CCA Delegation Participates at the 60th Session of UN Commission on the Status of Women

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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17 March 2016

Photo source: United Nations

 

A three-member delegation of the Christian Conference of Asia has been accredited to participate in the 60th session of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women (UNCSW), which is being held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York from 14 to 24 March, 2016.

The theme of the 60th session of the UNCSW is ‘Women’s empowerment and its link to sustainable development’, and the review theme is ‘The elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls’. 

The members of the CCA delegation accredited with the UNCSW are Rev. Kyrie Kim, the moderator of the CCA Program Committee and an ordained minister of the Anglican Church in Korea, Mr. Sunil Babu Shrestha, a member of the Executive Committee of CCA from Nepal and Mrs. Sunila Ammar, a program executive of CCA from Pakistan.

CCA has a special consultative status with the United Nation’s Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the six principal organs of the United Nations System. The CSW turns the focus of the United Nations towards women and gender related issues worldwide. It gives NGOs from around the world the opportunity to discuss issues pertaining to women and girls, network, share strategies/good practices, and to lobby governments to implement resolutions and treaties.

The Commission has also regularly considered the issue of women in armed conflicts, thus contributing to the work that led to the adoption of Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women and Peace and Security. In its 2004 agreed conclusions, the Commission addressed women’s equal participation in conflict prevention, management and conflict resolution and in post-conflict peace-building.

CCA’s women program focuses on leadership development and empowerment of women, advocacy on prevention of violence against women, protecting the rights of women migrant workers, and combating the trafficking of women. A new initiative of CCA, the Ecumenical Women’s Action against Violence (EWAV), focuses on advocacy action alliance networks in various Asian countries. CCA also has capacity building programs on conflict resolution, and awareness building on international instruments and legal protection mechanisms that hold governments accountable to safeguard and protect women from violence and human rights abuse.

CCA representatives at the UNCSW are networking with various Asian and international organisations, and calling the attention of the international community in highlighting the vulnerable situations of women in several Asian countries.