On December 10, we commemorate Human Rights Day. Our focus this year is on the state of El Salvador, which has seen some remarkable improvements rolled back by a new form of government oppression. Under the pretext of cracking down on gang violence, the president of El Salvador issued a policy called the "state of exception" which has allowed for imprisonment and denial of due process on a massive scale. This Human Rights Day we are asking that the U.S. government discontinue its funding of country's military while these abuses continue.
Pray
"People Pushed to the Edge”
(from Prayers of Boundless Compassion by Joyce Rupp)
Companion of People Pushed to the Edge,
let me stand with the least and the lost.
I will reach out my hand and welcome them.
Let me become one with these sisters and brothers.
I will approach each person as my teacher.
Let me accept their empty, outstretched arms.
I will receive the bounty of their inherent goodness.
Let me come vulnerably close to their distress.
I will try to comprehend the reality of their rejection.
Let me know the breadth of their daily poverty.
I will work for justice that tends to their human needs.
Let me enter their loneliness and desolation.
I will activate my empathy with compassionate presence.
Let me acknowledge that my privileged position
is part of the reason they live on the margins.
I will do my part so all may live in one large circle.
Companion of People Pushed to the Edge,
you walk among the ones easily forgotten,
those who are rejected, dismissed, and violated.
Your heart aches for how they are treated
and goes to stand with them on the far borders.
Your love knows no boundaries.
Your love does not judge or tally.
Your love accepts.
Your love gathers.
Your love embraces.
Study
Read the reflections from the Day of Roses December delegation to El Salvador for the anniversary of the church women martyrs.
Read the News Notes article by a returned Maryknoll Lay Missioner about the state of exception in El Salvador
Act
Ask your representatives in Congress to exclude military aid to El Salvador in the new FY23 Budget.
What is Human Rights Day? In 1945 when the United Nations was created, its charter affirmed the "dignity and worth of the human person."
On December 10, 1948, the UN General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which affirmed this basic tenet of the UN charter. The nations of the world and several faith groups now celebrate December 10 as Human Rights Day.
Photo by Mark Coplan courtesy of the SHARE Foundation