Statement of Resolution
LCWR and CMSM stand in support of human rights by opposing trafficking in women and children for purposes of sexual exploitation and forced labor, and will educate others regarding the magnitude, causes, and consequences of this abuse in the U.S. and the world.

Rationale
1. At their May 2001 plenary session in Rome, the International Union of Superiors General, leaders of more than 780 congregations of women religious having a total membership of one million, endorsed a resolution opposing the abuse of women and children, with particular sensitivity to the trafficking and sexual exploitation of women. UISG resolved that this issue be addressed from a contemplative stance as an expression of a fully incarnated feminine spirituality in solidarity with women all over the world.
2. An LCWR goal is to work for a just world order by using our corporate voice and influence in solidarity with people who experience poverty, racism, powerlessness or any other form of violence or oppression. A CMSM goal is to provide a corporate influence in church and society.
3. The Platform for Action of the UN Fourth World Conference on Women held in Beijing, 1995, included the strategic objective to eliminate trafficking in women and assist victims of violence due to prostitution and trafficking.
4. Each year between 700,000 and 2 million women and children are trafficked across international borders, with more than 50,000 women trafficked into the U.S. (UISG papers)

Call for Specific Action
1. Deepen our understanding of the realities of trafficking and its integral relationship with poverty, male dominance, and the globalization of trade.
2. Join with UISG as they call for specific days of international prayer, contemplation, fasting and common action to unite religious throughout the world.
3. Encourage education about trafficking, prostitution, and workplace slavery in sponsored schools, colleges, and universities and in adult education ministries.
4. If feasible, collaborate in applying for federal funds from the Department of Health and Human Services in implementation of HR 3244 to provide services to victims of trafficking.

Resources
1. www.catwinternational.org The Coalition Against Trafficking in Women is a feminist human rights nongovernmental organization that works internationally to oppose sexual exploitation.
2. www.protectionproject.org The Protection Project is a five-year research project of Johns Hopkins University on commercial sexual exploitation. 

Origin of Proposal: LCWR: Flowing from Declaration of UISG Plenary Session. (Sixty-six U.S. constellation members participated in this meeting.) CMSM Justice and Peace Office.

Contact Person(s): Gertrude Foley, SC; Anne Munley, IHM – U.S. delegates to UISG Assembly
 

Statement of Resolution
LCWR upholds the sacredness of Earth and Space by rejecting the U.S. Space Command Vision for 2020 that would dominate space for military operations; control and own space, making all other nations vulnerable to U.S. conventional and nuclear attacks; and exploit outer space for U.S. interests and investments.

Background
The Space Command Vision for 2020 consists of: (1) a process for the nuclearization and weaponization of space; (2) construction of interceptors in various parts of the world; (3) development of a missile defense/offense system; (4) deployment of the space-based laser known as Death Star; (5) work on climate control and weather manipulation; (6) mining the planets; (7) use of space stations and satellites for targeting, surveillance, and mapping; (8) defining enemy and ally, who will be excluded or included in space; (9) an acknowledgement that globalization will cause a greater gap between “haves” and “have-nots,” implying the necessity to control conflict. (Web site www.spacecom.af.mil/usspace “Space Education Center”.) The president has requested $8.3 billion for the Missile Defense System for fiscal year 2002, a 57% increase in the budget for this program. Previously the space program was known as the Strategic Defense Initiative or Star Wars. Lockheed Martin, Boeing, TRW, and Raytheon are major corporations receiving billions of dollars in contracts for space programs.
 
Rationale
We reject these plans which conflict with the work for a just world order in solidarity with people who experience poverty, powerlessness, or any form of violence or oppression. This Space Command Vision is contrary to the law of God who created the heavens and Earth. This Vision as implemented will break the Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty of 1972 and the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. Security is neither in wealth nor in war. It is in the God of the universe who calls us “to act justly, to love mercifully and to walk humbly with our God” (Micah 6). We need to build a just and peaceful world with nonviolent means of resolving conflict.

Call for Specific Action
1. Sign and circulate the petition (attached and on line) as formulated by the Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space, www.space4peace.org.
2. Urge Members of Congress to vote against authorizations and appropriations for the Missile Defense System in the FY 2002 budget.
3. Endorse the October 13, 2001 International Day of Protest; encourage congregational membership to participate in local actions. (See above web site for details.)
4. Contribute funding support to the international/national organization listed above or to local organizing at the Space Command Center – Citizens for Peace in Space, P.O. Box 915, Colorado Springs, CO 80901, email bsulzman@juno.com.
5. Engage in shareholder actions with corporations involved in the militarization of space.

Origin of Proposal: Global Concerns Committee

Contact Person::    Mary Brigid Clingman, OP
 

Specifically, we call on them to enact the following reforms:
1. To legalize the maximum number of persons in an undocumented or irregular status, particularly those who have lived here for several years and contributed to their communities. We also support restoring Article 245-I of the Immigration Code that would allow immigrants who have been in the U.S. for several years to apply for residency from within the U.S. We further endorse the initiative to grant parity to Salvadorans, Guatemalans, Hondurans, and Haitians who have been excluded from legislation granting relief to Central Americans from countries recovering from civil conflict.

2. To call a moratorium on Operations Gatekeeper, Hold-the-Line, and Rio Grande, and the increased concentration of the Border Patrol in El Paso, San Diego and other cities. These Operations have resulted in over 1200 immigrant deaths on the U.S.-Mexico border since 1994. Immigrants are forced to cross in the most dangerous areas of deserts and mountains, where they die from exposure or drowning.

3. To revise 1996 laws which have undermined immigrants’ procedural due process rights. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 mandates that legal permanent residents who have committed felonies (or misdemeanors redefined as felonies for this group) be arrested, deported, and permanently barred from re-entering the U.S. The law, which is retroactive, has resulted in the separation of thousands of immigrant families. We call on Congress to support legislation that eliminates retroactivity, strictly defines "aggravated felony," and allows for due process under the law, including the right to bail.

4. To restore food stamps, a basic nutritional right, to legal immigrants. Legal immigrants lost these benefits under the 1996 Welfare Law. Congress later restored food stamps for younger and elderly immigrants.

Background
In November 2000, the U.S. Catholic bishops issued a resolution on immigration reform that stated the following: "The Catholic Church has historically held a strong interest in immigration and how public policy impacts immigrants seeking a new life in the United States. We believe that the current configuration of our immigration laws combined with immigration policies pursued by our government in the last several years have had the negative effects of undermining the human dignity of immigrants and dividing immigrant families."

Origin of Proposal: CMSM Justice and Peace Committee and LCWR Global Concerns Committee, endorsed by LCWR Region 9, members of Region 11
 

The Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) has approximately 1,000 members who are the elected leaders of their religious orders, representing 76,000 Catholic sisters in the United States. The Conference develops leadership, promotes collaboration within church and society, and serves as a voice for systemic change.