60 Years of Amnesty

May 28, 2022, marked the end of Amnesty International’s 60th anniversary year, and the end of an unusually tumultuous year in world events.

When the Sisters of St. Joseph posted our last Amnesty International blog a year ago, women and girls in Afghanistan were still attending school and university classes, holding down jobs and planning their futures with optimism and hope.

When Amnesty’s last blog was posted, the people of Ukraine were probably most concerned about the Covid-19 pandemic which had infected millions in their country with the vaccination program being somewhat slow to roll out.  

A year ago, during the week that Amnesty’s anniversary blog was posted, the unmarked graves of 215 Indigenous children from the Kamloops Residential School were identified, and since then, many hundreds more unmarked graves of Indigenous children have been identified on the sites of former residential schools. Indigenous communities know there are many, many more still to be identified.

Conflicts still rage today that were in progress a year ago—in Yemen, Ethiopia, Syria, Myanmar, Nigeria, Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to name just a few.

There are still more than a million Uyghurs and other Muslim people detained by the Chinese government in what have been called ‘concentration camps’ – the largest-scale arbitrary detention of ethnic and religious minorities since World War II.

One million Rohingya refugees are still living in precarious conditions in Bangladesh and other countries, having fled ethnic violence and persecution in Myanmar.

With two recent mass shootings in the past two weeks, in Buffalo, New York and Uvalde, Texas, the list of horrors continues to grow. While I was writing this on June 1, another mass shooting happened at a hospital in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There have been 233 mass shootings in the US in the first 152 days of 2022.

The past year has not been a year that anyone who cares about human rights and justice could celebrate.

Yet, the resilience of the people experiencing these terrible human rights violations, and their courage in standing up to oppressive governments and injustice is breathtaking and inspiring.

Three months after the unprovoked invasion by Russia, we continue to call for justice for violations of international law that have been perpetrated in the context of the ensuing conflict. Russia, like others who possess them, has used indiscriminate and illegal weapons such as cluster bombs and Amnesty International researchers are collecting evidence for future war crime trials. Millions of people have been displaced in a matter of weeks – both inside Ukraine and those who have fled the country as refugees, and entire cities are being reduced to rubble.

There are courageous human rights defenders in the Uyghur community who continue to speak out—at great personal risk – about the injustices their community is facing.

Women and girls in Afghanistan continue to fight for their fundamental rights, despite the decrees of the Taliban.

Wherever there is a conflict and an abuse of human rights, there are also courageous people who are willing to risk their lives to speak out, to demand justice and to work for change.

Amnesty International’s role is to research and report on grave abuses of human rights, and to work in solidarity with human rights defenders and amplify their calls for justice. We are grateful to know that many individuals and groups remain committed to our human rights work, and to helping Amnesty work with human rights defenders in their pursuit of justice, dignity and respect for all people.

Confronted with the human rights challenges faced by so many millions of people around the world, we celebrate our ongoing partnership with so many others including the members of the Congregation of the Sisters of St. Joseph in Canada who share a commitment to continue our collective work for justice. The Sisters have been long-term partners in Amnesty International’s human rights work, both in Canada and globally, and we treasure this special partnership.

 -Rosemary Oliver

Rosemary Oliver is a member of the Senior Management Team of Amnesty International in Canada and has had the great privilege of visiting with the Sisters of St. Joseph in London over the past several years.

Vote!

We Can Do Better

Whatever your political leanings are it’s time to exercise your right and responsibility to cast your vote in the 2022 Ontario Provincial Election. If you have not voted yet the polls are open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. tomorrow. Our democracy needs stronger support than the 2018 turn out of 58%. Ironically, this scant voter turnout was lauded with the hope that there was a rising trend of increasing citizen engagement. Not a very high passing grade for citizen engagement. There however remains much room for better turnout and greater participation in our democracy.

As viewers of the daily news, we witness the many sacrifices and challenges that Ukrainians endure and undertake to protect their countries democracy. Can we not do so little by taking time to exercise our freedom and value our democracy by casting our vote?

Each voter helps create the final percentage of voter turnout. Be sure to add your voice and your ballot to the count and the 2022 election results.

Sister Nancy Wales, csj

Image: Unsplash/Element5Digital

We All Need Healing

Our beautiful residence chapel was the setting for this year’s annual May retreat.  The entire house was in silence as we entered five days of quiet to rest, deepen, meditate, and pray.

Retreat is also a time of personal healing.  In keeping with this reality, a poignant event of our retreat, was the celebration of the sacrament of the anointing of the sick.  This is an important ceremony in the life of us Sisters. As aging people, our need for healing from our ongoing illnesses, infirmities physical, psychological, and spiritual is ever-present.

As our celebrant spoke about the healing effects of anointing with holy oil, a spirit of deep reverence descended among us.  When Father took his place in front of the altar with a Sister assistant on each side, I was granted an interesting vantage point.  Their placement and my seat in chapel provided me with a unique view of each Sister’s face as the celebrant made the sign of the cross on her forehead and hands with the oil as he prayed, “Through this holy anointing, may the Lord in his love and mercy help you with the grace of the Holy Spirit”.

During the rite, I was moved to prayer for each Sister as she reverently received the blessing. In a striking new insight, I realized how deeply I am connected to each one. These are the holy, generous women with whom I have shared life in community for over 50 years.  I have seen them in the joys and sorrows of life.  I silently named some of the infirmities with which they have coped throughout the years, just as they know how I have coped with mine.  Even under the weight of older age, they strive onward through life’s vicissitudes, still fresh, still green in love and service.

As the lilting notes of a familiar Carey Landrey hymn played softly in the background, I hummed silently:

Lay your hands gently upon us

Let your touch render your peace

Let them bring your forgiveness and healing,

Lay your hands, gently lay your hands.

At the end of the moving service, I was not the only one with handkerchief in hand.

-Sister Jean Moylan, csj