wfn.org | WCC and CEC concerned about violence against Serbian Orthodox in Kosovo

[Worldwide Faith News <wfn@igc.org>]

World Council of Churches
Update, Up-02-24
For Immediate Use
20 August 2002

Issued jointly with the Conference of European Churches

WCC and CEC concerned about violence against Serbian Orthodox in Kosovo

cf. WCC Press Update, Up-02-32, of 6 October 2000

"We are writing to express our profound concern at the continued violence 
facing members of the Serbian Orthodox Church and its cultural and 
spiritual property in Kosovo and Metohija in the recent period"; this is 
the aim of two letters sent today by the general secretary of the World 
Council of Churches (WCC), Rev. Dr Konrad Raiser, and the general secretary 
of the Conference of European Churches (CEC), Rev. Dr Keith Clements. The 
letters were addressed to His Holiness Pavle, patriarch of the Serbian 
Orthodox Church, and Mr Michael Steiner, special representative of the 
United Nations' secretary general and head of the UN Interim Administration 
in Kosovo.

"The deliberate attacks on the churches and holy places of the Serbian 
Orthodox Church occurring in Kosovo and Metohija at this time," Raiser and 
Clements write, "are a painful and scandalous manifestation of the 
extremism and instability still affecting parts of this region." On behalf 
of the WCC and the CEC, the two general secretaries condemn these acts of 
violence, which reflect "the inadequacy of the international protection 
provided by the interim authorities in Kosovo to the minority communities, 
and particularly to the Serbian community". They appeal for "effective 
security and justice for all the peoples and the protection of their 
spiritual and cultural inheritance in Kosovo."

"It is the firm belief of our organisations", they state, "that a lasting 
solution for peace in this region can only be based on a situation of 
tolerance and respect for all ethnic and religious communities". Churches 
and religious communities are called to "contribute to an opening of minds 
and a calming of hearts at this time".

The full text of the letters is available on the WCC Website:
http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/koslets19-08-02.html

For more information please contact:
World Council of Churches, Media Relations Office
Tel. +41 22 791 64 21
Conference of European Churches, Office of Communications
Tel. +41 22 791 64 85 or 791 63 25

**********
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: media@wcc-coe.org
Web: www.wcc-coe.org

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