About us

About us

Justitia et Pax is the Catholic organisation for justice and peace. On the basis of our Catholic inspiration we work for sustainable peace, a just global society and justice for all. Globally and in the Netherlands.
 
Every human has the same rights and has a right to be treated equally. Irrespective of religion, beliefs, political affiliation, race, gender, nationality, sexual orientation or civil status. Justice available to all, equal access to justice, is central to Justitia et Pax's work. This concerns social and legal justice for all.
 
Around the world, people have no or only limited access to justice for a variety of reasons. Limiting access to justice primarily occurs during conflicts (and their aftermath) and in the event of discrimination/exclusion. This manifests itself as:
  • impunity
  • discriminatory legislation and/or non-implementation of existing legislation
  • the lack of knowledge of rights and how to claim the latter
  • the lack of practical access to these rights: geographically, physically, linguistically
     

Development of Justitia et Pax

Justitia et Pax is an international network and was founded in 1967 at the initiative of Pope Paul VI. Justitia et Pax has a presence in 130 countries around the world and in almost all European countries. In the Netherlands, Justitia et Pax was founded in 1968 by the Roman Catholic Conference of Bishops, a permanent institution in which Dutch bishops jointly develop policy and implement it. Justitia et Pax was to: ’keep the eye of the church watchful, its heart sensitive and its hand skilful for the promotion of social justice.’ Justitia et Pax in the Netherlands receives information from its international network which augments the information it receives from other human rights organisations.
 
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."
Victor Scheffers
director, Justitia et Pax