Search results

In times of exploding budget deficits and unemployment figures, migrants are often used as scapegoats for all the ailings and failings of society. In such a context it is the task of the church to uphold the human rights and dignity of all.

Solidarity fatigue is one of the main obstacles faced by Colombian civil society organizations struggling to find a resolution to the country's 40-year long internal armed conflict, an ecumenical gathering has been told. Participants also heard a renewed call to action.

The international tug-of-war over carbon emission thresholds and other instruments meant to limit the deterioration of the earth's climate has caused a big stir in recent months, but yielded little results. Therefore the international community must now get ready to take care of those who will be forced from their homes by climate change.

Representatives of churches in Iraq confirmed their commitment to work together with all Iraqi citizens for reconciliation and rebuilding peace in the country.

The myth according to which host countries are "victims" of migration needs to be challenged, as in fact their economies benefit from the exploitation of the migrants' work.

By Annegret Kapp (*)

"Migration is a fact of life. It is as much an instinct to survive as it is an inevitable consequence of globalization. We can neither turn our backs on it, nor control it," declared in a statement participants at a 15-16 April Public Hearing on Migration and the Changing Ecclesial Landscape in Beirut, Lebanon. "Migrants are not commodities, illegal aliens or mere victims, they are human beings."

"The impact of migration on the church and the ecclesial context" is the theme of a 6-8 June 2007 conference in Nairobi, Kenya of the Global Ecumenical Network on Migration (GEM). To be opened by Kenya's minister for immigration, and hosted by the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), the conference will be attended by representatives of churches, church-related organizations and ecumenical bodies in Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and the Pacific.

Deep concern about "the increasing use of detention to restrict and deter cross-border movement by asylum seekers and other migrants" prompted the World Council of Churches' (WCC) Global Ecumenical Network on Uprooted Peoples (GEN) to circulate a statement on this issue at a meeting in Geneva this week of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees' (UNHCR) Executive Committee.

Baldwin Sjollema, first director of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Programme to Combat Racism (PCR), received the Oliver Tambo Order from South African president Thabo Mbeki on 16 June 2004 in Pretoria.