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Christian Conference of Asia
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2. Asia Consultation Meeting of UN Secretary-General�s Panel of Eminent Persons on United Nations-Civil Society Relations, UN Conference Center, UNESCThe UN SG�s Panel of Eminent Persons, or High-Level Panel [HLP] as is more commonly known, on UN-Civil Society Relations met with nearly 60 representatives of national and international civil society groups in Asia-Pacific. Civil society groups included mostly NGO�s focused on a variety of issues like education, human rights, labor issues, environmental issues, social development and also faith-based organizations like CCA and Pax Romana involved in the social development of their communities, nations, and societies at large that they live in. The Asian members of the HLP who attended this consultation were Ms. Malini Mehra, from India and Ms. Mary Racelis, from the Philippines. Ms. Zehra Aydin, UN-staff member working with the UN-HLP Secretariat in the UNSG�s office, assisted them. Mr. Seonghoon (Anselmo) Lee of Pax Romana on behalf of CONGO coordinated the event. The Keynote Address was by Dr. Cielito F. Habito of the Ateneo Center for Economic Research and Development. The following important questions were discussed: 1. Does engagement with UN assist civil society's dialogue with Government? 2. What could UN do to improve government-CS relations? 3. What role should civil society play in matters of global governance? 1. Does engagement with UN assist civil society's dialogue with Government? As a response, the group felt that generally engagement with the UN assist CS�s dialogue with governments. However, challenges are faced in terms the multiplicity of UN agencies and the weak implementation follow-up mechanism of the UN toward governmental commitments. Also there is a gap in information flow between the UN and CS. 2. What could UN do to improve government-CS relations? Some proposals on what the UN can do to improve these relations: 1. UN should be more pro-active in its monitoring processes and mechanisms to measure how governments are implementing and complying with their commitments at various World Conferences and to UN international standards and norms. 2. Creation of a more enabling environment for CSOs to become more effective. Bringing in CSO people into the UN bodies and agencies and also in government bodies. 3. Making more consistent the ways in which various UN bodies and agencies relate with civil society and maximizing synergies and resources of these bodies. 4. Implementation and widespread dissemination of UN policies and guidelines on civil society at all levels and monitoring how these are being used. 5. Shifting away from nation-state centric ideology or framework of the UN to a �We the people� framework. 3. What role should civil society play in matters of global governance? Some suggestions made were, civil society should: 3.1. Continue, researching, analyzing and criticizing the way other multilateral bodies, governments and corporations are undermining the UN and the international norms and standards. 3.2. Help strengthen the UN to play effectively its role in global governance by articulating its critiques. At the same time continue to struggle for its increased and effective participation in UN processes and mechanisms, especially the participation of the marginalised sectors of society. 3.3. Southern civil society organizations should be provided and should acquire more resources to be able to enhance their participation and increase south-south and south-north networking. Northern CSOs should focus a big part of their work in making their own governments more accountable to the rest of the world. 3.4. Continue to disseminate widely and raise awareness among its constituencies, especially at the grassroots level on what are the existing and evolving international standards and norms, the programs and declarations of World Conferences, mechanisms and instruments which people can use to ensure that these standards, policies and programs are implemented at all levels. Civil Society plays an important role in the betterment of the people. As such, it is an important actor nationally, and internationally, and some would argue as important as governments themselves. Civil societies also play a role in counter-checking the actions of governments. As such, the UN�s recognition and acceptance of CS in their framework is important. And so far there has been progress on this front in terms of bringing the CS with governments within the UN framework. However, much needs to be done. As a faith-based organization, we analyze our involvement with the CS and with the UN and with our governments, especially in the Asia-Pacific, which is the region of CCA. It was felt that there is a large gap between the level of commitment of the non-religious CS actors and the religious CS actors like CCA. Mechanisms need to be devised to improve our credibility and effectiveness in CS. One way to achieve this is to strengthen our links with the CS movements in our communities. It is an undeniable fact that most of civil society work, and also that of an organization like CCA, becomes reactionary, or �putting out fires� such as human right abuses, religious intolerance, economic injustices, labor mal-practices, etc, that, many a time, are a result of inter-governmental decisions, planned or unplanned. The CS needs to play a continued role in preventing such �fires�. This is as important as trying to �put them out�. The role of the churches, through their ecumenical movement, in this regard needs to be looked into, as an independent actor or as an active part of CS. Again, building an strengthening our links with the grassroots CS seems an mutually beneficial way ahead. It is also important for the ecumenical movement in Asia to be more involved with the inter-governmental set-ups in the region, again independently or with the Asian CS, so as to play a proactive role in the betterment of our societies. A meeting of the Asian CS�s participation in the UN threw up challenging, yet important, questions of the Asian ecumenical movement�s participation in the Asian CS, and in the regional national and international decision-making set-up, i.e. the governments in Asia. The answers to these questions require a collective effort on our part. posted by Anonymous on Thursday, November 20, 2003 The Second School for Ecumenical Leadership Formation [SELF], 21st September to 12th October, North Sumatra, IndonesiaThe Youth Department of the Christian Conference of Asia conducted the Second School for Ecumenical Leadership Formation [a.k.a. SELF]. The School was a 21-day intensive training program, organized amidst the scenic hill-station surroundings of Sukamakmur, near Medan, the capital city of the western Indonesia Island of North Sumatra. Dominated by a majority Christian population, North Sumatra is the home place of the Batak Karo Christians in Indonesia. The SELF is a leadership development program, which aims to train and empower first line national ecumenical youth leaders with international training, preparing them to take prominent leadership roles in the ecumenical movement, nationally and internationally. The SELF aims to facilitate ecumenical leadership formation. SELF-2003 consisted of the following topics: 1. Reading the Signs of Our Times: Deciphering the challenges of our times and the issues that the churches in Asia face. 2. Feminism and Gender Sensitization and Mainstreaming: Analyzing, and responding to, the role and place of women in the Asian societies and churches. 3. Globalization and Economic Injustices: Analyzing, and responding to, the realities of the economic effects of globalization in Asia. Globalization is also understood as a process affecting not just the economic being of people, but also their culture, language, society, safety, and security. 4. The Ecumenical Movement: An anamnesis (memory) of the global ecumenical movement based on the ideology that youth leaders should know where the movement comes from so as to be able to lead her. 5. Interfaith Dialogue and Peace Building in a Multi Religious Context: Responding to the issue of facilitating peaceful communities in Asia and around the world. 6. Networking and Communicating the Ecumenical Vision: Analyzing and preparing oneself to be able to encourage people to become part of the ecumenical movement, and especially studying how one can communicate the ecumenical vision to the youth and other parties. 7. National Projects/Action Plans: Finally, at the conclusion of the theoretical and experiential input (through exposure programs and field trips), putting together concrete and pragmatic strategies for youth work in the national and international context. Emphasis on individual responsibility in the individual and organizational or group action plans. The SELF 2003 incorporated the use of Bible Studies, exposure programs, field trips, session inputs by thematic experts, continuous theological reflections and understanding the theological and Biblical underpinnings of the SELF components, and sharing of personal and organization real-life experiences to undertake the study of the courses according to the topics included in the program. An important element of the School was the �learn-as-you-do� pedagogy of learning. This required the participants to lead the general program and conduct the day-to-day activities. For this four groups of four participants each were formed balancing gender and sub-region. Hence, there was leadership development by practicing how to lead an international program along with the theoretical inputs on different topics provided by resource people. The organizers maintained the overall facilitation of the duration of the School. (This style of leadership on the part of the organizers is commonly described as �servant leadership�) The SELF-2003 engaged in building a community of friends among the participants as concentric circles, yet co-joined with other circles of leaders. The SELF-2003 included 16 participants representing 12 national councils/conferences of churches/Christian councils/conferences in Asia and one participant from the South African Council of Churches Youth Forum. Participant demography consisted of 6 females and 10 males. Background represented included youth leaders, student leaders, lawyers, trained-theologians, seminarians, educators, laymen and women, and Pastoral ministers. Work demography consisted of full-time/part-time staff of national ecumenical organizations, teachers, social workers, volunteers in church youth committees and various youth and student organizations and initiatives. Countries/regions represented at the SELF-2003 consisted of Australia, Aeotoroa New Zealand, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, and Thailand. The age group ranged from 21-38 years. SELF-2003 was hosted by Youth Wing of the Gereja Batak Karo Protestan [GBKP] (a.k.a. Permata (youth) GBKP). Mr. Jan Putra Perangin-angin, General Secretary of the PERMATA GBKP, headed the Local Hosting Committee [LHC] for the SELF-2003. SELF-2003 was co-hosted by the Youth department of the Communion of Churches In Indonesia (CCI) under the leadership of Ms. Widowati Suwandi, Youth Secretary, CCI. Ms. Wido served as the national contact person for all arrangements regarding the SELF-2003 and played an important �intercessory� role between CCA and the Permata GBKP during the preparation stage. Among the various challenges faced by a program of the duration and nature and composition of participants as the SELF, the most prominent were cultural and language barriers, cultural communications, the mental and physical stress of the long duration of the program, lack of modern communication facilities at the venue, different expectation levels, previous exposure to some topics being discussed, and other general adjustment challenges to the food, the weather, and the location. The SELF-2003 provided a strong bonding among the participants, where the participants mutually supported each other in their stay and learning. posted by Anonymous on Thursday, November 20, 2003 |
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