We, the undersigned International Catholic Organisations, are extremely concerned about the current violent crackdowns by the Sri Lankan government against the citizens of Sri Lanka who are dissenting against corruption and violation of democracy. It has come to our attention that Ranil Wickremasinghe, who succeeded the ousted President Gotabaya Rajapakse over allegations of corruption and mismanagement of the economic crisis, has adopted repressive machinery against peaceful protesters who had been occupying Galle Face since April 2022. Ranil Wickremesinghe is also widely perceived to be a protector of the corrupt regime of Rajapakses and he himself has various allegations of mismanaging public resources. 

His government has weaponized the process of law against peaceful protesters with several key activists of the protest movement taken under custody under public property and emergency regulations. Fr. Jeevantha Pieris, Venerable Koswatte Mahanama Thero, Ceylon Teachers’ Union General Secretary Joseph Stalin, Attorney at Law Nuwan Bopege, Journalist Tharindu Uduwaragedara and Inter-University Students’ Federation Convener Wasantha Mudalige are among the key activists targeted by the government.

Issuing a statement on 31st July 2022, 1640 Sri Lankan Catholic priests, sisters and brothers have already condemned several violations of human rights of the protesters including physical assault, obstruction to receiving legal assistance and raid of Fr. Jeevantha’s church in Rathnapura diocese.

It is distressing to hear that during the past few weeks several unidentified bodies have been washed into the coastal areas of Colombo city, the capital of Sri Lanka. Especially considering the human rights record of the current President who has allegations of administering torture chambers during the late 80s. 

The people of Sri Lanka are going through the worst economic crisis since independence in 1948. Access to food, medicine, schools, livelihoods and basic utilities is severely restricted in the country with no credible financial assistance. It is in this context that people have taken to the streets to demand accountability and justice for the economic crisis. Protests are widespread with massive public participation and approval.

Therefore it is imperative that the government of Sri Lanka abides by the law and respects the human rights protected in the Constitution of the country, including the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression. Considering the gross violations of human rights by the current government headed by Ranil Wickremasinghe, it is the duty of the international community to stand with the people of Sri Lanka without isolating their demands for democracy and accountability. 

Therefore as concerned international Catholic organisations,

1. We request our national member movements and individual members to contact their local political representatives and national political/Human Rights bodies and bring their attention to these atrocities and express their dismay to the Sri Lankan embassies/government.
2. We request the Holy See to convey the concerns to the Sri Lankan government through diplomatic channels.
3. We request International lending agencies and bilateral development partners to impose conditionalities on human rights violations. 
4. We request the United Nations Human Rights Council to send a special envoy to investigate the situation and take necessary actions.

Endorsed by,

• International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS/MIEC) Pax Romana
• International Young Christian Workers (IYCW/JOCI)
• International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (ICMICA/MIIC) Pax Romana
• World Movement of Christian Workers (WMCW/MMTC)

Solidarity Statement by The 2020 IMCS Pax Romana Global Advocacy Training Participants To #EndSARS Protesters In Nigeria

We, the 2020 International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS) Pax Romana Global Advocacy Training Participants from Europe, Asia, Latin America, and Africa have followed with interest the #EndSARS Protest by the Nigeria Youths, calling on their government to end Police Brutality, Reform the Police, end marginalization, serve justice to families and victims of police brutality and guarantee a good governance that inspires hope, vision and aspirations among the young people.

On the 20th October, 2020, the Nigeria Government instead of listening to the legitimate demands her future generation have placed before them, they unleashed heavily armed military men on peaceful and unarmed protesters which led to the killings of the peaceful protesters and metamorphosed to social unrest even as they raised up the nation’s flag with chants of national anthem.

We call on the Nigeria Government led by President Mohammadu Buhari, the Nigerian Army and all the stakeholders to rise and stop the killings of innocent peaceful #EndSarsNow Protesters for no nation on earth should be found with political will to wipe from the earth surface her future generation. The government should recognize that violence begets violence. 

We call on young people of Nigeria to follow the spirit of Peace and turn away from any form of violence continue to and seek more democratic and legal processes in their struggles for Justice.

Finally, we call upon the international community to recognize such processes in their own countries and respond meaningfully to the sufferings of victims of bad policy in the name of security and law.

Signatories:

“We ask St. Joseph …to help us fight for the dignity of work, so that there might be work for all and that it might be dignified work, not the work of a slave.”

Pope Francis on May 1, 2020

Today, we celebrate International Workers’ Day and the Feast of St. Joseph the Worker. This day honors the collective dignity and rights of workers and the role of movements working for labor justice. 

This May Day, workers around the world are facing new challenges caused by the Coronavirus Pandemic. While the economic fallout of the crisis has impacted all workers, we take note that the poor and vulnerable have been most impacted by this crisis: extremely high rates of unemployment, dangerous working conditions, lack of protective equipment and medical care, rising cases of domestic violence, and growing discrimination against minorities and migrants. 

Daily wage workers are stranded in their confinements without any means to secure some food for their daily sustenance. Hunger has forced them to violate lockdown laws and put their lives in danger of getting infected. Scavenging has been the only way to find some food for many working-class families. 

All of this, as St James (James 5:1-6) reminds us, cries out to God and to our shared humanity to take action.

As many governments strengthened their war machineries, they neglected their obligation in establishing effective public healthcare systems. We are now paying a price. Many healthcare workers lack basic protective equipment. Many governments praise the healthcare workers as heroes without providing them with necessary protection and proper contracts to the unregulated healthcare workers.

Migrant workers and refugees have become one of the first communities to be victimized and discriminated during this pandemic. Many of the 244 million migrant workers have become jobless, homeless, and stranded away from home. Without the government subsidies and the access to public healthcare facilities, their plight has become more intolerable and fatal.

The Coronavirus pandemic is illuminating the glaring flaws in our present neoliberal world order and the need of a new social, economic, cultural, political post-pandemic world where everyone is included and mother earth is respected. As Pope Francis points out in Laudato Si’, Integral ecology “needs to take account of the value of labour” (124). Everyone must be able to work, because it is “part of the meaning of life on this earth, a path to growth, human development and personal fulfilment” (128), while “to stop investing in people, in order to gain greater short-term financial gain, is bad business for society” (128).

On this International Workers’ Day, the Pax Romana family -the International Movement of Catholic Students (IMCS) and the International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs (ICMICA) – further confirms our Christian duty and commitment to find a society which liberates the “All and Whole human”. The Ponnamallee declaration (1970) of All India Catholic University Federation serves us a timely challenge: “We were born in an unjust society and we are determined not to leave it as we have found it.”

International Catholic Movement for Intellectual and Cultural Affairs Pax Romana (ICMICA)

International Movement of Catholic Students Pax Romana (IMCS