wfn.org | Seminars Highlight World Council of Churches' UN Advocacy Week

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

MEDIA ADVISORY

ECUMENICAL, INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS LEADERS WILL STRATEGIZE KEY HUMANITARIAN
ISSUES IN NEW YORK AS UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETS

Seminars Highlight World Council of Churches' Annual UN Advocacy Week

NEW YORK, NY - Fri Nov 12- A series of high level seminars featuring
international affairs and ecumenical leaders will highlight next week9s
World Council of Churches' second annual UN Advocacy Week in New York.

Seminar presenters include Jan Egeland United Nations Undersecretary General
for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, UN Millennium
Development Goals Campaign Executive Director Salil Shetty, Ambassador
Henrik Salander, UN Secretary-General, Weapons of Mass Destruction
Commission (Blix Commission), and Rev. John L. McCullough, Executive
Director of the global humanitarian agency Church World Service.

The seminars will explore key world issues of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation
Treaty, the crisis in Sudan, UN reform, and economic justice and Millennium
Development Campaign goals with an audience of invited representatives from
diplomatic missions, UN staff, non-governmental organizations (NGOs),
members of the wider ecumenical movement and the WCC9s Commission of the
Churches on International Affairs (CCIA).

World Council of Churches UN Advocacy Week is scheduled Sunday November 14 -
Friday November 19 in New York City at the Church Center at the UN and the
WCC's UN liaison office, with some seminars taking place in the United
Nations building itself.

WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) Director
Peter Weiderud says the international ecumenical organization scheduled its
Advocacy Week and seminars to coincide with next week9s meeting of the UN
General Assembly.

"We hope that the event will be an expression of support for the United
Nations' work on peace and conflict resolution," said Weiderud.

WHAT:

WORLD COUNCIL OF CHURCHES UN ADVOCACY WEEK - PUBLIC SEMINARS

A series of four main public seminars featuring advocacy, information
sharing and strategizing with focus on the responsibility of the
international community and the role of the churches in peace, security,
economic justice and development

INCLUSIVE SEMINAR DATES: MONDAY NOVEMBER 15 - THURSDAY NOVEMBER 18, 2004
SEMINAR TIMES: 1:15 - 3:00 PM
CONFERENCE ROOM 4, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS

Participants in the WCC Advocacy Week seminars and working sessions will
address how to improve cooperation and prioritize efforts in the present
international political environment.

"THE ROLE OF CHURCHES IN FULFILLING THE MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS"
Monday, 15 November 2004
Speaker:
Mr. Salil Shetty, Executive Director, UN MDG Campaign

Respondents:

Mr. Goh Chien Yen, Third World Net Work
Mr. Philip Atkins, Jubilee 2000 - USA

  "CHURCHES' QUEST FOR A NUCLEAR ARMS-FREE WORLD"
Tuesday, 16 November 2004
Speaker:
Ambassador Nobuyasu Abe, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs

Respondents:
Ambassador Henrik Salander, Secretary-General, Weapons of Mass Destruction
Commission (Blix Commission),
Mr. Ernie Regehr, Executive Director, Project Ploughshares

"THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY FOR PEACE IN SUDAN"
Wednesday, 17 November 2004
Speakers:
Hon. Abel Alier, Former Vice-President of Sudan and
Mr. Jan Egeland, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs
and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Respondent:
Rev. John L. McCullough, Executive Director, Church World Service

"CHURCH CONTRIBUTION TO UN REFORM"
Thursday, 18 November 2004
Speaker:
Mr. Andreas Zumach, UN correspondent

Respondents:
Prof. Peter Wallensteen, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Ambassador Bethuel Kiplagat, Kenya, CCIA Moderator

BACKGROUND:

"The CCIA/WCC witness on issues of war, peace, justice and human rights has
been a source of information and guidance to Christians and churches around
the world faced with complex dilemmas of international politics," says CCIA
director Peter Weiderud.

Rev. John McCullough, Executive Director of New York-headquartered
humanitarian agency Church World Service and a WCC seminar presenter, said
"We are encouraged by joining with the World Council of Churches in the
prospect of assembling with some of the pre-eminent drivers of world policy
on peace and justice.

"As the UN General Assembly meets," McCullough said,  "we will be motivated
by this opportunity to explore world needs in tandem, and to focus on the
particular role that faith organizations must assume in helping guide
solutions for our most critical issues."

The World Council of Churches is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in more
than 120 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, Netherlands. Its staff is headed by
general secretary Samuel Kobia from the Methodist church in Kenya.

Church World Service, an ecumenical partner of the WCC, is a
non-governmental agency providing sustainable self-help and development,
disaster relief, advocacy and refugee assistance worldwide and disaster
recovery services domestically. CWS is supported in part by 36 Protestant,
Orthodox, and Anglican denominations.

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MEDIA CONTACTS:

World Council of Churches:
Dr Laurence Konmla Bropleh, Permanent Representative
WCC UN Liaison Office
Phone: 212  867 5891, Mobile: 1 202 258 4166
email: lbr@wcc-coe.org

or Juan Michel
Phone: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363
e-mail: media@wcc-coe.org

Information on the 2004 WCC Advocacy Week is available at:

http://www.wcc-coe.org/wcc/what/international/advocweek04.html

More information on the work of the WCC UN Liaison Office (UNLO) in New
York is available at http://www.wcc-un.org

Church World Service/New York:
Ann Walle/CWS
Phone: (212) 870 2654
e-mail: awalle@churchworldservice.org

Jan Dragin/New York/Boston - 24/7
Phone: (871) 925-1526
e-mail: jdragin@gis.net