wfn.org | WCC - Addressing sexual violence: ecumenical team to meet

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

... in West Africa

World Council of Churches
Press Release, PR-02-10
For Immediate Use
7 March 2002

Addressing sexual violence: ecumenical team to meet with church
and humanitarian partners in West Africa

The World Council of Churches (WCC), along with Action by
Churches Together (ACT) International and the Lutheran World
Federation (LWF) are sending an ecumenical team to West Africa to
follow up on allegations in a recent confidential report by the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Save the Children
UK on sexual violence and exploitation of refugee children in
Sierra Leone, Liberia and Guinea.  

The delegation will arrive in Freetown, Sierra Leone, on March
11, after which they will visit Liberia and Guinea, planning to
spend two weeks in the three countries.  

ACT International, supported by its parent bodies the LWF and
the WCC, issued a statement on 1 March condemning all forms of
sexual abuse, saying it was "deeply concerned by the alleged
extent of the sexual violence and exploitation of children by,
amongst others, humanitarian aid workers, and shocked by the
reports of testimonies given by the children and their families".
  

The team members will have different roles and tasks during this
joint ecumenical effort. Some will have a specific responsibility
to investigate the allegations and determine the need for
operational improvements not only regionally, but also throughout
the ACT alliance world-wide. Other team members will meet with
churches and interreligious partners to discuss the issue of
sexual violence in the context of the Decade to Overcome
Violence.  
                                                                
                                           
Melaku Kifle, programme executive for WCC International
Relations and a member of the delegation, says, "We need to
discuss together how churches at local, national and
international levels can create awareness about sexual violence
and harassment and take action against it. Such violence,
wherever and whenever it occurs, cannot be tolerated."  

ACT International coordinates and facilitates emergency and
humanitarian relief efforts on behalf of the Lutheran World
Federation and the World Council of Churches. There are ten ACT
members operating in the three countries. The members of the
ecumenical team will visit all ACT members, WCC and LWF member
churches, and related partners in those countries.  

Members of the delegation include:

ACT International:
Sophie Gabbe Nygaard, senior advisor, Emergency Unit, Norwegian
Church Aid 
Roswitha Brender, desk officer, West Africa, Diakonie Emergency
Aid (Germany)
Callie Long, communication officer, ACT International

Lutheran World Federation: 
Paul Mbugua Kamau, Kenya Evangelical Lutheran Church

World Council of Churches:
Bishop S. Tilewa Johnson, Anglican Diocese of Gambia
Melaku Kifle, programme executive, WCC International Relations

For further information, please contact Media Relations Office,
Tel.:  (+41.22) 791.61.53

**********
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.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: ka@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

PO Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland