CCA’s delegation to attend 65th session of UN’s 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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11 March 2021

 

An eight-member delegation representing the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) has been accredited to attend the sixty-fifth session of the United Nations’ Commission on the Status of Women (UN-CSW), which will take place from 15 to 26 March 2021.

The CSW, a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), is a global policy-making body dedicated exclusively to promoting gender equality and the empowerment of women.

In view of the ongoing constraints due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and taking into account the latest guidance from the UN and the World Health Organization (WHO), the CSW-65 will take place in a hybrid format with mostly virtual meetings and/or proceeding with a portion of work through correspondence.

Representatives of Member States, UN entities, and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations (NGOs) from all regions of the world are invited to attend the CSW sessions.

The CCA has been accredited with the UN-ECOSOC since 2003. This special consultative status enables the CCA to facilitate the advocacy of Asian Churches in various areas of their concerns through different UN platforms at the global level as well as at the Asia regional level.

The priority theme of CSW-65 (2021) is “Women's full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls”, while the review theme will focus on “Women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development”.

Dr Mathews George Chunakara, General Secretary of CCA, expressed the hope that the participation of CCA representatives at the CSW-65 (2021) will be a unique opportunity to learn more about several pertinent issues and emerging concerns that will be discussed and analysed at the CSW sessions.

The CCA General Secretary has further added that the members of the delegation will have opportunities to listen to and review a number of reports prepared by UN Women, including a report on the priority theme and a report on progress made on the review theme at the national level as well as statements submitted by NGOs. The process is expected to be quite effective thanks to the improved technology available for virtual working all the time.

The CCA delegation to CSW-65 includes Rev. Kyrie Kim, Chairperson of the CCA’s Programme Committee from the Anglican Church in Korea; Prof. Dr Susan Thomas, Malankara Jacobite Syrian Orthodox Church; Rev. Astrid Bonik Lusi, Christian Evangelical Church Timor in Indonesia; Rev. Moumita Biswas, Church of North India; and Ms Nandita Biswas, National Council of Churches in Bangladesh and CCA staff members Ms Sunila Ammar, Ms Rosiana Indah Purnomo, and Ms Ruth Mathen.

Considering the CCA’s thematic interests, the delegation will take part in several virtual sessions including official meetings and side events organised by permanent missions of different countries at UN, UN bodies, international organisations, and civil society organisations.

The meetings and sessions that will be attended by the CCA delegation include: Eliminating violence against women in public life; Building back better—women’s participation and leadership in COVID-19 response and recovery; Women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development; Reclaiming gender justice; Migrant women’s participation in public life and decision-making; Economic empowerment of women for COVID-19 recovery; and Gender, religion, and decision-making in public life.

The Commission consists of 45 members who are elected for a period of four years by ECOSOC on the basis of equitable geographical distribution. Eleven members are from Asia-Pacific States.