CCA Urges Churches to Combat Trafficking in Persons

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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30 July 2018

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As the United Nations (U.N) calls to observe today, 30 July 2018 as World Day against Trafficking in Persons, Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) urges its member churches and councils to make every effort to combat human trafficking in their respective situations in Asia.

In recognition of the U.N’s World Day against Trafficking in Persons, the General Secretary of CCA, Dr. Mathews George Chunakara stated that “many Asians experience the worst forms of cruelty in the modern slavery of human trafficking. This should be arrested in all possible ways by governments and systematic advocacy measures should be undertaken to protect the dignity of victims of human trafficking”.

The CCA General Secretary added that in terms of the different types of trafficking outlined and identified by the United Nations (U.N), a vast number of people from several Asian countries were experiencing vulnerable situations. Sexual exploitation and forced labour are the most prominent in many Asian countries but the other forms of trafficking that  largely prevail include persons trafficked and forced to act as beggars, construction workers, work in dangerous fishing industry, and people forced into fake marriages.

CCA has been organising Asia regional consultations annually since 2015 in order to sensitise Asian churches to combat human trafficking as part of regional advocacy initiatives and to sensitise Asian churches to combat human trafficking.

The CCA General Secretary said that an inter-regional consultation on human trafficking with a focus on ‘Migration, Human Trafficking and Asian diaspora in the Arabian Gulf Region’ will be organised by CCA from 11  To 14  November 2018 in Bangkok, Thailand in which representatives of Asian diaspora churches in the Arabian Gulf countries would also attend.

CCA’s Asia Regional Consultation on ‘Rights and Dignity of Children: Church’s Response’ to be held from 16 to 20 September 2018 in Jakarta, Indonesia will also have sessions dealing with  concerns related to  trafficking of children, added Dr.Chunakara.