In 2010, Canada endorsed the declaration as “aspirational” without beginning a process for its practical implementation.

Approximately 5,000 indigenous Tzotzil Mayans have been scattered in small refugee camps in the area surrounding the town of Chalchihuitán, in Mexico’s southernmost state of Chiapas. They say they were chased out of their homes by unknown gunmen after the escalation of an old land dispute.

The whole array of potential threats to life and human dignity is interrelated.

Hardly a week passed without at least one reaction, statement or commentary, all based on Catholic social teaching.

It turns out to be easier to make a quick buck in this world than to change it.

“This is our homeland and we insist (we) remain here.”