wfn.org | Churches to launch global campaign on trade and human rights

["WCC Media" <Media@wcc-coe.org>]

World Council of Churches
Press Release PR-02-33
For Immediate Use
9 December 2002

Churches to launch global campaign on trade and human rights

A global network of churches and related organizations are launching a
three-year "Trade for people, not people for trade" campaign on 10 December -
International Human Rights Day.  The campaign - launched by the Ecumenical
Advocacy Alliance (EAA) - will press for international human rights, social,
and environmental agreements to take precedence over trade agreements and
policies.  

The Alliance is a global network of more than 85 churches, development
agencies, and related organizations on all continents, including the World
Council of Churches (WCC), representing a constituency of hundreds of
millions of people. 

"Global trade can either promote or hinder justice, peace and
sustainability," explains EAA committee member and World Young Women's
Christian Association (YWCA) general secretary Dr Musimbi Kanyoro. "We will
use human rights principles to challenge economic injustice and to change
trade rules in favour of justice between and within countries and
communities, create alternatives, and support people struggling against
economic discrimination."

The campaign will advocate for:
* trade rules that recognize the right to food, ensure sustainable
agriculture    
      and food security for all, and promote greater self-reliance in
developing 
      countries;
* global and national trade policies and rules that guarantee access for all
to 
      essential services, based on human rights principles; and
* regulation of transnational corporations (TNCs) to ensure that they 
      contribute to poverty eradication, promotion of human rights, and the 
      protection of the environment.

A meeting with the press will be held on Tuesday, 10 December at 13:00 in
Press Room II, Palais des Nations, Geneva.  Speakers will include:

Prof. Dr Christoph Stueckelberger, director, Bread for All (Switzerland) and
member, EAA Global Trade Strategy Group

Rev. Woungly-Massaga Mamia Ebenezer, director, Eglise Protestante Africaine
(Cameroon), EAA participating church
Ms Linda Hartke, coordinator, Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance
Dr Musimbi Kanyoro, general secretary, World YWCA, and member, EAA Ecumenical
Advocacy Committee

For further information, please contact the Media Relations Office, tel: +41
(0)22 791 64 21

For more information on the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance and the Trade for
People campaign, see www.e-alliance.ch 

**********

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is a fellowship of churches, now 342, in
more than 100 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, The Netherlands. Its staff is headed by general secretary
Konrad Raiser from the Evangelical Church in Germany.

World Council of Churches
Media Relations Office
Tel: (41 22) 791 6153 / 791 6421
Fax: (41 22) 798 1346
E-mail: media@wcc-coe.org 
Web: www.wcc-coe.org 

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