wfn.org | NCC on Development, Security, Due Process, Genocide, Middle East

["Carol Fouke" <cfouke@ncccusa.org>]

February 16, 2005
For Immediate Release

NCC BOARD TAKES ACTIONS ON GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT, SMART SECURITY, MIDDLE EAST,
ARMENIAN GENOCIDE, DUE PROCESS

1. NCC Endorses U.N.'s Millennium Development Goals

Halving global poverty by 2015 and ultimately ending it altogether is the aim
of the United Nations' Millennium Development Goals.  The National Council of
Churches USA, at its quarterly Governing Board meeting Feb. 14-15, 2005, in
New York City, endorsed the goals and pledged to work for their achievement.

The Millennium Development Goals set specific targets within categories of
extreme poverty and hunger; primary education; gender equality and
empowerment of women; child mortality; maternal health; HIV/AIDS, malaria and
other diseases, and environmental sustainability.  They call for
establishment of a global partnership for development.

The NCC pledged "to support, through advocacy, education and other
appropriate means, programs that work toward the achievement of these goals,
and urges its member communions to work together with one another and other
church and ecumenical organizations that work toward these same ends."	

Details about the Millennium Development Goals and NCC resources are
available at www.ncccusa.org

2. SMART Security Platform Promotes Peace, International Cooperation, NCC
Says

What foreign policy alternatives exist to better assure America's security
and address terrorism?	The organization Physicians for Social Responsibility
offers its "SMART" Security Platform, and the NCC endorsed the platform at
its quarterly Governing Board meeting, Feb. 14-15, 2005, in New York City.

"SMART" is an acronym for "Standing for Sensible Multilateral American
Response to Terrorism."  The platform makes specific recommendations for
strengthening international institutions and supporting the rule of law to
prevent acts of terrorism and future wars; reducing the threat and stopping
the spread of nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction, and changing
budget priorities to reflect "SMART" security needs.

Visit www.ncccusa.org for more information and the text of the Governing
Board's action.

3. Statement of Middle East Delegation Commended to Member Churches

"Barriers Do Not Bring Freedom," the statement of the National Council of
Churches USA's official delegation to the Middle East Jan. 21-Feb. 4, has
been commended to the Council's 36 member churches for their consideration.

Delegation members reported Feb. 14 to the NCC's Governing Board at its
regular quarterly meeting.  The 11-member delegation met with Christian,
Jewish and Muslim leaders in Lebanon, Egypt, Israel and Palestine, with the
aim of understanding current on-the-ground realities in the context of
renewed optimism for peace, expressing solidarity with Christians in the
region and meeting with new leadership of the Middle East Council of
Churches.

The statement, which offers a sobering assessment of the current situation,
reflects the delegation's experiences and insights gleaned from the various
meetings.  The Board voted to receive the report and commend it to the
Councilâ??s members.  Read more at www.ncccusa.org 

4. NCC Commemorates 90th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

On April 24, 2005, it will be 90 years since the start of the Armenian
Genocide, in which 1.5 million Armenians in Ottoman Turkey died and almost
the entire Armenian population was deported from its ancestral lands in Asia
Minor.	

Many of the methods employed in that genocide - the first of the 20th century
- would become models for subsequent genocides, such as under the Nazi regime
and in the Soviet Union, Cambodia and Rwanda.  

Despite copious documentation and the inter-disciplinary consensus of serious
scholars, the Armenian Genocide is still not acknowledged by the present-day
Republic of Turkey - nor, officially, by the U.S. government.  And despite
the lessons of the past, the horrors of genocide continue to the present day,
most recently in Darfur, Sudan.

In response, the NCC Governing Board, meeting Feb. 14-15, 2005, in New York
City, resolved to ask the Republic of Turkey and the U.S. government to grant
official recognition of the Armenian Genocide, and to ask that the world
community heed the lessons of the Armenian Genocide.  

Specifically, the Board asks recognition and unambiguous acknowledgement of
"the early 'seeds' of genocide when they arise, to act speedily and
decisively in these early stages, so as to preempt full-blown genocide" and
"to resist and rebuke the deniers of genocide."  

Finally, the NCC joined other faithful, including members of the Armenian
Church, in remembrance of the souls of those who perished in the Armenian and
other genocides in the past 90 years, in prayers for the peace of those who
survived, and in petition that "in the century just beginning, God will free
humankind of the scourge of genocide once and for all."  Complete text is
available at www.ncccusa.org 

5. NCC Weighs In, Again, on Due Process for National Security Detainees

The National Council of Churches USA Feb. 15 heard a concern expressed by the
NCC's Interfaith Relations Commission on the effects of the USA PATRIOT Act
on civil rights and due process for Muslim people. 

The Governing Board of the Council, at its quarterly meeting (Feb. 14-15),
voted to receive a statement which noted that in the past the NCC has joined
with other organizations "to advocate for tighter controls on current
anti-terrorism efforts and the highest standard of scrutiny in laws and
policy changes related to civil liberties," and has spoken out on civil
rights and due process for detainees at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Graib.

The statement asked that the NCC speak out more directly about the USA
PATRIOT Act in order to express its solidarity with Muslims and others whose
well-being continues to be threatened by some of its provisions. "This is
especially important in view of the upcoming Congressional debates on certain
provisions of the Act," it said.  

The Interfaith Relations Commission, in meetings last weekend in St.
Petersburg, Fla., with representatives of a Florida social advocacy
organization, HOPE (Hillsboro Organization for Peace and Equality) and the
Tampa chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), heard
about the case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian. 

Emphatically noting that it is not taking any stand on Dr. Al-Arian's guilt
or innocence but rather on his right to due process and humane treatment, the
Council resolved to make known concerns about the treatment of the former
professor at Florida State University, arrested in February 2003.  

CAIR "shared with us statistics and concerns about civil rights in the Muslim
community since the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act," the Commission reported.
"The Muslim community came to us as an authoritative Christian body and said,
'We are hurting over this.  Please stand up and be counted,'" said Betty
Gamble, a member of the NCC Interfaith Relations Commission.

Asserted Mia Adjali, United Methodist Church, "We are using this person as an
example of so many others.  Whatever this man may have done or not, the issue
is the inhumane treatment that's befallen Muslim people, Arab people, anyone
who looks like an Arab."

In addition to the Board's action, the NCC's Justice and Advocacy Commission
is developing a new policy on civil liberties.	

-end-

National Council of Churches
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110 Maryland Ave. N.E., Washington, DC 20002
www.ncccusa.org
Media Contact: Carol Fouke, 212-870-2252; cfouke@ncccusa.org