wfn.org | WCC - Archbishop Tutu to deliver Ecumenical Caucus

["Sheila Mesa" <smm@wcc-coe.org>]

statement at World Conference Against Racism 

World Council of Churches
Update, Up-01-30
Embargoed against delivery
5 September 2001

Archbishop Tutu to deliver Ecumenical Caucus statement at World
Conference Against Racism 

cf. WCC Press Update, Up-01-29, of 3 September 2001
cf. WCC Press Update, Up-01-28, of 31 August 2001
cf. WCC Press Release, PR-01-29, of 27 August 2001

A statement addressed to the media by the Ecumenical Caucus at
the UN World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (WCAR) will be issued today, 5
September, at 4 p.m. local time by Nobel Peace Prize laureate,
Archbishop Desmond Tutu.  

The Ecumenical Caucus includes representatives of the World
Council of Churches (WCC), United Methodist Church (General Board
of Church and Society and General Board Global Ministries),
United Church of Christ/Disciples of Christ, Lutheran World
Federation (LWF), Church World Service and Witness/National
Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, Diakonia Council of
Churches (Durban), Church of England, Sisters of Mercy, Canadian
Council of Churches, Presbyterian Church USA, Church of Christ in
Thailand, Medical Mission Sisters, Christian Reformed Church of
Canada, and Uniting Reformed Church in Southern Africa.  

The text of the Statement of the Ecumenical Caucus follows:

"Racism is a sin. It is contrary to God's will for love, peace,
equality, justice and compassion for all. It is an affront to
human dignity and a gross violation of human rights.  

Human dignity is God's gift to all humankind. It is the gift of
God's image and likeness in every human being. Racism desecrates
God's likeness in every person. Human rights are the protections
we give to human dignity. We participate in the human rights
struggle to restore wholeness that has been broken by racism. The
struggle against racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and
related intolerances is the struggle to sanctify and affirm life
in all its fullness.  

Racism dehumanizes, disempowers, marginalizes and impoverishes
human beings. Its systematic and institutional forms have
resulted in the death of many peoples, the plunder of resources,
and the decimation of communities and nations.  

Racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia, and related
intolerances all work, singularly and collectively, to diminish
our common humanity. They thrive within the intersections of
race, caste, colour, age, gender, sexual orientation, class,
landlessness, ethnicity, nationality, language and disability.
The dismantling and eradication of racism requires that we
address all its manifestations and historical expressions,
especially slavery and colonialism.  

As people of faith, we call on all peoples, non-governmental
organizations and governments to earnestly strive to break the
cycles of racism and assist the oppressed to achieve
self-determination and establish sustainable communities, without
violating the rights of others.  

The time to dismantle and eradicate racism is now. It is urgent
for us and our churches to acknowledge our complicity with and
participation in the perpetuation of racism, slavery and
colonialism, or we are not credible. This acknowledgment is
critical because it leads to the necessary acts of apology and
confession, of repentance and reconciliation, and of healing and
wholeness. All of these elements form part of redress and
reparations that are due the victims of racism, past and present.
 

As a faith community we pledge to struggle against racism and
all its manifestations in the hope that God's people fulfil today
the Gospel mandate that we "may all be one" (John 17:21).  

To the above ends we commit ourselves to put the following
priorities before the World Conference Against Racism as well as
to our churches and related ecumenical bodies and institutions:

1. SLAVERY, COLONIALISM, APARTHEID AND REPARATIONS. For our
churches and governments to acknowledge that they have benefited
from the exploitation of Africans and African descendants and
Asians and Asian descendants, and Indigenous Peoples through
slavery and colonialism. We further call upon our churches to
address the issue of reparations as a way of redressing the
wrongs done, and to be clear that the trans-Saharan and
transoceanic - Atlantic, Pacific and Indian - slave trade and all
forms of slavery constitute crimes against humanity.  

2. PALESTINE. For the end of Israeli colonialist occupation in
the occupied Palestinian territories, the achievement of the
right to self-determination by the Palestinian people, including
the right of return, and for the establishment of a sovereign
Palestinian state. We encourage dialogue between and among Jews,
Muslims and Christians to promote peace, tolerance and harmonious
relationships.  

3. DALITS AND CASTE-BASED DISCRIMINATION. For the recognition of
Dalits among the victims of racial discrimination and for
caste-based discrimination to be included in the list of sources
of racism. Further, that mechanisms be evolved by governments and
the United Nations to prohibit and redress discrimination on the
basis of work and descent.  

4. ROMA, SINTI AND TRAVELLERS. For churches and governments to
recognize that they have exploited Roma through slavery,
ethnocide and assimilation. Governments should adopt immediate
and concrete measures to eradicate the widespread discrimination,
persecution, stigmatization and violence against the above
peoples on the basis of their social origin and identity. Public
welfare, including accommodation, education, medical care, and
employment, as well as citizenship and political participation
must be ensured for them. All these concerns must be addressed
with the participation of Roma, Sinti and Travellers and their
communities.  

5. MIGRANT WORKERS AND GLOBALIZATION. To ensure that all migrant
workers have the right to fair working conditions, decent wages
and the right to organize, free from racism, racial
discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerances, both in
sending as well as receiving countries. We urge governments to
legislate against and stop the trafficking of women and children
for sexual exploitation and domestic labour. Poverty and
landlessness breeds racism. The relation between migration,
poverty and landlessness must be analyzed especially under
schemes of privatization and globalization.  

6. MIGRANTS, ASYLUM-SEEKERS, REFUGEES, AND INTERNALLY DISPLACED
PEOPLES. To acknowledge that racism and all its manifestations
are at the root of discrimination against refugees, migrants,
asylum-seekers, displaced peoples, undocumented persons and
internally displaced persons. We urge the United Nations to call
on governments to take appropriate action to protect the rights
of such individuals in both the receiving as well as the sending
countries, ensuring them freedom of movement, equitable access to
education and health, housing and legal services.  

7. INDIGENOUS PEOPLES. To join efforts with all entities to
stand in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples in their struggles
for self-determination and in their efforts to build peaceful and
sustainable communities and to safeguard their indigenous
knowledge, resources, land and ancestral domains, free from
discrimination and based on respect, freedom and equality. We
also call on all of us to embrace the richness of the social,
cultural, spiritual and linguistic diversities of Indigenous
Peoples.  
 
8. RELIGIOUS LIBERTY AND RELIGIOUS INTOLERANCE. To promote
religious freedom and religious liberty as human rights. Any
intolerance, aggression towards, or denial of this freedom to
anyone and any community or society is an attack on human
dignity. Even as churches must examine their complicity in
religious intolerance in the past and present, we call on
churches and governments to respect the freedom of religion or
belief and protect the act of religious worship. We must
acknowledge the negative impacts of religion, including the
uncritical use of sacred texts that unduly results in the
assertion of superiority of one group over another, but
especially so on women, and take immediate steps to address the
violence that stems from such impacts.  

9. CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE. To ensure and empower children and
young people to have a voice and be included in anti-racism
strategies. Non-governmental organizations and governments should
develop programmes in consultation with children and young people
on all matters aimed at educating them about their rights,
involving them in cultural, political and economic
decision-making, and assisting them in creating positive
self-identity and confidence, ensuring that their ethnic,
indigenous, linguistic and religious heritages are valued.  

10. FOLLOW-UP AND MONITORING MECHANISMS. To ensure that there
are clear follow-up measures and monitoring mechanisms to both
the implementation of and adherence to the aspirations contained
in the Declaration and the concrete actions contained in the
Programme of Action of the World Conference Against Racism.
Considering the specificity of women's experiences of racism, the
Programme of Action must incorporate gender analysis. National
action plans must be developed and resources identified and
allocated for the implementation of this Programme. The Programme
of Action must be gender-sensitive on all levels - local,
national and international."  

Photos of the Conference are available at the WCC website:
http://wcc-coe.org/photo/events/events.html 

For further information, please contact Karin Achtelstetter,
Media Relations Officer, Tel:  (+41.22) 791.61.53,  Mobile: 
(+41) 79.284.52.12
or Bob Scott in Durban, Tel: (+27) 83.542.1946

**********
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches,
now 342, in more than 100 countries in all continents from
virtually all Christian traditions. The Roman Catholic Church is
not a member church but works cooperatively with the WCC. The
highest governing body is the assembly, which meets approximately
every seven years. The WCC was formally inaugurated in 1948 in
Amsterdam, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general
secretary Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

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