Photo: Jenna Stoltzfus/MCC
Mennonite Central Committee U.S. and Mennonite Church USA have joined dozens of organizations in calling on the U.S. government to join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty.
We write now to encourage you strongly to make a decision on future U.S. landmine policy as soon as possible, and to announce that the United States will accede to the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty. This is a crucial humanitarian decision that should not be put off any longer, or postponed during a busy election year.
Leave a Comment » | 
Issues, Militarism, Sign-on Letters | Tagged: landmine, Mine Ban Treaty | 
Permalink
Posted by Rachelle Lyndaker Schlabach
Kevin H./Flickr
The Mennonite Central Committee Washington Office joined over sixty national, state and local faith-based organizations in filing an Amicus (Friend of the Court) Brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in support of Medicaid expansions in the Affordable Care Act (ACA). Also joining were Everence Financial and Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship.
The brief argues that the Medicaid expansions in the ACA more completely address the original intent of Medicaid – to fulfill the moral imperative to assist those who are poor and sick. Read the brief.
Leave a Comment » | Health Care, Sign-on Letters | Tagged: Affordable Care Act, amicus, amicus brief, Everence, Health Care, MCC, Medicaid, Mennonite Healthcare Fellowship | Permalink
Posted by Tammy Alexander
A couple in West Virginia did not expect Arch Coal to destroy the mountaintop in their backyard when they built their home. Blasts shook their foundation, contaminated their well, and eventually forced them to accept a below-market buyout for their land. (Photo courtesy Vivian Stockman-www.ohvec.org; Flyover courtesy SouthWings.org)
Over the past 20 years, mountaintop removal mining has left thousands of communities in extreme poverty, destroyed 14 million acres of forest and 2,000 miles of headwater streams, and increased levels of birth defects, respiratory disease, and cancer.
Mountaintop removal puts nearby communities at risk from: mudslides, flooding, loss of crops, polluted water wells, cracked house foundations, and increased levels of birth defects, respiratory disease, and cancer.
Please join us in signing the National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Ministries’ petition to the EPA, endorsing the statement below:
We are called to protect Earth, for as the Psalmist declares: The Earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it, the world, and those who live in it. I urge you to protect God’s Creation by acting as a steward of the abundant Creation God has given us to share equitably among all people. Please stop the destructive practice of mountaintop removal coal mining.
Read the full action alert here.
Mountaintop removal resources | Eco-Justice Ministries worship resources
Leave a Comment » | Action Alerts, Environment, Issues, Sign-on Letters, Uncategorized | Tagged: Appalachia, coal, Creation, EPA, MCC, Mennonite Central Committee, mountaintop removal, National Council of Churches Eco-Justice Ministries | Permalink
Posted by emilywh
Mennonite Central Committee along with thirty seven other religious groups has signed a letter to President Obama calling for an end to U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. The letter also calls for untying development aid from the military counterinsurgency strategy. The letter states that “militarized aid has worked to undermine long term sustainability while proving ineffective in addressing immediate poverty concerns.” And the letter further states that “the past ten years have shown that we cannot broker peace in Afghanistan by military force; it is time to transition toward a plan that builds up civil society and provides economic alternatives for Afghans.”
The letter also calls on President Obama to hold true to his commitment to “begin a responsible but accelerated withdrawal of troops” beginning in July and “continuing along a set timetable.”
Click here to read the letter including the complete list of signatories.
For additional resources on Afghanistan, check out the Spring issue of the Washington Memo newsletter.
Leave a Comment » | Asia, Sign-on Letters | Tagged: afghanistan, aid, development, obama, war | Permalink
Posted by Theo Sitther
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition has released a statement in response to President Obama’s speech on immigration this afternoon in El Paso, Texas:
As people of faith, we heed the admonitions in our holy scriptures not to wrong or oppress the “stranger” among us. Unfortunately, we see evidence of such wrongdoing and oppression of immigrants across the country today. While we are pleased that you continue to speak about the need for Congressional action to reform our broken immigration system, in its absence, policy changes are urgently needed to uphold family unity and promote community safety.
We urge you to use your executive power to protect families from separation and to grant deferred action to students who would be eligible for cancellation of removal or a stay of removal under the DREAM Act.
As you said in El Paso this afternoon, “I don’t believe the United States of America should be in the business of separating families. That’s not right. That’s not who we are.”
Leave a Comment » | Immigration, Sign-on Letters | Permalink
Posted by Tammy Alexander
As a presidential candidate in 2008, President Obama said that he would oppose the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement unless human rights conditions in that country were improved. Three years later, Colombia still faces deeply troubling levels of violence, displacement, and poverty. Colombia has over 5 million displaced people – more than any other country in the world. Trade unionists and human rights workers face constant threats. Extractive industry projects violently push indigenous and Afro-Colombian communities off of their lands.
Despite all of this, the Obama administration recently announced that it is prepared to submit the Colombia FTA to Congress for approval anyway. A new agreement was reached with the Colombian government to make some improvements on labor conditions, but this plan does not go far enough, and it fails to address broader human rights concerns. Moreover, agricultural provisions in the FTA will undermine the livelihoods of small-scale farmers, pushing more people into poverty and deepening the instability that drives Colombia’s violent conflict.
Mennonite Central Committee along with other religious organizations recently signed a statement opposing the U.S.-Colombia Free Trade Agreement.
Other human rights organizations have also released statements opposing the Colombia FTA:
U.S.-Colombia FTA Action Plan Falls Short of Protecting Rights
Plan of Action on Labor for US-Colombia FTA Ignores Afro-Colombians and Indigenous Human Rights
Leave a Comment » | Global Economic Justice, Latin America/Caribbean, Sign-on Letters | Tagged: Colombia, Colombia FTA, free trade, human rights | Permalink
Posted by Theo Sitther
The Interfaith Immigration Coalition, a partnership of 32 faith-based organizations, submitted a letter to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Friday calling for a halt to deportations to Haiti:
We call on you to suspend deportations to Haiti until conditions on the ground improve considerably and workable policies can be put in place to protect the lives and dignity of returnees. Deportations place an unnecessary burden on a country still struggling to recover from a devastating natural disaster. Moreover, returning persons to Haiti right now needlessly and callously causes grave suffering and puts lives at risk. No person—regardless of his or her crime—should be sent back to Haiti in light of existing life-threatening conditions.
Read the full letter here.
Action alert | more resources on immigration, Haiti
Leave a Comment » | Immigration, Latin America/Caribbean, Sign-on Letters | Permalink
Posted by Tammy Alexander
You are currently browsing the archives for the Sign-on Letters category.
