01 February 2007

GENERAL Shaw Clifton has announced that a new unit of International Headquarters – the International Social Justice Commission (ISJC) – will come into being on 1 July 2007. It will be led by a senior officer who will carry the designation of International Director for Social Justice. The commission and its director will be attached to the office of the Chief of the Staff, although its offices will be based in New York in the USA Eastern Territory.

The first Director of ISJC will be Commissioner M. Christine MacMillan, currently Territorial Commander of Canada and Bermuda.

The shape and main purposes of the commission are as follows:

• The director will lead a small team of full-time specialists, all committed Salvationists.
• The commission will be a permanent, standing body.
• A panel of expert international consultants will be created.
• The director and staff will be the Army’s principal international advocate and adviser on social, economic and political issues and events giving rise to the perpetuation of social injustice in the world. They will assist the Army in addressing social injustice in a systematic, measured, proactive and Christian manner, consistent with the purposes for which God raised up The Salvation Army.
• The commission will advise the General and other senior leaders at IHQ in matters of social justice.
• It will absorb and extend the current work of the Moral and Social Issues desk at IHQ, re-introducing an International Moral and Social Issues Council (IMASIC).
• The commission will expand and develop the Army’s role and influence within the United Nations, supervising and coordinating the work now being done in New York, Vienna and Geneva.
• It will place on a more systematic and effective basis the role of the Army in relation to other major world forums, advising the General on representation therein.
• The commission will liaise regularly with territorial and other Army groups engaged in social justice advocacy, seeking to ensure a coordinated approach and offering encouragement and guidance.
• It will liaise with territories and commands where as yet little is being done in relation to issues of social justice, seeking to find ways in which such a role can be undertaken by the Army in the local setting.

The General concludes: 'I believe that God is providing us with a moment of his choosing for this initiative. Again, please bring it all to him in prayer and uphold the director and staff as they come into office later this year.'

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