wfn.org | Global Christian leaders advocate for human rights in Honduras

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

Global Christian leaders advocate for human rights in Honduras

> Written by Staff Reports
> October 22, 2009

The UCC's Justice and Witness Ministries has joined an international
delegation of religious leaders calling for an investigation into
human rights violations in the wake of the June 29, 2009, coup d'etat
in Honduras.

The following press release was issued by the World Council of
Churches indicating the coalition's intent. Michael Neuroth, UCC
policy advocate for international issues, is a key participant of the
delegation.

> - - - - - - - - - - -

> FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
> October 22, 2009

Global Christian leaders advocate for human rights in Honduras
Ecumenical delegation to meet with high-level officials to promote
peace and reconciliation after Honduran coup.

An emergency delegation of international Christians leaders,
representing the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the National
Council of Churches of Christ of the USA, will arrive in Washington,
D.C., today to advocate for the cessation of widespread human rights
violations in Honduras, a country torn apart by a coup d'etat staged
on June 28, 2009.

The six-person delegation, including American, European, Honduran, and
Argentinean leaders, will meet with the General Secretary of the
Organization of American States and State Department officials to urge
firmer and more decisive action to restore democracy and ensure full
compliance with rule of law and respect for fundamental human rights
in Honduras. The suffering and insecurity of the people of Honduras
has reached crisis proportions, and long delays in resolving the
situation following the coup are unacceptable.

The delegation's high-level meetings in Washington, D.C., follow two
delegations to Honduras this summer: the World Council of Churches
"Living Letters" delegation met with church and civil society groups
in early August, and the Latin American Council of Churches led a
pastoral visit in late September. Both visits strongly urged the
return of President Manuel Zelaya in order to hold free and legal
elections within the country's constitutional framework.

Noemi Madrid de Espinoza, President of the Theological Community of
Honduras and a member of the delegation who participated in the
"Living Letters" visit to Honduras, reiterates that "the repression,
arrests, forced disappearances and violence directed against the
population and especially against women must come to an end now."

The General Secretary of the World Council of Churches has also
previously written to the General Secretary of the Organization of
American States on behalf of the Churches to advocate for the
re-establishment of constitutional order and an end to human rights
abuses in Honduras.

WCC Representative to the United Nations, the Rev. Christopher
Ferguson, notes that "churches in Honduras feel called to accompany
the people in creating dialogue and promoting a message of healing and
reconciliation. The repression and violations of Human Rights must
stop and new bridges must be built to create a society which is based
on justice and respect for all."

> Members of the delegation include:

- Rev. Dr. Michael Kinnamon, General Secretary of the NCCCUSA

- Rev. Dr. Bernice Powell Jackson, President, North America, World
Council of Churches

- Lic. Noemi Madrid de Espinoza, Vice Moderator of the Commission
of the Churches for International affairs of the WCC, and President
(Administration) of the Theological Community of Honduras

- Bishop (Emeritus) Aldo Etchegoyen, Evangelical Methodist Church
of Argentina, and Co-President of the Permanent Assembly of Human
Rights of Argentina

- Rev. Christopher Ferguson, Representative to the United Nations
of the World Council of Churches

- Michael Neuroth, Policy Advocate on International Issues, United
Church of Christ, Justice and Witness Ministries

For press inquiries and to schedule interviews please contact Michael
Neuroth at neurothm@ucc.org or (202) 230-2276.