MIJARC pilote Project "Facilitating Youth Access to Agricultural Activities" in collaboration with IFAD and FAO is almost finalised. The mapping and survey data are being processed and will be included in the final publication.
Three regional workshops in presence of rural youth leaders and young farmer representatives were organised in Africa (Senegal), Asia and the Pacific (Sri Lanka) and Latin America (Peru) with focus on the drafting of specific recommendations to improve youth access to farming.
The recommendations and final outcomes of this project will be presented during the Youth session of the Farmer Forum of IFAD in February 2012. Read more
One more year is coming to an end in a few days and we will be at at the dawn of a new year. This year was quite eventful in terms of our involvements in various policy forums and events as well as with our own actions at various levels. One of the most discussed topics of this year has been “The Price Volatility “.Farmers, governments and other stakeholders are very much concerned with this topic. As it stands it seems that there aren’t any immediate solutions to tackle this phenomenon which threw millions of people into hunger since the speculative force is too strong. read more
7th UNESCO Forum "How Youth Drive Changes?"
The general Secretary of MIJARC Mrs Hona Tibashoboka was one of the 250 youth delegate of the 193 member states og UNESCO to participate in the "7th Youth Forum How youth drive changes?" that took place in Paris from October 17-20.
This forum explored the many ways in which young people are reshaping the world. Specific topics were adressed such as youth participation in political and public life, youth employment and countering youth exclusion, vulnerability and violence. Besides, it was an opportunity to develop partnership between youth organisation and UNESCO and to express young people's needs and priorities.
World hunger is a terrible symptom of world poverty. The World Bank estimates that the spike in global food prices in 2008, followed by the global economic recession in 2009 and 2010 has pushed between 100-150 million people into poverty. If efforts are only directed at providing food, or improving food production or distribution, then the structural root causes that create hunger, poverty and dependency would still remain. And so while continuous effort, resources and energies are deployed to relieve hunger through these technical measures, the political causes require political solutions as well. read more
The main topic of this edition is about "Investment in agriculture". Aksel Naerstad, policy officer of Norwegian Development fund gives us a first analysis on the recent trends in the investment in agriculture. The edition brings other articles on various issues that we are engaged globally such as the World Committee on Food Security , preparatory meeting of the World Youth Day and so on. You can also read the report on the actions and activities of our continental and national movements.
2010 came to an end with a lot of global issues and events. As usual MIJARC as a voice of the voiceless in the rural world was quite committed, engaged and intervened timely on these issues and events .The main focus of our movement during last year was on the topic of Biodiversity and land grabbing. Due to food ,fuel and financial crisis ,deep social tensions related to poverty, hunger, struggles for land and water, which pose higher risk to mankind more than ever. Recent trends for land grabbing by powerful actors from the most vulnerable communities demand new policies of access to and management of land and other natural resources in order to find new modalities that allow the reduction of inequalities and guarantee basic rights for people all over the world. Land rights for the local communities and producers . The reinforcement of the various peasants’ and rural workers’ organisations is a need to achieve it .
More than 1 billion people today are between 15 and 25 years of age. About 85% of these young people live in the developing world, and 50% of the world’s young people live in rural areas. However, 60 million people (mainly young people) move into cities each year in developing countries. Therefore, the future of family agriculture and its potential to contribute to food security, to poverty reduction in developing countries and to overcoming challenges such as climate change is jeopardized by the reality that young people cannot find attractive opportunities in rural areas.
MIJARC, together with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), is facilitating a global process, involving farmer organisations to help young rural people pursue better livelihoods through improved access to remunerative farming as well as other activities linked to agriculture.
in August 2010 the World Youth conference in Mexico launched the international year of youth, it is a year of Dialogue and Mutual Understanding. “It encourages young people to dedicate themselves to fostering progress, including the attainment of the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)”. A first step of this important year was this youth conference, which was a disaster from a democratically point of view. Since the government of Mexico intervened in the publication of the CSO declaration. You will read more about it in the article on the World Youth conference.
MIJARC’s International Women Commission (IWC) calls for your participation on
October 15th: INTERNATIONAL DAY OF RURAL WOMEN
Since 1995, the October 15th it’s considered the World Rural Women’s Day. In 2008 the UN General Assembly declared this day as “International Day of Rural Women”.
WHAT FOR?
To raise the profile of rural women;
To sensitize both government and public to their crucial, yet largely unrecognized roles;
To promote action in their support, launching visible actions;
The World Youth Conference 2010 (WYC2010), an initiative of the Mexican government with support from other governments, civil society, and the United Nations, took place in Leon, Mexico, from 23-27 August 2010.
The conference consisted of three main events: the Governments Forum, the Legislators Forum, and the Social Forum. The latter is composed of the NGO Global Meeting and the Youth Interactive Forum.
Carolin Grieshop, Secretary General of MIJARC, participated in the NGO Global meeting as delegate of Germany and in the Governments Forum as observer. On the following link, you will find the final declaration of the NGO Global Forum.
Public meeting and ralley on“ land grabbing: stop land grabbing- this sol is our future” in Chalakkudi / India
The International Movement of catholic agricultural rural youth (MIJARC) organised in conjunction with its member movement Kerala catholic youth movement (KCYM) an international public meeting and a rally on “Stop landgrabbing – this soil is our future!”. As every year MIJARC contributes to the World Food Day, which takes place on October 16th, this year MIJARC launched its campaign on July 24th in Chalakkudi/ India.
“We are happy that the rally had a participation of around 5000 participants” said KCYM state president, Deepak C. Joy. He continues “The pre-condition of attractive rural areas is the access to land and it is good that MIJARC launches its campaign here in beautiful Kerala”.
The International Movement of Catholic Agricultural Rural Youth (MIJARC) organised an international symposium on “landgrabbing and threats to biodiversity” in conjunction with its member movement, Kerala Catholic Youth Movement (KCYM.
Around 100 people from the diocese of Iranjalakuda gathered together on Saturday, 24th July in Aroormuzhy to take part in this symposium. Since MIJARC has launched its World Food Day campaign on land grabbing in the afternoon, the organizers took the occasion to discuss with people and members of KCYM from the diocese of Iranjalakuda.
5000 young rural people will come to Cochin / India on July 24th 2010 in order to demonstrate against Landgrabbing with the slogan “Stop Land Grabbing - this soil is our future!”.
Landgrabbing is an emerging phenomenon which badly hits farmers and rural poor in many parts of the world. State and private investors are leasing or buying up millions of hectares of farmlands in Asia, Africa and Latin America for food and fuel production or for investments. This is a new way for the “foreign investors” to exploit the local population with less economic and political risks.
Antony Saina from the International Movement of Catholic Agricultural Rural Youth participated in the Briefing on Youth and Rural Development in ACP countries as a speaker. He came to share the success stories related to youth and rural development in Kenya. However, according to him the issue of youth and rural development has long been neglected by policy makers, therefore he found the topic of the Briefing pertinent.
the issue of migration is one key issue of development. Driven by extreme poverty, conflicts or climate changes, women and men try to go somewhere else than in their original village, or even in another country to find better conditions of life, but sometimes the living conditions are even more difficult than before. Migration is an unavoidable individual, social, economic and therefore also political reality, which has already generated many societal challenges. It is also an icon on our global society screens and a driver of globalization phenomena and therefore a major topic on today’s global political and policy agenda.
The year 2009 was marked by several important events for MIJARC: The World Social Forum in Belem, Lux’09 in Luxembourg, COP 15 inCopenhagen, World Summit on Food Security in Rome, the CFS of FAO Reform and several other important meetings. Thanks to our partners MIJARC, was able to participate in all these meetings to give rural youth a voice.
The internal development of MIJARC had two faces in 2009: Since MIJARC brings up a lot of good activities by local, regional, national, continental and international movement(s), the recognition of MIJARC towards institutions on different levels is quite well. But the International General Secretariat lost a lot of financial supporters in 2009 and spent a lot of time finding funds for guaranteeing work, which has to go on in 2010. Several Agencies decided to cut the subventions for the structure, which brings the existence of the General Secretariat in danger. We are continuously in contact with our continental movements, who share the same experience. Thus with this annual report we want to thank our supporters, especially our members for the help and work done to MIJARC. But also we want to show what we did in the last year and to launch a discussion within and among the donor agencies on the way forward in collaboration with international movements and specifically the International Movement of Catholic Agricultural and Rural Youth (MIJARC). Our members are doing a lot of work and at the same time MIJARC has to fear of dissolution of structures, which will have negative impact to the rural world....
The former MIJARC General Secretary Christine Brandmeir has been awarded the German Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon for her manifold commitment for youth in rural areas worldwide. The Bavarian Minister of State Dr. Beate Merk decorated Christine of the International Catholic Rural Youth Movement (MIJARC) in the context of a Ceremony in Augsburg.
Christine Brandmeir is Social Pedagogue and mother of three children. Between 2003 and 2008 she was General Secretary of MIJARC and worked for a sustainable development of rural areas and an improvement of the situation of rural youth in more than 40 countries worldwide. Focus of her work was public relations and political engagement, especially in collaboration with UN-organizations like UNESCO and the Food and Agriculture Organization FAO. “The day-to-day engagement of many young rural people worldwide, without having big financial resources, was my motivation”, so Christine Brandmeir.
The World Food Summit has failed to produce a concrete agenda for moving away from business as usual, even as the number of hungry in the world continues to rise. This Summit in November 2009 was extremely important, but the final declaration of the Summit has no concrete outcomes; the statements are too much open and only reaffirm former promises and claiming for open markets. The agricultural policy of the last decades, which promotes opening of markets of poor countries and focussing on the world market, is a failed system. Demanding for open markets is frivolous and sheer mockery for the poorest suffering from hunger!!!
The summit have shown the necessity to go on with our work on food sovereignty, raising awareness in society,....
In December 1948 the General Assembly of UN adopted and proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Although, even with the first article mentioning that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights”, 62 years later, women still have to struggle for equal rights and opportunities.
Women around the world are still facing disadvantages in access to housing and land (see FAO most recent Gender and Land Rights Database), full employment and equal payment conditions, health care, education and financial/economic resources. Also, women are noticeably very absent in decision-making bodies at all levels.
on voluntary basis, who could take over his mandate starting in the second half of 2010 until the next General Assembly 2012.
Duties of the Chaplain
(spiritual) accompaniment of the World Team and the World Coordination
maintain the relations with the different organs of catholic church
guiding MIJARC and its member movements in the reflection on spirituality and faith
organization and animation of the liturgics moments
accompaniment of the chaplains and ecclesiastical assistants on national and continental level
assure the spiritual celebration during meetings on world level
collaborate to the general tasks of world team
minimum of dedication time to MIJARC World’s work two world team meetings of about 1 week in Brussels
participation to the world coordination programme each year about two weeks
read more
INTERNATIONAL SYMPOSIUM ON“ LANDGRABBING AND THREATS TO BIODIVERSITY” IN AROORMUZHY
The International Movement of Catholic Agricultural Rural Youth (MIJARC) organised an international symposium on “landgrabbing and threats to biodiversity” in conjunction with its member movement, Kerala Catholic Youth Movement (KCYM).
Around 100 people from the diocese of Iranjalakuda gathered together on Saturday, 24th July in Aroormuzhy to take part in this symposium. Since MIJARC has launched its World Food Day campaign on land grabbing in the afternoon, the organizers took the occasion to discuss with people and members of KCYM from the diocese of Iranjalakuda.
19.02.2010
New FAO database - gender gap in land rights
A new database launched by FAO puts the spotlight on one of the major stumbling blocks to rural development - widespread inequalities between men and women in their access to land.
The *Gender and Land Rights Database produced in consultation with national statistics authorities, universities, civil society organizations and other sources worldwide, offers up-to-date information on how men and women in 78 countries differ in their legal rights and access to land.
In most of the world, women lag well behind men in ownership of agricultural land and access to income from land, even though women are major producers of food crops and play crucial roles in providing and caring for their households... (Source: FAO press release 17/02/2010)
Call to Civil Society to Participate in the Process towards the Adoption of Voluntary Guidelines for Land and Natural Resource Tenure by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – FAO
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations – FAO – has initiated the process of discussion that should lead to the adoption of Voluntary Guidelines for Land and Natural Resource Tenure. The following text gives a quick overview of this process along with its objectives and structure. It also calls for Civil Society Organizations – CSO – to participate in regional meetings coordinated by the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty – IPC – with the intent of discussing issues specifically relevant to civil society. Download PDF
Awarded since 1994 by WWSF Women's World Summit Foundation - an international, non-profit, humanitarian NGO, serving the implementation of women’s and children’s rights and the UN development agenda - the Prize ($ 1000 per laureate and $ 3000 for specific African women’s organisations), honors women and women's groups around the world exhibiting exceptional creativity, courage and commitment for the improvement of the quality of life in rural communities (354 prizes awarded so far). The Prize aims to draw international attention to laureates' contributions to sustainable development, household food security and peace, thus generating recognition and support for their projects. While rural women are vital in providing examples of sound practice in their communities, they still do not have full access to tools needed for development, such as education, credit, land rights and participation in decision making. By highlighting and awarding creative development models, innovations and experiences enhancing the quality of rural life, WWSF participates in addressing the eradication of rural poverty, gender mainstreaming and women’s empowerment.
13"You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.
14"You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5,13-16)
Let’s renew our mission of being the salt and the light that the rural world needs by playing an active role in the development of our villages.
Thank you for engaging yourself in MIJARC. Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year 2010!
“Food for all or fuel for a few?” is the topic of this edition of MIJARC News. The struggle for food for all and also the establishment of living conditions which give people the possibility to develop their multiple potentials and live in dignity is one of MIJARCs major concerns. Agrofuels doesn’t promote life in dignity, thus the apparent question of the topic has only one correct answer: Food for all!
“Agrofuels and Climate change-Even more threats for Rural Poor” is the title of our campaign in 2009/ 2010, with the last edition you received the material and I hope that you have studied the material well and elaborated a lot of significant actions which pushes MIJARCs work forward in fighting hunger and struggling for food sovereignty. We hope to read about it in the next edition.We also try to keep you updated .... read more
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization talks to George Fernandez, President of MIJARC, about the vital role that youth play in breaking the cycle of hunger and poverty.
There is only one week left before the opening of the People’s Food Sovereignty Forum. The Forum will be attended by about 600 people, including delegates and observers, who will gather in Rome from November 13th to 17th to debate the causes of the current state of crisis in the agro-food system, and the need refocus attention on the billion and a half men and women who actually produce the food we all eat.
The Forum programme consists of plenary sessions, thematic working groups and autonomous assemblies of women, youth and indigenous groups. While the plenary sessions intend to adopt the plan of action, the documents and final declarations of the Forum, the workshops and assemblies are designed to explore the issues in more depth, and to provide a chance for specific constituencies to organise their own thematic discussions.
The forum will be divided into four working groups. The first topic will be the governance of the agro-food system. Here, the group will focus on who decides agricultural and food security policies, and through which kinds of consultative and negotiation processes civil society it engaged. This working group will discuss in particular how to enhance and promote the reform process of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), recently launched by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
Young people account for over one fifth of the world’s population. 85% of the world’s young people live in developing countries and more than half of them in rural areas. They are particularly hard hit by poverty and hunger, and by climate change. Young women and men from several Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) around the world gathered in Rome on November 14th - 17th 2009 during the CSO Forum held in parallel to the World Food Summit on Food Security 2009. “Food Sovereignty now: young people creating their future” was the slogan of the youth meeting in which participants have declared their demand for food sovereignty and inclusive decision-making at all levels worldwide.
The development of massive industrial agricultural production, trading in the past years as well as neo-liberal policies without respect to nature and human beings brought the catastrophic situation of 1.02 Billion people in hunger . 75% of the hungry people are living in rural areas and mostly young people and peasant farmers are the victims of these policies. Much remains to be done as regards youth involvement in the fight for food sovereignty and food security at both national and international levels. Food Sovereignty is a legitimate cause involving sustainable improvement of social, economic and nutritional wellbeing of all individuals on earth by increasing access to quality food, production resources and making favourable food policies for all producers in the world.
The assembly of youth made a final declaration, demanding for more participation in decision-making bodies, access to and control over productive resources and especially the land.
35th session of the FAO committee on World Security was held in Rome from 14-17 October 2009. George Dixon Fernandez ,President of MIJARC participated in this important meeting as well as involved very actively in the CFS reform process which have been taking place during the last nine months. It is now estimated that more than a billion people, one in every six human beings suffering from hunger and under-nourishment. These are mainly small holder food producers, particularly women, and other rural inhabitants. The food and financial crisis really threatens global food security and nutrition and the achievement of the 1996 World Food Summit target and MDGs for reducing hunger and malnutrition. This is one of the major reasons that FAO member nations agreed at the 34th Session of CFS in October 2008 to embark on a reform of the CFS so that it can fully play its vital role in the area of food security and nutrition, including international coordination. CFS reform has been a topic of discussion in several fora including G8, G20 and the UN General Assembly and also is on the agenda for the World Summit on Food Security 2009. FAO Council considered “the CFS reform to be crucial to the governance of world food security, with a view toward exploring synergies with the emerging Global Partnership for Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition. read more
The beginning of the 21st century is and will probably remain an eventful period of history of human societies. Indeed, we face today big challenges which call into question the model upon which we decided to built our society. Confronted with the different current crisis (financial crisis, food crisis) we inevitably could consider that our model of development doesn’t work properly, because of three inefficiencies:
- functional (food insecurity)
- political (deregulation)
- ecological (environmentaldegradation)
Even though we acknowledge the same fact worldwide, we have to realize that the impact of those crisis is different for everyone. With our partner from the North and the South, we wanted to have this time for political dialog to discuss the possible options to fight those malfunctioning. Read more...
Two years have passed since the last UNESCO Youth Forum took place. Paris hosted from 1st to 3rd October 2009 127 youth delegates and additionally 77 persons from 45 organizations. The Youth Forum gave its youth participants the crucial opportunity to exchange views, share experiences, and identify common opportunities for future commitment and actions.
The main theme of the 6th Youth Forum was: “Investing out of the crisis: towards a partnership between UNESCO and youth organizations” and a cross-cutting theme on: “Youth participation - UNESCO Youth Forum, a long term approach” The two themes of the plenary sessions reflect UNESCO’s commitment to further strengthen partnerships, common goals and its work with youth organizations and networks. Youth delegates were nominated by UNESCO Member States as members of their official delegations. International Organisations, NGOs, UNESCO chairs and foundations were invited as observer.
"World Food Day 2009": Answering the challenge of Climate Change without disregarding Food Sovereignty!
Climate change challenge has to tackled in a comprehensive and holistic way!
Farmers are key actors in climate change situation!
Food sovereignty is a solution!
On this World Food Day 2009, MIJARC Europe calls for the implementation of the food sovereignty principle in any European or international policy taken to cope with global warming.
Every year on October 16th MIJARC is contributing to the world food day. In 2009 MIJARC focuses on
Agrofuels and Climate change-Even more threats for Rural Poor
Climate change, the rise of need and prices of fossil energies and their deposit launched a discussion on renewable energies. In addition to water and solar power and other renewable energies, agrofuels play an important role in energy production. But agrofuels grow on the same land as food. This fact brings in a new dimension in the discussion of food sovereignty.
Industrialised countries have released huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels, and have caused a human induced change in the earth's climate. On the one hand, 1.02 billion people suffer from hunger, most of them in rural areas, where food is used to be produced. On the other hand, the rising industries in various countries need more energy for industrial production. Fossil energies are not available in a sustainable way and renewable energies are not that established as they should be. Therefore any chance to produce energy is taken: agrofuels play an important role and the result of this is a hard struggle for land. Read more...
This year, Europe – more precisely Belgium – hosted the International Women Commission in the village of Assesse, from the 25th to the 27th July. In a friendly atmosphere, the Women Commissioners from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, together with MIJARC World Secretary General, Carolin Grieshop, revised the actuality of MIJARC work around gender issues at continental and national levels and defined a specific Action Plan regarding MIJARC World’s Objective “empower women at all levels in relation with their rights and their participation to take leadership”.
The International Women Commission (IWC) 2009 started analyzing the history of Women’s Work within MIJARC and presenting, more detailed, last year’s work at continental and national levels. It’s clear the difference between continents in terms of needs but also the common difficulties to get financial support to implement more visible actions. The first conclusion and commitment from the IWC was, therefore, the need to create an effective communication network between the commissioners, sharing projects and activities, ways to get funds and follow-ups.
MIJARC World Coordination Meeting 2009 in Assesse/ Belgium
Photo: Nanine Lilla
A seminar about “International Property Rights and seeds” in India in 2010, Latin America as the host for the World Assembly in 2012, a research group about MIJARC’s micro-credit system “landfund”, and further decisions were taken at the “Training and Working Seminar for MIJARC continental leaders”.
Assesse / Brussels, 5th of August 2009. From July 25th to August 5th MIJARC continental leaders and the World Team of MIJARC, the International Movement of Catholic Agricultural Rural Youth, assembled for their annual World Coordination meeting, this year in Assesse/ Belgium.
Based on the evaluation of the movement’s work on continental level and the financial reports the World Coordinators and the World Team of MIJARC discussed on the future proceedings of the movement. The focus lies on achieving autonomous working on sustainable and solidarity economy, forming responsible and competent rural men and women, participating in decision making processes, taking environmental protection as a national policy and on empowering women at all levels in relation with their rights and their participation to take leadership. These five objectives will be used by MIJARC as a guideline for all their activities and programmes of the next year.....
“Seeds –Foundation of global food security” is the title of the World Food Day campaign in 2008/2009. Various activities like manifestations, round table discussions and trainings took place. On nearly every part of the world MIJARC members got to know this campaign and studied the comprehensive material. This edition contains an article of GRAIN on seed aid, which will be the last step of the campaign 2008/2009. And with this edition of MIJARC News we also start the new World Food Day campaign “Agrofuels and Climate change – Even more threats for Rural Poor“. Please spread the posters widely and tell us about your actions. Just as every year, the World Food Day is on October 16th.
We are happy to present new elements in MIJARC News. We collected reports of local MIJARC members from different parts of the world who describe their rural life. And from now on you will find information on agricultural praxis, this time on soil fertility....read more
The Education for Rural People (ERP) initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organised a workshop which was held at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy, from 4 to 5 June 2009. The workshop aimed at fostering the partnership between and within countries and agencies that are necessary to strengthen education and training of rural people, sharing successful policies and practices as well as challenges and coming to a joint understanding of key actions to which the diverse stakeholders could contribute.
The workshop gathered national and international policy-makers, managers and experts responsible for education and training for rural people as well as civil society organizations. Among the invitees was Carolin Grieshop for MIJARC. Other invitees were from the main strategic partners operating in Africa.
One out of six people is suffering from hunger and illiteracy
The situation of education and training in many African countries is characterized by low school access and achievement among rural people. ...read more
Pontifical Council for laity and the youth section of Vatican invited MIJARC to take part in an International Meeting which held in Rome from 3 to 5 April 2009.
The purpose of the meeting was to evaluate WYD in Sydney 2008 and to initiate the pastoral and logistic planning of WYD in Madrid 2011. One person from National Bishops conferences and International Youth Movements, Associations and Communities were only invited for this important meeting. Representatives from the Australian and Spanish organising committees were also present. This meeting evaluated the pastoral impact of the Sydney WYD2008 and organisational aspects as well as made proposals for the planning of the forthcoming Madrid WYD 2011 where it is expecting about 2million young people from all over the world..click here to download press release as pdf
Around 600 people from all parts of the world participated from April 23-25th 2009 in the International Forum for Solidarity Economy. For the fourth time this forum took place and each time on different continents organised by RIPESS (Réseau Intercontinental de Promotion de l’économie social solidaire). In the last forum leaders, activists, researchers and people from like-minded organisations met in Dakar/ Senegal in 2005.....click here to read as HTML or click on the image to download press release as pdf
The year 2008 was characterized by many changes. All continental movement have held their General Assembly and also the World Assembly has taken place in Uganda. The assemblies brought many new faces to our organisation in new responsibilities, a new action plan, a declaration towards the hunger crisis and a strong commitment to deepen our work in the field of economic projects was made.
The struggles for food sovereignty, solidarity economy and gender equity are still important elements of the work of MIJARC, during the last year we strengthened our work in these areas with trainings, seminars, networking and lobby work. This showed the importance of involvement of young people from rural areas which have significant impact on various policy making institutions and politicians, since rural youth is seldom recognised in politics; however they are the future, since most of the world wide existing land is considered as rural area. It is important and essential that young people from rural areas receive attention in politics and opportunities to develop their own well-being....
The world has been shaken by a financial crisis. Thus the press and powerful has ensured that hunger crisis is disappeared from publicity. But hunger remains. Especially in terms of such a crisis, problems of the existing economic system are demonstrated: Money has a better lobby than people suffering from hunger.
World Finances are acting in short-term, but people need long-term concepts. States of the North are now focusing on development of their economies and forget to invest in development of southern countries. But money is still needed!
We are facing the tightest food supplies in recent history. For the world's most vulnerable, food is simply being priced out of their reach. The world's 200 wealthiest people have as much money as about 40 percent of the global population, while about 923 million people go to bed hungry every night. Thomas Kocherry is calling in his article for a magnificat.
“He has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty.“ (Lk 1,53)
MIJARC wants to replace the hunger crisis up in the public agenda. I hope that you will enjoy your reading which will motivate you to struggle for a world without hunger......click on the image to read more
Carolin Grieshop participated in the conference "policies against hunger"
On the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the German Federal Ministry of agriculture held its seventh “Policies against Hunger” conference in Berlin, this time under the title of: “The Right to Food is a Human Right”. At the conference, over 250 international participants (among them Carolin Grieshop, Secretary General of MIJARC) discussed different courses of action and recommendations for securing the right to food. The conference is part of a high-ranking series of conferences that have been addressing important topics to do with global food security on a yearly basis since 2001.....
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TOREAD MORE
21.12.2008
MIJARC News 3/2008 is available
Dear readers of MIJARC News,
MIJARC is promoting food sovereignty and solidarity economy. This edition is on economic projects. MIJARC wants to improve the living conditions for rural youth with the help of economic projects.
Considering the great difficulties and challenges faced by rural youth all over the world, such as unemployment, poverty, hard social conditions, lack of training, etc. MIJARC decided to take a step forward in the promotion of solidarity economy initiatives, whose objective is to improve the opportunities, capacities, as well as the standardof living of rural youth, their families and communities. Young entrepreneurship is also a good way to foster the involvement of rural youth groups in economic, social and political life at all levels.....click on the image to read more
Photo: www.fao.org
27.11.2008
George Dixon Fernandez participated in the expert group on Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and other Natural Resources
The Expert Group Meeting on “Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of land Tenure and other Natural Resources” was held at the FAO Head Quarters in Rome from 24-25th November 2008. It was organised by FAO Land Tenure and Management Unit in collaboration with the Government of Finland and UN HABITAT as a preliminary meeting to launch the Voluntary Guidelines on Land tenure and other Natural resources. This proposal will be further presented to the next FAO committee on Agriculture (CoAG) for the approval.Once it is approved there will be an intergovernmental process to be put up in 2009 with various consultation meetings with different stakeholders at different levels which includes regional consultation process too. World Bank, IFAD, GTZ Germany, SIDA (Sweden), CGIAR, experts, private Sector, few governments and civil society organisations (IPC, International land coalition, Global Land Tools Network) were present for the meeting. George Dixon Fernandez (Youth–MIJARC), SofiaMonsalve (FIAN ), Herman Kumara (Fisher folk -WFFP), Beatrice Gasco (IPC), Tui Ahora Warmenhoven (Maori Indegeneous People), Ibrahim Coulibali and Daniel Pascual, (farmers-ViaCampesina) were the representatives of Civil Society from IPC sector.
CLICK ON THE IMAGE TOREAD MORE
Photo: www.fao.org
24.11.2008
35th (special) FAO Conference 18-22 November 2008
The special session of the 35th FAO conference has been convened to accelerate the implementation taken by the member nations on the recommendations of the Independent External Evaluation (I.E.E) of FAO. In this important reform process member nations, management and staff of FAO shared their vision of a world that is free from hunger and malnutrition and underlined the fact that Food and agriculture must contribute to improve the living standards of the people particularly the poorest and thus to ensure sustainable economic development. In an evermore economic and climatic context FAO must adapt reform and changes to meet the expectation of the member nations through building of a new FAO which requires dedication, determination, good will, mutual trust, hard work from everyonewho is part of FAO; FAO has to redouble the effort to face the challenges ofthe present world today.CLICK ON THE IMAGE TOREAD MORE
Photo: C.Grieshop
13.10.2008
Resolution on food crisis
Food, Agriculture and Rural areas: an alarming present situation
Since several months, food is becoming increasingly scarce and expensive, and it is already unaffordable for many people. According to Josette Sheeran, director ofthe World Food Program, "there are 854 million hungry people in the world and 4 million more join their ranksevery year. We are facing the tightest food supplies in recent history. For the world's most vulnerable, food is simply being priced out of their reach". The world's 200 wealthiest people have as much money as about 40 percent of the global population, while about 850 million people go tobed hungry every night. This calamity is "one of the worst violations of human dignity," says former UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
MIJARC appeals it´s members to undertake actions during the world food day 16th of october 2008.
Click on the image to download the new campaign material.
Click on the image to download the new campaign material.
DARING TO BUILD A NEW RURAL WORLD:
Call for action, World Food Day 2008
Every year on October 16th MIJARC is contributing to the word food day.
In 2008 MIJARC focus on
“Seeds–Foundation of global food security,
Access to seeds is afundamental right of farmers”.
Hunger is one of the oldest problems in the world but now is the time to be ashamed that we still haven’t solved this problem. From a young people’s perspective the struggle against hunger is a most important mission. And as Christians we feel a responsibility to combat hunger and to show our solidarity with other people. The struggle against hunger can only be won if lots of people are willing to change the current agricultural system, which is not at all benefiting the poor.
The right to have access to seed is a key concern for MIJARC, we promote this right of the common people, as seed is not a commodity for trade but it is a resource for life and humanity.
Since several years patents and genetically modified plants are used and farmers have lost the right to use seed from the harvest and breeders, the use of patented seeds is increasing; meanwhile the hunger is also increasing. These destructive effects are well known. Most food in the world is grown, collected and harvested by more than a billion small-scale farmers, pastoralists and artisanal fisherfolk. This food is mainly sold, processed, resold and consumed locally, thereby providing the foundation of peoples’ nutrition, incomes and economies across the world.
Yet, the rules that govern food and agriculture at all levels – local, national and international – are designed a priori to facilitate not local, but international trade. This reduces diversity and concentrates the wealth of the world’s food economies in the hands of ever fewer multinational corporations,while the majority of the world’s small-scale food producers, processors, localtraders and consumers including, crucially, the poor and malnourished, are marginalised.
We engage ourselves to:
train young people on seed issues,
raise awareness on negative aspects of GMOs and privatisation of seeds
develop projects that respect the environment
fight against the privatisation of seeds
reinforce the role of women to have a better access to seeds
Establish projects for seed and cereal banks
“Give us today our dailybread”
Hope you will discuss the World Food Day study material we already sent on seed and we call upon you to take actions on the following regard on the basis of your analysis.
The world team of MIJARC is wishing you all the best and a lot of actions for another world!
since the last edition of MIJARC News a lot has happened. All continental movements of MIJARC have held their General Assembly and also the World Assembly has taken place in Uganda. The assemblies brought many new faces to our organisation in new responsibilities.......
click on the image to read more
14.08.2008
World Youth Day 2008
Photo: www.wyd2008.org
World Youth Day 2008 took place in Sydney Australia from 9-20 July 2008 with various programmes. Days in the dioceses, Youth festival Events, Catechism, Way of the cross, Vigil, Mass with Holysee were some of the highlighted events during the World Youth Day. MIJARC organised different activities in Australia in connection with World Youth day youth festival event. A work shop on Young people and Millenium Development Goal was organised jointly by MIJARC,IYCS, IYCW and Caritas Australia. Hundreds of young people from different parts of the world took part in this conference and made commitment of declaration to work for the achievement of MDG. George Dixon Fernandez was a speaker for this event on the topic of poverty reduction and employment with regard to MDG 1. MIJARC also installed an Exposition Stall to promote our actions and the movement at the Vocation Expo Hall arranged by WYD authorities in Darling Harbour ,Sydney. Thousands of young people visited our Exposition stall. Even though MIJARC didn’t send a big delegation for the WYD, many of our members had been there through their national Episcopal conferences or by personal initiatives.
George Dixon Fernandez, Jose Kalayil and Carolin Grieshop participated in the High-level-meeting of FAO (Food and agriculture Organization of the United Nations) and in the IPC-Forum called “Terra Preta”, which was hold parallel to the official conference in the beginning of June in Rome/ Italy. During the Forum NGOs raised their demands on how to overcome the food crisis. IPC (International Planning Committee on Food Sovereignty) was the organizer of this Forum. International representatives of small farmers, fisherfolks, indigenous peoples, pastoralists and Non Governmental Organisations (NGO) have expressed their disappointment with the poor outcome of the High Level Conference on World Food Security in Rome. George Dixon Fernandez: “The final declaration will not fill any plate. The recommendations for more liberalisation would lead to more violations of the right to food. The claims of social movements for more protection and support for sustainable and small scale food producers, for comprehensive Land and Agrarian Reforms and concrete measures against financial speculation have been totally ignored by the governments”. In the final declaration of “Terra Preta” and the statement “No more failures as usual” signed by 900 organisations, civil society organisations have made very concrete proposals on how to combat hunger.
26.06.2008
Young people and the millenium Development Goals
A JOINT ACTION OF
MIJARC-CARITAS AUSTRALIA-IYCS-IMCS-IYCW
You are invited to join the struggle to overcome poverty at World Youth Day 2008. WITNESS THROUGH ACTION Young People and the Millennium Development Goals
Tuesday 15 July 2pm - 4pm Barnet Long Room, Customs House, Circular Quay
The World Youth DAy 2008 will take place in Sydney, Australia. MIJARC will is organising togehter with other Youth Organisations also from Australia the Youth Forum: Act Today- Change Tomorrow. In order to prepare this forum the Young Christian Workers of Australia have prepared a survey where young people all around the world are invited to give their views about their life. We call upon the MIJARC movements to participate and to encourage participation widely in your movements.
Fill out the survey and send it back to: YCS and YCW World Youth Day Coordinator
George Dixon Fernandez, president of MIJARC participated to the Forum of catholic non-governmental organisations in Vatican, 1 and 2 of december. Objective was to present and debate about the contributions non-governmental organisations make to more human dignity in the world by advocating towards UN organisations and governments.
During the Forum the representatives of the different organisations met pope Benedict XVI who encouraged "to counter relativism creatively by presenting the great truths about man's innate dignity and the rights which are derived from that dignity."
For the first time, the World Bank's annual development report is focused on agriculture. But the Bank misses important historical policy mistakes that explain the current struggles of many developing countries. Find here the response to the report by IATP's Sophia Murphy and Tilman Santarius of the Wuppertal Institute for Climate, Environment and Energy in the framework of the eco-fair dialogue undertaken by Misereor, Wupprtal Institute and Heinrich-Böll-Foundation.
MIJARC appeals it´s members to undertake actions during the world food day 16th of october 2007 against the privatisation of water and the recognition of the right to water!
MIJARC appeals it´s members to undertake actions during the world food day 16th of october 2007 against the privatisation of water and the recognition of the right to water!
09.10.2007
stop epa
A group of African civil society organisations, concerned with the current situation and potential negative impact on small (agricultural) producers in their countries, has initiated a statement on the current negotiations on Economic Partnership Agreements. This statement has been prepared in view of the upcoming meetings of African and ACP Trade Ministers in Cotonou late October and of European and African Heads of State in Lisbon, early December.
Young rural Catholics promote food sovereignty to protect biodiversity
Kochi/India This summer in India, the monsoon is not as strong as it used to be; rain is less abundant. Some will reckon it is a natural coincidence, but we see climate change and its impact on rural populations in the world, regarding access to water, agricultural production and health.
The life of rural populations is highly dependant on natural elements, which is why for centuries they have learnt to find their own place within ecosystems. Peasants, small farmers in particular, are the main pillars of this sustainable balance between human beings and the rest of Nature.
Through their lifestyles and specific production modes adapted to each territory, they preserve biodiversity, mainly seed banks and local variety crops; have their own water management systems and production-adapted eating habits. Thus, they ensure the food sovereignty of their territories.
However, we currently see the development of a land-grabbing phenomenon. Foreign companies, or even States, grab hold of the lands used by these peasants. Indeed, as some have destroyed their local farming systems and changed their eating habits, they are not able to provide food and raw materials to their populations anymore. They buy land in other countries and exploit them in order to export their resources to their country of origin, mainly agrofuels.
This phenomenon is disastrous for the inhabitants of grabbed land, as it deprives them of their means of subsistence and disrupts the natural balances they had built. On the other hand, it does not solve the problems faced by countries that lack land. Many scientists showed that small farmers are far more productive than big-scale agriculture: they use little energy and the food they produce is more nutritious. Besides, the biodiversity they protect offers them a better adaptability and resistance to climate vagaries.
Land-grabbing, instead of being guided by this wisdom, tends to continue a production model which is not viable, does not enable peoples’ food sovereignty and is doomed to failure.
Fortunately, we did not wait for the low monsoon to grab theses challenges. Actually, we are here to hold a study day:
“Biodiversity, seeds, the role of small producers and land-grabbing”
Saturday July 24, 2010, in Kerala State, India.
The day will start inAroormuzhy, Kerala, with a round-table opened by Prof. K.V. Thomas,Minister of Agriculture & Consumer Affairs, food & Public Distribution.
Then, a panel of specialists will take the floor, including Dr. Vandana Siva, Miss Carolin Grieshop, Mr. Alphons Kannanthanam MLA, Mr. V.D. Satheesan MLA and Dr.C.R Neelakandan.
This round-table will be followed by a conference in Chalakudy (St Mary’s Forane Church Parish Hall), held by Dr. Vandana Siva, Monsignor Mar Andrews Thazath, (Thrissur Diocese Archbishop), Monsignor Mar Poly Kannookkadan, (Irinjalakkuda Dioscese Bishop), MIJARC members and actors from Kerala State Dioceses.
Eventually, the day will end with a demonstration in the streets of Kochi, Kerala, lead by Kerala and International MIJARC members.
