Italian Association Amici di Raoul Follereau (AIFO)

Contact

General

Project Support

Alliances & Links

Resources & Training

A Patron Saint for Human Rights
CANONIZATION OF FATHER DAMIEN
GLOBAL APPEAL 2009 TO END STIGMA AND DISCRIMINATION AGAINST PEOPLE AFFECTED BY LEPROSY

Events Programme

Fr Damien

Leprosy

Resolution Documents

General

Leprosy is a disease as old as human history.
Its disfiguring effects struck fear in people's hearts.
Patients were ostracized for lack of an effective cure.
Now a cure exists and it is available free of charge.
Diagnosed early and treated promptly, leprosy leaves no trace.
But mistaken beliefs about the disease persist.
They perpetuate social and economic discrimination.
This discrimination causes emotional and psychological pain.
To conquer this age-old stigma, drugs alone are not enough.
All of us must be part of the social healing process.
People affected by leprosy and their families have a right to a normal life.
Denying basic human rights to someone because he or she once had a disease is wrong.
Let us al join hands to eliminate fear, discrimination, and social stigma wherever they exist.
Let the healing begin today.

Issued on the World Leprosy Day, 25 January 2009

 

His Eminence Ammar A. Al-Hakim Vice-President of Islamic Supreme Council of Iraq	His Eminence Cardinal Javier Lozano Barragàn President, Pontifical Council for Health Pastoral care, Vatican	Sant Shri Morari Bapuji Shri Sitaram Seva Trust, India	His Eminence Archbishop Istrinsky Arseniy Vicar of Holy Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia
His Holiness The 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet	The Very Reverend John Robert Hall Dean of Westminster, United Kingdom	His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal of jordan President Emeritus, World Conference of Religions for Peace	The Reverend Dr Samuel Kobia General Secretary World Council of Churches
The Reverend Dr. Stavros Kofinas Cordinator of European Network of Health Care Chaplaincy; representative of Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople	His Eminence Archbishop Yukei Matsunga President Japan Buddhist Federation	His Eminence Rabbi Yona Matzger The Chief rabbi of Israel	His Eminence Gaudencio Borbon Cardinal Rosales The Cardinal Archbishop of Manila, the Philippines
Priestess Beatriz Schulthess President, Indigenous Peoples Ancestral Spiritual Council	His Eminence K. H. Sahal Mahfud Chairman, Indonesian Council of Ulamas	His Holiness Tep Vong The Great Buddhist Supreme Patriarch of the Kingdom of Cambodia	The Most Reverend Desmond Tutu Archbishop Emeritus of Cape Town, South Africa
	Mr. Yohei Sasakawa Chairman of The Nippon Foundation, Japan & WHO Goodwill Ambassador for Leprosy Elimination