International ecumenical consultation discusses on how stateless and trafficked people pose serious threats to humanity and the tenets of international law

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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22 May 2019
IMG_0328Participants of the International Consultation

An international consultation on ‘Statelessness and Human Trafficking in Asia: Prevention, Reduction, and Protection’ being held from 20 to 23 May, 2019 at the CCA headquarters and jointly organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) began with discussions on the grave consequences of statelessness and human trafficking, including smuggling and trafficking of migrants and refugees in Asia.

Delivering the keynote address at the opening session, the CCA General Secretary Dr. Mathews George Chunakara stated, “The increasing number of stateless and trafficked people poses serious questions and challenges to humanity and to the tenets of the international law and its principles. As transnational migration has increased in recent years, more stateless people are also smuggled or trafficked in Asia and they are forced to work in hazardous jobs in different Asian countries”.

There are over 10 million stateless people in the world, 40 percent of whom are in Asia. Of the 36 million people who are trafficked in the world, more than 23 million of them are in Asia. Despite these challenges, the churches in Asia in general have neither adequately understood the complexities of this problem nor responded properly to address the vulnerability of the deplorable situations of the stateless and trafficked people”, added the CCA General Secretary.

Dr. Mathews George Chunakara further stated, “The Asian churches have not responded more specifically in the cases of the plight of the Rohingyas from the Rakhine state in Myanmar and the four million people living in Assam for generations who have been arbitrarily excluded from the National Register of Citizens (NRC) of India, rendering them stateless in one fell swoop. However, both WCC and CCA have been trying to sensitize the Asian churches to raise their prophetic voice as a response to these burning issues”.

Segma Asfaw, programme executive for international affairs of WCC in an introductory address traced the history of the ecumenical involvement in addressing the concerns of the stateless and trafficked people and the advocacy on combating the statelessness and trafficking in the world.

“The programmes related to the Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace initiatives of WCC invited the churches to feel God’s presence by being with and serving the wounded, including the stateless and trafficked persons; this will be a transformative experience to include the stateless and trafficked people in our community of pilgrims”, said Ms. Asfaw.

The international consultation opened with a liturgical service focused on the CCA initiated  Asia Sunday – 2019  theme  ‘Stateless and Trafficked People: Our Co-Pilgrims’.

More than 40 participants representing CCA and WCC member churches, national council of churches, civil society organisations, academic and research centres, and women’s organisations are attending the consultation.

Bongkot Napaumporn of the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) presented the legal framework of statelessness in relation to the right to a nationality, and explained how gender discrimination in nationality laws were affecting women in Asia, and also how birth registration was a tool to prevent statelessness.

Led by Dr. Saw Alwyn, four stateless persons from the Mae La Refugee Camps on the Thailand-Myanmar border gave a first-hand testimony of stateless people living in the camps for over 22 years.

The topics covered during the first day’s sessions included ‘Convention Relating to the Status of Stateless People: International Framework and the Right to Nationality’, ‘Statelessness in Asia: an Overview’, ‘Gender Discrimination in Nationality Laws affecting Women in Asia’,  ‘Statelessness and Nationality Laws in Comparison (Malaysia, Jordan, and Bahamas), and ‘Forced Marriagae and Statelessness in Pakistan’. Dr. Audeh Quawas, Andrew Khoo, Bongkot Napaumporn, Lalita Yawangsan, and Sunila Ammar presented case studies.