| Statement
of the Ecumenical Consultation on Social
Advocacy Consultation
jointly organised by
Asia and Pacific Alliance of YMCAs,
Christian Conference of Asia and the
Federation of Asian Bishops' Conferences,
held on 4th - 8th
October 2001, at the Redemptorist Centre,
Pattaya, Thailand.
Towards
a Culture of Peace in the 21st Century
Introduction
At the beginning of the new
Millennium, we as Christians in Asia-Pacific,
are perturbed by the numerous situations
of violence and conflicts that are
threatening many nations and even the
whole of humanity. We are being
confronted by a multitude of forces, both
global and local that attack the core of
the human person and the human community.
We are being challenged to be faithful to
the Gospel of Jesus Christ and address
these issues in and through the Ministry
of Social Advocacy. We as Christians are
called to be promoters of peace in the
context of violence and conflicts through
education for peace and social advocacy.
It was the urgency of this task before
us that moved us as Christian
organisations to come together to foster
new Ecumenical endeavours in order to
address the our current global crisis
based on the culture of death and
violence. Thus Asia and Pacific Alliance
of YMCA's, the Christian Conference of
Asia and the Federation of Asian Bishops'
Conferences organised this Joint
Consultation on Social Advocacy, from 4-8
October 2001, at the Redemptorist Centre,
Pattaya, Thailand. We, twenty-nine
participants, in Asia and Pacific,
through a process of dialogue deepened
our common understanding of the realities
of our peoples and the societies that we
live in. Without Faith there can be no
new and creative actions, and it is for
this reason that we reflected on the
meaning of our faith so that we would be
able to translate these into actions. Our
commitment to social advocacy, we believe
is based on our determination and
willingness to journeying together as
Christians, committed to working for the
Kingdom (Reign) of God. We hope through
this process to foster greater
collaborative efforts in the building up
of new network of committed Christians to
meet the challenges of the new Millennium.
This is indeed our common and concerted
response to the call of the Lord in the
context of Asia-Pacific.
1. The Context of the
Challenges Today
1.1 Our analysis of
Asian-Pacific realities point to the
numerous negative effects of the impact
of globalisation and the subsequent
economic and political, social and
religious and ethnic upheaval. With the
emergence of various forms of Neo-Liberalism,
accelerated by the process of
Globalisation, the role of the Nation
State is being undermined and diverted
from its basic responsibility of
promoting the common good and protecting
the basic human rights of individuals. We
believe that the State is not the servant
of the Market Driven Economy but has the
sacred duty of being the Protector of the
People.
1.2 In the area of
economic life, the phenomenon of mega-mergers
has led to the concentration of wealth in
the hands of the few and has given rise
to gross inequalities so evident in our
Region. These trends take away the very
life support systems from the majority of
our peoples so that they are no longer
able to live with dignity as human
persons. Science and technology,
knowledge and information and
communication technology, seem to give
priority to the growth and expansion of
capital and investments for profits,
rather than satisfy the basic human needs
of persons and communities including
food, health services, sanitation and
education. The subtle promotion and
pursuit of a culture of individualism,
materialism, consumerism, and excessive
competition move people and communities
away from the fundamental values of the
respect for human dignity and stewardship
of the ecology and a way of life that
stresses the transcendental and spiritual.
1.3 It is this lack
of political will, to engender policies
for the common good, that breeds
inequality and creates an increasing gap
between the rich and the poor in our
nations. It is also clear that this
emphasis on the material and economic
aspects of development is creating
communities that are slowly being
marginalised and sidelined, becoming
breeding ground for division and
fragmentation of our communities. Various
forms of religious fundamentalism often
related to the negation of ethnic and
fundamental human liberties and rights by
both the global forces and national
governments are emerging. Violence of the
People is justified as a response to both
Global and National Violence. Often such
volatile situations bring misery and
sufferings to millions of people in the
Region. Furthermore, there is a growing
sense of insecurity when ethnic and
religious communities become targets for
each other's anger and revenge.
1.4 A new social
scenario is emerging before our very eyes.
We see the gradual erosion of the
agricultural base of our economies, the
displacement of millions of people
internally and externally, the situation
of millions of migrant workers who have
to leave their homes and families to work
as contract labour with little security
and under deplorable conditions. There is
the gradual and blatant increase in the
trafficking of women, girls and boys and
the feminisation of poverty accompanied
by violence on women. The rapid
deterioration of ecology and environment
is largely due to the pace of unethical
and unsustainable development resulting
in the indiscriminate destruction of
natural resources and the environment.
1.5 The prevalence of
Greed in an organised manner within the
systems that promote various forms of neo-liberalism
based trade and capital liberalisation
has created inequalities and
institutionalised injustices in the
economic, political, ethnic and religious
spheres. This leads to feelings of
oppression or hopelessness, hatred,
prejudice, and desire for vengeance,
resulting in violence. The lack of good
governance and social structures that
deal effectively with political, economic
and social inequalities in our society
has resulted in a culture of intolerance
where people lack respect and
understanding of each other and there is
domination of one race, caste over the
other. Historical grievances have also
caused individual violence, violence of
the people, and violence of the State.
Declining religious values and increasing
religious fundamentalism have also
brought about clashes and conflicts.
2. Our Faith Reflections
in the context of Asia-Pacific
2.1 We believe that
the Gospel calls us to speak and act for
social justice. To advocate on behalf of
the poor, oppressed and marginalised is
an integral part of the practice of our
faith. As Christians, we are committed to
non-violent means such as the use of
spiritual force or moral pressure. The
subject matter and means of our advocacy
should be informed by and give expression
to our faith. We see the need to a return
to an authentic spirituality that
revitalises our relationships as members
of the community of Jesus, so that we
will be the salt, leaven and light for
the transformation of the world. We
realise that our journeying together has
to be with people of all faiths and
believers so that peace can become a
reality for us and for the future
generations.
3. Our Understanding of
Social Advocacy
3.1 Social Advocacy
is seen as an on-going process of
influencing decision-makers with a
commitment in the pursuit of TRUTH and
thus bring changes to social policy or to
enforce laws or to repeal them if they
violate norms of UNIVERSAL HUMAN RIGHTS.
It is also a process of offering
alternatives by enacting new laws and
influencing behaviour and changes in
lifestyle.
3.2 The Process of
Social Advocacy thus begins with
identifying the needs and rights of the
disadvantaged in society, involving a
comprehensive, in-depth social analysis
and reflection, including faith analysis.
It calls for justice and solidarity with
the suffering, and works towards the
creation of equitable power structures.
3.3 The Levels of
Social Advocacy include the Global,
Regional, National and Local.
3.4 The Dimensions of
Social Advocacy should include awareness
education and communication about issues
and strategies for appropriate actions,
such as, creating networks and alliances,
techniques for monitoring and lobbying of
decisions-makers, to organise public
campaigns, and consumer actions. The
creation of alternatives is indeed the
greatest challenge for promoters of
social advocacy.
4. Our Responses as
Christians to Social Advocacy
As members of the Ecumenical
Partnership in the Asia and Pacific we
can by engaging in Social Advocacy, make
peace a reality and nurture signs of hope
among our people through
- Education in linking Faith and
Life, giving priority to all the
People of God to foster greater
Christian involvement in the
transformation of the world.
- Proper training in the values,
change of attitudes and acquire
skills required for Social
Advocacy.
- Recognising the importance of
this formation for promoting
Social Advocacy within each of
our Churches/Ecumenical
Organisations, and the total
Christian Community.
- Building a new network of
collaboration and co-operation in
the area of Social Advocacy.
- Inculcating a new spirituality
based on the Gospel of Jesus that
will bring persons and
communities to be involved in
social advocacy.
5. What can we do as
Ecumenical Partners?
We can work towards promoting a common
understanding of Social Advocacy in the
context of Asia and Pacific today as
Ecumenical Partners by :
- Sharing the Church's teaching on
ethical and social issues today
and in dialogue keeping in mind
the inter-religious perspectives.
- Sharing and exchanging of
practical experiences in the area
of advocacy, including human
rights, migrants, rights of women
and children, ecology and
environment, etc.
- Being involved in the formulation
of programmes and processes for
formation and education of
pastors, the laity particularly
youth and women, and families.
- Working together on the processes
and programmes to integrate
Advocacy into the pastoral plans
of the local church and the
Bishops' Conferences, and local
units of the organisation.
- Deepening the knowledge and
practical skills in the area of
communications, publications, use
of Internet and web sites,
education campaigns,
international and local campaigns
, etc. to spread the message of
social advocacy.
- Identifying new like-minded
partners for collaboration in the
area of advocacy in order to
promote greater justice and peace.
- Intensifying the efforts of
individual organisation in Social
Advocacy as planned during the
Consultation.
6. Urgent Tasks Ahead for
Peace and Non-Violence
Being deeply concerned about prevalent
situation in the world today, the
participants identified some key causes
of violence and conflicts in the world
today. We see the urgency to create a
culture of peace with justice. In the
context of the conflicts among
civilisations and the clash of
civilisations we are being challenged to
promote a Dialogue of Civilisations
through the building up of a Civilisation
of Love and Peace. As Ecumenical Partners
committed to building communities
characterised by justice, love and peace,
we can :
- Focus on dialogue and education
to create understanding of the
other views be it in economic,
political, racial, religious
issues, directed at root causes.
- Work in partnership among the
Ecumenical Partners, including
people of other faiths, to
educate our constituencies and
others for transformation. This
can be in the form of the
exchanges of our publications and
documents.
- In order to be promoters of
peaceful and non-violent methods
in conflict resolution, we can
look into the possibilities of
developing some modules for Peace
Education for use among the
members of the Churches and
Ecumenical Organisations.
- Play a more prominent role of
mediators or reconcilers in
conflicts, ensuring healing and
reconciliation. This can be
through the Ecumenical networks
that we can promote in each of
our countries.
- We can work more closely with
other Interreligious groups and
NGOs that are also promoting
human dignity and human rights.
In this way the Ecumenical
Network can make Social Advocacy
for Peace as an affirmation of
life.
- Look for more creative ways in
which we can incorporate
spirituality as an integral
dimension of our responsibility
of promoting social advocacy.
Conclusion
We hope to continue the journey that
we began through this Consultation by
ensuring that we will more consciously
share our resources by keeping each other
informed of our programmes and activities
and strengthen this informal network that
we have developed at the level of the
Asia and Pacific Region. The Organising
Committee of this Consultation thus sees
as its responsibility the need to meet
from time to time, to search for ways and
means to further follow-up on the
deliberations of the Consultation.
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