Asia’s Human Security Challenges

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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14 June 2013

Asia’s Human Security Challenges: Towards Sustainable Peace with Justice in North East Asia

 “To know what justice is, we need to know what injustice is.  And to know what injustice is we need to experience the plight of the victims”.  ~ Bishop Duleep de Chickera, Sri Lanka

An International Conference on “Asia’s Human Security Challenges: Towards Peace with Justice and Reconciliation in North East Asia” jointly organized by the Commission of the Churches  on International  Affairs  of  the  World  Council  of  Churches  and  the  Christian  Conference  of Asia, held in Hong Kong, (Special Administrative Region of China) from 3-5 June 2013, analyzed and reflected on Asia’s human security challenges from the perspective of  the struggles of the Asian people for peace with justice, in the context  of  the  theme  of  the  forthcoming  WCC Assembly “God  of  Life,  Lead  us  to Justice  and  Peace”.  

To establish the “reign of God” as Jesus preached, human relationship and obligations have to be transformed such that they can challenge the unjust structures in societies.” The consultation identified these unjust structures and discussed means to secure peace in North East Asia by “ending economic, financial and commercial sanctions against North Korea and turning from the armistice agreement to a peace treaty, effectively ending today’s de facto war”.

During the three days of deliberations, the participants celebrated the richness of the natural resources that God has endowed Asia with, and the wisdom of its ancient philosophies and deep spirituality. They affirmed the vibrant people who are brought up in the rich traditions and heritage of the Asian continent, which is the birthplace of all major world religions and several other indigenous religions and spiritualities. At the same time they also lamented the current realities that diminish the dignity of the Asian people and violate their human rights.

Asian realities

  1. Globalization with its allied evils, realignment of states and superpowers, developmental aggression, degradation and deterioration of ecological systems and its detrimental effects on nature, climate, and on the livelihood of the indigenous are ongoing problems that leave in their wake unemployment, migration for jobs, and  human rights violations that affect the very fabric of life.
  2. Human security in Asia today is threatened and hampered by various socio-economic factors like increasing poverty, inadequate health care and drug trafficking, economic exploitation.  More defense spending rather than securing social safety nets; armed conflicts and violence; militarization, arms build-up, nuclearization,  proliferation of small arms and light weapons are major threats to peace and justice.
  3. Peace and security in North East Asia has been a major concern during several decades in the past. This is certainly true for the Korean Peninsula where 60 years since an armistice agreement was signed has not eased the tension in the region. 
  4. The democratic space is disturbingly shrinking and the rule of law and good governance is grossly deficient. 
  5. Violation of human rights, especially freedom of religion or belief, has led to ethno-religious cleansing and heightened religious intolerance.

The hope for Asia 

  1. Christ is our peace; who leads us to overcome injustice (Ephesians 2). Christians should be the one in the public square to take the side of the poor, deprived, oppressed and marginalized (Isaiah 59). They should be servants of peace and agents of justice, rather than peddlers of death, moving from militarized economies to peace economies.  We are invited to be Christ’s friends, and friends of God’s beloved whose hurts and pains Jesus took upon himself – the widows and orphans, the despised and destitute, the oppressed and downtrodden.
  2. The diversity of our ethnicities and nationalities is a celebration of God’s image in each of us, compelling us to protect human dignity and assert human rights in faithfulness to our God. Ensuring the fullness of life together and collectively with them is the true mark of Christian stewardship.
  3. The health of the ecological order is at the heart of God’s creative design. This includes food and water security for all. In the abundance of God’s resources and grace, we are called in Asia to live simple lifestyles of contentment and sharing which announces our liberation from mammon.

God of Life, lead us to Justice and Peace

True national security is peoples' security that puts first and centers the human rights and freedoms of human beings and their collectivities. It is security that makes us and our neighbors live together in peace with justice and fullness of life.  It is security that makes possible for everyone to “sit under their own vine and fig tree and no one will make them afraid” (Micah 4:4). Might it be Lord Jesus that we merit your blessings to be your true partners in sowing hope, spreading love, building justice and seeking peace for life, so that the world might yet believe. God of life, lead us to justice and peace.