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3rd Jun 2007

Contact the President of the Philippines

We have had a request from a member of Justice Mail who lives in the Philippines to take action about the following;

Please find documents attached and links below for more information
http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PO0705/S00536.htm

http://www.bulatlat.com/2007/06/arroyo-responsible-my-abduction-torture-uccp-pastor

http://davaotoday.com/2007/05/28/activist-pastors-abduction-just-the-latest-in-string-of-disappearances-blamed-on-military/

http://www.ncccusa.org/news/070314filipino.html

Please send this letter or something similar to the President through the link http://www.gov.ph/contactus/

President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Malacañang Palace 
JP Laurel Street, San Miguel, Manila NCR 1005

Dear President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,
I am deeply concerned at the abductions in the Philippines most recently the abduction of Pastor Berlin Guerrero on May 27, 2007. 

The action has been condemned by the Bishop of the UCCP to which Pastor Guerrero belongs.

UCCP PRESS STATEMENT: ON THE ABDUCTION OF PASTOR BERLIN GUERRERO
The United Church of Christ in the Philippines condemns in strongest terms the latest abduction of one of its pastors, Pastor Berlin V. Guerrero who was taken at gunpoint yesterday at 5:45 pm Sunday, May 27, 2007 in front of Seven Star gas station at Bgy. Casile, Binan, Laguna by undetermined number of armed men who were on board two L 300 FB vans whose plate numbers were covered.

The UCCP calls on the government and its security forces to stop this process of harassment of legitimate organizations as a violation of duly constitutionally guaranteed rights and freedoms.

Reference: Bishop Eliezer M. Pascua, General Secretary
May 28, 2007, Quezon City , Philippines

In your National Address of 2006 you stated that 
“….. In the harshest possible terms I condemn political killings. We together stopped judicial executions with the abolition of the death penalty. We urge witnesses to come forward. Together we will stop extrajudicial executions.

You have the witnesses and I write to ask you to intervene and stop the illegal actions of your military and security services through Oplan Bantay Laya II. 

Yours sincerely

To
President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo
Malacañang Palace 
JP Laurel Street, San Miguel, Manila NCR 1005

The Embassy of the Philippines
9A Palace Green, London W8 4QE.
Tel: 0870 005 6968 Fax: 020 7937 2925

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27th May 2007

Ban Landmines and Cluster Bombs

Please sign the people’s treaty calling for a ban on landmines.

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20th May 2007

Costa Rican Workers Poisoned by Toxic Chemicals

The Charity Bananalink asks that we send e-mail as outlined below.

With 115 plantations and sales in over 60 countries, Chiquita is one of the biggest fruit multinationals in the world. In response to increasing consumer demand for ethically sourced food, Chiquita now boasts of its social and environmental standards, that a Chiquita banana is a "clean" banana, grown with less pesticides, cared for and picked by workers whose rights are fully respected. All their Costa Rican plantations have been certified by the Rainforest Alliance environmental standard. The company furthermore boasts the SA8000 social standard which requires compliance with basic ILO labour standards. Yet on the Coyol plantation in Costa Rica, the Compañia Bananera Atlántica Limitada (COBAL), a Chiquita subsidiary, workers' most basic rights are violated and their health endangered.

At 5 a.m. on 16 March 2007, Alexander Reyes Zuñiga, Marco González Borges and Jaime Blanco Juárez started their day's work on the Coyol banana plantation, owned by the company COBAL, a Chiquita subsidiary. They had been cutting and gathering fruit for about an hour, in the section of the plantation to which they had been assigned by their supervisor, when they noticed that another team in the same section was busy spraying the fruit manually with a nematicide. This pesticide, used against worms which damage the roots of banana plants, is one of the most toxic for humans.

Having received strict instructions as to the number of bunches of bananas that had to be harvested, the three men decided to carry on working. A few minutes later Alexander Zuñiga and Jaime Juárez suddenly became nauseous and dizzy. J. Juárez was taken to a clinic where he remained under observation for several hours, on a drip. His colleague reported the incident to his superiors who told him to take milk with sweetened water and sent him home without any further care. The next day Alexander Zuñiga told his supervisor that he was still suffering from the same symptoms of poisoning. However, since the supervisor did "not have enough workers" available, he ordered him to resume his work.

Angry about not having been informed of the fumigation that was supposed to take place in the same area in which they were working, and of thus being exposed to nematicide poisoning, two of the workers concerned reported the incident and accused their supervisors of being responsible. Not only was their complaint not taken into consideration, the two men were summoned by the company management for a disciplinary procedure that ended in their dismissal for misconduct! They were accused of entering the area that was to be fumigated, despite specific orders prohibiting them from doing so. 

Serious irregularities in the procedure

Despite overwhelming evidence, and without even bothering to conduct a medical examination of the workers concerned, Chiquita denied everything: the poisoning of the COBAL workers and the irregularity of the procedure. The two workers accused of misconduct had no opportunity to defend themselves, and were not even informed of the content of the testimonies that supposedly justified their dismissal. Costa Rican labour law clearly stipulating three warnings before dismissal for disciplinary reasons, however Alexander Zuñiga and Marco Borges were sacked without any warning.

Please send the following e-mail
Email: Sr Manuel Rodriguez, Vice President, Chiquita Brands International:
Use the standard message below or use your own wording. Remember to add your name and address.

Send to: mrodriguez@chiquita.com  
cc. info@bananalink.org.uk

Dear Sr Rodriguez,

I have been informed by Banana Link of the poisoning and dismissal of workers on the Coyol plantation owned by COBAL in Costa Rica. I urge you to ensure that:

- workers Alexander Reyes Zuñiga and Marco Gonzalez Borges are reinstated, with their full rights;
- those responsible for exposing workers to serious dangers to their health are made accountable;
- an end is put to intimidation of workers, especially violations by the firm's private security guards who search the workers' homes without the authorisation of the workers themselves nor of any competent authority.

I will be following this matter closely, as we expect Chiquita to live up to its claims of being a responsible corporate citizen.

Yours sincerely,

Solidarity message: send this solidarity message to the Costa Rican banana workers unions represented by COSIBA-CR to cosibacr@racsa.co.cr

Dear Friends at COSIBA-CR,

I have been informed by Banana Link of the social conflict between Chiquita, the COSIBA-CR and SITAGAH unions, and workers on the Coyol plantation, relative to the nematicide poisoning and dismissal of workers Alexander Zuñiga and Marco Borges.

I support your action and have sent a letter to the director of labour relations at Chiquita, urging him to meet your demands.

Yours Sincerely,

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13th May 2007

Water Aid

Please take the action on asked by Water Aid. See link below.

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6th May 2007

Decent Conditions for Tesco’s Suppliers

Please click here to find out about a motion to support decent working conditions for Tesco suppliers at Tesco’s AGM in June.

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29th April 2007

E- Mail the Prime Minister

Please go to the CAFOD site and e-mail the Prime Minister about Fair Trade issues in preparation for the G8 summit in June

Also read of the success of the Gold Campaign CAFOD have run and that Justice Mail has featured.

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22nd April 2007

Occupation of Western Sahara

The occupation of Western Sahara by Morocco for the last 30 years has given Morocco control over Saharawi resources. Western Sahara is rich in fish stocks and phosphates (used in fertilisers and other products), with possible oil deposits. The profits from Saharawi resources primarily benefit Morocco, particularly those politicians and generals who own much of the industry. Take Action now.

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15th April 2007

E-mail the EU over unfair trade agreements

Please send a e-postcard to Angela Merkel about unfair trade agreements being negotiated now.

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8th April 2007

Improve Conditions for Flower Growers

There are a number of actions you can take to support this War on Want Campaign. 

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1st April 2007

Zambian Debt

Please look at this Oxfam campaign about Donegal International making money from Zambia’s debt and take the appropriate action.

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25th March 2007

The World Can’t Wait

CAFOD ask you to e-mail Tony Blair about urgently needed action after the G8 conferences of 2 years ago. Go to the site via the link below.

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18th March 2007

End Water Poverty

Please go to the Water Aid site by clicking here. They would like you to ask your MP to sign up for EDM 1113 if they are eligible to vote. There are other actions to take too.

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11th March 2007

Fairtrade Fortnight

This might be an appropriate way to end Fairtrade Fortnight. If you haven’t already done so please consider sending an e-mail to Angela Merkel about Fairtrade.

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4th March 2007

Switch to Ecotricity

Consider using your consumer power to switch to suppliers of electricity that use renewable sources. If we as consumers show that this is what we want the suppliers will give it to us. Click here for one link, if you know of others please e-mail me and I will send out to the Justice Mail list.

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25th February 2007

Cut the carbon campaign

Regardless what we believe about global warming there are justice issues around the use of carbon fuels and the need for everyone in the world to have lots of “clean” energy. Christain Aid start a new campaign on this please click here e-mail a whole lot of people.

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18th February 2007

Justice Mail Annual Meeting

To be held in Birmingham on Friday 23rd February at 8pm. If you are interested then email justice mail describing your interest.

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11th February 2007

Stop Rendition and Secret Detention

Click here to take action with Amnesty International on this issue.

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4th February 2007

Accion - Microfinance

Please click here to send an e-card to promote Accion micro-finance scheme.

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28th January 2007

Killer in the Kitchen

Please respond to Practical Action’s request by clicking here.

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21st January 2007

Email Burma's Dictator

Send an email to Senior General Than Shwe, Burma's dictator, asking for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

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14th January 2007

E-mail Angela Merkel

Oxfam ask for your support to stop the EU agreeing unfair trade agreements with African and Caribbean countries. Click here and take action

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7th January 2007

Oaxaca: Arbitrary Detentions

Please go to this Amnesty Action Page and write to the Mexican government about detentions and abuses of human rights after political demonstrations in the country.

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