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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 |
