Reports 1995-1998 Edited by Dwain C. Epps

Commission and Sub-Commission on Human Rights

Oral intervention on the human rights of detainees and prisoners in the USA, February.

Oral intervention on situations which appear to reveal a consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights, presenting the findings of the WCC hearings on racism carried out the previous year in the United States of America, March.

Oral intervention at the Sub-Commission on contemporary forms of slavery, focusing on the plight of Asian “comfort women,” August.

1996: Written statement submitted jointly with Caritas Internationalis and the Friends World Committee for Consultation (Quakers) calling for the application of existing principles and the elaboration of new international standards for the protection of the human rights of internally displaced persons March.

Oral intervention at the Sub-Commission on the question of impunity for perpetrators of human rights violations, August.

Oral interventions by representatives of the Maori people of Aoteoroa/New Zealand and the Aymara people of Bolivia to the Working Group of the Sub-Commission on Indigenous Populations, August.

Oral interventions during the Intersessional Working Group on the Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, October.

1997: Oral intervention calling upon the Commission to endorse the appointment of Mme Erica Daes as Special Rapporteur on the Study of Indigenous Land Rights and the Environment; to adopt the Indigenous Peoples Programme Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as representing minimum standards by which Indigenous Peoples throughout the world can expect to preserve their lifestyles and cultures; and to support the prompt establishment of a Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples within the UN.

Oral intervention on measures to improve the situation and ensure the human rights and dignity of all migrant workers, addressing inter alia the increasingly widespread use of the term “illegal migrant” that criminalises and dehumanizes human beings, makes of them an anti-social “commodity” and scapegoats for social ills in society. 24 March.

Oral intervention on the question of the violation of human rights and fundamental freedoms in any part of the world, focusing on the situation of the people of Ogoniland in Nigeria, and the victims of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. 18 April. (See p 172)

Oral intervention presented by Laura de Soria on the violations of human rights in Chile, exemplified by the continuing granting of impunity to the authors of the assassination of her husband, Carmelo Soria Espinosa by the political police under the dictatorship of Gen. Augusto Pinochet.

Oral intervention to the Sub-Commission made jointly with seven international human rights organizations expressing appreciation for the Draft Body of Principles for the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights through the Struggle against Impunity presented by the Special Rapporteur, Maître Louis Joinet.

1998. 
      Oral intervention presented jointly with LWF and WARC on human rights in Colombia.
      

Oral intervention presented jointly with WARC on the rights of women, mentioning particularly the violence exercised by Japan against the so-called “comfort women” during World War II, calling for punishment of those responsible and fair compensation to be paid to the victims.

Oral intervention by Dr. Willie Nwiido on the situation in Ogoniland, Nigeria.

Oral intervention presented jointly with CEC, LWF and WARC on the human rights of migrants.

Oral intervention presented jointly with CEC, LWF and WARC on the Elimination of All Forms of Intolerance and of Discrimination Based on Religion or Belief expressing concern about the increasing incidence of conflicts involving religion, often linked with ethnicity.

Oral intervention on the rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Commission for Social Development

“Investing in Participation” and “The Situation of Migrants in a Globalized World,” oral interventions at 36^th Session, New York 1998.

Commission on Sustainable Development

“Building a Just and Moral Economy for Sustainable Communities,” statement to the Fifth Session of the Commission, New York, 10 April 1997.

We appreciate the opportunity to address you in the name of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the World Council of Churches. The Council represents 325 Orthodox, Protestant and Anglican churches in over 130 countries around the world with a combined membership of about 400 million people.

This 5th Session of the CSD is intended to review progress toward sustainable development since the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in preparation for the UN General Assembly Special Session in June. We fear that the assessment will be inadequate because important questions are not being asked.

In our own work, we are regularly questioning the term “sustainable development”. We find it often misused in order to legitimize current economic approaches which are premised on unlimited economic growth and a continuous and unregulated expansion of production and consumption for the world's rich. Thus to measure progress toward sustainable development in this context is to avoid challenging the very dynamics which are increasing the gap between the rich and the poor in the world and causing environmental destruction. We call upon governments, international institutions and people of good will to demonstrate moral courage and political will to confront the excesses of globalization.

The Council understands that all economic systems must be tested from the perspective of their effect on the poor, the oppressed and the marginalized. God has created the whole cosmos to be good; it is a common inheritance for all peoples for all times to be enjoyed in just, loving and responsible relationships with one another. This understanding is foundational in our vision of a just and moral economy where:

• 
  people are empowered to fully participate in making decisions that affect their lives,
  
• 
  public and private institutions and enterprises are accountable and held responsible for the social and environmental impacts and consequences of their operations, and
  
• 
  the earth and whole created order is nurtured with utmost respect and reverence rather than exploited and degraded.
  

We speak increasingly of “sustainable community” because it implies the nurturing of equitable relationships both within the human family and also between humans and the rest of the ecological community – in other words, justice within the whole of God's creation.

The question we should be asking at this CSD and the Special Session is “what must we do to bring about justice and attain sustainable community?”

Within the human family, many people lack health, security, hope. The member churches of the WCC around the world are intensely involved in the everyday struggles of people for sustainable community. Thus, our understandings emerge from our real-life experience. Let us share three examples.

Our first example concerns women in Sri Lanka. Structural Adjustment Policy dictated the replacement of hill country forest land with export tobacco cultivation. The trees helped retain the moisture which was the source for mountain streams; now they were gone and the water flow was significantly reduced. This forced the women tea workers of the area to climb extra distances to fetch their daily water. In addition to increasing the workload of these women, insufficient water has added to the health hazards of the entire community. Going beyond their traditional roles, the women, along with children, organized themselves to plant trees on those hills where soil erosion was most evident with the hope that tomorrow these hills will once again be covered with streams.

For Indigenous Peoples, sustainable development is integrally linked to their struggle for recognition of rights to self-determination, control over ancestral lands, resources and indigenous knowledge systems.

Traditional practices for sustainable production and consumption are under threat from the negative impacts of globalization and trade liberalization. This new face of colonization, perpetuated by the often aggressive policies of governments and TNCs, has seen extensive extraction of resources from Indigenous Peoples’ lands in deforestation, mining and dam building. Also, Indigenous Peoples are confronted with the increase in bio-prospecting and genetic engineering, practices that pose a direct threat to the protection of their intellectual cultural property rights. Thus Indigenous Peoples are continually challenging governments and international institutions to establish meaningful participatory mechanisms in the preservation of sustainable community.

Our churches are actively addressing the issue of climate change. We see it as an ethical issue. Because of the economies and consumption-oriented lifestyles of the industrialized nations, the consequences of climate change will be suffered disproportionately by the poorer developing nations, low-lying states, and future generations. It is not just the human family that will be adversely affected by climate change but all the ecosystems of the planet. The peoples and ecosystems of the Pacific Islands are among the most vulnerable to the impacts of climate change through rising sea levels and tropical storms.

Humanity is threatened. The earth is threatened. We see some common sources of this threat. In an address to the Copenhagen World Social Summit, WCC General Secretary Konrad Raiser said:

As the world economy becomes global in nature, economic and political power is increasingly concentrated in the hands of the privileged few. The global market approach is rapidly reshaping the world, weakening the traditional role of national governments through policies of deregulation and limiting the effectiveness of the system of intergovernmental social institutions. Who is to look after the people's interests in a time when institutions in the private sphere assume an ever greater role in the shape of the global economy? Who is to safeguard the rights of the poor nations and the small states in the face of the domination of a handful of powerful actors on the world scene?

A current example which is of great concern to us is the emerging power of the World Trade Organization whose decisions will supercede the authority of national governments and/or international institutions, including the CSD. We question the idolatry which is often bestowed upon the notions of free trade, market access, speculative investment, and competition, seemingly at any cost. The process for making decisions in the WTO and related bodies is highly secretive, non-participatory, and dominated by the interests of transnational corporations. It is not just civil society that is excluded from the table but even many parts of national governments are kept in the dark. This exclusion is most severe for the governments and civil societies in countries of the economic South.

If we are to work toward sustainable community for all, then local, national and global priorities must be based on justice, peace and respect for the integrity of creation.

The World Council of Churches recommends that:

1. National, regional and international policies and programmes in economic, social and environmental areas should be based on criteria of sustainable community with specific principles, indicators and assessment procedures to measure progress. In this context, we endorse the proposal of regular Rio review processes to assess progress and roadblocks for sustainable development e.g. Earth Summit III in 2002.

2. WTO proceedings and decision-making should be transparent and inclusive allowing full participation of all countries and meaningful access for representatives of civil society such as non-governmental organizations. The WTO should be formally accountable within the UN system.

3. In reference to women, we need to implement the Beijing agreement and go beyond to create new development strategies that would promote both sustainable livelihoods and communities, based on gender and social equity for all sectors of society.

4. The CSD promote: the immediate adoption of the UN Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples which provides minimum standards for the continued existence of Indigenous communities; the establishment of a Permanent Forum in the UN for Indigenous Peoples; facilitate greater participation of Indigenous Peoples in the CSD sessions and the related processes.

5. In terms of climate change, governments of industrialized countries should a) fulfil their promise at the Rio Earth Summit to stabilize CO₂ emissions by the year 2000 at 1990 levels, b) establish firm policy measures and agree to a binding international agreement which will achieve greater reductions after 2000, and c) engage public discussion on the risks of climate change and increase public participation in finding solutions.

6. The CSD should recommend that a high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council be devoted to the theme of globalization and sustainability.

We pledge to work with peoples of all faiths to pursue these goals.