“Manual Scavenging is a sin against God and God’s people,” says CCA Consultation Communiqué

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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29 April 2017

Participants of the ‘Abolition of Manual Scavenging in India: An Ecumenical Accompaniment and Advocacy’ Consultation

“Manual scavenging is the worst surviving symbol of caste-based discrimination and a violation of human dignity and rights; it is a sin against God and God’s people,” stated the Communique adopted at the Abolition of Manual Scavenging in India: An Ecumenical Accompaniment and Advocacy Consultation organised by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), jointly with the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the Church of South India (CSI).

The consultation held from 24-26 April 2017 at the CSI Center in Chennai, India was inaugurated jointly by Rev. Dr. Roger Gaikwad, NCCI General Secretary and Rev. Dr. Ratnakar Sadanand, CSI General Secretary.

The keynote was delivered by Mr. Bezwada Wilson, Magsaysay Award Winner of 2016 and founder of the Safai Karmachari Aandolon, an Indian human rights organisation that campaigns for the eradication of manual scavenging. In his address, Mr. Bezwada stated that, “the bottom line of the mission mandate is to defend and advocate for human rights, and affirm the life of every human with respect and dignity.”

“Though, the mission of the Church is to find the lost, it needs to intensify its missional interventions by relocating its mission from the centre to the margins with needed and relevant strategies,” Mr. Wilson said.

He further added that the Church has a lot of infrastructure and human and financial resources and that it would be appropriate for the churches to pool their resources in order to abolish inhuman and un-Christian ideologies, like casteism and practices, like manual scavenging.

The participants called for the acknowledgement of the practice of manual scavenging as a sin and strongly advocated the 2013 Act, passed by the Indian parliament to discontinue manual scavenging practices, and its effective implementation at all levels.

“Churches should not be silent witnesses to manual scavenging and should work collectively to abolish the employment of manual scavengers and accompany them towards gaining their full respect and dignity, following Jesus' model of ministries as a faith response to affirm life, dignity and respect of all created in God’s image,” affirmed the participants.

“The practice of manual scavenging is a sin against God and God’s people,” Rev. Dr. Roger Gaik said.

Rev. Dr. Ratnakar Sadananda reminded churches of their call to propagate the gospel of justice, peace and love, and invited churches to expand their missional interventions by joining hands with, and accompanying, secular liberate movements.

In the valedictory address on the third day of the Consultation, CCA General Secretary, Dr. Mathews George Chunakara emphasised upon the importance of international advocacy on the abolition of manual scavenging, including the United Nations Human Rights mechanisms.

“The issue of manual scavenging should be addressed within human rights and human dignity perspectives and the CCA is committed to facilitate and accompany such advocacy initiatives,” the CCA General Secretary added.

Dr. Rey Ty, CCA Program Coordinator for Prophetic Diakonia and Advocacy, facilitated workshop sessions on how to be engaged in advocacy on the issue of manual scavenging from the Human Rights Framework.

Ms. Deepthi Sukumar, Rev. Christopher Rajkumar, Rev. Asir Ebenezer and Rev. Logan Samuel Rajakumar facilitated various workshop sessions.

About 48 participants attended the Consultation from various member churches of the CCA and NCCI in India.

Communiqué
Towards the Abolition of Manual Scavenging: An Ecumenical Accompaniment and Advocacy

Manual scavenging is a sin, and a serious violation of human rights and dignity. It is a consequence of the economic and social inequality that increases the vulnerability of Dalits, who constitute the majority of the victims and survivors of manual scavenging.

We, the participants of the Consultation on “Towards the Abolition of Manual Scavenging: An Ecumenical accompaniment and Advocacy”, organised by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA), in collaboration with the National Council of Churches in India (NCCI) and the Church of South India (CSI) met at the CSI Center in Chennai, India from 24-26 April 2017.

The participants composed of forty-eight representatives nominated from the member churches of the CCA and the NCCI, such as The Mennonite Brethren Church, Jeypore Evangelical Lutheran Church, Convention of Baptist Churches of the Northern Circars, Salvation Army, United Evangelical Lutheran Churches in India (UELCI), Council of Baptized Churches in North East India (CBCNEI), and the National Service Scheme units in the educational institutions and diaconal department of the CSI. We discussed and analysed matters related to manual scavenging and the vulnerable situation of hundreds of thousands of manual scavengers in India. We have heard several testimonies and stories about the plight of manual scavengers in many parts of India, especially stories and experiences shared by representatives of manual scavengers themselves.

The workshop sessions identified areas of practices of manual scavenging within their vicinity and context, as well as the principles to build upon theological, ideological, missiological and diaconal foundations to respond to abolishing the practices of manual scavenging in our churches, institutions, neighbourhoods and the society at large, with the notions of accompanying vulnerable communities with missional and diaconal expressions such as education, healthcare and skills to support livelihood.

The consultation shared the work and experiences of the Safai Karmachari Aandolon, an Indian human rights organisation, that campaigns for the eradication of manual scavenging. The Safai Karmachari Aandolon highlighted that 95 percent of manual scavengers are women.

Affirmations

We reaffirm our commitment to not serve 'caste' but 'Christ'; and have zero tolerance towards caste discrimination. We reject and publicly campaign against the practice of caste and of manual scavenging, as the practice of manual scavenging is a sin against God and God’s people. We accompany the manual scavengers who live in vulnerable situations. We oppose the practice against human beings inherent in manual scavenging.

The workshop aimed to impact the Church, its institutions and the diaconal ministries towards:

  • Community mobilisation in addressing the vital issue of the abolition of manual scavenging;
  • Constructive contribution in complementing and appraising the varied initiatives of the State;
  • Affirming life of persons involved in manual scavenging, their livelihoods, as well as life situations;
  • Networked witness of the Church in public space alongside other players.

We reaffirm that the essential core of the mission mandate is to defend and advocate for human rights, and affirm the life of every human with respect and dignity. The Church needs to intensify its missional interventions by relocating its mission and witness from the centre to the margins of society with needed and relevant strategies. Traditional missional interventions seem to invite the communities of the margins; rather, they should make the margins the centre. As the Church has plentiful infrastructure and human, material, and financial resources, it would be appropriate for the churches to pool their resources in order to abolish inhuman and un-Christian ideologies, such as casteism and practices, such as manual scavenging. We invited churches as a potential body to theologically, missiologically and diaconically accompany marginalised communities, such as the safai karmacharies (manual scavengers). We also urge churches not to be silent when they witness manual scavenging around them and invited to them to join the campaign to abolish the inhuman practice. We invite churches to look at the issue of manual scavenging from the UN’s Human Rights Framework, instead of a charity framework as a missional intervention.

We remind churches of their call to propagate the gospel of justice, peace and love, inviting churches to expand their missional interventions by joining hands with and accompanying secular liberation movements, such as the Safai Karmachari Aandolon, following Jesus' model of ministries as a faith response to affirm life, dignity, and respect of all created in God’s image.

We urge all to follow Jesus’ model of looking at the Torah, by standing up for the rights, dignity and respect of the communities that live in vulnerable situations.

We emphasise the importance of internationalising the issue of manual scavenging with international policy-making bodies, such as the United Nations, with a human rights framework where the CCA is committed to facilitate and accompany such advocacy initiatives. We also assured the CCA's accompaniment to the movements in their advocacy initiatives.

Call for Action

The participants of the workshop called for the following:

  1. To acknowledge the practice of manual scavenging as a sin, and to say no to manual scavenging;
  2. To pledge the abolition of manual scavenging by stopping employments and engagements;
  3. To suggest to churches and their educational institutions to offer spaces for the children of the manual scavenging communities for educational purposes;
  4. To provide life and skill enhancement initiatives to the women and children of the manual scavenging communities;
  5. To promote, campaign and advocate for the 2013 Act in India, and its effective implementation at all levels; and
  6. To accompany manual scavenging communities towards gaining their lives, respects and dignity.

We call on the United Nations, national and international ecumenical organisations, as well as churches in Asia to prioritise advocacy efforts for the abolition of manual scavenging.