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Christian Conference of Asia
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A letter to WTO Director General14 December 2005 Mr. Pascal Lamy Director-General World Trade Organization Geneva SWITZERLAND Dear Mr. Lamy: We are seventy women theologians, pastors, activists, church and ecumenical leaders, sociologists, teachers, psychologists, political economists, youth and students from various faith communities and traditions and representing 27 countries in Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean, North America, and the Pacific region. Our identity and mandate as Christians compel us to make a strong commitment to social justice. In response to the 6th Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO), we have come to Hong Kong to reflect and speak out against the fundamentally unjust policies of the WTO. During these four days we have critically analyzed the theological as well as gender, racial and ethnic implications of the Agreement on Agriculture (AOA) and the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), lifting up alternatives. The crisis facing small farmers and farm workers is undeniable. Today, 2.5 billion people, the majority of whom are women, rely on agriculture as their primary source of livelihood. Farmers are discriminated against, forced off their land, poisoned by pesticides and driven to commit suicide. It is abhorrent ! that in a world of plenty, countless children die from hunger and hunger-related diseases. We have heard similar stories from South Africa, Pakistan and Uganda. Rather than eradicating poverty, the AOA is a fundamentally unjust agreement using loopholes and back-room discussions. The July 2004 Framework on Modalities has done nothing to fulfill the Doha Development Round. We strongly believe in holistic life-promoting trade relations that place people, communities, and the earth at the center. In agriculture, this implies the full embrace of food sovereignty, corporate accountability and transparency, land rights for peoples, and the right of governments to use domestic policy tools to protect and enhance local livelihoods. First and foremost, women’s equality and gender, racial and ethnic justice must be assured. Only in this way can there be true justice in agricultural trade. The commodification and opening up of essential services to private ownership particularly through GATS Modes 1 and 3 deprive the poor, mainly women, of their basic needs and fundamental rights such as water, health and education. Instead, these human rights have become the privilege of a few. We have learned that in Bolivia, Uganda and many countries, the privatization of water systems in consonance with GATS and other neoliberal policies has made life-giving water inaccessible to many. Moreover, with the privatization of educational systems and the consequent dramatic increases in tuition fees, fewer families can afford to send their children, particularly girls, to school thereby promoting a vicious cycle of poverty. We firmly believe that life-supporting services should be made available for all peoples, regardless of their ability to pay. For this reason, we register our strong opposition to the GATS and affirm the primary responsibility of states to promote social welfare by protecting public goods and services. In general, the policies of the WTO have resulte! d in displacement and losses in livelihood and food and health security, especially among the poor and marginalized. They have violated national sovereignty and the right to self-determination of many nations. Traditional economies have been eroded and women as the caregivers and providers of their families have been forced to migrate from their communities and countries in search of employment. Nearly half of the 192 million migrant workers are female. The consequences are the erosion of social structures and the disintegration of families and communities, leading to inflationary rates of crime, violence, drug abuse and increased vulnerability to HIV and AIDS. Migrants generally do not choose to leave their countries but do so in order to survive. They are heterogeneous: forced laborers, trafficked persons, undocumented workers and refugees. Many are pushed into sex work. However, all migr! ant workers are affected by discriminatory practices and suffer abuse from states, employers and society in general. We believe that GATS Mode 4 is not the solution to forced migration as it commodifies human beings and does not promote the rights of all migrant workers. We therefore reject GATS Mode 4 and call upon United Nations (UN) member-states to respect and uphold UN Conventions. We strongly urge all countries to ratify and implement the UN International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in order to assert that migrant rights are human rights. Driven by the free market ideology and the profit imperative, the WTO’s trade rules shrink democratic space and processes leading to growing trade inequalities as well as widening social disparities. Market contracts are superimposed on social contracts and corporate interests are translated into international law which has become increasingly de-linked from human rights. Thereby, the WTO undermines the fullness of life for all. It denies the theological covenant among peoples, communities and the earth, serving instead the interests of transnational capital and corporations. As women of faith, we believe that God created all human beings with dignity, respect and equality. We uphold the principle of life-promoting trade, which is in harmony with social justice and the empowerment of peoples and respects the diversity of global communities. Therefore, we strongly reject the WTO and the neoliberal trading systems it promotes. Participating organizations: World Council of Churches Christian Conference of Asia Hong Kong Christian Institute Hong Kong Women’s Christian Council World Alliance of Reformed Churches Lutheran World Federation Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance World YWCA World Student Christian Federation – Asia Pacific Association of Christian Institutes for Social Concern in Asia Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches International Gender and Trade Network posted by Prawate on Thursday, December 22, 2005 Ecumenical Conference calls for the people-centered WTOEcumenical Conference on Globalising Economic Justice and Social Sustainability December 9-11, 2005, Hon- Kong We, 200 members of people's organizations, faith-based communities and social movements, representing all continents of the world from 29 countries, who have met in Hong Kong from December 9 to 11, 2005, to assess and protest the impact of the policies of the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the world's poor and to make recommendations to address the hardships that the WTO has created, offer this statement. From Seattle to Cancun to Hong Kong, people from around the world have gathered in North America, Latin America and Asia to resist the WTO and its policies that are anti-people, anti-environment, and anti-life. We celebrate the victory of movements which derailed the previous WTO rounds of talks. The policies that the WTO promotes and enforces are life-threatening to the world's poor. The suffering that results from implementing WTO trade rules, solely in capital's interest, angers us. The WTO engenders violence that consumes the lives of the poor as they struggle daily to survive. People's food sovereignty is being undermined by the WTO's Agreement on Agriculture (AOA). Agriculture, specifically food production, has become the monopoly of large corporations which, through the current negotiations, aim at further reducing protection to farmers through tariffs or subsidies, while the rich nations use protectionism for their agribusinesses. Small farmers are affected most as they are being denied their identity, and they watch as their livelihoods are destroyed by agribusinesses and their land is given to large landowners and local elites, resulting in hunger and malnutrition in Asia and the rest of the world. Among the victims are women farmers and farm workers in India who are left with no choice but to leave their land and families and migrate to the cities to seek work. Korean farmers, as well as other farmers around the world, share a similar fate as fewer and fewer people can remain on the land. In fact, some are driven to commit suicide. We stand in solidarity with them in their fight for the right to choose how to lead their lives. Agriculture is the backbone of human history and is crucial for the survival of humankind. Moreover, agriculture is at the foundation of any culture - indeed, sustaining its existence - and the people, especially farmers and peasants, must be involved in any discussion about how their lives and culture develop. The WTO negotiations on the General Agreement on Trade in Services, or GATS, endanger the provision of public services necessary for everyday life. Affluent countries are pushing for access to poorer countries' markets for services. Public services will subsequently be vulnerable to privatization that will surely increase their cost, putting them beyond the means of ordinary people in less developed countries. Privatization will also lead to massive labor layoffs. In addition, we reject the increasing liberalization of financial services, further destabilizing the financial system as well as the increasing privatization of pension schemes instead of promoting solidarity systems. It also degrades the service quality and exploits the grassroots. Furthermore, we reject Mode 4 of GATS that promotes the commodification of workers and does not take into account human rights, worker rights and the social cost of forced migration. As migrants are among the least protected people in society, they are among the most exposed to the exploitation of the WTO's policies implemented by exporting and importing countries. Moreover, the demands for developing countries to lower their tariffs on manufactured goods under the proposed agreement on Non-agricultural Market Access (NAMA) removes one of the last remaining tools they have to create and protect their own industrial sector. In addition, the commodification of natural resources through NAMA undermines the values of the commons: integrity of creation, community, local wisdom and life. The costs of environmental degradation are not considered in trade negotiations and cannot be contained within state boundaries. Our discussions confirmed that our world today is characterized by human insecurity which manifests itself in poverty, war, the violation of people's human rights, gender inequality, displacement from land and a lack of jobs, health care, education and social services, resulting in fear, silence and a feeling of vulnerability, broken relationships and communities, religious animosities, forced migration and indifference and contempt for the law. Indeed, the WTO's policies and procedures further enslave people in poverty. In short, the basis of trade should be to improve human security. Unfortunately, those who make decisions within the WTO are removed from the people most directly affected by the outcome of their deliberations. We demand that our governments get out of the WTO and protect the interests of their people, not large corporations or business interests, for trade agreements must prioritize people's dignity and livelihood. In this process, we are saddened by the human-made reality of poverty amidst immense wealth that is spreading throughout the world in spite of the WTO rhetoric that their policies aim to benefit the world's less developed countries and alleviate poverty. The testimonies we have heard from many comers of the world contradict this assertion. For these reasons, we have no faith that the WTO, in its present form, can meet the aspirations of the people for a just and equitable distribution of wealth. We have even less faith that the agreements of the WTO will lead to economic justice and sustainable development for the world. To reverse these trends, we as members of global civil society and people's movements call on our member governments to:
and the delegates to the WTO to:
posted by Prawate on Wednesday, December 14, 2005 Ecumenical Conference calls for an Interfaith commitmentMessage to the Faith Communities We, 200 participants from 29 countries and different religious faiths, namely Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, who have met at Wu Kai Sha, Hong Kong, from 9-10 December 2005 to protest the ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO), and to work towards a vision on "Globalizing Economic Justice and Social Sustainability", address the following message to the faith communities of the world: We are meeting in Asia, the birth place of some of the world's great religions. Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam all originated here. Despite the differences, faith communities hold fundamental values in common based on our belief in the Divine: the pursuit of truth and love, the assertion of equality of all human beings, respect for life and integ7ity of creation, the quest for peace and harmony, protecting the dignity of others, upholding justice and righteousness and compassion for those who suffer, who are poor and marginalized. Members of all faiths are involved in building sustainable communities with the participation of all. To us, as people of faith, it is imperative that these values be reflected in the economic and political order of our societies. Today these values are under assault by transnational corporations and governments in their comprehensive pursuit of profits and economic growth. Economic globalization promoted by the WTO destroys the economic basis of communities in many parts of the world and causes irreversible damage to the natural resources of our world. The liberalization of financial markets allows for the uncontrolled flow of capital in search of the greatest gain. Investment is taking place where labour is cheap, labour rights are suppressed and where laws on industrial health and safety are lacking or not being implemented. Privatization results often in a drastic worsening of employment conditions and deprives the poor of essential services such as water, health and education. Deregulation of the economy destroys local manufacturing industries, creates unemployment and drives farmers and indigenous people from their land. Economic globalization is anti-life, anti-people, anti-integrity of creation, anti-justice and anti-peace. Faith communities must say an unequivocal "No" to neo-liberalism and the WTO. It is sin to accept the proposition that there is no to the present process of globalization, in the form of market fundamentalism. The logic of globalization leads to imperialist wars, conquest and plunder. Motivated and sustained by faith we are committed to collaborate with people from different backgrounds to redress and transform the situation we face. Together, we must seek alternatives and work with social movements of resistance and transformation. Our aim is to establish a new social order based on ethics of the common good and ethics of care. We call on our faith communities to:
posted by Prawate on Monday, December 12, 2005 International Human Rights DayA Message from the General Secretary of CCA on International Human Rights Day 10 December 2005 As we are commemorating the International Human Rights Day this year on 10 December 2005, let me begin by quoting what Eleanor Roosevelt has said about human rights: "Where, after all, do universal human rights begin? In small places, close to home -- so close and so small that they can not be seen on any maps of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or college he attends; the factory, farm, or office where he works. Such are the places where every man, woman, and child seeks equal justice, equal opportunity, equal dignity without discrimination. Unless these rights have meaning there, they have little meaning anywhere. Without concerted citizens action to uphold them close to home, we shall look in vain for progress in the larger world." Thus, the international movements for human rights begin recognizing human rights as the essence of being human. The UN General Assembly on 10 December1948 adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is widely recognized as the "constitution of the modern human rights movement." Later, we decided to recognize that 10 December as "The International Human Rights Day." The principle of "universality" enshrined in the Declaration has been often challenged, especially by governments claiming all rights are relative. They charge that universality is a cover-up for cultural imperialism and is a pretext for interference in the internal affairs of sovereign nations. The concept of Human Rights has been on the ecumenical agenda for long time. It is part and parcel of the mission and ministry of ecumenical movement whose involvement to uphold human dignity and effort to help people in their struggle against human rights violations have brought new dimensions and insights in the life and witness of Churches in several parts of the world. Yet, many Churches are not giving serious attention to promote and advocate human rights concerns, especially defending people’s dignity against human rights violations and evil structures of society. Quite often the churches forget the fact that it must take positive initiatives to ensure human rights of every person. In a world filled with glaring absence of human rights and social conflicts, the Church must be aware of the growing need that requires protecting human dignity and human rights at every level of society. Many Churches consider that the struggle for Human Rights and advocacy is a political activity or mere secular involvement. They ignore the reality that advocacy for human rights is an activity, which upholds and enhances the dignity and worth of human beings, which is the manifestation of love – the core of our fundamental faith. Therefore, human rights violations that are taking place in our midst are denial of the love shown to us by Jesus Christ and the church’s apathetic attitude towards protection of human rights and against human rights violations worsen the situation. The idea of human rights lies at the very core of the biblical narratives. The life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ manifest the worth of every individual. The affirmation that every human being is made in God’s image carries profound significance that challenges each one of us here. And, also it has weighty implications as one considers its significance for the defense of human rights. The emphasis of the Gospel is on the value of all human beings created in the image of God, on the atoning and redeeming work of Christ that gives to human being true dignity. As Christians, we have to reaffirm our commitment to work more fervently for the elimination of all forms of inhumanity and violence. The Churches in Asia should take a firm stand to dedicate themselves with renewed vigor to raise the consciousness of people, to equip them to uphold human rights as concrete expression of their faith and mission. As we see the reality that many countries in the world and particularly here in Asia continue to violate the principles and provisions stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we strongly urge all governments to take immediate and serious actions to stop all kind of human rights violations. Those countries that have not yet ratified the international conventions that affirm the principles of the UDHR, should ensure that they will obey every provision that are stated in the said declarations. We pray that God help us and all nations to stop the human rights violations and may all human beings live in peace, love and harmony. Prawate Khid-arn General Secretary Christian Conference of Asia Hong Kong posted by Anonymous on Thursday, December 08, 2005 Christmas messageChristmas symbolises peace and hope for humankind. The child born in Bethlehem brings peace to the humanity. "Christ is our peace." Christ, the babe in the manger restores dignity to human beings and brings hope to those who are in despair. He has come to heal life’s wounds and to restore human dignity. The word peace in the Bible is translated from the Hebrew word shalom. It means the absence of war and conflict and signifies the presence of harmony, reconciliation and justice. The New Testament, which uses the word shalom more than 100 times, tells about the peace Christ brings. How does the message of peace and hope that Christmas brings resonate with the realities of the present day world? We live in a world of hate and destruction. Acts of terrorism are increasing day by day. The number people affected by HIV/AIDS are not decreasing. Poverty, unemployment, corruption and different forms of violence are creating havoc on individuals and communities. Jesus was born to bring peace and justice to a world torn apart by wars and conflicts. The prince of peace came to demolish "the dividing wall of hostility." (Eph 2:14). He has come to set the captive free and to liberate the oppressed from all unjust structures. We need Christi's peace and hope in this world where people and nations are burdened with socio-economic and political problems. We need self-emtying love of Christ to bring about a society that is just and humane. We hope for a day when wars and terrorism will end and when peoples and nations will live in unity, justice and freedom. Peace comes from the presence of God. Jesus said: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives" (John 14:27). We as individuals and communities can promote peace when we are at peace with God and within ourselves. When there is such peace dwelling among us, there can be hope of building communities of peace for all people in the world, especially for those who are marginalised and broken. Setting up a manger in our homes to celebrate the birth of Christ is customary. But the real birth of Jesus should happen in our hearts and minds everyday. It means being at peace with God, with oneself and with others. It means a conviction and commitment for building communities of peace. May we rededicate during this Christmas to work toward building communities of peace, based on love, hope and justice. Wish you all a joyous and meaningful Christmas. Prawate Khid-arn posted by Anonymous on Tuesday, December 06, 2005 |
