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(MissionNewswire) Human Rights Education is now being introduced in government schools in Andhra Pradesh, India, with the goal of reaching all 300,000 schools in the state by August 2011. Andhra Pradesh is the first state in India to develop a Human Rights Education program for its

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(MissionNewswire) Ivory Coast – New fears grow along with the number of people seeking safe shelter at a Salesian Missions compound in Duékoué. More than 30,000 displaced civilians are now living there after fleeing their homes when the Carrefour district was looted and houses set on fire on March 29. At least 800 people were killed.

“There is no food, people are sleeping on the ground, there is nowhere else to go,” says Salesian Father Vicente Grupeli. “There are no toilets or washing facilities and we have no drinking water.”

They also are without adequate food and water. However, Fr. Grupeli’s greatest fear is a cholera outbreak, which he says is a serious threat if more aid is not received soon.

A Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) team has been providing medical care in the Salesian compound in Duékoué on a daily basis since December. On April 19, MSF reported:

The pressure on the camp is enormous. The number of people sheltering there far surpasses its capacity, and more are continuing to arrive. In surrounding villages, many people are still hoping to make their way to this dreadful safe haven.

“In our dispensary, consultations have recently doubled and in some rooms we have two consultants because of the lack of space,” says Dr. Mohamadou Seyni, who coordinates MSF’s activities in the camp. “After the days of violence, we had a lot of trauma and injuries that we needed to refer to our team in the hospital in town, but now most of our consultations are for malaria. Yesterday, out of 120 children tested, 80 had malaria.”

On April 4, the Salesian Info Agency (ANS) reported that “there are only two Salesians there who have to try to respond to the appeals for help from about 20,000 people.”

Since then, the number of people seeking shelter and assistance at the Salesian compound has grown to at least 30,000. A report from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) confirms the massive numbers and shows completed registrations for more than 27,500 internally displaced persons (IDPs) seeking refuge in and around the Salesian compound in Duékoué.

The numbers are growing and people are afraid to leave and return home.

“It would be naive to believe that they will return home immediately,” says Fr. Gupeli.

The fears are warranted. Catholic News Service (CNS) reported that armed robbers attacked members of the faculty of a Jesuit-run theology school in the Ivorian capital of Abidjan on April 17, as the priests were preparing for dinner. Students have not been at the school for several months due to escalating violence in the area. The robbers entered school grounds by jumping over a security wall, then quickly disarmed the guards on duty and attacked a deacon.

This illustrates why U.N. forces have guarded the Salesian compound ever since the violence erupted, making it one of the only places civilians feel safe (even with the health threats they face due to lack of adequate clean water and sanitation). Like all Salesian workings around the globe, safety is paramount and is evident in the large security walls and guards. But the presence of the U.N. forces doesn’t ease the fears of the people. Rather, it indicates the seriousness of the situation.

“This does not mean that there is more security,” says Fr. Gupeli. “On the contrary, the people are afraid.”

The Salesian Missions compound — created to serve as a vocational training center, a home for children and a youth center — suspended all activities to care for the tens of thousands who have overwhelmed the facility, according to Fr. Grupeli.

ANS reports, “to cope with this tragic situation, the Salesians and the refugees are in urgent need of help from the main humanitarian aid agencies.”

The Salesian mission office in Madrid launched an urgent appeal for food, water, medical supplies and other needs that are in short supply. Information about the campaign can be found at www.misionessalesianas.org.

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(MissionNewswire) Hundreds of bodies have been found after an Ivory Coast massacre that took place around a Salesian compound in the city of Duékoué.

(Editor’s note: See latest article on this situation: Fear, Urgent Needs Grow at Salesian Compound in Duékoué Where 30,000 Seek Shelter)

Large mainstream news organizations such as BBC and CNN refer to the victims as “civilians” while smaller media and Catholic news outlets are reporting that “Catholics” or “Christians” were killed.

According to the statement from the Salesian Info Agency (ANS), “Almost single-handedly the Salesian house is providing refuge and help but the situation seems to be developing into a humanitarian crisis, following attacks (witnessed by the Salesian missionaries) by supporters of Ouattara, who for months has been in contention with Gbagbo for the Presidency of the country.”

According to the statement, frightened civilians began to flee to the Salesian Missions compound for safety as the Carrefour district was looted and houses set on fire. Some witnesses report they were told to go to the compound, but by who is unclear at this time.

Exactly what happened also remains unclear. The Herald Scotland is reporting that more than 800 people were killed in a single day around a Salesian Missions compound in Duékoué (300 miles west of Abidjan towards the Liberian border), calling it a “massacre.” The newspaper reports that “the attackers seem to have largely been soldiers descended from Burkina Faso immigrant Muslim families loyal to Ouattara.”

The Herald Scotland also reported that “events at the Italian Salesian Roman Catholic mission in Duékoué increasingly echo a notorious church massacre during the Rwandan genocide in 1994.”

Business Week reported that local civilians ran to seek shelter at the Salesian compound when the attack began March 29. The more than 800 bodies found so far are thought to be people who did not reach sanctuary with the Salesians in time.

According to the International Committee for the Red Cross, the victims were mainly men who had been shot and left where they fell, either alone or in small groups dotted around the town (which lies at the heart of Ivory Coast’s economically crucial cocoa producing region). They were killed despite 200 United Nations troops reportedly operating what it said were “robust” patrols from its base on the outskirts to protect civilians in and around the compound.

The UN said on Saturday that more than 330 people had been killed – mostly by Ouattara’s forces. However, the Caritas aid agency estimated as many as 1,000 that may have been killed. The UN is reporting that “hundreds” of bodies have been found. What is clear is that it will take days, if not weeks, to determine the death toll as well as the circumstances. Currently, a humanitarian crisis worsens with each passing day.

There are conflicting reports about the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) seeking shelter.  Reports estimate Somewhere between 10,000 and 30,000 civilians are essentially trapped in the Salesian compound.

Caritas reported what missionaries are saying – that the fighting trapped 30,000 people in a church compound in Duékoué. Many reportedly had gunshot wounds but could not reach hospitals on the other side of the front line.

International Organization for Migration (IOM) spokesman Jean-Philippe Chauzy told a news briefing in Geneva that “some 20,000 Ivorians and West African migrants (in Duékoué) had found refuge in an overcrowded Catholic mission with little or no access to shelter, food, water and health facilities.”

Col. Chaib Rais, the U.N. military spokesman, told The Associated Press that nearly 1,000 peacekeepers at Duékoué “are protecting the Catholic Church with more than 10,000 (IDPs) inside, and we have military camps in the area.”

Most likely, what began as approximately 10,000 refugees has grown in the last few days, as indicated by an official report by the ANS on March 31: “The flow of refugees is extraordinary. The arrival of those from the Carrefour district together with those from other parts of the city means that the courtyard of the parish has quickly become totally occupied.”

In an April 4 statement, ANS reported “at present there are only two Salesians there who have to try to respond to the appeals for help from about 20,000 people. The UNO is helping to provide some provisions for the mission but distribution is not easy and the quantity is not sufficient to satisfy all the needs.”

ANS reports an urgent cry for help, “to cope with this tragic situation, the Salesians and the refugees are in urgent need of help from the main humanitarian aid agencies.”

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About SALESIAN MISSIONS in Duékoué and Around the Globe

The “Salesian Saint Teresa of the Child Jesus mission” – as it is known locally – is the only remaining catholic mission in Duékoué and is registered officially as “Salesian Missions Duékoué.”

The Salesians in Duékoué are connected with the Salesian Missions office in New Rochelle, NY, which is working to provide information about the events and situation in Duékoué. The office is responsible for U.S.-based fundraising efforts to support missions around the globe, in addition to managing crisis response when needed (such as it did in Haiti).

The Salesians are made up of 34,000 Priests, Brothers and Sisters serving in the spirit of their founder, Don Bosco, an Italian Catholic priest who devoted his life to fulfilling the needs of orphans and vulnerable children. Their mission is to enable poor and suffering children to live better lives and build brighter futures. The Salesians operate 5,000 schools and technical training centers, 23 colleges, 216 clinics and hospitals, 225 orphanages and shelters, and a wide variety of social and economic development activities – in more than 130 countries spanning all five continents.

No American Lay Missioners are serving in the Ivory Coast.

More information about Salesian Missions (and ways to help) is available at www.SalesianMissions.org.

(MissionNewswire) According to UNICEF, almost 50 percent of the developing world’s population – 2.5 billion people – lack improved sanitation facilities, and more than 884 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources. Inadequate access to safe water and sanitation services, coupled with poor hygiene practices, kills and sickens thousands of children every day, and leads to impoverishment and diminished opportunities for thousands more.

Poor sanitation, water and hygiene have many other serious repercussions. Children – and particularly girls – are denied their right to education because schools lack private and decent sanitation facilities. Women are forced to spend large parts of their day fetching water. Poor farmers and wage earners are less productive due to illness, health systems are overwhelmed and national economies suffer. Without WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene), sustainable development is impossible.

Reports published by the World Health Organization, UNICEF and others make it clear that this challenge should no longer be left primarily in the hands of just water management authorities or environmental ministries.

Non-governmental organizations must continue to play a major role in fighting the battle for access to clean water. Many such organizations around the globe have been doing just that, one project and one community at a time.

In a Bolivian community, for example, families now have access to safe drinking water in their homes through community water distribution projects, according to the Salesian Missions website.

In the town of “19 de Agosto” in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the new distribution brings water directly to 106 families who previously had to carry potable water from the town well to their own homes, According to the Salesian Missions website. The distribution system greatly improves the sanitary conditions of the drinking water. In the town of Las Parabas, 50 families now have water distribution directly into their homes using this system.

Each community and each challenge to safe water access is different and customized solutions must be engineered, the website also points out. For example, to address serious water issues resulting from pesticide pollution in a remote area of western Brazil, Salesian Missions worked with members of the Xavante and Bororo Indian communities to obtain clean water from previously inaccessible areas.

To do so, the Salesians first created wells and designed a mobile drilling truck. Then, to create power, they invented and patented a seesaw pump that would draw water from the depths of the well as children were playing. Now, solar panels are used. The result – according to Salesian Missions – is reduced risk of disease, access to potable water, improved infrastructure and expanded farming.

“What began as an immediate response to a crisis in a community,” the website states, “has become a well-organized project to ensure the growth of the indigenous groups.”

(MissionNewswire) Developing countries could double their food production within 10 years with support for ecological agriculture, according a recent United Nations report. The report, which was presented to the U.N. Human Rights Council, found that “Agroecological” (or “eco-farming”) projects have led to an average crop yield

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(MissionNewswire) The current economic crisis is hitting the world’s youth especially hard, according to the International Labour Organization. This specialized agency of the United Nations—which promotes social justice and internationally recognized human and labor rights—recently published its “Global Employment Trends for Youth Report”. According to this

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