As the Sudanese people adjust to the new realities on the ground, the CPA parties must shift their attention to the key post-referendum arrangements that will sustain the North-South relationship in the long term,” Mr. Ban said.

Online retreat will mark 30 years of Jesuit Refugee Service

This November 14th we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the founding of the Jesuit Refugee Service. We recall fondly Father Pedro Arrupe’s sound advice to “pray, pray much” as he encouraged the struggling first generation of JRS team members in Southeast Asia to bring the overwhelming challenges of their new apostolic work to the Lord in prayer.

Three decades later, we once again invite our JRS family — current and former staff members, Jesuits, friends and colleagues—to reflect prayerfully on the ways in which we discover the presence of God in our ministry with refugees and displaced persons.

In honor of our 30^th anniversary, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA is introducing a free 30-day online retreat that links Ignatian Spirituality to the plight of refugees and vulnerable migrants.  It’s an easy way for people to fuse spirituality and social justice into your day .

The retreat will go live on November 1, and will be prominently linked on our home page.

The retreat links the Spiritual Exercises to the plight of refugees and vulnerable migrants and provides an easy way for people to fuse spirituality and social justice into their days.

UN: 10 million teachers needed

(UNITED NATIONS) October 5, 2010 – The United Nations marked World Teachers’ Day today with top officials calling on governments to make up a projected deficit of over 10 million teachers by 2015 and stressing the crucial role teachers play in recovery from natural disasters and conflict.

“Without sufficient numbers of well-trained and professionally motivated teachers, we risk falling short of the promise made 10 years ago at the World Education Forum to the world’s children and youth [of education for all by 2015], because teachers are at the heart of the education system,” the heads of four major UN agencies said.

Jesuit Refugee Service provides primary and secondary education to approximately 170,000 children, and undertakes advocacy to ensure that all displaced children are provided with a quality education. Jesuit Refugee Service/USA has used grants from the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migrants to build and equip schools in Southern Sudan, and to provide teacher training there.

Peace through Education in Southern Sudan

In January, Southern Sudan will hold a referendum to choose independence from or unity with the north. The conduct, result, and aftermath of the vote will determine the direction of Southern Sudan’s future and the prospects for sustained peace in the region. During this uncertain period, Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) continues to accompany the people of Southern Sudan with programs that make schools the heart of new and restored communities, as focal points for hope for a better future and centers for peace building activities.

After a generation of civil war, the signing of a Comprehensive Peace Agreement on January 9, 2005, ended armed hostilities between the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement and the Government of Sudan.