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World Council of Churches
Press Release PR-03-13
For Immediate Use
19 March 2002

UN Human Rights Commission: 
WCC to highlight increasing religious intolerance

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 of
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, and
will present a report by one of the ecumenical accompaniers. It will also
show a video, "Ending Occupation: Voices for 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. 

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office,  tel: +41
(0)22 791 64 21 /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: media@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

PO Box 2100
1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland
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