Dominicans for Justice and Peace was founded in 1998, formalizing a presence at the United Nations which began within the Geneva-based U.N. Human Rights Commission, reported the Vidimus Dominum information service of religious communities.
The Dominican group won its new recognition in mid-January. The NGO can now can enter on its own — and not as part of a group of similar organizations — within the various sessions of U.N. deliberations, including ECOSOC summits.
Furthermore, religious can be directly invited as observers, or even designated as representatives, to all ECOSOC meetings as well as to the main international conferences.
Father Philippe LeBlanc, the superior of the community of Toronto and responsible for social questions, said that speaking in the realm of the international community requires “seriousness, faith, belief in values, and hope so that justice will prevail.”
