ACT News - Page 18 of 102

ACT members bringing life-saving aid to Syria

Immediately after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in the early hours of the morning on February 6, ACT members began to conduct rapid needs assessments in Syria and Turkey. They also began to provide life-saving aid including food, medicine, and warm blankets, mattresses and pyjamas to families who lost everything to the devastating quake even as search and rescue efforts continue to free survivors from the rubble.

“People are staying out of their homes,” reports Samer Laham of the Middle East Council of Churches. “They are afraid of aftershocks destroying the buildings that are still standing.”

Sara Savva of The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East- Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development (GOPA-DERD) continues, “Lots of buildings have not yet collapsed, but they are not stable. Families are sleeping in the streets, in cars if they have them, with friends and family, or in shelters.”

As the numbers of people killed, injured and displaced by the earthquake grow, so too does the support from ACT members. As of February 8, seven ACT members are involved in response or are conducting needs assessments. These include:

MECC

MECC reports that 232 sites have been offered as shelters in Aleppo since the quake, including church halls, mosques, schools and municipal halls. MECC is providing mattresses and blankets, as well as hot meals, to affected families, and is working to secure additional supplies to meet the needs.

They report that there is a lack of availability of some key items in Aleppo, so they are being transported from Damascus.

“The key need currently is food baskets,” reports Ghassan Chahine of MECC. “We need canned and pre-made food, as people cannot cook at the moment.”

GOPA-DERD

GOPA-DERD is performing assessments in Aleppo, Hama and Latakia, and has been distributing a variety of items to families in need including winterization kits (blankets, pyjamas and mattresses), ready to eat meals and food kits to those in shelters and to those outside of them as well, kitchen kits to shelters to help them prepare meals for the families living there, battery chargers, hygiene and dignity kits, and medical supplies to hospitals and the shelters.

GOPA-DERD is sending engineering teams to examine buildings to make sure they are safe for people to return to. They are also preparing to provide emergency psychosocial support in the coming weeks.

GOPA-DERD is looking to scale up their response as soon as possible.

Christian Aid

Christian Aid is working in northwest Syria in non-government controlled areas. One of their Syrian partners has started distributing pre-positioned winterization kits in western rural Aleppo and Idleb. Another is distributing child protection and winterization kits, setting up child friendly spaces, and supporting family reunification.

Swiss Church Aid (HEKS)

HEKS is supporting families living in schools and shelters with in-kind support. They are developing a medium to long term intervention which is likely to be focused on providing multi-purpose cash support to affected families. They are performing their assessment from Damascus, working with the Syrian government’s relevant ministries.

FCA

Fin Church Aid is providing winterization kits to 2000 families in shelters in Aleppo, as well as hygiene and dignity kits. They are undertaking assessments in Aleppo and Hama and will continue to develop their response.

Hungarian Interchurch Aid

Hungarian Interchurch Aid, with its local partner Middle East Council of Churches (MECC), is currently developing a response plan providing emergency food and non-food items (NFIs) to the people affected by the earthquake in Aleppo. The implementation will be overseen by HIA’s office in Erbil and supported by the Budapest HQ. HIA has also opened its helpline to collect donations and, depending on the available funds, is planning a medium to long-term intervention.

LWF and DKH

The Lutheran World Federation and Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe are both doing needs assessments with their local partners and developing their response plans, which will be available soon.

Support ACT’s work

The Alert for ACT’s response can be found here. The ACT Syria Forum is revising its 2023 appeal to include the earthquake response, and that document will be available shortly.

To support ACT’s work, please contact Niall O’Rourke, Head of Humanitarian Affairs and George Majaj, Humanitarian Programme Advisor for MENA.

ACT members responding to urgent needs after earthquake in Syria and Turkey

ACT members began responding to humanitarian needs shortly after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck in the early hours of February 6 near the border between Turkey and Syria. Over 1800 have been killed and thousands more injured, with those numbers expected to rise as work is undertaken to rescue survivors trapped under rubble.

As the scale of the disaster continues to be discovered, ACT members are checking in with their own staff teams, conducting rapid needs assessments, and already working to provide life-saving supplies to impacted people.

ACT member The Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Antioch and All the East- Department of Ecumenical Relations and Development (GOPA-DERD) is providing food, winterization (blankets and mattresses) and medical aid in affected communities in Aleppo, Hama, Latakia.

The Middle East Council of Churches, also an ACT member, posted a statement today stating that “…all the Churches in the Middle East have put their resources at the disposal of the affected and displaced people due to the earthquake, since the first moments of the disaster…” and that “The Churches in the Middle East, which always supports their people, will spare no effort in doing all they can to relieve their pain and lead them towards prosperity and progress.”

Plans are underway from other ACT members to supply winterization materials, ambulances, and other needed supplies as the extent of the need is known.

ACT members will continue to respond to this disaster. To support ACT’s work, please contact Niall O’Rourke, head of humanitarian affairs and George Majaj, humanitarian programme advisor for MENA.

New study on Human Mobility and Climate Change

By Christian Wolff

The interconnections between climate change and human mobility have lately been discussed with increasing fervor and frequency. ACT Alliance and its members have been working on this issue for several years. Now, in collaboration with ACT member Bread for the World, we are publishing a new analysis entitled, “Addressing the Protection Gap – Human Mobility and the Climate Crisis in International Frameworks”, compiled by Dr. Katherine Braun as lead author.

There is growing recognition that climate change affects people’s ability to move and their decisions about movement, and that, apart from addressing the root causes of climate change and ensuring climate justice, more equitable access to safe migration opportunities is needed, alongside strengthened protection for people on the move, or those unable to move. ACT and our partners and networks have made considerable progress in advocating for this over the last few years – as reflected in the recent agreement to establish a loss and damage financing facility, or in the inclusion of a framework for more diverse and more easily accessible regular pathways in the Global Compact for Migration.

The next steps in our journey towards positive change for affected populations will lie in furthering our common understanding of how their diverse needs in different contexts can best be served and their human rights and dignity can be most effectively protected. Some of the answers to this will be found in climate change processes, others in humanitarian approaches, still others in global and regional migration policies. The report attempts to provide an overview of how the underlying issues are connected, and how advocates – including our membership and allies – can best use the different international frameworks to make rights-based progress on this topic. In doing so, it examines the place of human mobility in climate policy, its treatment in international human rights instruments and in migration governance, as well as looking at implications for financing.

Please follow this link to access the report. We also invite you to read this blog post by the lead author and our Bread for the World colleague Sabine Minninger.

Christian Wolff is the ACT Alliance Migration and Displacement Programme Manager

ACT Alliance calls for an end to the political crisis in Peru respecting democracy and human rights

The current crisis in Peru has led to the death of more than 55 people, more than 1,500 people injured and hundreds of people arbitrarily detained. ACT Alliance has issued a statement calling for an end to the crisis.

“ACT Alliance, calls for a peaceful resolution of the crisis, respecting the lives and rights of all people; and expresses its willingness to contribute to efforts to ensure a dignified life for all Peruvians,” the statement reads.

ACT is further calling for the Peruvian authorities to “reaffirm their commitment to democracy through the prompt implementation of fair, free and transparent general elections” and to be “accountable for the violent acts and human rights violations perpetrated in repression of social protest.”

Finally, ACT recognizes the need to address the root causes of the crisis including deep inequalities and vulnerabilities. “We call on the State of Peru and Peruvian society to address the structural causes of this crisis, with special focus on those who have been historically marginalized and most vulnerable.”

Read the full statement in Spanish and English here.

Blog: Not so new resolutions – promoting economic justice as transformative change

By Dr Thorsten Göbel and Dr Marianna Leite

The new year presents an opportunity to analyse situations afresh and reassess the main priorities for the upcoming months. However, this is an uncanny period that reflects worrisome trends around the globe.

Why now?

This week, world leaders are meeting in Davos at the World Economic Forum to discuss issues such as the care economy, climate finance, trade and financial inclusion. Oxfam notes that, despite the political rhetoric, ‘at least 1.7 billion workers live in countries where inflation is outpacing their wage growth, even as billionaire fortunes are rising by $2.7 billion (€2.5 billion) a day.’ These trends are increasing due to the effects of the war in Ukraine and the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2022, COVID and other crisis-profiteering created a new billionaire every 30 hours while many people faced extreme poverty.

Promoting economic justice from an ecumenical perspective

In 2012 the Global Ecumenical Conference on a New International Financial and Economic Architecture organized by the World Communion of Reformed Churches (WCRC), World Council of Churches (WCC) and Council for World Mission (CWM) lead to the creation and publication of an Ecumenical Action Plan for a New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) which promotes an Economy of Life for All and is endorsed by ACT Alliance.

A preceding NIFEA statement developed with Global South actors in São Paulo, Brazil states that ‘[c]urrent economic systems pose a profound obstacle to the justice and peace we need as one humanity for our life together, today and tomorrow.’ It adds that ‘[t]he pursuit of profit, when it is held up as an ultimate value in itself and when it becomes the purpose of life, is sinful.’ The endless thirst for profit is ‘spawning violence, inequality and climate change and obscures the vision of God for unity, peace, and plenty for all of God’s creation.’ This work calls for changes in the financial sector, sustainable and equitable public finance and debt, and inclusive and transformative global governance.

The work of ACT Alliance and its members

What does this mean in practice? Economic justice is a cross-cutting theme under the ACT Alliance Global Strategy 2019-2026: Putting People First. ACT Alliance and its members have a proud history of campaigning for economic justice and change. 

A recent briefing paper published by ACT Alliance on the intersectionalities between economic and gender justice affirms that ‘ACT understands economic justice as a set of principles around macroeconomic policies wherein the ultimate goal is to enable the realization of human rights and to create an equitable environment that ensures people and planet thrive. There is no economic justice without gender justice. Similarly, there is no transformative economic change if policies and actions are not human rights-based and/or connected (…).’

ACT Alliance member Christian Aid commissioned a collection of essays unpacking what a feminist, anti-racist, eco-social contract for people and planet would look like. These essays flesh out what a rights-based economy means, how to ensure bottom-up approaches, and how a transformative social contract can be realized.

ACT member Norwegian Church Aid produced a report in 2022 calling for a UN Tax Convention and exploring the merits and feasibility of a new international convention on tax and financial transparency. Similarly, Evangelische Kirche in Deutschland (Evangelical Church in Germany – EKD) published a report which was strongly supported by ACT member Brot für die Welt, calling for a complete overhaul of our current financial system. The EKD report states that ‘[t]he financial scandals of recent times […] have clearly revealed the deficits in the financial economy’s understanding of responsibility, the deficiencies in their control through politics and the constitutional state, and the inequalities in the growing national and global economics.’  

New year, old resolutions

It is evident that the current global economic system and its governance structures reinforce a vicious cycle of inequalities by keeping political and financial power in the hands of a small elite. Religious discourses have been used to justify these inequalities and perpetuate violence, systems of privilege and structural exclusion. Meanwhile, the unfairness of entrenched inequalities is not only felt by those who are economically marginalised, but increasingly shared by ordinary people across the globe.

Our faith emphasises the shared commitment of caring for our common home together, with cooperation and solidarity rooted in justice, care and sustainability. States and world leaders meeting in Davos this week must move from an economy that exploits and makes care invisible towards fundamentally transforming the role of the economy: to set a direct path towards equality, sustainability, poverty eradication, and inclusive economic benefits.

Dr Thorsten Göbel is ACT Alliance Director of Programmes. Dr Marianna Leite is the Global Advocacy and Development Policy Manager at ACT Alliance.

They cannot take away our joy: not an ordinary Christmas for Ukrainian refugees

The Christmas holiday is a symbol of joy, peace, light, and also – getting together, for most people regardless of their faith tradition. However, reuniting might be out of reach for many families divided by war. Despite the harsh circumstances, the essential mindset for survival is to keep hope and joy in sight.

Spreading joy became the mission of Svetlana Gamurar who after having fled Ukraine with her 5 children, found refuge in Romania, with the help of ACT member the Ecumenical Association of Churches in Romania (AIDRom).

“The kids can get to the basement in ten minutes but the rocket can get there in seven. That´s all I needed to know when asking myself this question: could I live with the burden of not being able to protect them? The answer was no. So we fled to Romania.”

She now devotes her time and energy to being a children’s choirmaster. Her efforts peaked with the performance of 60 Ukrainian children at a mid-December concert in Bucharest, “Christmas with peace – in souls and in Ukraine.” The repertoire mixed Ukrainian “koliadky” with Romanian carols, bringing out positive emotions in the audience. The concert left some in the audience teary eyed, with soul-soothing tunes that help to ease a bit of the stress from the horrors of the war.

Pr. Gabriel Cazacu, coordinator of the Ecumenical Dialogue Department of AIDRom, shared this message of hope during the concert:

“We have come to thank you all on behalf of the Ukrainians who have been very welcome in Romania. Our carols express gratitude from the AIDRom Association. We assisted 60,000 Ukrainians during this crisis, and today we are taking care of 6,000 families in Bucharest. Here we have some of the representatives of these Ukrainians. They are wonderful, extraordinary children, who enjoy their time with our children during this period, to proclaim the birth of the Lord through carols. It is a joy! God bless all of you and may he strengthen your faith. Let’s show good deeds by loving, forgiving, blessing, and rejoicing together!”

Staying warm and connected

Staying hopeful is vital for keeping a positive outlook, but those who stayed in war-torn Ukraine have other day-to-day issues on their to-do list: staying safe and warm, and fulfilling basic needs. The life of residents depends on the humanitarian aid provided by NGOs such as ACT ALLIANCE member the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) which has established “heating points” in cooperation with the local Youth Council in Kharkiv.

“Heating points provide an opportunity to warm up for those who do not have heating, or to charge their phones if there is no electricity at home. It is also a place where they can have an Internet connection thanks to Starlink (which provides Internet access via satellite) and generators, because when the light goes out, so does the mobile network,” explains Bishop Pavlo Shvarts of the German Evangelical Lutheran Church (GELCU). This local LWF member church has been active in the region since the beginning of the conflict.

Adapting to long-lasting blackouts might be even more challenging this Christmas. For most families the chance to reunite can only happen with the help of the Internet and charged cell phones. Heating points are much more than opportunities to warm up; they are centres of reconnection in the dark of Kharkiv.

Not your ordinary Christmas

Ukraine’s Christmas atmosphere is unlike that of previous years. Magic lights and festivities in the streets have been replaced by far more precious currencies – gifts of light and warmth, supplies of wood and food, and safety and survival.

ACT member HEKS/EPER (Swiss Church Aid), which provides aid to Ukrainian refugees in Moldova, surveyed 50 people in three villages in late December about their Christmas plans. Not surprisingly, the need for connection is stronger than ever. Some will cross the border to reunite with their families.

When to celebrate Christmas has been a matter of heated debate in past years and surfaces again in the survey, amplified by the unusual circumstances of the Ukrainian people being dispersed to neighbouring countries. Some Ukrainians are happy to keep to their January 7th tradition, while others see this as a date “imposed during the Soviet times” and prefer “reverting back to the original December tradition.” Some families have decided to honour both dates.

Refugees shared their views on Christmas traditions and customs when they gathered in the Support Centre for Ukrainian Refugees in Budapest for a Christmas party organized by ACT member HIA (Hungarian Interchurch Aid). The importance of family and keeping in touch – despite distances – was a common theme. So was reminiscing about the traditional wheat berry pudding known as “kutia” and the beautiful candlelit Christmas liturgy.

Bella and Alla, a couple from Mariupol, illustrate the mingling of traditions. Asked about when they’ll celebrate Christmas, they say:

“Since I’m a Catholic and my wife is Orthodox, we celebrate on both occasions – the 25th of December and the 7th of January as well. It is a trend now in Ukraine to also celebrate on the 25th in accordance with western traditions, even in the Ukrainian Orthodox church.”

Different families, different traditions. While some adopt the western style, and some keep their traditional ways they all have one thing in common – a secret wish that Viktoria voices on behalf of them all:

“To return home, for peace to come. These are the only things we all wish to come true here.”

The Ukraine Response within the ACT Appeal

Emergency response for communities affected by Ukraine conflict in Ukraine and neighboring countries since the first day of the Russian invasion is carried out in collaboration with partner organizations. The full appeal is available here.

These include:

AIDRom (Ecumenical Association of Churches in Romania) – in Romania

CWS (Church World Service) – in Moldova

HIA (Hungarian Interchurch Aid) – in Ukraine (Lviv Zakarpattia Ivano-Frankivsk Zaporizhzhia Cherkasy Poltava Dnipropetrovsk Kyiv Chernivtsi Mykolaiv Sumy Ternopil Khmelnytskyi Rivne Kharkiv) and Hungary

HEKS/EPER (Swiss Church Aid) – in Ukraine (Odesa, Field Offices: Zaporizhzhia, Mykolaiv, Kharkiv, Kherson), and Hungary, Moldova and Romania

LWF (The Lutheran World Federation) – Ukraine (Czernichiv, Kyiv), Hungary, Romania and Poland

Above The Ukrainian Children’s choir and their conductor appear on television for Christmas.

ACT Armenia Forum issues statement on closure of humanitarian Lachin corridor

The ACT Armenia Forum draws attention to the massively deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nagorno-Karabakh, and has issued this statement:

Since December 11, 2022 Azerbaijan has blockaded the region of Artsakh by closing the only humanitarian corridor (the Lachin corridor) and cutting gas supplies to the region. With these actions, Azerbaijan is creating a dramatic humanitarian crisis and emergency situation for 120,000 ethnic Armenian residents, including 30,000 children, 20,000 elderly and 9,000 people with disabilities, who are in critical need of food, medication and all life necessary goods.

1,100 people (of which 270 are minors) are unable to return to their homes, and 350 people are unable to receive medical treatment. This situation is a blatant violation of the tripartite agreement that ended the six-week war of 2020, of international humanitarian and human rights law, and of the most fundamental moral principles.

All parties, without exception, must respect their obligations under international humanitarian law and take constant care to spare civilians and civilian infrastructure so that they are protected, their houses preserved, and essential services remain.

New Resource: Religious Actors As Peacebuilders

Members of peace committees in conflict areas in the Amhara Region and Oromia Region share experiences. From left to right: Temima Shunburu from Oromia Region, Bale Gasara Woreda, Abay Kebede from Oromia region Bale Robe woreda, Fatoye Siraj, Amhara regional state, North Shewa zone, Senbete Woreda. Photo: Metasebia Assefa Eshete/NCA January 2022

ACT member Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) has released new a report of interest to all ACT members. Religious Actors as Peacebuilders in Contexts of Violent Conflict: Jewish, Christian and Muslim Self-Understandings in Relation to Peacebuilding. will inform NCA’s Global Peacebuilding programme. The study highlights the strategic value of, and the potential risks for, religious actors as peacebuilders in violent conflicts.

At a December meeting of ACT and NCA, lead researcher Dr.Sven Thore Kloster said that the findings and recommendations will enhance the meaningful engagement of religious actors in peacebuilding. Investments in local and credible partnerships, community ownership and adapting peacebuilding methods to different contexts are among the suggested recommendations.

The report also documents potential risks for religious actors. Peacebuilding in violent contexts has risks that can become complicated. “Religions have vast resources for peacebuilding, but violence is also committed in the name of religion. How do we cope with that? ” said Dr. Kloster.

ACCESS THE REPORT HERE

The recording for the webinar is linked below.

Egypt: much more than COP27

By Joy Kennedy

Coptic Church near COP27. Photo: Albin Hillert/LWF

After the surreal bubble of the Sharm el-Sheikh Congress Center on the Sinai Peninsula where the international community gathered for COP27, I had the opportunity to visit mainland Egypt and the upper Nile River Valley. Here are a few glimpses I witnessed of realities on the ground.

Beauty – of the land, the Nile, the people, the buildings, the writing, the paintings, the sculptures, the stories going back to at least 6000-4000 BC. It is breathtaking and awe-inspiring.

Pride – in the restoration of monumental ancient temples and tombs that preserve the millennial history and development of rich cultures and religions. The omnipresence of the “Key of Life.” In some places there are links to stories from the Hebrew testament – pictures of the seven years of plenty and seven of famine of Joseph’s time; a sense of what those enslaved people underwent building these enormous pyramids and edifices that led to the exodus under Moses. The wonderful museums portray the influences of conquering civilisations – Roman, Greek, Christian and Muslim — and the cultural gifts they brought to the existing vibrant tapestry.

Today’s Christians – I met local Orthodox Christians, who were tired but rejoicing after a week of camping outdoors at the ancient St. George monastery, near the Valley of the Kings. Faith is vibrant, strong and celebrated daily in a family I came to know and love. I overheard Coptic and Catholic tour guides arguing over baptism – which was the true one! I weighed in as a Protestant who they skeptically allowed to join the debate. We never did resolve it.

Muslim dominance – evidenced by things like land redistribution under Anwar Sadat, who displaced Christian owners from farms; still a sore point. But those I talked to say that President Sisi seems to protect Christian interests, and there is no problem building new churches. Human rights is talked about carefully and quietly.

Reliance on renewable energy – with massive hydro generation by the High Dam at Aswan (a remarkable feat) and an enormous inland 50km long solar installation. Irrigation from canals and water-powered machines add to the mix.

Attempts at recycling and going green – everywhere in new public buildings like museums, but thick smoke still blows from mountains of rubbish burning in Cairo city. On a bright note, polluting tuk tuks were banned in Luxor, leaving only newer combustion energy vehicles and horse drawn caleches (which I had the pleasure of driving!)

Grand new infrastructure projects underway – the President says Egypt won’t be recognisable in thirty years; but, says my guide, in the meantime “the people have to eat.”

Harsh poverty – I experienced this in a Nubian household in a village where the community is strong but lacks resources to break the cycle. There are worries about young men at 19 years who must go for 2-year army training. Children have school, but only half days or whatever is affordable. Women have fewer opportunities for paid work.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic – debilitating for poor communities which saw much death and illness, leaving widows and orphans in its wake. Tourism and commerce is just now reviving. Markets are colourful and vibrant again.

Agriculture – fertile farms in the desert employing many migrant workers from Sudan and the Middle East.

Active trade with Sudan – long queues of trucks laden with goods easily enter Sudan, but must pay large tariffs returning to Egypt.

Refugees – from Syria and the drought-affected regions to the south. Immigrants from all over Africa and the Middle East.

Street children – stream children – Nubian orphans living dangerously on paddle boards and hitching rides on motorboats plying the river, singing for a little money.

The “informal economy” and black market – very much alive. Greasing palms at every checkpoint – even a customs agent at the airport “suggested” a fee for service before we went to the gate.

This is a complex society, emerging as a leading country in the geopolitical landscape, with its own struggles and challenges as climate change impacts hit. It is resilient with many blessings too.

And always the Nile – river of dreams, and heartaches, of promises, and life. It keeps rolling on.

Joy Kennedy, Canada, is an activist and COP veteran and an ecumenist. She is a former Church executive, Moderator of the WCC Working Group on Climate Change; Convenor of Fast For the Climate; Chair of Climate Action Network, Canada; and a grandmother. She continues to have faith in working together with love toward a just and sustainable future for all.

ACT, WCC and WCRC congratulate Colombia on appointment of four women to peace negotiation team

ACT Alliance, the World Council of Churches and the World Communion of Reformed Churches sent a joint letter to President Gustavo Petro Urrego of Colombia and the High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda Rodriguéz on November 28, 2022, congratulating them on including four women, including Rev. Adelaida Jiménez, a Presbyterian pastor, in the eight person team negotiating a peace agreement with the National Liberation Army (ELN).

“Women’s engagement in peacebuilding, peace mediation and negotiation is fundamental, given that as refugees, internally displaced persons, combatants, heads of households, community leaders, activists and peacebuilders, women and men experience conflict differently,” the letter reads.

“Women make a difference [in peace negotiations],” it continues, “in part because they generally take a more comprehensive approach towards human security and address key social and economic issues that would otherwise be ignored.”

“We reaffirm our commitment to accompany the Colombian people in their search for lasting peace in Colombia and in the region,” the letter concludes. “We pray that you will be granted wisdom and strength to reach that goal.”

Read the full letter here.