World Council of Churches - News Release
Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org For immediate release - 05/07/2007 03:31:24 PM
REGIONAL NETWORKS MEETING TO EXAMINE IMPACT OF MIGRATION ON THE CHURCH ACROSS THE MEDITERRANEAN REGION
Representatives of churches, church-related organisations and ecumenical bodies associated with the World Council of Churches (WCC) from Africa, Europe and the Middle East will be gathering in Brussels from 6-9 July 2007 for a meeting on migration in and between these regions. The participants from sending and receiving regions will focus on the issue of removals from Europe, coordinate advocacy work directed towards the European Union and the African Union and develop advocacy strategies to be implemented in the regions with a particular emphasis on "being church together".
Current migration streams across the Mediterranean region particularly affect Africa, Europe and the Middle East and have a strong impact on the contexts in which churches live. Therefore the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), the Churches' Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) and the Middle East Council of Churches (MECC) have joint forces building a regional network on migration.
For the WCC and its partners, migration in today's globalized world raises questions about the issue's correlation with development, remittances, regional and inter-regional mobility, removals and readmission agreements as well as refugee protection and resettlement.
WCC Regional Networks Meeting provides a platform for the partners to identify the connections between migration and its effects on the changing ecclesial landscape. It offers a chance for wider participation both from Eastern and Western Europe.
The July gathering is hosted by the CCME. The Christian Conference of Asia attends in an observer status. Discussions will build on decisions made at the WCC Global Ecumenical Network on Migration conference held in Nairobi, 6-8 June 2007.
The meeting ends on Monday, with participants joining the Civil Society Dialogue on Migration and Development, an event organised by the Belgian King Baudouin Foundation. It brings together a broad range of non-governmen tal actors to discuss the migration and development nexus and give input to the inter-governmental Global Forum on International Migration and Development, 10-11 July.
Media contacts: Matti Peiponen: +358 50 338 7052 Sydia Nduna: +41 22 791 6212 Doris Peschke: +32 2 234 6800
More information on WCC work on migration and social justice: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/programmes/justice-diakonia-and-responsibility- for-creation/migration-and-social-justice.html
See also press release on the 6-8 June 2007 Global Ecumenical Network on Migration conference: http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/all-news-english/display-s ingle-english-news/article/1634/churches-need-to-speak-mo.html
Additional information: Juan Michel, +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org
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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 347 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 Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.
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