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JRS/USA Staff Recommendations for Further Reading:

City of Immigrants Fills Jail Cells With Its Own
The New York Times reports on a small Rhode Island town with a big detention center. The story "offers a rare look into the fastest-growing, least-examined type of incarceration in America, an industry that detains half a million people a year, up from a few thousand just 15 years ago. The system operates without the rules that protect criminal suspects, and has grown up with little oversight, often in the backyards of communities desperate for any source of money and work."
Read the whole story here.

IDP Policy Statement for New Administration
Jesuit Refugee Service/USA supports a statement regarding internally displaced persons, which was drafted by a Refugees International-led group of NGOs and other concerned institutions, and shared with the President-elect Obama Humanitarian Transition Team.

There are an estimated 26 million people internally displaced by conflict who are in need of international attention. The global response has been weak, characterized by incomplete access to the displaced, lack of clarity as to mandates and responsibilities, and funding that falls well short of what is required. In consequence, hundreds of thousands of people suffer unnecessarily

The full statement is available here.

U.S. Humanitarian, Refugee and Asylum Policy
The members of Refugee Council USA look forward to working with the Administration of President Barack Obama and members of the new Congress in formulating policies that will effectively address the most pressing needs of some of the world’s most vulnerable populations: refugees, asylum seekers and others who lack the basic human security that all people deserve. Each brief paper attached includes specific recommendations as well as background information. Common themes of the recommendations include strengthening fundamental American values, developing efficient and accountable systems, and strengthening our partnerships. RCUSA is a coalition of twenty-four U.S. nongovernmental organizations focused on refugee protection. RCUSA provides advocacy on issues affecting the rights of refugees, asylum seekers, displaced persons, victims of trafficking and victims of torture in the U.S. and across the world. Read the report here.

"Millions Uprooted: Saving Refugees and the Displaced"
by António Guterres
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees argues that the twenty-first century will be characterized by the mass movement of people being pushed and pulled within and beyond their borders by conflict, calamity, or opportunity. At few times in history have so many people been on the move. The extent of human mobility today is blurring the traditional distinctions between refugees, internally displaced people, and international immigrants. Yet attempts by the international community to devise policies to preempt, govern, or direct these movements in a rational manner have been erratic."

Latest News

NATIONAL MIGRATION WEEK
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops has designated January 4-9, 2009, as National Migration Week. This year’s theme — Renewing Hope, Seeking Justice — reminds us of our obligation to bring hope to the hopeless and to seek justice for those who are easily exploited. For many migrant communities, injustice and hardship are too commonplace an experience. Given the often marginal and vulnerable status of migrants, it is important that communities everywhere treat migrants justly and provide a welcoming presence to all people on the move.
Learn more here:
http://www.usccb.org/mrs/nmw/bishopsletters.shtml
and here:
http://www.usccb.org/mrs/nmw/Immigration%20bulletin%20insert.pdf
Posted January 5, 2009.

PRAYING WITH REFUGEES
A new year often brings new resolutions, new priorities. In the Gospels, we find key passages that reveal the priorities in the Lord’s heart. In Chapter 13 of the Gospel of John, Jesus knows the time has come for him to accept the consequences of his way of life. It is time to make a gesture that will epitomize his whole existence, a gesture to sum up 33 years of love, a definitive expression of what he was: love, boundless love. Click here to participate in the prayer through both reading and a multimedia presentation. Posted January 1, 2009.

REFLECTIONS FROM A FEDERAL DETENTION CENTER
Fr. Peter Balleis, the International Director of Jesuit Refugee Service, recently visited a federal detention center in southern Arizona where JRS staff members serve as chaplains. Fr. Balleis wrote a reflection on celebrating Mass for the detainees on the Feast of Christ the King. Posted January 1, 2009.

JRS/USA 2008 ANNUAL REPORT
The 2008 Annual Report introduces you to three individuals who will help put a human face to the JRS ministry of accompanying, serving and defending the rights of refugees and forced migrants. You can also learn more about our projects, outreach to Jesuit schools and parishes, and the advocacy JRS undertakes on behalf of refugees and forcibly displaced people. Posted December 16, 2008.

DIRECTORS DISCUSS ADVOCACY DURING WASHINGTON MEETINGS
The importance of advocacy to defend the rights of refugees and to improve policies and programs that affect their lives was the focus of the JRS Regional Directors meeting, which took place from Nov. 16 to Nov. 20, 2008, in Washington, D.C. JRS/USA hosted the gathering, which marked the first time senior JRS international staff have met in the United States. “This year's meeting was especially important because it focused on the importance of advocacy for each and every JRS program,” said Fr. Kenneth J. Gavin, the Director of JRS/USA. Posted December 16, 2008.

CANADA: FIRST GROUP OF BHUTANESE REFUGEES ARRIVE
The first group of Bhutanese refugees arrived in Canada on Dec. 8. The group of 24 refugees will be living in Saint-Jérôme town, in Quebec province. They are the first of up to 5,000 Bhutanese to be resettled in the country. The US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark have offered to resettle around 70,000 refugees over the coming five years. Since March 2008 more than 6,200 have been resettled in these countries, with the majority moving to the US. Posted December 16, 2008.

UGANDA: CHILDREN FORCED TO QUIT SCHOOL
Over the past three months, thousands of children have dropped out of primary school in northern Uganda due to lack of food and inadequate learning environments. As many primary schools for displaced children have been relocated to their home villages and towns, UN food aid support to primary schools has been simultaneously cut. Education officials in Gulu estimate that 11,000 students have dropped out of school. The situation needs to be addressed immediately to prevent the failure of the universal primary education program. Posted December 16, 2008.

ITALY: IMMIGRATION BILL OF SHAME
On Dec. 18, International Migrants Day, a group of 20 NGOs, including JRS Italy, will hold a demonstration in Rome and a number of other major Italian cities to protest against government proposals to drastically reduce the rights of migrants and refugees in the country. The proposed bill radically distorts the country’s migration legislation and seriously reducing the rights of migrants — held in precarious conditions, blackmailed and abused — with serious repercussions on peaceful coexistence in society. Posted December 16, 2008.

U.S. RESUMES DEPORTING HAITIANS
Just days after Refugee Council USA, a coalition which includes Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, asked the government to provide Temporary Protected Status to Haitians, the U.S. has resumed deportations to Haiti, according to an article in the Miami Herald. Posted December 11, 2008.

JRS URGES INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY TO INVEST IN REFUGEE CHILDREN
In commemoration of Human Rights Day, December 10, Jesuit Refugee Service urges the international community to take steps to ensure that all displaced children, regardless of their financial situation or legal status, are guaranteed access to quality education. Although individual governments bear the primary responsibility for meeting their educational needs, it is the responsibility of all states to support the efforts of those countries unable to meet these needs with their own resources.

“Where education is available to refugees, most often in camp settings, the quality of schooling is often poor. School buildings are usually inadequate and didactic materials are either lacking or nonexistent. Most troubling is the lack of qualified teachers. Investment in the physical infrastructure of schools and teaching quality is urgently needed,” said JRS International Director, Peter Balleis, SJ. Posted December 10, 2008.

MULTIMEDIA: KINO BORDER INITIATIVE OFFERS HELP AND HOPE
In collaboration with partner groups, JRS/USA seeks to serve the Church via the Kino Border Initiative by providing opportunities for pastoral formation, faith-based social analysis, and advocacy for the protection of human rights and the common good along the border between the United States and Mexico.

During a recent conference in Guatemala City, several people involved with the Kino project spoke about what KBI has to offer both those people it seeks to help, and those people involved in helping. Watch and listen to an audio slide show here.

The success of the KBI depends on a vibrant and collaborative partnership among several organizations, including: the Diocese of Tucson, the Archdiocese of Hermosillo, the California Province of the Society of Jesus, the Mexico Province of the Society of Jesus, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA, and the Missionary Sisters of the Eucharist. Posted November 25, 2008.

VIDEO: RECONCILIATION AND PEACE
Jesuit Refugee Service/USA hosted a JRS Regional Directors meeting from Nov. 16 to Nov 20, 2008, in Washington, D.C. JRS Director Peter Balleis arrived from Rome to lead the directors of the nine JRS regions in discussion of challenges affecting our worldwide mission to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees. While in Washington, the Directors met with senior US government officials, UN leaders and refugee and human rights organizations to advocate for the cause of refugees and internally displaced people.

Father Elías Lopez-Perez, S.J., the Assistant International Director of Jesuit Refugee Service, sat down to discuss the major role forgiveness and reconciliation play in the peace process, and how the three concepts are inter-related. See the video here. Posted November 25, 2008.

CELEBRATING THE CENTENARY OF THE BIRTH OF FR. ARRUPE
On the 100th anniversary of the birth of Fr. Pedro Arrupe, a video highlights his legacy: Jesuit Refugee Service, which was created 28 years ago. Posted November 14, 2008.

SPOTLIGHT ON CONGOLESE ASYLUM SEEKERS
JRS programs in Uganda and Ethiopia are helping those fleeing the horrors and chaos of the Congo. Atrocities and human rights violations are common woes faced by the thousands of people, most of them women and children, who are forced to flee from the war-torn North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Posted November 6, 2008.

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Spotlight on Issues

Spotlight on South Africa and Zimbabwean Refugees
As the government of Zimbabwe fails, hundreds of thousands of Zimbabweans have fled to neighboring countries, with the majority coming to South Africa. Fleeing the chaos of their native land, more than 11,000 refugees have passed through the Jesuit Refugee Service Limpopo project in South Africa since April. The JRS staff of eight help the refugees to find food, clothing and housing, and accompany them during a period of immense transition in their lives.

Spotlight on Congolese Asylum Seekers
JRS programs in Uganda and Ethiopia are helping those fleeing the horrors and chaos of the Congo. Atrocities and human rights violations are common woes faced by the thousands of people, most of them women and children, who are forced to flee from the war-torn North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Spotlight on Chad
Jesuit Refugee Service uses education in efforts to support conflict resolution and to build a culture of peace in Chad.

Spotlight on the Refugee Food Crisis
In the past year, most of us have become increasingly concerned about rapidly rising food and energy prices. Since 2007, international food prices have gone up 54% with cereal prices rising 94%. Rising oil and energy prices have been major contributors to the price rise, as has higher demand from developing countries such as China and India. According to the World Food Program, the increasing use of agricultural land for the production of biofuel crops rather than food has also contributed to the crisis, as have droughts and other natural disasters which have reduced this year’s harvests in a number of locations. All of this amounts to "a perfect storm" of factors all leading to greater scarcity and higher prices.

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