Last month, the inter-faith community gathered in New York at the Church Centre of the United Nations Plaza to discuss the implementation of the Global Compact on Refugees. The event was organised by ACT Alliance, Catholic Relief Services, Islamic Relief Worldwide and the Jesuit Refugee Service/USA.

The panellists acknowledged that people move for various reasons, including seeking new economic opportunities, escaping conflict, poverty, food insecurity, gender issues and climate change amongst other factors. Speakers noted that while people have moved for many years, there is a severe lack of protection for some migrants. “Regardless of the motivation for moving, the rights of people on the move remain inadequately protected, particularly for those whose situations do not fit neatly into specific legal categories,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT’s General Secretary.

In 2017 alone, there were 4.4 million newly displaced refugees. Currently, there are 68.5 million displaced persons around the world. The global migration crisis has exposed the shortcomings of existing response strategies and calls for enhanced collaborative efforts across the globe to tackle it.  

The United Nations summit for Refugees and Migrants that took place in September 2016 adopted the New York Declaration as a strategy to respond to the changing landscape of migration and humanitarian assistance. The 193 signatories of the Declaration recognised that the existing protection strategies did not sufficiently protect the masses of people on the move. A two-year consultative process was thus established to develop a Global Compact on Refugees and another on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, both are expected to be adopted by the United Nations in December this year.

ACT has been working through its membership, forums and partnerships in an integrated approach to humanitarian, development and advocacy work including conflict prevention, reconciliation, peacebuilding and the delivery of humanitarian assistance to safeguard the integrity of people on the move and to ensure that vulnerabilities that are associated with migration are tackled. This work will continue to contribute to positive change during the implementation of the global compacts.

Bueno de Faria spoke on the importance of developing regular pathways of migration. “Many of the tragedies that we see today involving the exploitation of people that are crammed into unsafe boats, trucks and trains, waling hundreds of kilometres through deserts, dying in the heat, and being sold off by ruthless trafficking cartels are related to the lack of options for travelling in legal and regulated ways,” he said.

ACT Alliance intends to further develop its new multi-year strategy program work with a specific focus on migration and displacement, gender equality, climate change and peacebuilding. ACT will explore the intersectionality of these components and will raise the experiences and solutions of ACT members and partners to contribute to the implementation of the global compacts for more effective response strategies to the global migration crisis.

October 16, 2018 – This week a diverse group of organisations have come together for a forum at the Jesuit Curia in Rome where they will discuss how faith leaders can work together to end violence against children on the move.

According to UNICEF more than 28 million children around the world have been forced to flee their homes because of violence and conflict, and the violence they experience is the catalyst for the Faith Action for Children on the Move; Global Partners Forum, October 16-18. Ahead of the event, the 14 organising partners said:

“As people of faith, we are in a unique position to address the rights of children on the move.

“Across different faith backgrounds we feel a call and a responsibility to protect and give a voice to these children. Our calling has compelled us to come together, review what we do well and commit to doing more.”

The issue of children on the move has never been more pressing. Between 2005 and 2015 the number of child refugees worldwide more than doubled. The forum will bring organisations together to commit to a collective action plan on how they can work together in the future to protect, nurture and support children on the move.

“Considering that the majority (84% according to the Pew Research Center) of the world’s population identifies with a religious group, people of faith can and should be acknowledged as a powerful force in the world.

“As faith-based organisations, we believe that we are stronger together, together we can reach the most vulnerable, and together we can have a greater impact on more children.

“We recognise that partnering from different beliefs and religions enhances respect for our common values and respective contributions. We condemn xenophobic and discriminatory narratives and reaffirm the need to speak up with words of solidarity, hospitality and love.”

The role of faith in three key areas affecting children on the move will be discussed by the participants at the forum:

• Building peaceful societies and combating xenophobia
• Strengthening the continuum of protection for children on the move
• Providing spiritual support to children on the move and their caregivers, as a source of healing and resilience

“We hope to provide a way for organisations to partner in protecting children on the move and also include children in decision making and programme design processes.

“Children are the hope of humanity and must be protected and enabled to experience life in its fullness and to transform the societies in which they live.

Signed by the 14 organising partners:

ACT Alliance
ADRA
Anglican Alliance
Arigatou International
International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development
Islamic Relief
Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities
Mennonite World Conference
Micah Global
Seventh-Day Adventist Church
The Salvation Army
World Evangelical Alliance
World Council of Churches
World Vision

A week after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake triggered a tsunami in Indonesia, the picture of devastation slowly continues to reveal itself.  Communications infrastructure was badly damaged, and entire communities were cut off.  To date, over 1500 people are known to have died in the disaster, and over 70,000 have been displaced.

Members of the ACT Indonesia Forum, already responding to humanitarian needs after an earthquake in Lombok, immediately began to respond in Sulawesi as well.  ACT members Church World Service, Pelkesi, and YAKKUM Emergency Unit are responding.

ACT members began to provide health care in Palu, treating patients in the yard of the Palu Grand Mosque.  A truck carrying tarps, sleeping mats, blankets, bottled water, hygiene supplies and more has left South Sulawesi en route to Central Sulawesi, and another is being loaded with more hygiene and cleanup supplies. 

ACT members have provided water to about 1200 people in Sidera, a village that has received survivors from three other nearby villages.  Villages like Sidera have not yet received the assistance they need, so the ACT team was able to help meet the local needs.

A photo gallery from the ACT response can be seen here.

ACT Palestine Forum (APF) adopts the statement of his Grace Bishop Sani Ibrahin Azar of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and in the Holy Land with regard to the nation state law passed by the Knesset on 19 July 2018.

On 19 July the Israeli Knesset passed a Basic Law which enshrines Israel as the “national home of the Jewish people” and states that the “right to exercise national self-determination within the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people”.  This action is of deep concern to me as a religious leader in the Holy Land. This new law deliberately excludes the 1.9 million citizens of Israel who identify as Arab Israeli and makes up 21% of Israel’s total population. It also ignores the presence of citizens and residents who are members of other religious groups and the significant contributions they make to Israeli society. In spite of the great diversity present in Israeli society, this law preferences one culture or ethnic group, even downgrading the Arabic language to having only “special status.”

Of even greater concern, however, is the portion of the law which states: “The state views the development of Jewish settlement as a national value and will act to encourage and promote its establishment and consolidation.” It is difficult to understand how the encouragement and promotion of segregated, mono-cultural, mono-religious communities within Israel proper (or within Palestinian territory, in the form of illegal settlements) moves the State of Israel toward a peaceful future. This stated intention to create Jewish-only communities is cause for alarm for all Christian, Muslim, Bedouin, and Druze residents, who wish to enjoy the same rights as other Israeli citizens.

As Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land, I must call upon the Knesset to rescind this law.  It is fundamentally divisive, racist, and destructive. For many years, Israeli leaders have protested when the word “apartheid” has been used to describe the situation in this land. The adoption of this law, however, makes it difficult to argue against this situation having been codified into law. Declaring that Israel is no longer “home” for non-Jews, or for those citizens representing Arab culture, has officially created a sub-class of people in the nation.

I call on the many citizens of Israel and all people of goodwill to voice their objection to this law, and to stand for a future in which all the people in the land will enjoy equal rights, with equal responsibilities.

The APF would like also to draw attention to the fact that the model of the State, as presented in the Jewish Nation-State Law, goes counter to the model which speaks of the State as home to all of its citizens with equal rights and obligations. We are concerned that at a time when civil and faith based organizations are calling for states in the Middle East region to adopt the citizenship model of State, this law cast a serious question on the process of adoption of such a model across the Middle East.

The statement is available here.

The international conference on “Xenophobia, Racism and Populist Nationalism in the Context of Global Migration” held in Rome on 18- 20 September 2018, was organised by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Vatican’s Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity. ACT Alliance participated in the event, bringing to the table the experiences of members who are working with migrants and displaced people worldwide.

Together, participants adopted a Message from the Conference affirming the rights of all people on the move, calling on churches to speak out against all instances of discrimination and to promote narratives of hope and love. At the end of the conference, Pope Francis received the participants, speaking up against intolerance and emphasising the role of religious leaders in promoting respect and dignity to all people.

“We live in a time when feelings that many thought were outmoded seem to be reviving and spreading. Feelings of suspicion, fear, contempt and even hatred of individuals or groups deemed to be different because of their ethnic, national or religious affiliation, and as such considered unworthy to participate fully in the life of society,” said Pope Francis.

“Faced with the spread of new forms of xenophobia and racism, leaders of all religions also have an important mission: to spread among their faithful the principles and ethical values inscribed by God in the heart of man known as the natural law,” he continued.

The message acknowledges the rise in xenophobic and racist reactions to refugees and migrants and notes that migration, “belongs to the whole history of humanity – past, present and future – and the entire biblical narrative.” The message also notes the various drivers of forced displacement and migration including violent conflicts, poverty, insecurity, and climate change, and affirms “the institution of asylum” as well as “the rights of all people on the move, regardless of their status.”

Having engaged with the issues of xenophobia, racism, and populist nationalism, participants observed that these often result in a rejection of the other. The message further reads, “to refuse to receive and help those in need is contrary to the example and calling of Jesus Christ. Claiming to protect Christian values or communities by shutting out those who seek safe refuge from violence and suffering is unacceptable, undermines Christian witness in the world, and raises up national boundaries as idols.”

The conference further called on all to hold accountable those who “exercise power and participate directly in decisions that affect the future of the human community” and in this context expressed support for the effective implementation of the recently agreed Global Compacts for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration and on Refugees, including their respective provisions for eliminating all forms of discrimination against migrants and refugees, noting that these frameworks were drafted with the active participation of churches, civil society, and other stakeholders.

Rev. Dr Katalina Tahaafe-Williams, Programme Executive, Mission & Evangelism, and lead organiser of the conference for the WCC, noted the positive signalling effect of the conference for ecumenical relations. “The implications of this are huge. Many church leaders here commented to me how this has inspired them to go home and say, if this kind of cooperation can happen here at this level, there’s no reason why we cannot do it ourselves nationally and locally. I hope that we can continue to build on that for more and more collaboration in the future.”

“Having plenty of non-European perspectives in the room aided the discussion and helped us focus on the articulation of Christian values for addressing this challenge,” she continued.

Christian Wolff, ACT Alliance’s Programme Manager for Migration and Displacement, echoed the spirit of ecumenical collaboration. “For us, this was a significant event, because it enabled us to reach a broad constituency of churches and their leadership and to anchor our principled and human rights-based approach to migration and displacement even more deeply within the ecumenical movement. Bringing together our engagement at the political level with church-based voices who can carry our concerns into their constituencies is a key part of our long-term strategy, and we are deeply grateful to the WCC and the Vatican for facilitating this collaboration.”

Tahaafe-Williams praised ACT Alliance for its fruitful ecumenical collaboration on migration issues, including and especially with the WCC. “We are encouraged by the results, which include this conference. Migration is a very complex area that no one organisation can effectively cover on its own, so we are grateful to ACT and its members for consistently monitoring developments and bringing their expertise and experiences into the ecumenical family, which helps us all engage at different levels together.”

Tahaafe-Williams agreed on the need to carry the message from the conference into church communities. “We hope that people will take it seriously, and start using it for engaging at the local level, where it matters. It should inform the way we are operating, as Christians and as people of faith, including others who share the same values. This came out strongly in our inter-religious panel. We hope that having a tool to speak to our membership ecclesiastically will be a useful starting point for our journey together.”

The full Message from the Conference is available here.

The full text of Pope Francis’ remarks is available here.

The ecumenical and faith-based organisations and members of ACT Alliance express our concern over the decisions of the Guatemalan government to not renew the mandate of the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) once it ends in September 2019, and the decision to ban the CICIG Commissioner from entering the country.

As the ACT Alliance Guatemala Forum:

• We regret and reject this decision. In recent years, the CICIG has been instrumental in the progress made towards justice in Guatemala and has systematically contributed to the strengthening of institutional capacities and conditions of the Guatemalan justice system, returning hope and trust to the people of a country who have faced alarming levels of impunity. The decisions taken by Guatemala’s executive power present serious setbacks for justice and will deteriorate the rule of law, democratic institutions, respect for human rights, the pursuit of justice and the struggle against corruption and impunity in the country.
• We deeply reject the signs of the militarisation of public security demonstrated by the increase in military security, armoured vehicles and other publically visible military equipment, which deters and threatens the potential to fully exercise civil liberties. At the same time, we condemn the actions of monitoring, intimidation and criminalisation against human rights defenders, which have been reported in recent days.
• We are concerned by the Congress of the Republic’s attempts to reverse advances to justice, promoting impunity and weakening democratic institutions. In particular, we are concerned about the legal initiative of “5300” which aims to weaken the process that has been established to remove the legal immunity of public officials that are linked to cases of corruption.

The actions described above are causing an adverse and regressive environment for democratic institutions, the rule of law, justice and human rights in Guatemala, and constitute a serious threat to the fight against corruption and impunity. For these reasons, we urge:

1. The constitutional President of the Republic of Guatemala to revoke his decision regarding the CICIG mandate, and to guarantee the security and physical integrity of CICIG staff, enabling the continuation of their crucial work in supporting national institutions in the fight against impunity.
2. The State of Guatemala to guarantee the independence of the national organs of justice and to respect the roles that correspond to the Constitutional Court (CC), the Public Prosecutor (MP) and the Human Rights Ombudsman (PDH), respecting the rule of law and the human rights of the Guatemalan people.
3. Guatemala’s civil society to critically analyse the situation, to organise, and to present shared proposals for a peaceful way out of the crisis, avoiding any incitement to violence.

“Learn to do good; commit yourselves to seeking justice. Make right for the world’s most vulnerable— the oppressed.” Isaiah 1:17 (VOICE)

Geneva, September 14, 2018

Download the statement in Spanish here.
Download the statement in English here.

“You care for the land and water it; You enrich it abundantly; The streams of God are filled with water; To provide the people with grain. For so you have ordained it.” (Psalm 65:9)

ACT Alliance EU and its predecessor APRODEV has been working on advocacy for environmentally friendly agriculture, fair(er) trade and food security for almost two decades. In support of the global food justice movement, we strive to enhance the right to food, the right of farmers to access seeds, land and productive resources, and we support the fight against land grabs.

The global peasant movement strongly identifies with the content of the recently negotiated UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants which calls for the promotion and protection of indigenous peoples and peasants’ rights. The Declaration is expected to be up for adoption in the Fall at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. A delegation of ACT partners is joining with La Via Campesina (The International Peasant’s Movement) in Geneva between 10-28 September to manifest their support for the Declaration.

Indigenous and rural communities are rooted in their ancestral lands. They care for it, water it, enrich it, live from it. They belong to the land. They are knowledgeable about nature’s abundance and its enchantment, enhance genetic and species diversity, produce our food and protect the storage of carbon in our forests and lands. Over time, they have proven to be resilient and able to adapt when necessary. Indigenous and rural communities are a testimony to the world, affirming that biodiversity happens where nature, culture and humans co-exist and develop their diversity as an expression of God’s creation.

Peasants and indigenous people, however, are victims of numerous forms of discrimination and human-rights violations varying from forced evictions to the denial of their custodian right to access land and productive resources. They face degradation, exhaustion and the pollution of natural resources on which they depend. Unfair trade and dumping practices destroy their local markets, economies, and global warming is putting them at risk, exposing them to extreme weather-related events, desertification and deforestation. This is a crime. These are sins.

In the words of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew of the Eastern Orthodox Church,

“To commit a crime against the natural world is a sin; for humans to cause species to become extinct and destroy the biological diversity of God’s creation; for humans to degrade the integrity of the Earth by causing changes in its climate; by stripping the Earth of its natural forests or destroying its wetlands; for humans to injure other humans with disease; for humans, to contaminate the Earth and its waters, its land, and its air, and its life with poisonous substances. These are sins.”

The Season of Creation inspired by Franz von Assisi invites us to see the beauty and the brightness of creation. It calls us to free ourselves from the toxic culture of disenchantment, disintegration and disconnection of the organic human body from nature. Season of Creation is an opportunity to wake up, to take action to stop the violence against peasants and indigenous people who are pushed to the edges of our modern civilisation.

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants is a means to restore and dignify the rights of peasants and their status in society. It is an opportunity to join the global effort to restore and sustain our ecological resources and all of creation and to work together for peaceful conflict resolution and ecological justice.

Call to Action: Faith-based communities and church constituencies are encouraged to contact their national governments to vote in favour of the Declaration.  You may use this letter template to contact your government officials.  

Supporting Resources: 

• European Parliament Resolution on the violation of the rights of indigenous people in the world, (2017/2206 (INI) 3 July 2018).
• EU Agricultural and Food Policy Campaign: Join the action days!
• How our societies relate to humans as a part of nature ( A journey with Sebastiao Salgado)
• Access Agriculture

Karin Ulmer is a Senior Policy Officer with ACT Alliance EU (previously APRODEV), specialising in EU trade and agricultural policies and global food security. The current focus is on human rights and trade, land and seed issues, agricultural policy and research. Based in Brussels, her educational background is in cognitive, social and human science.

One week of intense climate talks in Bangkok was expected to deliver significant progress in the UN climate change negotiations. Acknowledging that some progress has been made, there is a long list of outstanding questions that have been pushed to the next climate summit in Katowice, Poland.

The head of ACT Alliance’s delegation in Bangkok, Isaiah Kipyegon Toroitich, Global Policy and Advocacy Coordinator said, “All diplomats at this meeting are fully aware of the urgency and the need to find solutions to promote a green transformation and the strengthening of resilience for people around the world.” “It is disappointing that they could not make further progress with their negotiations,” he continued.

One of the thematic areas that parties have made some progress on is climate finance. However, there is an unwillingness from rich countries to meet the needs of developing countries when it comes to the predictability of climate finance. While there are already existing agreements around financial targets, states are negotiating the rules to determine how climate finance will be counted and reported.

“With no clear rules for climate finance, nice promises will become empty words,” said Håkon Grindheim, Climate Advisor, Norwegian Church Aid. “There is a need for grant-based support to deliver climate action. We do not need more loans, which many countries have been reporting as their financial commitments,” he continued.
To reduce ambition around climate finance some rich countries proposed full-flexibility and no concrete rules, sending the message that they are not willing to support the ambitious global efforts needed to tackle climate change.

Another clear distinction between poor and rich countries is around loss and damage due to the impacts of climate change, a pillar of the Paris Agreement. As the details of the agreement continue to be negotiated, loss and damage may lose its significance on the agenda.

Jessica Dator-Bercilla, Climate Change Advisor for Asia and the Middle East, Christian Aid said, “The most vulnerable victims of climate change are those who face loss and damage. Their situation must be acknowledged, and they must receive the necessary support.”

Several developed countries have pushed back on initiatives to discuss loss and damage. As a pillar of the Paris Agreement, loss and damage must be treated in the same way as other components of the climate debate.
A highly contested topic in the Bangkok session is accounting for the intended greenhouse gas reductions of parties. To reduce the demands that they would be expected to deliver on, some of the more recent, large emitting countries have blocked progress on this topic.

This has affected the climate talks, widening the gap between countries and rattling frustration. “ACT Alliance urges countries to stretch further to make progress. The world’s climate depends on it,” says Håkon Grindheim, Climate Advisor, Norwegian Church Aid.

ACT Alliance continues to call for increased solidarity and trust among countries in the climate change negotiations.

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For any media inquiries please contact Joanna Patouris, +1-647-971-5360 joanna.patouris@actalliance.org, Climate Change Communications Coordinator, ACT Alliance 

The ACT Alliance deeply regrets the United States administration’s decision published on Friday 31 August 2018 to withhold funding to UNRWA, and urges them the US administration to reconsider its decision.  

This decision is contrary to tangible and practical steps towards resolving the Palestine refugee question, which has spanned decades. ACT Alliance therefore calls for the protection and support of some five million Palestine refugees in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, in Gaza, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, in full recognition of International Refugee Law, International Humanitarian Law and International Human Rights Law. 

“Withholding desperately needed financial aid to run UNRWA’s schools, health centers, and emergency assistance programs and nurturing a future generation is unacceptable,” said Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT Alliance’s General Secretary.

Organisations providing assistance to Palestine refugees, including ACT Alliance members, are confronted with an increased demand for services resulting from a growth in the number of registered Palestine refugees, their vulnerability and their deepening poverty.

A just and lasting solution to the plight of Palestineian refugees remains pending. The politics of it must not make the US turn a blind eye to the realities of the sufferings of Palestine refugees covered under the UNRWA mandate – who desperately need assistance to make it from a day to the next. It is their right to access such assistance to preserve their dignity and aspirations. 

“The US has traditionally been the most consistent and generous donor of UNRWA, enabling it to provide lifesaving humanitarian responses, including supporting girls access to education among others, and we urge them to remain on this path,” Bueno de Faria continued.

The ACT Alliance calls for the commitment of the United Nations members states to the Palestine refugee cause, as most of the organisations  working with Palestine refugees are operating with large shortfalls. 

ACT Alliance also makes a call to its members and the global church to stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine who have endured decades of suffering and continue to do so in perpetuation. We ask them whereever possible to access those in power and to continue to influence, and provide financial and resources support when they are able.

Notes to the Editors

 https://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/ps/2018/08/285648.htm:  US administration press release

Following the 1948 Arab-Israeli conflict, UNRWA was established by United Nations General Assembly Resolution 302 (IV) of 8 December 1949 to carry out direct relief and works programmes for Palestine refugees registered with UNRWA across its five fields of operation. Its mission is to help Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip achieve their full human development potential, pending a just and lasting solution to their plight. UNRWA services encompass education, health care, relief and social services, camp infrastructure and improvement, protection and microfinance. 

In the absence of a solution to the Palestine refugee problem, the General Assembly has repeatedly renewed UNRWA’s mandate, most recently extending it until 30 June 2020. https://www.unrwa.org/who-we-are

In January 2018, the US had communicated a reduction of $300 million to UNRWA’s budget, providing $60 million compared to $364 million in 2017. 

Some of the Previous ACT Alliance Statements and Press Releases on Palestine

1. Message from ACT General Secretary on the situation in Gaza

https://actalliance.org/act-news/message-from-act-general-secretary-on-the-situation-in-gaza/

2. ACT Alliance study on the ‘Protection of Space for Civil Society and Human Rights Defenders – The Case of Israel and Palestine’

https://actalliance.org/act-news/act-alliance-study-on-the-protection-of-space-for-civil-society-and-human-rights-defenders-the-case-of-israel-and-palestine/

3. ACT expresses concern over US recognition of Jerusalem as capital of Israel

https://actalliance.org/act-news/act-expresses-concern-over-us-recognition-of-jerusalem-as-capital-of-israel/

As the last round of climate change negotiations start in Bangkok, Thailand, ACT Alliance joins other climate justice movements to call for significant progress in the development of the rulebook to guide the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

“Major decisions on the implementation of the Paris agreement will be made at COP24 in Poland later this year, and this will depend on how much progress is made in the Bangkok negotiations. We want to see significant steps forward in all the negotiations to enable governments to make the necessary decisions when they meet at COP24,” says Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT Alliance General Secretary.

The rulebook, which elaborates the modalities, procedures and guidelines for the implementation of the Paris Agreement, is extremely important because it determines how and whether the agreement can be implemented in a manner that is ambitious and equitable or not.

“The goals of the Paris Agreement to limit global warming by 1.5 degrees, to build global resilience to the impacts of climate change and to provide financial resources to support the efforts of developing countries to respond to climate change can only be achieved if the rulebook reflects the necessary transparency, accountability, and ambition  and deliver climate justice that respects human rights and contributes to sustainable development” says Martin Vogel, Chair of the ACT Alliance climate change group.

As an official observer to the UNFCCC, ACT Alliance has sent a delegation of policy experts to engage with the Bangkok negotiations and to support the efforts of most vulnerable developing countries while holding government accountable to the decisions they made in Paris in 2015.

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For media inquiries please contact ACT’s Climate Change Communications Coordinator, Joanna Patouris joanna.patouris@actalliance.org