One of the key priorities of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), a long-time partner of CJI, is reconciliation and justice. Photo: JRS Venezuela
On the International Day of Peace, September 21, Canadian Jesuits International reaffirms its commitment to cultivating a culture of peace by supporting its Jesuit partners in the Global South whose projects promote human rights and dignity, economic justice, social transformation, equality, sustainability and the integrity of creation.
As the fourth principle (solidarity) of the Catholic Social Teaching underlines, we are one human family, regardless of our differences.
In Mexico, CJI supports a project that focuses on peacebuilding from an Indigenous perspective. Conflict Resolution from the Tseltal Normative System, an initiative of the Centre for Indigenous Rights (Centro de Derechos Indígenas, or CEDIAC) in Chiapas, promotes conflict resolution mechanisms based on reconciliation and community integrity. It also supports the right of Indigenous people to self-determination and governance.
In India, CJI supports Lok Manch (People’s Forum), a national platform that promotes the dignity and well-being of marginalized people in India through policy advocacy and improved access to their rights and benefits. Lok Manch believes that peace can be fostered by addressing the root causes of conflict, such as poverty, social, political, and economic inequality, and injustice.
With the world besieged by war and conflict, and the threat of a nuclear confrontation, the need to find common ground is more important than ever.
One of the key priorities of the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS), a long-time partner of CJI, is reconciliation and justice. For JRS, reconciliation is a journey of creating “right relationships among the refugees we service, between refugees and host communities, and among our own teams around the world.” It is also one that is “rooted in justice and sought in dialogue among diverse religions, cultures, and groups.”
JRS notes that refugees often face “varying degrees of hostility” when they arrive in a host country. “The lack of welcome is due to complex factors, which differ from one place to another. Conspicuous are political movements that feed on cultural and economic anxieties, policies that reflect a shift away from solidarity, justice, and human rights, and a climate marked by growing xenophobia.”
In his message commemorating the International Day of Peace, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres lamented that “peace is under attack.” Citing wars in Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, and beyond, he noted how civilians have been caught in the crossfire and traumatized, how homes and futures have been destroyed. More than 120 million people around the world have been forcibly displaced by war, violence, and persecution, according to a 2024 UN report.
“This catalogue of human misery must stop. Our world needs peace,” said Guterres, adding that “the solutions are in our hands.” Cultivating a culture of peace “means replacing division, disempowerment, and despair with justice, equality and hope for all,” he said. It also means “focusing on preventing conflict, propelling the Sustainable Development Goals, promoting human rights, and tackling all forms of discrimination and hate.”
