Weekly Justice Highlights

Empowering Women: We continue to remember in prayer all those women and children who are abused in the many different ways around our world and recently for the rape victims of the Democratic Republic of Congo who were surrounded by an army.

Challenging Corporate Systems: TransCanada, a Canadian company, wants to build a 36-inch pipeline to carry up to 37.8 million gallons daily of dirty tar sands oil from Alberta, Canada through Montana, South Dakota, Nebraska and on to the Texas Gulf Coast. In August it dropped its application to the Dept. of Transportation for a waiver of standard limits on pressure but could re-apply after the pipeline is built. Urge TransCanada executive in charge of the Keystone pipeline project, Robert Jones to keep the lower, safer pressure and not to re-apply for a waiver by clicking here (Act this week)

Global Poverty: This month world leaders will meet at the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) Summit to accelerate progress towards achieving the MDG targets by 2015. Urge world leaders to increase their focus on human rights protection as a solution to global poverty by September 10 here (Scroll down to the bottom of the page, international action available)

Other Potential Actions:
Sign a petition that will be delivered directly to ministers and senior officials attending the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) to stop Pakistan’s debt payments allowing them to rebuild after the flood by clicking here

The U.S. State Department will soon decide whether or not to certify that the Colombian government is doing enough to prioritize human rights to merit continued U.S. military aid. Those who connect with School Of Americas Watch will be aware of Colombian government actions including: a surge in death threats against human rights organizations and advocates, with hundreds of threats being realized; in July 2010 a clandestine mass grave containing over 2000 bodies was discovered in La Macarena, Meta with the Colombian armed forces suspected to be responsible; thousands of Afro-Colombians continue to face eviction and displacement from their ancestral lands. Urge Secretary of State Hillary Clinton not to certify Columbia’s human rights record (call 202.647.2283) (Act as soon as possible)

Call Senators and Representatives urging them to support the DREAM Act allowing young people brought into the country by their parents as minors to attend college or enter the military and earn a path to citizenship. (Act this week)

Workers at Mott's Williamson, NY, plant have been on strike since May to protest the company's unfair negotiations. The stock of Mott's parent company rose 180 percent last year. Sharply cutting their workers' wages and pensions isn't a matter of keeping the business afloat; it's a matter of greed. Tell Mott’s that workers deserve fair negotiations this week by clicking here

Urge U.S. Senators and Representatives to introduce and pass legislation to establish a Gulf of Mexico Independent Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council to guide cleanup and rebuilding efforts and to ensure that the impact of future drilling projects on coastal communities is taken into account by clicking here