RC network laments imprisonment of Venezuelans
ROMAN CATHOLIC organisations have expressed distress at the deportation from the United States, under an executive order of President Trump, of 238 Venezuelan immigrants. They were taken to El Salvador, where they were imprisoned on 16 March by President Bukele’s administration. The deported Venezuelans were accused by the US government of being members of the criminal organisation Tren de Aragua. On 14 March, President Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, despite the prohibition of a federal judge in Washington, DC. Fr Fernando Cuevas, who leads El Salvador’s chapter of the Latin American and Caribbean Ecclesial Network on Migration, Displacement, Refuge and Human Trafficking (known as Red Clamor), said that RC organisations had lost all channels of communication with the Bukele administration; “so, any intention of giving support to detainees is fruitless.” He told the RC news agency Crux: “We lament very much that those deportees are facing such a situation. They have not been judged, they were directly criminalised.” The family of one of those deported, Arturo Suárez Trejo, a 33-year-old singer, said that they had not had any contact with him.
New Zealanders affirm Te Tiriti principles
THE Archbishops of the Anglican Church in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Polynesia have issued a presentation on the history of the Treaty of Waitangi (Te Tiriti), saying that its principles should be upheld and honoured. It was read out by a former director of the Anglican Centre in Rome, and an Archbishop Emeritus, the Most Revd Sir David Moxon, earlier this month (the title “Sir” is customarily used for knighted clergy in New Zealand and Australia). The Archbishops emphasised the longevity of the principles, despite only recently being recognised in the law. “We reject the notion that the underlying principles of Te Tiriti, and its current interpretation, are a recent invention. We also reject the assertion that Maori have not been guaranteed the right to express their faith as they see fit. The principle of partnership reflects our lived experience; as the oldest institution in this country, our perspective holds considerable weight.” Archbishop Moxon said that key Anglicans had translated and advocated for the Treaty. The use of concepts such as kawanatanga (governorship) and rangatiratanga (sovereignty, chiefly rule) in the text of Te Tiriti proved that complex principles related to Maori authority and autonomy over their own affairs was both understood and agreed to by Maori and Pakeha, he said.
WCC concerned over detention of Armenians
THE World Council of Churches has expressed “deep concern over the continued unlawful detention of Armenian individuals by Azerbaijan” (News, 14 March), in a statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council, last Friday. It was given by the programme executive of WCC Ecumenical Theological Education, Professor Ani Ghazaryan Drissi. Taking and holding hostages violated fundamental principles of international humanitarian law, including the Geneva Conventions, and constituted a serious breach of human rights, he said. From November 2020 — the date of the “end” of the war — to October 2023, Azerbaijan had, the statement says, illegally captured at least 23 Armenians, including civilians, former and current officials, and military personnel. “Many of them have been subjected to torture and degrading treatment, as documented by human rights organizations. We reaffirm that all persons illegally detained must be immediately and unconditionally released.” The statement calls on the Human Rights Council to ensure this.
Tokyo court removes Moonies’ legal status
A TOKYO district court has ordered the dissolution of the Unification Church, known as the Moonies, which came under scrutiny after a former Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, who was associated with the Church, was killed in 2022 (News, 15 July 2022). The alleged assassin had confessed that he held a grievance against Abe because of this connection to the Church, which he blamed for his family’s bankruptcy. Tuesday’s court order will strip the Unification Church of its tax-exempt status and require it to liquidate its assets. It can appeal against the ruling. During their investigation, the authorities interviewed nearly 200 people who said that they had been victimised by the Moonies, who have been present in Japan since the 1960s, and who are so-called after their founder, Sun Myung Moon.
World Vision: Two billion without clean water by 2030
WORLD VISION has called on the Government to address global shortages of clean water, and to support projects that, the charity says, are being compromised by recent aid cuts. The charity, which is said to be the largest non-governmental supplier of clean water in low-income countries, warns that, without action, by 2030, two billion people will still to be living without safely managed drinking water, putting the UN Sustainable Development Goals at risk. Three billion will be without safely managed sanitation, and 1.4 billion will be without basic hygiene services, it estimates. “A child’s future starts with water,” the CEO of World Vision UK, Fola Komolafe, said. “It leads to improved health, improved opportunities to grow nutritious food, and, so importantly, access to education. But so much more is needed, and whilst we grapple with government decisions to reduce investment in humanitarian aid, we need to do everything we can to raise the importance of water in children’s lives to protect the life-saving work that is being done.”
