Increasing religious intolerance in India, Indonesia and Pakistan is being highlighted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) at the current (59th) session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) that began on 17 March and continues through 24 April. The denial of socio-economic and cultural rights to the people of West Papua, as well as human rights violations committed under the Israeli military occupation of Palestine will also be addressed by the WCC.

In one of two written submissions, the WCC Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) draws UNCHR attention to "the growing environment of religious intolerance and violence in Indonesia, India and Pakistan that has claimed many lives". The submission calls on UNCHR to "urge the governments of these countries to seek means by which dialogue may be promoted between religious communities and their governments as well as between religious communities themselves".

In the other written submission, the CCIA addresses the situation in West Papua, were the Indonesian government "over the years has followed policies that have been unjust, unfair and exploitative of the Papuan people". It asks the government to make serious efforts "to implement the autonomy law in consultation with the representatives of the Papuan people". And it requests the UNCHR "to urge the Indonesian government to take serious steps to ensure that the Province of Papua gets its due and just share of the proceeds raised from the exploitation of its abundant natural resources".

The CCIA will also intervene orally on human rights violations under the Israeli military occupation of Palestine, focusing on the human rights implications of a wall now going up between Israel and the West Bank. It will provide UN-based journalists with eyewitness accounts of this phenomenon; the reports come from participants in a WCC-based Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme whose mission it is to accompany churches in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) in their actions and advocacy to end the occupation. CCIA is arranging a small photo exhibition of the wall at the briefing, and will present a report by one of the ecumenical accompaniers. It will also show a video, "Ending Occupation: Voices for a Just Peace", produced by the WCC.

During this UNCHR session, the CCIA, together with other international and national non-governmental organizations, will organize a parallel meeting on Indonesia. It will also convene a meeting of Lobindo, a strategy group that coordinates ecumenical advocacy work on Indonesia. Two representatives of the Evangelical Christian Church in Tanah Papua (West Papua) will attend the session.

In addition, the CCIA will monitor developments related to justice, impunity, security legislation and terrorism, racism, indigenous people, and country-specific situations in Sudan, Nigeria, Colombia, Guatemala and Iraq. Representatives from church-related partners in Pakistan, Nigeria, and Argentina will be attending the session. A six-member delegation from Guatemala will meet with diplomatic missions as well as representatives of the Swiss government.