June Meeting.

This first meeting was an invitation to discuss the possibility of setting up and Irish Antenna of the African Europe Faith & Justice Network.

At this meeting we explored

1. The importance of Networking:

2. Identify shared areas of interest.

3. Inclusivity: to ‘embrace those of African descent’ who live in Ireland and to support civil society groups in Ireland.

4. The importance and relevance of the Sustainable Development Goals and 2030 Agenda and linking in with ‘Our Common Home’

5. To start slow and to begin by supporting 1-2 existing campaigns, to lobby and advocate along with others, on the global campaign for a binding “Treaty on Transnational Corporations and other Supply Chains With Regard to Human Rights” as it relates to operations within the continent of Africa (to link in with the Irish Coalition for Business and Human Rights who are an alliance of organisations in Ireland currently lobbying around this Treaty ).

Next Steps

1. Find out the levels of engagement of the AEFJN Secretariat with other networks/organisations such as CIDSE, JPIC Roma,

2. Critical to the advocacy work of an antenna in Ireland is to fully represent the voices and experiences of these individuals and communities whose lives are ignored by corporate, political and social entities.