Today, International Human Rights Day, Jesuit Mission Australia is acknowledging the Australian community for supporting its Jesuit partners in over 14 countries who work to promote peace, build resilience and defend human rights.
Every year, through Jesuit Mission projects, Australians are helping over 28,000 children realise their right to education, giving them hope for a pathway out of poverty.
Education projects include providing scholarships for students in Timor-Leste, India and Myanmar; training and funding teachers and tutors in Timor-Leste, India, Myanmar and in refugee camps in Thailand; delivering basic literacy and numeracy lessons to the Dalit people in India and children with disabilities in Cambodia; and even buying bicycles for very poor rural children in Cambodia to travel to school.
Australians help over 23,000 people annually to access their right to water and sanitation – enabling life, hygiene and growth through Jesuit Mission projects.
Projects such as building new and accessible quality water supply systems in Vietnam, Laos and Timor-Leste; constructing accessible toilets for people living with disabilities and living in extreme poverty in Cambodia and Timor-Leste; and conducting training programs to raise awareness of hygiene and sanitation practices for good health.
Helen Forde, Jesuit Mission Australia’s CEO, expressed her gratitude to the Australian community.
“This year our projects will reach over 500,000 people, including many people living with disability, from Indigenous groups, and families on the brink of survival due to poverty, oppression and natural disasters, Ms Forde said.
“Our projects are diverse and all of them are backed and made possible by generous and compassionate Australians. We are blessed to have a community of supporters who choose to put their faith into action by donating, praying, and advocating for those who are less fortunate in our world,” she said.
The theme for this UN Human Rights Day is “Our Rights, Our Future, Right now” and focuses on how human rights are a pathway to solutions, and play a critical role as a preventative, protective and transformative force for good.
FULL STORY
Australians defend human rights for over 500,000 people each year (Jesuit Mission)
