wfn.org | WCC NEWS: Durban II: WCC welcomes outcome, with some regrets

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

World Council of Churches - News Release

Contact: +41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

>For immediate release - 23/04/2009 16:19:23

GLOBAL CHURCH GROUPINGS WELCOME DURBAN II OUTCOME, WITH SOME REGRETS

Two global church organizations have congratulated the Durban Review  Conference on the adoption of its outcome document, while regretting that  the latter makes no mention of the plight of hundreds of millions of  people affected by caste-based discrimination. In a joint oral intervention  at the conference today, The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the  Lutheran World Federation (LWF) welcomed the reaffirmation of the 2001  Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, as well as the international  community's commitment to overcome all forms of racism "in all parts of  the world, including those 'under foreign occupation'".

However, the two global church groupings regretted that the conference  "failed to acknowledge the suffering of the more than 200 million people  discriminated against on the basis of work and descent". Formerly known as  untouchables, the Dalits are "invisible" in the document, despite their  situation falling squarely under the definition of racial discrimination  by UN standards.

One month ago, both organizations convened a conference in Bangkok (  http://www.oikoumene.org/en/news/news-management/eng/a/article/1722/accompa nying-dalits-in-th.html )on that subject. On that occasion, representatives  of churches and church-related organizations from around the world  expressed their solidarity with the Dalit struggle for justice.

The two global church groupings welcomed the proposal made by the High  Commissioner for Human Rights of creating an "observatory on discrimination ", which may help throw further light on the situation of the millions of  victims of untouchability practices. There are some 260 million Dalits  worldwide, 200 million of them in India.

Another welcomed development is the exclusion of the concept of "defamation  of religions" from the conference outcome document. By not allowing the  concept to "inappropriately intrude into [the document's] human rights  framework," the document instead "properly addresses itself to the  'stigmatization of personsbased on their religion or belief'," the two  organizations stated.

Full text of the WCC/LWF oral intervention at the Durban Review Conference:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6810

Learn more about WCC work in solidarity with Dalits:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3249

Additional information:Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363media@wcc -coe.org

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 Samuel Kobia, from  the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.