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Christian Conference of Asia
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About CCA
Program Clusters: Special Programs:
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‘Human Rights, Protection Mechanisms and Ecumenical Advocacy.’
20-25 October 2012
Human rights is never partial
It is not possible that
people demand their individual human rights while neglecting or abusing the human
rights of other people or other groups of people. “If the human rights of an individual is
violated, it is a violation not only of the human rights of that individual but
of the whole community where he or she belongs to,” said Mr. Basil Fernando,
an expert on human rights in Asia and a
former director of Asia Human Rights Commission. This understanding is rooted in the concept
of the image of God in each person in the context of communal life, which is also
ingrained in Asian culture.
This understanding has
inspired the thirty participants representing churches from Myanmar,
Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan Sri
Lanka, Hong Kong and Korea, who attended the Training on ‘Human Rights,
Protection Mechanisms and Ecumenical Advocacy.’ This program that was held from
20-25 October 2012 in Bangkok Christian Guest House was organized by the Commission
of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) of the World Council of
Churches and the program unit of Justice, International Affairs and Development
and Service (JID) of the Christian Conference of Asia
In a Bible Study
session, Rev. Ebenezer Joseph, General Secretary of NCC Sri Lanka underlined
the inspiring message of the Bible that God the Creator cares for the life of
the people. God listens to the cry of
the suffering people, whose rights are threatened, oppressed, tortured by
others in power. God delivers them from their bondages. The compassion of God
should be the basic conviction and motivation for the churches to care for
others and uphold the dignity of others especially those who are marginalized,
tortured and exploited.
Dr. Mathews George
Chunakara, Director of WCC-CCIA, Ms. Christina Papazoglau, Executive Secretary
of WCC-CCIA and Ms. Janejinda Pawadee, Consultant for CCA-JID, resource persons
of the program, facilitated awareness building and understanding of the human
rights situation in Asia, international human rights and protection mechanisms,
rights of women and children, the struggle of minority communities in Asia, and
assisted the particiapants in discussing possible ways to move ahead to
accompany the Asian churches for human rights protection and global advocacy.
Churches
are called to advocate for the dignity of domestic migrant workers
This Training was
followed by a workshop on Regional and Global Advocacy on Rights of Domestic
Migrant Workers in Asia, from 25-26 October 2012, at the same place.
Participants
representing churches from the so-called “sending countries” (Sri Lanka,
Bangladesh, Pakistan, India, Indonesia, Myanmar, Thailand and Philippines) and
“receiving countries” (Hong Kong and Korea) shared their knowledge and experiences
with regard to the situation of the domestic migrant workers from their
perspectives. The participants came from
different backgrounds ranging from pastors of local congregations where many
migrant workers come from (India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia); a pastor from Korea who
have served migrant workers in Korea; church workers from Thailand who had
accompanied migrant workers in Taiwan and from Hong Kong who work with ‘Christian
Action,’ an organization that addressed the concerns of domestic migrant
workers; and women secretaries of churches and national councils of churches from
a few Asian countries.
Rev. Yohana Taruk, a
pastor of Toraja Church from Indonesia, presently serving a local congregation
in a remote area where many migrant workers from Toraja come from, was herself a
domestic migrant worker working in Hong Kong some years ago. Sharing her experiences she said that “everybody
has a dream, and I also had one. But not all dreams can be achieved immediately. I came from a simple family. My parents could
not send me for higher education due to their financial constraints. I decided
to become a migrant worker in Hong Kong to earn money to support my family and
hoping to continue my studies. I had gone through the hard experiences of many
migrant workers whose rights were suppressed by their employers, such as being
underpaid, long working hours, minimum holidays, and harassment.” Further she
suggested that churches need to assist the parishioners and communities to
understand the complex issues of being migrant workers and the human cost
caused by the separation of the family members. She underlined that it would be
helpful if the “church forms a support group to accompany the migrant workers in
making decisions and in giving proper information about the possible challenges
faced by the migrant workers.”
Dr. Mathews George
Chunakara introduced the UN Convention and ILO Convention on Domestic Migrant
Workers and Ms. Christina Papazoglau highlighted the Advocacy on Rights of
Domestic Migrant Workers at the UN and ILO.
The participants further discussed the prophetic role of the churches in
Asia in advocating the rights and dignity on domestic migrant workers.
Rev. Dr. Henriette
Hutabarat Lebang
26 October 2012
posted by communications on Sunday, October 28, 2012
UPCOMING ACTIVITIES
20-24 October 2012
Training in Human Rights, Protection Mechanisms and
Ecumenical Advocacy
Bangkok Christian Guest House, Bangkok, Thailand
25-27 October 2012
Workshop on Regional and Global Advocacy on Rights of
Domestic Migrant Workers
Bangkok Christian Guest House, Bangkok, Thailand
27-30 October 2012
Ecumenical Pastoral Visit to Churches in Cambodia
All three programs are jointly organized by CCA-JID
(Justice, International Affairs and Development and Service) and WCC-CCIA
(Church Commission on International Affairs).
31 October -5 November
2012
Consultation on Ecology, Economy and Accountability
Theme: “Promoting
Ecological Justice: Asian Churches’ Response”
To be held in Siantar, North
Sumatera – Indonesia. This program is organized by CCA-JID in cooperation with
Communion of Churches in Indonesia (PGI) and will be hosted by Christian Protestant
Church of Simalungun (GKPS).
19-23 November
2012
South East Asia Workshop on
Gender Awareness
Theme: “Building
an Inclusive Community: Partnership of Woman and Man in God’s Mission”
at Bangkok Christian Guest House, Thailand.
21-26 November 2012
Theological Consultation on
HIV and AIDS will be held in
Nagpur, India
Jointly organized by CCA HIV&AIDS Program and NCC
India Program on HIV and AIDS
1-3 Dec 2012
HIV & AIDS Program - Monitoring Visit to Cambodia
Kambodia Christian Council (KCC)
10-14 December 2012
Evaluation and Preparation of Annual Report, CCA Programs 2012
posted by communications on Saturday, October 20, 2012
Malala Yosufzai
An Embodiment of Courage and Conviction
A young Pakistani
girl, Malala Yosufzai from Swat, was shot in the head, point-blank,
by a Taliban gunman. This 14 year-old champion of a girl’s right to
self-expression, came to prominence in 2009 at the age of 11, when she started
writing a diary for BBC Urdu, about life under the Taliban. She could not be silenced even by bullets. Malala
was flown from Pakistan to the UK for medical treatment on board an
air ambulance provided by the United Arab Emirates, accompanied by a full
medical team. She is in a serious condition and is being seen by doctors at
Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham which has the capability to provide
"integrated care to children who have sustained severe injury".
Hailed as an example of
courage, Malala has a lot of support and sympathy from people all over the
world. Former UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown - now the UN's Special Envoy for
Global Education - has announced the launch of a petition in Malala's
name "in support of what Malala fought for". The petition calls
on Pakistan to ensure that every girl like Malala has the chance to go to
school, and also called on the international community to ensure all children
have access to education by the end of 2015.
May we as Church pray for the
life of this little girl who had the courage to fight for the girl child's
right to education and dignity of life.
An extract from Malala's Diary, dated 8 February 2009
I am sad watching
my uniform, school bag and geometry box. I felt hurt on opening my wardrobe and
seeing my uniform, school bag and geometry box. Boys' schools are opening
tomorrow. But the Taleban have banned girls' education. The memories of my
school flashed before me, especially the arguments among the girls.
posted by communications on Tuesday, October 16, 2012
Ecumenical Enablers Training in Timor Lorosae
1-5 October 2012 Ecumenical Enablers Training inspires 'Unity of Churches, more pastoral training, need for a Theological seminary and Bible in native Tetun language'.......
This program which was the first of its kind to be held in Timor Lorosa’e, trained 28 participants from the Protestant Churches, comprising pastors, evangelists, church leaders and young people, in Ecumenism and other aspects of fullness of life for all. It is also considered as a major step towards peace and harmony, especially in the context of Timor Lorosae which is struggling to stand on its own feet in the aftermath of the independence struggle.
Churches in Timor Lorosa’e
are yet to crystallize into a strong unified national Christian
presence. The estimated 80 pastors including evangelists feel that
they are in need of more leadership training, on-going pastoral education and
ecumenical formation. They regret that they do not have their own Theological
Seminary nor a Bible in their own native Tetun language. The training inspired
them to think in terms of promoting unity and solidarity among the churches and
suggested having regular meetings and ecumenical worship services with the
neighbouring churches on special occasions like Easter, Christmas and
Independence Day.
The training that focused on the theme “Called to Reconcile
and Heal the Household of God,” emphasized wider ecumenical vision that
included church unity, common witness of the Gospel, and the
reconciling and healing mission in the local contexts. A general orientation on
the theme from all aspects including one from the perspective of God’s
creation, was given by Rev. Jung Eun Moon, Executive Secretary of CCA – FMU. A brief
history of the ecumenical journey of Christian churches in Timor Leste was
shared by Rev. Albino da Costa. The training was enriched by meaningful Bible
studies and had informative and thought provoking sessions that covered all
aspects of community living, such as, healing of communities divided
by racial and ethnic conflicts; gender justice and healing of
broken families; and an overview of HIV&AIDS and healing
ministry for the disabled. The sessions were effectively handled by Rev.
Albino Pinto from Timor Lorosae, Rev. Krise Gosal from the Communion
of Churches in Indonesia and Dr. Alphinus Kambodji, CCA Consultant for
HIV&AIDS, respectively. Communicating with the participants in Bahasa
Indonesian language, made possible by Rev. Krise Gosal and Dr. Kambodji was one
of the major factors that contributed to fulfilling the goals of this training
program. The participants hoped that CCA will continue to provide more training
programs for the pastors and evangelists of the rural areas to improve their
pastoral skills. This training is part of
the CCA-FMU Ecumenical Enablers Training. CCA has been proactive in training
pastors, church leaders, youth and women leaders through very intensive courses
in similar contexts in Nepal, Cambodia and Vietnam.
posted by communications on Saturday, October 13, 2012
1 October 2012
Vacancy Notice from General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM)
GBGM is looking to hire an Executive Secretary for Asia Pacific who will be based in Hong Kong. One of the primary responsibilities of this staff is to work with our mission partners in mainland China/Hong Kong/Taiwan, but will also be more broadly engaged in the region. We are looking for someone who knows the Chinese language as well as proficient in English, and understands the missional context in Asia and the Pacific.
For further information please visit website at thislink -- http://ch.tbe.taleo.net/CH07/Posted on behalf of: Rebecca C. Asedillo Executive Secretary, Mission Relationships rasedillo@umcmission.org<mailt General Board of Global Ministries | The United Methodist Church 475 Riverside Drive, Room 319 | New York, NY 10115 CCA Communications posted by communications on Monday, October 01, 2012 |
