Fwd: Sajan Ram, even in times of want, we are thankful




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CRS BRIEFING
November 2018

"Everything indeed is for you, so that the grace bestowed in abundance on more and more people may cause the thanksgiving to overflow for the glory of God."
— 2 Corinthians 4:15

Our Monthly Prayer

NOT BECAUSE OUR TABLES ARE FULL

We offer a prayer of joyful thanksgiving to the Lord, not merely for full tables, pantries and bellies, but for the great gift of full hearts.

And so we pray ...

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This Month

UPLIFT YOUR WORLD WITH THE CRS ETHICAL TRADE HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE

Put Christmas back in your shopping with ethically produced gifts that uplift a world of people. Every partner is vetted for fair wages, safer working conditions and environmentally sustainable practices.

  SHOP ONLINE >

CRS 75th Anniversary

A TIME OF THANKS

We are thankful for 75 years of support. We are thankful for you.

  JOIN US AT THE TABLE >

CRS MINISTRY RESOURCE CENTER

Find lesson plans, reflections and prayers for use in your home, parish, school or university in the
CRS Ministry Resource Center.

  WHAT'S NEW THIS MONTH >
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Catholic Relief Services is the official international humanitarian agency of the Catholic community in the United States.

The CRS Briefing is a monthly service to our supporters. We aspire to keep you informed of our progress and up-to-date on issues that affect the people we
serve in more than 100 countries around the world.

Catholic Relief Services
228 West Lexington Street
Baltimore, Maryland 21201-3443

Phone: 877-435-7277
Email: community@crs.org

Catholic Relief Services eases suffering and provides assistance to people in need, without regard to race, religion


DEADLINE TOMORROW: Animals in laboratories need your help

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Aaaaaaa,

PETA's Animals Out (of the Labs) Matching-Gift Challenge ends tomorrow—leaving you just hours to make a gift that will DOUBLE in impact to help more animals tormented in cruel experiments. Even $5 can help power this critical work!

Monkeys like the one described in Jeff Brown's message below are facing horrific abuse in laboratories, as are countless cats, dogs, rabbits, mice, and other animals. They need us—they need you. Please don't wait to help: Your gift will be MATCHED, dollar for dollar, up to our $500,000 goal.

   
 
 
 

When I saw a monkey strapped to a laboratory chair and trembling in fear, I knew I had to do something.

Help monkeys and other animals trapped in laboratories by making your gift, which will be matched, right now.
 
 
 
 

Dear Aaaaaaa,

When I first saw an animal suffering at the hands of an experimenter—on a school field trip to a nearby laboratory—I was 13 years old.

My classmates and I watched as a worker wheeled out a monkey strapped to a chair. The clicking noise of a button was used to prompt this abused animal to jut out his arm for a drug injection—a response that he had been conditioned to make through pain and fear.

The experimenters thought we'd be impressed. But I was sickened—and that trembling, frightened primate has been seared into my memory ever since.

Today, I'm a scientist, and I'm sad to say that since that day more than two decades ago, I've seen many more animals tormented in horrific experiments. But thanks to caring people like you, my colleagues and I have been able to contribute to the tremendous progress that we're seeing toward the creation and adoption of non-animal testing methods.

That's why today, I'm asking you to support PETA's Animals Out (of the Labs) Challenge. Your gift will immediately strengthen the work that my colleagues and I are doing to end animal testing—and if you donate by the October 31 deadline, your gift will have twice the impact and bring us closer to our $500,000 goal. Even $5 helps, and to thank you for your generosity, we'll send you a sticker as a symbol of your support for PETA's work to end animal tests.

As a researcher in PETA's Regulatory Testing Department, I'm dedicating my career to stopping the horrors that I've seen in laboratories. My colleagues and I collaborate with government agencies, companies, and university researchers to expand the use of human-relevant, non-animal testing methods and to promote the development of new ones. And this work even goes beyond helping animals—it also has a big impact on science and human medicine.

International government officials are working side by side with us to review new, non-animal tests and to halt duplicative experiments that can kill thousands of animals for data that already exist. In response to feedback from PETA supporters, major corporations are changing their ways in order to satisfy the growing demand for products that aren't tested on animals. Prompted by groups like the PETA International Science Consortium Ltd., scientists are making breakthrough discoveries as they develop testing methods that are more compassionate and more effective than archaic animal tests.

But as long as monkeys, dogs, mice, and other animals are still suffering in laboratories, we can't take this progress for granted. We must keep pushing for change for as long as it takes, and we need your help to do so.

From the moment I saw that monkey trembling with fear as experimenters injected him with drugs, I began to envision a future in which no animal would ever be abused or killed in a laboratory. Slowly but surely, we're making that vision a reality.

Thank you for your compassion and for all that you do for animals.

Sincerely,

Jeff Brown
Biologics Specialist
Regulatory Testing Department
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals

 

US deploys troops to Mexican border

The Refugee Brief, 30 October
 
By Kristy Siegfried @klsiegfried   | 30 October, 2018
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
US deploys troops to Mexican border. Reuters reports that the progress of a caravan of around 3,500 Central American refugees and migrants making their way through Mexico is slow and difficult , particularly for single mothers with children. The group is attempting to cover 30 miles a day, mainly on foot, and is still around 1,600 kilometres from the US border. Some have already abandoned the journey and returned home or applied for asylum in Mexico. The Pentagon meanwhile approved a request by the Department of Homeland Security on Monday to send 5,200 troops to the Mexican border to support the border patrol. President Donald Trump has said that those who make it to the US border will find the military waiting for them. Responding to questions at a press briefing in Geneva on Friday, UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic told reporters that “individuals who are fleeing persecution and violence need to be given access to territory and protection including access to refugee status and determination procedures”.
Bangladesh, Myanmar agree to start Rohingya repatriation by mid-November. Reuters reports that Bangladesh and Myanmar agreed today to begin the repatriation of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya who fled to Bangladesh last year amid an army crackdown in Myanmar. Following a meeting with Myanmar officials, Bangladesh’s Foreign Secretary, Shahidul Haque, told reporters in Dhaka the repatriations would begin by mid-November . “We have put in place a number of measures to make sure that the returnees will have a secure environment for their return,” said Myanmar foreign ministry official Myint Thu. The two countries reached an agreement last November to begin repatriations within two months, but returns have not started. Rights groups, refugees themselves and UNHCR have pointed out that conditions in Myanmar’s Rakhine State are not ready for repatriation.
WHAT’S ON OUR RADAR
Deportation fears drive some Rohingya from India. Voice of America reports that India’s recent deportation of seven Rohingya men to Myanmar has stoked fears among the country’s Rohingya refugee community, causing some to go into hiding in India and others to cross into Bangladesh. Some 18,000 Rohingya refugees and asylum-seekers are registered with UNHCR in India, but the country is not a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and has jailed several hundred Rohingya for entering the country illegally. VOA reports that many Rohingya in India now fear being arrested and deported, despite holding UNHCR identity cards.
The Hondurans searching for safety in their own country. Many of the Hondurans now making their way north through Mexico likely tried to move somewhere within their own country before taking the drastic step of crossing borders. Within El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, an estimated 432,000 people became internally displaced in 2017. The Christian Science Monitor reports from Honduras, where most internal displacement is driven by violence , often to avoid gang recruitment. Unlike in a conflict situation, individual families tend to move from one urban area to another, making it difficult to identify them and respond to their needs. Community centres opened by UNHCR in Tegucigalpa and San Pedro Sula are attempting to deter the next generation of gang or drug-trafficking recruits.
Growing old amid shelling and frostbite in Ukraine. Fighting in eastern Ukraine’s Donbas region has persisted since April 2014, despite a cease-fire agreement. Within this largely ignored conflict, photographer Paula Bronstein has chosen to focus on another neglected group: the elderly. The New York Times has published some of her images of elderly people trapped in their dilapidated homes near conflict lines, trying to stay warm, safe and healthy. Many live with constant stress and in squalor, cut off from extended family members by the conflict. It’s hoped that a recent Supreme Court ruling will make it easier for those living on the Russian-controlled side of the conflict line to receive pensions, which are often their only source of income.
Three things the EU can do to support private refugee sponsorship. This commentary for the Migration Policy Institute suggests three actions the EU can take to support the success of emerging private sponsorship programmes in Europe. The first is as a “natural convenor and information hub” for Member States. The EU also has the potential to fill critical resource and funding gaps that may be hindering the setting up of sponsorship programmes in some countries, but the authors warn against “heavy handed” EU oversight or regulation that could undermine the enthusiasm and creativity with which sponsors and communities welcome refugees.
GET INSPIRED
Syrian brothers Yaser and Mohamed Jamous formed the Refugees of Rap in the Damascus suburb of Yarmouk in 2007. Their lyrics speak of life and conflict in Syria. Now they’re using their music to engage with French teenagers.
DID YOU KNOW?
More than 723,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar to Bangladesh since August 2017. “Clearance operations” in Rakhine State have partially or completely destroyed 392 Rohingya villages.
 
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Produced by the Communications and Public Information Service. 
Managing Editors: Melissa Fleming, Christopher Reardon and Sybella Wilkes
Contributing Editor: Kate Bond
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Want to Get Animals out of Labs? It's Your Last Chance to Have Your Gift Matched!

Make a gift to PETA's Animals Out (of the Labs) Matching-Gift Challenge by October 31 to double your support for PETA's critical work to end experiments on animals. Every donation will be matched dollar for dollar up to the $500,000 campaign goal.

 

Match My Gift!

 
 

URGENT: NIH Plans to Use More Marmosets in Experiments

Intelligent and sensitive marmoset monkeys are small, cooperative, and easy to handle—so of course, laboratories want to torment more of them in cruel experiments. Please urge NIH not to squander more tax dollars on failed animal experimentation and instead to redirect funds to modern, non-animal research methods.

 
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