MEDIA ADVISORY
1,000 INTERNATIONAL FAITH LEADERS, ACTIVISTS WILL TACKLE CHILD POVERTY AT WASHINGTON ECUMENICAL ADVOCACY CONFERENCE
Focus: What Violence, Globalization, Environmental Degradation and Global Warming Are Doing to the World's Children
Highlights: Killings in Burma, Philippines - South America's beleaguered Chaco region- The fate of girl children in Africa -
Conference open to media - Interviews with presenters available on request
WASHINGTON, DC - Mon March 5 - More than 1,000 international human rights advocates and faith leaders will convene in suburban Washington this month to tackle the issues and press greater U.S. support for the top challenges threatening the world's most vulnerable children.
"And How Are the Children," theme for the fifth annual Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice Conference, is scheduled March 9-12 in Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia.
The conference is co-sponsored by humanitarian agency Church World Service, the National Council of Churches USA , the Children's Defense Fund and more than 50 other faith-based and policy advocacy organizations. Organizers hope the symposium will contribute to a growing recognition among Americans of all religious backgrounds and political stripes that ending child poverty is an essential element to this nation's pursuit of the common good.
On Monday March 12, participants will meet with lawmakers to petition greater U.S. support for three key domestic and international issues focused on children, calling for:
* Congressional action in 2007 that ensures affordable, comprehensive, accessible and quality healthcare for all children living in the U.S. * Comprehensive, mandatory and aggressive anti-global warming legislation that will protect future generations * Adoption by Congress of new "spending for Peace, Not War" priorities
WHAT: International presenters and participants will focus on domestic and global child poverty issues in the U.S., Latin America, the Asia-Pacific region, Africa and the Middle East, with topics including:
* Migration and unaccompanied children crossing borders * Child soldiers * The dangers of global warming on children now and in the future * Escalating violence and human rights abuses in Burma and the Philippines * Contamination of water supplies and the effect on indigenous communities * The ill effects of odious debt in Africa and free trade agreements on poor workers and families in Latin America * The effects of current Middle East conflict on the region's children * The impact of current U.S. security policies on children
WHEN: March 9-12, 2007
WHERE: Doubletree Crystal City, Arlington, Virginia
WHO:
* Marian Wright Edelman, Founder and President of the Children's Defense Fund * Rev. Dr. Bernice Powell Jackson, North American President for the World Council of Churches * Rev. Dr. Clifton Kirkpatrick, Stated Clerk of the Presbyterian Church (USA) * Dr. Bob Edgar, General Secretary, National Council of Churches USA * The Most Rev. Deogracias S. Iniguez, Jr., D.D., Bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Caloocan, the Philippines * Rev. John L. McCullough, Executive Director and CEO, Church World Service * Mercedes Roman, Global Network of Religions for Children (GNRC), Latin America and Caribbean Region, and the UN Representative for Defense for Children International (DCI) * David Batstone, Professor of Ethics, San Francisco University, and author of the forthcoming book Not for Sale: The Return of the Global Slave Trade - and How We Can Fight It
The conference's international presenters include Church World Service partners:
From Africa:
* Francis Ng'ambi, Project Officer on Budget, Debt and Trade for the Economic Justice Network of the Southern Africa Conference of Churches * Paul Mugo Maina, Chief Executive Officer, Centre for Development Services, Nakuru, Kenya
For Burma, the Philippines and Asia-Pacific Rim:
* Jack Dunford, Executive Director Thailand Burma Border Consortium * Marie Hilao Enriquez, Secretary General of the Philippine non-governmenta l organization Karapatan * Sharon Rose Joy Duremdesz, Chief Executive and General Secretary, National Council of Churches in the Philippines * Bishop Eliezer Pascua, General Secretary of the United Church of Christ of the Philippines * Reverend Father Jose P. Dizon, founder and current executive director of the Workers Assistance Center, Inc., the Philippines * Athea Penalosa, Children's Rehabilitation Center, Quezon City, the Philippines * Sister Filo Hirota, Japanese Bishops' Peace Council and the Catholic Council for Justice and Peace of the Episcopal Conference of Japan * Simon Billenness, Board Treasurer of the U.S. Campaign for Burma
From Latin America:
* Ricardo Esquivia, Colombian peace activist and winner of the 2005 Peacemaker in Action award from the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Action * Germán Bournisse, National Coordinator of the National Team of Indigenous Pastoral (ENDEPA), Argentina * Pahola Yanina Rímola García , Program Coordinator of FEPAZ, the Guatemala Ecumenical Forum for Peace and Reconciliation * Dr. Jorge Freyre Scafati, General Coordinator of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for the Defense of the Rights of Children and Adolescents
Among featured presenters:
Victor Quintana, Mexican scholar-activist and opponent of globalization, and Larry Mitchell, National Corn Growers Association Chief Executive Officer - co-presenting the workshop "A New Farm Bill: U.S. and Global Livelihoods on the Line."
Mark Weisbrot, Co-Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Washington, D.C., weekly columnist and broadcast commentator- leading a workshop on "Economic Globalization," with focus on the impact of globalization in Latin America and the economic forces driving migration.
Dr. Robert Nelson, Senior Staff Scientist, Union of Concerned Scientists, Faithful Security Coordinator Jessica Wilbanks, and David Culp, Legislative Representative for the Friends Committee on National Legislation- presenting the workshop "Nuclear Weapons Buildup."
Institute for Policy Studies' Emira Woods, Co-Director of IPS' Foreign Policy in Focus- presenting "The Debt of the Dictators," a documentary on the impacts of crushing debt in Argentina, South Africa, the Philippines and the Democratic Republic of Congo, followed by a case study presentation on Liberia.
Steve Kretzmann, Executive Director, Oil Change International, and other analysts- presenting "International Debt, Oil, and Climate Change: Making the Links!"
CWS Policy Analyst and Advocate Kathy McNeely, and Angela Wauye, Food Security Programme Coordinator for ActionAid International, Kenya- presenting the workshop "Introduction to International Trade"
Ecumenical Advocacy Days for Global Peace with Justice is a movement of the international ecumenical Christian community, its recognized partners and allies.
For a complete program agenda and list of speakers, visit: http://www.advoc acydays.org. For a list of sponsors, visit http://www.advocacydays.org/spon sors.
Media Contacts
Lesley Crosson, (212) 870-2676, lcrosson@churchworldservice.org Jan Dragin - 24/7 - (781) 925-1526, jdragin@gis.net
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