The Churches in International Affairs Reports 1995-1998 Edited by Dwain C. Epps Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Centre P.O. Box 2100 150, route de Ferney 1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland Tel. +41.22.791.61.11 Fax +41.22.791.03.61 E-mail: [email protected] Website: http://www.wcc-coe.org/what/international Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches Liaison Office at the UN Headquarters Church Centre 777 United Nations Plaza, Suite 9D New York, NY 10017 U.S.A. Tel. +1.212.867.58.90 Fax +1.212.867.74.62 E-mail: [email protected] Copyright 2004 by the World Council of Churches © 150, route de Ferney 1211 Geneva 2 Switzerland Website: http://www.wcc-coe.org ISBN: 2-8254-1328-3 Printed in Switzerland ii For Leopoldo Niilus Architect of the modern CCIA and mentor to a generation of ecumenical practitioners of international affairs iii iv TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD ...................................................................................................................1 ABBREVIATIONS .........................................................................................................2 MODERATOR’S INTRODUCTION.........................................................................3 DIRECTOR’S INTRODUCTION...............................................................................5 INTERNATIONAL ISSUES AND TRENDS...........................................................7 ECUMENICAL POLICY ...................................................................................................................7 Memorandum and Recommendations on the Application of Sanctions.........7 Adopted by the Central Committee, Geneva, 14-22 September 1995. TRENDS ........................................................................................................................................16 Message of the CCIA Consultation on Church, Community and State in the Contemporary World......................................................................................16 Consultation to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, Seoul, Korea, 15-17 July 1996. Note on the Contemporary Role of the Church in International Affairs......21 Commended to the member churches by the Central Committee, Geneva, 12-20 September 1996. ISSUES ...........................................................................................................................................30 Commemoration of the Armenian Genocide....................................................30 Letter to H.H. Karekin I, Catholicos of All Armenians and to H.E. the Locum Tenens, 19 April 1995. ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE .................................................................................31 CLIMATE CHANGE ......................................................................................................................31 Petition Campaign on Climate Change...............................................................31 Letter to member churches and related national councils of churches in the industrialized countries, 3 March 1996. Building a Just and Moral Economy for Sustainable Communities................34 Statement to the Fifth Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development, New York, 10 April 1997, cf p 116. Statement to the High Level Segment of the Third Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change ................................................................................................34 Presented by the WCC delegation to the Kyoto Summit on Climate Change, Kyoto, Japan, 9 December 1997, cf p 109. Statement on US policy reversal on climate change targets.............................35 Issued in Geneva, 23 October 1997. GLOBAL ECONOMY ................................................................................................ 36 A jubilee call to end the stranglehold of debt on impoverished peoples....... 36 Statement issued by the Eighth Assembly, Harare, Zimbabwe, December 1998. Statement on Globalization ................................................................................. 40 Issued by the Eighth Assembly, Harare, Zimbabwe, December 1998. Resisting Domination – Affirming Life: The Challenge of Globalization .... 41 Document commended to the churches by the Eighth Assembly as essential background to its Statement on Globalization. HUMAN RIGHTS........................................................................................................ 48 ECUMENICAL POLICY .................................................................................................................48 Declaration on the Occasion of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights ................................................ 48 Adopted by the Eighth Assembly, Harare, Zimbabwe, December 1998. Statement on Human Rights ............................................................................... 51 Adopted by the Eighth Assembly, Harare, Zimbabwe, December 1998. DEATH PENALTY........................................................................................................................ 60 Appeal for clemency for Sarah Balabagan in the United Arab Emirates ...... 60 Letter to H.E. Sheik Zaid ibn Sultan an Nahayan, President of the United Arab Emirates, 21 September 1995. Appeal to commute the death sentences passed on Ken Saro-Wiwa and his co-defendants Nigeria..................................................................................... 61 Letter to General Sani Abacha, President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 2 November 1995. Ecumenical appeals for clemency for Mr. Sylvester Adams in the USA....... 62 Letter to the Rev. L. Wayne Bryan, Executive Minister of the South Carolina Christian Action Council, 11 August 1995. Appeal for stay of execution of Karla Faye Tucker in the USA..................... 63 Letter to Mr. John Shattuck, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor, 3 February 1998. Appeal on the application of the death penalty in Rwanda............................. 64 Letter to H.E. Pasteur Bizimungu, President of the Republic, 23 April 1998. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES .............................................................................................................. 65 Appeal for adoption of the draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.................................................................................................................... 65 Letter to H.E. José Urrutia, Ambassador of Peru to the UN in Geneva and chair of the UN Inter-sessional Working Group on Indigenous Peoples, 24 May 1996. RIGHTS OF THE CHILD .............................................................................................................. 66 Call to churches to defend and protect children............................................... 66 Decision of the Central Committee, Geneva, 12-20 September 1996. Statement on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child ....................... 66 Adopted by the Central Committee, Geneva, 11-19 September 1997. ii RACIAL DISCRIMINATION ..........................................................................................................67 Joint statement on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination..................................................................67 Issued jointly by Mr. Jean Fischer, General Secretary of the CEC, the Rev.. Dr. Ishmael Noko, General Secretary of the LWF, the Rev. Dr. Milan Opocenski, General Secretary of the WARC and the Rev. Dr. Konrad Raiser of the WCC, 19 March 1997. PEACE AND DISARMAMENT ...............................................................................69 ECUMENICAL POLICY .................................................................................................................69 Statement on Nuclear Testing..............................................................................69 Adopted by the Central Committee, Geneva, 14-22 September 1995. Statement on Child Soldiers .................................................................................70 Adopted by the Eighth Assembly, Harare, Zimbabwe, 3-14 December 1998. PEACE CONCERNS.......................................................................................................................71 Message on the Anniversary of the end of World War II................................71 Sent to member churches, 21 April 1995. Christmas Message 1997.......................................................................................75 Issued by the Rev. Dr. Konrad Raiser, General Secretary. LANDMINES .................................................................................................................................76 Appeal to Member Churches to join the International Campaign to Ban Landmines...............................................................................................................76 Letter sent 11 April 1996. Message to the Oslo Diplomatic Conference on Landmines..........................78 Letter to H.E. Amb. J.S. Selibi, President of the Diplomatic Conference, 15 September 1997. Statement welcoming the award of the Nobel Prize for Peace to the International Campaign To Ban Landmines......................................................79