Congregation of the Mission and Daughters of Charity
                   

The co-chairs of Rio+20 Conference have issued “ zero draft outcome
document” , titled “The Future We Want”.  It is the official
document to be negotiated by United Nations Member States in the months leading up to the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), June 20-22, 2012.

 UN leadership sees the document as a reaffirmation the Member States’ commitment to work together for 
  ·   A prosperous, secure and sustainable future for both people and the planet;
 ·    Renewed  efforts to eradicate hunger, want, and all forms of poverty; 
·     Progress on already internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

The zero draft invites Member States to reaffirm the Rio Principles agreed to in 1992, at the first UN conference that challenged all nations to live more sustainably as evidence was mounting
that the earth and its resources were being diminished by over consumption and poor use of natural resources.  read more
 
Note: Spanish and French available

June 16, 2011 was a landmark day for Domestic Workers around the world. On that day, the International Labor Organization (ILO), comprising 183 member countries and employer and labor representatives, adopted the groundbreaking Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers.
This convention establishes the first global standard for the estimated 53 million-100 million domestic workers worldwide of whom the vast majority are women and girls. It aims at protecting and improving the working and living conditions of domestic workers everywhere. It recognizes the specific
context in which domestic work takes place, namely in the home, and strikes a balance between the right to privacy of family members and the right to
protection of the workers. read more

This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three women
champions of peace and justice: President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia, her compatriot Leymah Gbowee, and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen. This was the first time the Nobel Committee’s citation included a direct reference to
Security Council resolution 1325 which focused attention on the vulnerable situation of women and girls during and after armed conflict.

 Michelle Bachelet, Executive Director of UN Women, while lauding the selection of the three women, challenged the UN and Member Nations on the 10th anniversary of the unanimously passed Resolution to do more to implement it in every country. She acknowledged some successes but also spotlighted gaps in making it real in the lives of women and girls during conflict who often suffer inhumane treatment and
are often excluded from the decision-making involved in peace-making and  peace-building.

She called for national plans that member states would be held
accountable for in the areas of: 
1.  Prevention-through vigilance, information about threats, increased prosecution of offenders;
2.  Participation-through official roles of women in conflict prevention, mediation, resolution and recovery;
3.  Protection-through protection patrols, escorts and community policing;
4. Relief and Recovery-through awareness and appropriate responses to women and girls post-conflict in a variety of
areas e.g. basic health services, employment, support in the local community.
 
More on women moving from victims to society builders post
conflict. Read more in English , in French 

 Knowing that more than 1.4 billion people still struggle to live on  less than $1.25 a day,  it is
  obvious that much more needs to be done to eradicate the scourge of extreme  poverty.  At present, 80% of the global population does not enjoy social guarantees that enable them to live a life of dignity and enjoy their basic human rights. Ensuring a social protection floor for these people is one of the fastest ways to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, invest in social justice and sustainable economic development. 
 
The concept of a social protection floor is very clear. No one should live below a certain income level and everyone should be able to access at least basic health services, primary education, housing, water, sanitation, food security and adequate nutrition. Social transfers, in cash or in kind, that provides income security as well as food security must be guaranteed. 
  
The United Nations Social Protection Floor Initiative (SPFI)promotes universal access to essential social transfers and services. Social protection measures act as cushions for individuals and families against economic shocks and other life contingencies, thus enhancing their capacity to manage and overcome the challenges that affect their well-being.
 
Poverty is not a condition particular to a fixed group of individuals, but rather one that everyone is at risk of experiencing at some point in the life cycle. The right to social security calls for a progressive move towards universal social protection so as to ensure the basic well-being of all citizens everywhere, all the time. 
 
The SPFI is a policy that must be tailored to the needs of each country and which builds on the country’s existing social protection mechanisms. It aims to make it possible for every citizen to enjoy the human rights expressed in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It sets minimum standards of access to essential services. When people stand on a solid floor, they are able to live with dignity and invest in their own skills and development, gradually moving to higher levels of well-being.
 
The NGO Social Development committee is sponsoring an Online Signature Campaign in support of this initiative which already enjoys considerable support from various UN entities as well as representatives from many countries. The goal of the campaign is to collect large numbers of signatures of individuals and well as organizations from as many countries as possible. The petition with all its signatures will be presented to member states as evidence of civil society’s support for the Social Protection Floor being implements in all countries.