About Justitia et Pax

Justice and Peace Netherlands has been working for more than forty years towards the realization of respect for human rights both locally and internationally. Justice and Peace bases its mandate on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Social Teaching of the Catholic Church. In all its activities, Justice and Peace considers the dignity of the human person, the common good, solidarity and subsidiarity as its point of departure.

Justice and Peace Netherlands participates in and forms part of a greater network of 160 Justice and Peace Commissions worldwide. Together, they form a network of solidarity and provide a framework for exchange, cooperation and collaboration.

Our vision

Every human being has the right to a dignified existence, irrespective of religion, beliefs, political affiliation, race, gender, sexual orientation or civil status. Justice and Peace strives towards a just and sustainable society; a world in which people are protected through universal human rights and functioning of the rule of law.

Guiding principles

^{Justitia et Pax is guided and inspired by:}

^{the Catholic social teaching, as formulated in the encyclical Populorum Progressio (1967)}
^{the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)}

^{"These texts, combined with Gaudium et Spes, constitute a counterforce against the hardening of society, against the narrow economic mindset by which human freedom and creativity are made subservient to economic growth, against the operations of self-satisfied politicians, and of authorities that trample the rights and the dignity of all men and women underfoot. People can cry out that they do not want this, that it is wrong, that war, repression and violence are inhumane. Organisations such as Justitia et Pax are here to bear witness to this, to bundle human forces and to provide the instruments to remove the causes of injustice."}

About Justitia et Pax

Our vision

^{Justitia et Pax is guided and inspired by:}

^{the Catholic social teaching, as formulated in the encyclical Populorum Progressio (1967)}

^{the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)}

^{Victor Scheffers}

^{director, Justitia et Pax}