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>World Council of Churches - News

CONGOLESE CHURCH AND GOVERNMENT REPRESENTATIVES TO DISCUSS HUMAN  RIGHTS

>For immediate release: 12 April 2010

Human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will be the  topic
of a workshop bringing together high-level representatives of government,
churches and international organisations in the country's capital
Kinshasa, 13-17 April.

Speakers at the workshop include the United Nations special rapporteur  on
the situation of human rights defenders Margaret Sekaggya, the DRC  justice
minister Luzolo Bambi, as well as the ministers in charge of planning,
economy and gender issues, the national president of the Church  of Christ
in Congo (ECC) Bishop Pierre Marini Bodho, the All Africa Conference  of
Churches (AACC) vice-president Methodist Bishop David Yemba, as  well as
other prominent representatives of state, church and civil society.

The workshop is organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC)  with the
co-operation of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). It is part  of a
three-year project of WCC for human rights defenders in Africa,  funded by
the European Commission. The workshop is hosted by the coordination
committee of WCC member churches in the DRC.

Participants come from the different provinces of DRC as well as
neighbouring Angola, Rwanda and Burundi. They include human rights
practitioners and clergy of the Lutheran, Kimbanguist, Orthodox,
Methodist, Anglican churches and Roman Catholic, the ECC, the Salvation
Army, Pax Christi, the Fellowship of Christian Councils and Churches  in
the Great Lakes and Horn of Africa, as well as government and UN
officials, ambassadors from different countries and a number of  civil
society organizations.

"There has been limited improvement in the situation of human rights  in the
Democratic Republic of Congo, over the last couple of years. It  is in this
context that this workshop is taking place, hoping to provide a  space
where national and international stakeholders can discuss the major
challenges the country is facing and the role the Churches can play  in
order to enhance the promotion and protection of human rights,"  says WCC
programme executive for Human Rights Christina Papazoglou.

Media contact in Kinshasa: Christina Papazoglou, +243-99.80.18.345

WCC member churches in the DRC (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=2c0aaa4500f74b8ed6fc )

WCC work on human rights (Link:

http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=b1637099548d0f34bf43 )

WCC Central Committee, September 2009: Statement on sexual violence  against
women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=52b69c964de5bea4c202 )

WCC Living Letters visit to the DRC, 8-15 July 2009 (Link:
http://www.oikoumene.org/index.php?RDCT=17272947922e3aff7642
)

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith,  witness and 
service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship  of churches 
founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant,
Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560  million 
Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the  Roman 
Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Olav Fykse  Tveit, from 
the [Lutheran] Church of Norway. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.