Regional training workshop on UN Human Rights Protection Mechanisms highlights Asian churches’ participation in advocacy

Programme Review and Programme Direction

Two key deliberative sessions during the 15th CCA General Assembly are the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions.

The Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions will both be conducted in three groups relating to the CCA’s programme areas, namely, (i) General Secretariat (GS), (ii) Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF); and (iii) Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia (PD).

Assembly participants will have the option to join one of three groups for both the Programme Review and Programme Direction sessions. For the sake of coherence, the assigned group will remain the same for both sessions.

General Secretariat

The General Secretariat oversees the coordination of programmatic, administrative, and financial activities of the organization. The GS comprises various departments such as church and ecumenical relations, relations with ecumenical partners, finance, administration, and communications, which provide crucial support and services for the implementation of programs and contribute to the overall functioning of the CCA.

Programmes: Relations with member churches and councils, ecumenical partners; advocacy at the United Nations; ecumenical responses to emerging issues in solidarity; income development and finance; and communications.

Mission in Unity and Contextual Theology (MU) and Ecumenical Leadership Formation and Spirituality (EF)

Under the MU programme area, the CCA accompanies Asian churches to strengthen their mission and witness in multi-religious contexts, revitalise and nurture church unity and the Asian ecumenical movement, and develop contextual theological foundations.

Programmes: Asian Movement for Christian Unity (AMCU); Congress of Asian Theologians (CATS); Asian women doing theology in the context of wider ecumenism; contextualisation of theology in Asia and ecumenical theological education.

The EF programme area focuses on nurturing and developing ecumenical leaders in Asia. The programme aims to enhance spiritual formation and theological understanding, enabling people to actively engage in ecumenical dialogue and collaboration.

Programmes: Ecumenical Enablers’ Training in Asia (EETA); Asian Ecumenical Institute (AEI); Youth and Women Leadership Development; Ecumenical Spirituality and Nurturing of Contextual Liturgical Traditions; Asia Sunday

Building Peace and Moving Beyond Conflicts (BP) and Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy (PD)

The BP programme area is dedicated to promoting peace, justice, and reconciliation in Asia’s diverse contexts. Through training, advocacy, and dialogue, the programme addresses the root causes of conflicts, empowers communities, and fosters sustainable peacebuilding initiatives.

Programmes: Pastoral Solidarity Visits; Churches in Action for Moving Beyond Conflict and Resolution; Young Ambassadors of Peace in Asia (YAPA); Ecumenical Women’s Action Against Violence (EWAAV); Eco-Justice for Sustainable Peace in the Oikos.

The PD programme area focuses on promoting justice, human rights, and social transformation in Asia. Through advocacy, capacity-building, and raising awareness, the programme addresses systemic injustice, empowers marginalised communities, and advocates for prophetic actions and meaningful change.

Programmes: Human Rights advocacy; Migration, Statelessness, and Trafficking in Persons; Asian Ecumenical Disability Advocacy Network; Asian Advocacy Network on the Dignity and Rights of Children (AANDRoC); Ecumenical Solidarity Accompaniment and Diakonia in Asia (ESADA); Health and Healing; Good Governance; Action Together to Combat HIV and AIDS in Asia (ATCHAA).

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27 May 2019
Participants of the workshopParticipants of the Workshop

The Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) jointly organized a training workshop on the U.N. Human Rights Protection Mechanisms.

The workshop, held at the CCA headquarters from 23 to 25 May 2019, was attended by 20 participants selected from CCA and WCC member churches in Asia.

The main purpose of the training was aimed at empowering member churches and national councils of churches in Asia with knowledge and skills needed to advocate for human rights through established intergovernmental systems and mechanisms especially through the  United Nations (U.N.) system, said Dr. Mathews George Chunakara.

With expertise on working with the United Nations system, as well as experiences with international NGOs advocating for human rights, WCC’s programme executives Jennifer Philpot-Nielsen and Segma Asfaw  facilitated the workshop sessions.

Hanae Hanzawa of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at the Regional Office for Southeast Asia gave an interactive presentation on “The United Nations Human Rights System” Through a live video conference. Ms. Hanzawa’s presentation was interspersed with videos that explained the U.N. human rights system. Various interactive sessions of the three-day workshop provided opportunities for participants to scrutinize case studies of human rights situations involving their own countries, as well as to delve on actual reports of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of different countries.

Other topics covered during the training included UPR procedures, analyzing specific issues and contexts related to rights of women and children. Participants were given opportunities to explore the options of churches and national ecumenical councils in different parts of Asia to use the U.N. human rights mechanisms as avenues to work for improving the human rights protection practices in their respective places.

The World Council of Churches and the Christian Conference of Asia have special consultative status with the U.N. ECOSOC which accredits representatives to various U.N. events and regular sessions of the U.N. Human Rights Council, as well as UPR Review sessions.