Dear Friends,

Here is the news about the Pax Romana Working Group on Human Rights at the 58th Session of UN Commission on Human Rights being held in Geneva from March 18 to April 26, 2002.

Please take note of the change in the dates of the Lima Workshop and Council meeting - July 6 to 12, 2002. Hope you will enjoy reading it. Hope to provide more news more frequently,

In solidarity and peace,

Seonghoon LEE (Anselmo)

Main News

• ICMICA Asia/Paficic Team Meeting
• Patricio Rode visit to European Union
• CIDSE Seminar on Global Governance
• European Social Forum (ESF)
• Community of Democracies NGO Forum
• ICMICA ELC meeting
• Asian Civil Society Forum (ACSF) 2002
• Asian Social Forum (ASF)
• World Social Forum (WSF) III
• Asian Synod+5 in 2003
• News in Brief : Nancy Chin, Lucy Howe-Lopez and Martin Manule Lopez-Howe.

ICMICA Global Activities

ICMICA Asia/Pacific Team Meeting (Bangkok, October 11 - 12, 2002)

ICMICA Asia/Pacific Team held its two-day consultation and planning meeting in Bangkok from October 10 to 11, 2002 immediately after the International Convention on the Vatican Council II +40 organized by the Cardijn Liaison Committee (CLC). Besides three team members, Dr Bernard D’Sami, Mr Jerald Joseph and Fr Manu, Anselmo Lee, Joseph Rajkumar, Sandiwan Suharto, President of ISKA, ICMICA Federation in Indonesia and Kiho Uhm, member of IMCS Asia/Pacific Team also attended the meeting. Key decisions were made about Asian Social Forum and Asian Synod+5. Details of these two events are in the Forthcoming Events section.

Patricio Rode’s visit to European Union (Brussels, Sept. 26 - Oct. 5, 2002)

On invitation from MEIC (ICMICA Federation in Italy), Patricio Rode, President, attended their  II Settimana Ecumenica, from September 26 to October 5, in Brussels and Strasbourg, where the EU process of enlargement and institutional reform, as well as the Churches' presence and service were discussed. Patricio delivered a keynote speech on Europe seen from outside and its role in the present world. He also touched on Christians’ responsibility in that context. Text of his speech in Spanish is available at the MEIC secretariat (segrmeic@tin.it). In addition, important meetings were held with Mgr. Saenz Muoz, Nuncio to the EU, with President Romano Prodi, in Brussels, and with Elisabeth Parmentier, a Lutheran theologian from the Institute for Ecumenical Research in Strasbourg and with Pastor Uhl, a Lutheran Pastor active in ecumenical activities.

Members of MEIC groups from 14 different Italian cities, and the new President, Renato Balduzzi, participated in the Ecumenical Week. It was an important exchange between the Italian movement and our President.While in Italy, Patricio also visited the Pontifical Council for the Laity in Rome, and the MEIC group in Reggio Calabria."

CIDSE Seminar on Global Governance (Rome, Oct. 22-24, 2002)

Anselmo Lee attended a seminar on global governance organized by the International Cooperation for Development and Solidarity (CIDSE) advocacy body made up of major Catholic donors and development agencies. He also attended the Task Group (TG) II on social justice where CIDSE members discussed the follow-up to the International Conference on Financing for Development and Currency Transaction Tax (tobin tax). He will continue to participate in TGII on behalf of ICMICA. CIDSE has other working groups on debt, food security, peace and conflict as well as continental plattform. More detailed information on www.cidse.org

Forthcoming Activities and Events

European Social Forum (Florence, Italy, Nov. 6 - 10, 2002)

Mr Zoltan Endreffy, a young philosopher and member of ICMICA Federation in Hungary is one of the keynote speakers at the European Social Forum. He will be speaking on Christians responsibility in the ecological and social problems in Europe.

Community of Democracies NGO Forum (Seoul, Nov. 10 - 12, 2002)

Anselmo Lee, Secretary General will be attending the Community of Democracies Non-Governmental Forum (CDNGF) www.cdngf2002.org in Seoul on November 10-12, 2002. The theme of the Forum is Global Solidarity for Strengthening and Expanding Democracy.  He has been invited to chair the  East Asia and Pacific panel on his personal capacity. The NGO Forum will be held in connection with the second Ministerial Conference of the Community of Democracies where up to 100 countries will be represented by officials at the level of a foreign minister. The first world’s conference of the Community of Democracies took place in Warsaw, Poland in June 2000.

ICMICA European Liaison Committee (ELC) Meeting (Nijmegen, Netherlands, November 22 - 24, 2002)

The ELC meeting will be hosted by Thijmgenootschap, ICMICA Federation in the Netherlands in Hijmegen from Nov. 22 to 24, 2002. Please contact Josep-Maria Carbonnel, European Vice-President. MIICEUROPE@TERRA.ES One of the issues on agenda is the European Conference in Luxembourg form September 3 to 6, 2003 under the theme Which Europe?"Ethical and Constitutional Challenges to the European Project 

Asian Civil Society Forum (Bangkok, Dec. 9 - 13, 2002)

Several ICMICA members will attend Asian Civil Society Forum as facilitators or speakers, and ICMICA is planning to organize a Catholic caucus during the Forum which is being organized by the Working Group on Outreach to Asia (WGOA) of Conference of NGOs in consultative relationship with the UN (CONGO). www.acsf.net Asian Youth International Catholic Organizations (AYICOs) is also planning to have its own meeting during the Forum.

Asian Social Forum (Hyderabad, India, January 2 to 7, 2003)

ICMICA Asia/Pacific will organize three Panel Discussions on

1. human rights and self-determination
2. policy framework on economic, social and cultural rights
3. globalisation, governance and ethics under the theme  State, Identities and Cultures in the context of globalisation.

The outcome of the discussions will be synthesized at the two-day ICMICA South Asia meeting (Jan. 8-9) in Hyderabad, India.

World Social Forum (Porto Alegre, Brazil, Jan. 23 - 28, 2003)

ICMICA is planning to organize a workshop on global governance and the Church. The workshop is expected to deal with various topics such as the role of the Church in global governance, spiritual and ethical dimensions of globalisation, global governance within the Church, role of the laity and lay movement, Catholic social teaching and glboalisation, etc.

ICMICA members who are interested in the topics and are planning to participate in WSF III are requested to contact Anselmo Lee, Secretary General. miicmica@paxromana.int.ch More information about WSF at www.worldsocialforum.org

Asian Synod+5 (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, October 11 - 15, 2003)

Regional workshop on the five years’ assesment of the Synod for Asia (Asian Synod+5) is to take place in in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia tentatively from October 11 to 15, 2002 (to be confirmed later). This is a follow-up to the Manila Forum on the Synod for Asia which was organized as part of lay preparation and participation in the Asian Synod in 1998. At the same time, it will be an opportunity for ICMICA together with other like-minded lay movements to prepare for the forthcoming Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conference (FABC) Plenary Assembly in Seoul in 2004.

News in Brief

Nancy Chin, mik1971@hotmail.com member of Community Action Network (CAN), ICMICA contact group in Malaysia, and former human rights intern during the Sub-Commission on Human Rights in August, 2001 arrived in Geneva on October 30 for one-year internship program. She will be assisting in human rights internship program in 2003 and learning about human rights advocacy in Geneva.

Lucy Howe-Lopez lhowelopez@telesonique.net and Martin Manuel Lopez-Howe, her four months’ old son visited the office on Nov. 1. He is the youngest person who has visited ICMICA office ! They are currently staying in Geneva after living in the UK for one and half-years.

Events Calendar