“The freedom of assembly and association is a fundamental right enshrined in international law.  It is our moral responsibility to stand with those working in difficult contexts. Standing with human rights defenders who are working in restricting situations is standing with humanity”. – Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary of ACT Alliance

Around the world, civil society organisations face increasing restrictions on how they organise, function, and express their views. The ACT Alliance and many other networks continue to document this serious trend, including the strategies that organisations have adopted to continue their important work. The Middle East Region is no exception to this trend.

ACT Alliance’s latest study published today “The Protection of Space for Civil Society and Human Rights Defenders-The Case of Israel and Palestine” shows how both Palestinian and Israeli organisations and journalists face mounting hurdles, legal restrictions, stigmatisation and danger in their ongoing work on poverty alleviation, humanitarian assistance and combatting injustice in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The report also warns of the impact that the silencing of these voices is likely to have on a just and sustainable peace in the region and why accountability to international human rights and humanitarian law breaches remain a central concern in this regard.

The report also reflects on the causes of these measures and how the political contexts in Israel and within the Palestinian Authority have contributed to the harshness of these measures: measures that are now varied and intensifying. These measures include the now well-documented legal and administrative restrictions (e.g. the NGO Transparency Law in Israel and the Cyber Crime Law by the Palestinian Authority), administrative measures, stigmatisation, detention and even death threats. The report also references a number of actions being taken domestically and internationally to influence access to financing and the reputation and operation of legitimate civil society organisations and actions.

There is an urgency in the call for action in this report: a call primarily directed at EU member states and other state actors. ACT Alliance calls on these states to stand firm on their foundational values and to engage the Palestinian Authority and the State of Israel on laws, policies and practices that are not in keeping with internationally recognised human rights and humanitarian law standards.

Importantly, the report calls on these actors to stand alongside civil society actors who, at great risk to their organisations and themselves, continue to work to hold their governments to account to internationally recognised human rights and humanitarian law standards. ACT Alliance hopes that this urgent call will be heard and that action will be taken.

The full case study is available here: https://actalliance.org/documents/protection-of-space-for-civil-society-and-human-rights-defenders-the-case-of-israel-and-palestine/

Related to humanitarian, development and advocacy work of ACT Alliance

ACT Armenia Forum (AAF) members – ART; UMCOR, ECLOF came together in 2011 to plan, act towards the affected populations, bring sustainable change through coordinated, emergency response and elaborated a joint Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan.

Since the eruption of Syrian conflict the AAF joint their efforts to effectively respond to the refugee crisis and better address emergency situations according to the forums’ objective No2. Reported by the Government, up to 10,000 Syrian refugees from 18,477 are registered as vulnerable needing continuous support. In 2016 AAF appealed to ACT Alliance in response to the refugee crisis to contribute to the dignity and resilience of those by addressing the most pressing needs – shelter, livelihoods, psychosocial support, and community resilience requesting US$ 1,046,420. AAF received USD24, 486 despite to general secretary’s statement in ACT Alliance’s annual report 2015 “The ongoing crisis in Syria alone saw a continued influx of refugees into Jordan, Lebanon, Armenia and Turkey”. AAF overdid the planned activities in cooperation with the Armenian Church and local NGOs working with Syrian refugees.

AAF members come together on quarterly/monthly basis to discuss, plan, share responsibilities for effective results in action. In 2012-2013 AAF implemented two humanitarian projects for Syrian refugees ensuring food security/NFI, provided psychological/spiritual support to 4237 people/1142 families. For the first time in the history of emergency situations AAF experienced an innovation method of plastic cards for food security giving free access in their choice of food products restricting the purchase of alcohol and cigarettes making refugees more independent; also accelerated the process of humanitarian aid distribution for AAF providing a quick and organized response.

AAF cooperated with a special network of supermarkets that invested USD3700 and issued 2350 plastic cards for free; with the Armenian Apostolic church that helped in aid distribution.

[Member News] Integration and resillence building of Syrian refugees in Armenia

[ACT News] Refugees in Armenia – The story of Abdullah Haddad

Related to ACT Alliance recognition and visibility

The visibility of ACT Alliance in the country was effected through information dissemination to local and international organizations (e.g. UNDP, Armenia as a lead of National Disaster Management Team; posted on the news websites, broadcasted through local media and national central TV Channels.

In 2015-2017 AAF implemented development projects aiming to improve refugee’s livelihoods and resilience providing IT, crafts and language vocational trainings to 127 women and the youth; provided with quality instruments related to their professions to 15 people; 2000 refugees benefited from the humanitarian food and NFI distribution; 1500 refugees participated in psycho-social counseling by clergy and psychologist.

UAF and ECLOF Foundations conducted five joint awareness raising sessions for 127 Syrian refugees in Armenia on labour and legislation issues “Vulnerable situations and risks associated with human trafficking, forced labour and exploitation” and business orientation and entrepreneurship. The lecture and discussions were conducted in a participatory approach with beneficiaries and provision of information materials.

“Adopt a Family” component is the second innovative method practised by AAF and aimed at providing help and guidance to newly displaced families promoting integration through regular interaction with local families; with practical advice, emergency assistance and response to general queries; organizing sight-seeing, cultural and social activities. In total 83 refugees were targeted.

Memorandum of Understanding

ACT Ethiopia Forum (AEF) signed MoU adopted from the revised ACT alliance policy for national forums. The policy guides each ACT forum to develop its own contextually appropriate Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), in close consultation with ACT secretariat as a basis to define the scope, objectives, activities and structure of the existing partnership. ACT Ethiopia Forum has undergone a participatory process to collect essential inputs from its members before reaching into the consensus to sign the MoU by all members earlier than any other national forum under the revised policy.

Structure and leadership

ACT Ethiopia forum ensures local members’ active involvement in the forum leadership. The revised ACT alliance policy for national forums encourages local members to participate in the governance structures of the alliance to build their capacity and ensure sustainability of local initiatives. Furthermore, ACT alliance has set a goal by May 2018, to reform the ACT Alliance humanitarian response mechanisms in line with World Humanitarian Summit Commitments particularly the Agenda to strengthen local capacities.

Members of ACT Ethiopia forum signed MoU that laid out the terms whereby either AEF convener or co-convener role to be taken by a local member at any given term to encourage sustained leadership by local members. This structure contributed to a strengthening partnership between international and local members. For instance, a joint food security project implemented in partnership between EECMY-DASSC, a local member and Bread for the World had won a national-best performing project of the year award for 2017 in Ethiopia.

Monitoring, evaluation and learning

Through using Geographical Information System (GIS) ACT Ethiopia forum was able to map out its collective footprint in various sectors throughout Ethiopia. It has been very hard to clearly identify the magnitude of ACT alliance‘s reach in Ethiopia and level of convergence and synergy that exist in certain locations or thematic areas. However, following a relentless effort, AEF made use of GIS in order to shift from individual operational mark towards demonstrating the diversity and spread of the forum at a national level. The analysis drawn from a joint GIS map will not only identify potential areas of cooperation but also give huge leverage for the alliance to emerge as a key partner in humanitarian and development fields in the country. After all, ACT alliance global strategy for robust alliance emphasizes the need for collective ability to communicate and demonstrate what ACT alliance delivered in a particular context.

ACT Ethiopia forum demonstrated ACT Alliance’s commitment to CHS through innovative model by adopting the standards against Christian values.  The fact that ecumenical institutions inherently embedded higher level of service quality standards motivated AEF members to lay out the link between CHS and Christian values. For this reason, AEF worked at linking biblical references to the nine CHS commitments that always inspired, motivated and guided our work. The view to understanding CHS from faith perspective enhanced our collective Christian identity while sharing our experience on applying CHS.

“ACT Alliance recognizes the deep and mutually enriching connections between religion and human rights. As a matter of fact, long before the current human rights instruments were developed in the 20th century, there were religious communities that upheld human dignity and advocated for people who suffered from exclusion and discrimination.” – Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT Alliance General Secretary.

On February 16th 2017, ACT Alliance participated in a seminar on ‘Religion and Rights: Strengthening Common Ground’ at Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. The seminar was organized by Musawah in collaboration with OHCHR and the Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Development.

The purpose of the Seminar was to promote dialogue for a rights-based understanding of religion to build common ground between faith and human rights actors. ACT Alliance’s General Secretary, Rudelmar Bueno de Faria spoke at the seminar on Faith-based engagement: Building Partnerships with Governmental, Intergovernmental, and Civil Society Sectors.

Discussions noted the need for a greater common ground between faith and rights. “Often, people of faith speak about love, generosity, and compassion and not so much about legal frameworks, entitlements, duty bearers and rights holders. But what does ‘love’ mean when it is not related to justice? And what does justice mean when it is not related to legal frameworks?” said de Faria.

“People of faith have sometimes struggled to link their theological concepts of human dignity with international human rights standards and instruments,” continued de Faria. “There is a need to build bridges between people of faith and human rights activists.”

ACT Alliance commits to accompany and challenge its members to deepen their understanding of human rights, and is working to promote dialogue and a cross-disciplinary reflection on faith and human rights. In addition to building common ground between faith and rights, ACT Alliance encourages FBOs to more effectively engage with international systems and develop strong partnerships with governmental, intergovernmental and civil society sectors.

“The globalized context within which we live has presented an opportunity to bind humanity together in new and positive ways. However, it has also fueled new and growing levels of inequality, polarization and new forms of vulnerability for people and communities everywhere,” said de Faria.

ACT Alliance works with numerous UN agencies, governments, civil society organizations and the private sector and has developed principles for engaging in external partnerships with government and secular agencies on Religion and Development. The overriding principle is to maintain the integrity of religious communities’ mandate and mission. Specifically, ACT Alliance emphasises the following;

1. Enter in partnerships as proactive agenda setters for initiatives that keep people and their rights at the center
2. Mutual transparency and accountability
3. Build partnerships that promote equality and mutual respect
4. Build capacity of communities to conduct development work
5. Contribute to a mutual learning on religion and development
6. Promote interfaith cooperation based on common concerns and values
7. Seek partnerships that allow for funding to theological formation on important issues requiring moral discernment.

ACT Alliance renews its call for peace in Colombia, a country that has suffered from violence and conflict for decades.

Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT Alliance’s General Secretary, urged the government of Colombia together with the National Liberation Army (ELN) to return to the negotiating table in order to chart a way forward for lasting peace.

“We as an alliance have closely followed the peace process in Colombia, and have through our members and partners supported communities affected by violence and conflict in the country. We shall continue our efforts to accompany the Colombian people,” said de Faria.

Earlier, the Interfaith Dialogue for Peace in Colombia (DiPaz) released a statement (available in Spanish and English) calling on both the government of President Juan Manual Santos and the ELN to go back to the negotiations, which were suspended due to escalated violence.

“ACT Alliance supports the message from DiPaz and joins the call from other ecumenical organisations that have for many years worked for and advocated for peace and justice in Colombia. We further call on the international community to keep the Colombian peace process on the agenda,” said de Faria.

La alianza ACT renueva su llamado por la paz en Colombia, país que por décadas ha sufrido violencia y conflictos.

Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, Secretario General de la Alianza ACT, instó al gobierno de Colombia en conjunto con el Ejercito de Liberación Nacional (ELN) a retornar a la mesa de negociación para trazar el camino hacia una paz duradera.

“Como Alianza, hemos seguido muy de cerca el proceso de paz en Colombia y hemos, a través de nuestros miembros y socios, apoyado a las comunidades afectadas por la violencia y el conflicto en el país. Continuaremos con nuestros esfuerzos de acompañamiento al pueblo de Colombia”, dijo de Faria.

Previamente, Dialogos Intereclesiales por la Paz (DiPaz), realizó una declaración (disponible en Español y en Inglés) en la que hacia un llamado al gobierno del Presidente Juan Manuel Santos y al ELN a retomar las negociaciones, las cuales fueron suspendidas por el escalamiento de la violencia.

“La alianza ACT apoya el mensaje dado por DiPaz y se une al llamado de otras organizaciones ecuménicas que han trabajado e incidido por la paz y la justicia en Colombia por muchos años. Además, pedimos a la comunidad internacional a que mantengan el proceso de paz de Colombia dentro de sus agendas”, dijo de Faria.

ACT members ICCO Cooperation and Kerk in Actie (KiA) provided emergency food and seeds so that islanders could replant their food crops and restart their lives

In July 2017, monsoon rains across Bangladesh and upstream areas in India and Nepal, gradually led to severe flooding.  Over 650,000 hectares of standing crops were damaged. This effected the livelihood of affected population in these highly poverty-stricken areas as their dominant livelihood activity is subsistence farming, and also casual labor (around 65 percent households depend on agriculture, while roughly 27 percent households depend on agricultural labor i.e. low valued daily wage labor). According to reports, the poor and ultra-poor families had no food to eat.

To overcome the losses and suffering of the affected people, ACT members ICCO Cooperation and Kerk in Actie (KiA) carried out a relief program, with their local partner, Gana Unnayan Kendra (GUK). A total of 2300 families received emergency support under Kamarjani, Haripur and Belka unions of Gaibandha district. The packages distributed by ICCO & KiA consisted of food and non-food items, including rice, lentil, soya bean oil, oral saline packets, body soap, etc

As flood-damaged crops, both at the homesteads and commercial agricultural lands, some common varieties of crop and vegetable seeds were also distributed among the affected people for recovering their losses. The seeds included maize, bottle gourd, country bean, sweet gourd, red amaranth, spinach, radish, and chili. After receiving the seeds, farmers cultivated their lands as per the guidance received from our field staff.

By now, they have already harvested red amaranth, spinach and radish for both consumption and commercial purpose. Bottle gourd, country bean, sweet gourd and chili are now growing in their fields. They are consuming these vegetables with their family members to meet their daily nutritional requirement, while the surplus amount is sold to bring income for the household. The beneficiaries also cultivated maize for the last two months and they are hoping for maximum production, which can again bring additional income.

_

Written by Raisa Chowdhury  

On October 4, 2016 a category 4 hurricane ravaged the Southwestern province of Grand Anse and the Lower Northwestern part of Haiti. The impact of Hurricane Matthew, which was responsible for a death toll of over one thousand people was intensified by a loss of agriculture and livelihoods, public infrastructure and the destruction of many houses.

“Thanks to God the children were not hurt, but I couldn’t save anything. Rocks fell in the house, destroying my belongings. There was nothing left.” –  Marie Rose Thermie, a single mother to six children.

ACT Alliance member Church World Service (CWS) Haiti, and associated partners who are rooted in the affected communities assessed the extent of the damage of Hurricane Matthew. During this time ACT Alliance Forum members mobilized assistance with local partners which focused on providing food, shelter, water, sanitation and hygiene. It was evident that much of the destruction caused by Hurricane Matthew was a result of poor construction methods. ACT Alliance members committed to repair houses where possible, and to completely reconstruct houses where necessary.

“I didn’t have a house to live in. Thanks to God and these organizations now I have a house. Now I feel like I live well, because when someone has a house that is the biggest grace of God. Every evening when you come from outside, you have to find a house to sleep in. Someone who doesn’t have a house wonders where he will sleep. And now I have this house.” – Selondieu Delva

The repair and reconstruction process is inclusive, requiring the full collaboration of the families, ACT Alliance members, the communities in which they serve and local partner organizations. In a conscious effort to invest in the local capacities of communities, ACT member CWS held training sessions to equip families, community members and volunteers with information on secure building codes and construction methods under with the guidance of qualified engineers. This process has been successful in encouraging ownership of the projects, as well as ensuring that the knowledge and skills for improved construction methods remain within communities.

In instances where family members have not been not directly involved in the construction of the houses, they have been engaged other ways, including the gathering of materials or in the preparation of food for the construction crew.

“I did not understand how to build a house – it is ICEDNO [a local CWS partner] that taught me. It is the first time in my life that I understand how to build a house. We didn’t have enough money to build such a house, nor was there an engineer. When we felt that our lives were in danger we looked for refuge at the school [built by CWS] to protect our lives. The wind was blowing and the rocks of the house fell down. The house was 18 years old. It had already collapsed two times before in strong wind (including hurricane Jeanne) and then I rebuilt it again. With these materials, the house will not fall down.” –  Lionel Pierre, a beneficiary of the ACT Alliance response and an active participant of the repair and reconstruction process for 18 houses.

The approach taken by ACT Alliance has helped to foster greater community solidarity as people came together to help each other. In addition, the sharing of information such as insight on the purchasing of materials and negotiation techniques for securing transportation to more remote areas has further facilitated solidarity.

In the 2017 hurricane Season, Haiti was again threatened by Hurricane Irma and Maria. While some houses that had already been affected from Hurricane Matthew were completely deteriorated, the houses that had been repaired by ACT Alliance members withstood the passage of the hurricanes.

The reconstruction and repair process has not come without challenges. First, there has been misconception that houses under construction with the presence of engineers is a house that belongs to a wealthy family. As a result, it has been sometimes difficult to secure community participation for the construction needs. In response, ACT members have encouraged a transparent process to inform the community of the repair and reconstruction project.

Second, there have been some instances where the budget of a house has been depleted before its completion, often due to poor financial administration. In response, ACT Alliance members have engaged with partners on training for improved financial administration.

Finally, much of the reconstruction happens in remote areas with limited accessibility. Construction projects have been delayed and sometimes completely stopped in instances of bad weather conditions which makes it difficult to transport the construction materials.

ACT Alliance member CWS has continued with the house repair and reconstruction project and intends to complete the remaining 50 of a total of 110 houses of the Hurricane Matthew response by April 30, 2018.

(Progress report January 1 – November 30, 2017)

“Migration has been a feature of human history from the beginning. It is not in and of itself a “problem” that needs to be fixed. What needs fixing is the continued violation of the human rights of migrants.” – Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, General Secretary of ACT Alliance.

The Fourth Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations (FBOs) in International Affairs with a focus on Perspectives on Migration: Displacement and Marginalization, Inclusion and Justice took place on January 22, 2018 at the United Nations Secretariat in New York.

The Symposium was organized by ACT Alliance, the World Council of Churches, General Board of Church and Society of the United Methodist Church and General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists, in partnership with Adventist Development and Relief Agency, Parliament of the World’s Religions and the United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, on behalf of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Engagement with Faith-based Organizations.

ACT Alliance recognizes that while the topics of mobility, migration and displacement have remained a global priority, there is a widespread failure to discuss migration and displacement through a human rights-based lens, thus, posing a threat to the dignity of migrants.

“The dignity of people on the move is under threat. This has become increasingly common through; a lack of access to status determination procedures for refugees; a risk of refoulement to places where the lives of people are in danger and; detentions and chain deportations that continue to tear families apart,” said Bueno de Faria.

The Symposium brought together approximately 250 participants over the course of the day from UN Member States, United Nations agencies, FBOs and wider civil society to share and engage in a stock-take on the way forward before the first draft of the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration is to be released in two weeks. Discussions during the day reflected on the significance of the Global Compact and urged member states and civil society to work together for an enhanced multilateral cooperation on migration.

“We have witnessed a declining willingness by states to be bound by international legal obligations – not just with regard to migrants and refugees, but also in areas such as, climate, development and gender equality,” said Bueno de Faria.

“The Global Compact should depict a clear roadmap for implementation with a strong, transparent and participatory monitoring mechanism. There should be no hiding behind the mantra of sovereignty when human dignity is under threat,” he continued.

In a separate panel focusing on Development, Humanitarian and Human Rights Perspectives, Christian Wolff, Programme Manager on Migration & Displacement for ACT Alliance, highlighted the work of ACT members in South Asia, the Middle East, and Central America in defending migrants’ and displaced people’s access to rights. These examples were used to frame several key advocacy goals with regard to the Global Compact, including the need for improved access to justice and recruitment reform, an increase in regular pathways for labour migration, and the strengthening of measures to enable family reunification.

Reflecting in particular on the situation of irregular migrants in the U.S. and Europe, Wolff criticized some governments’ focus on streamlined procedures for returns and readmission in the Global Compact, and called upon churches and FBOs to take a strong position on this issue vis-à-vis their governments.

“When people are being offered inducements for premature returns to countries where their safety would be at risk, often under threat of deportation, the so-called ‘voluntariness’ of such returns is called into question, and FBOs need to be clear in calling this out as unethical,” Wolff said.

“We also need to do more to interrogate the concept of ‘reintegration’ in programmes which often do not take into account the perspective of migrants themselves,” he continued.

Calling upon FBOs to not allow returning states to abdicate their responsibility for the human rights of people being returned, Wolff also demanded more transparent and independent post-return monitoring mechanisms. He warned that these are issues which are difficult for many operational agencies, in an era when more and more funding was being diverted towards programmes focusing on so-called “assisted voluntary return and repatriation”. “FBOs must follow clear guidelines to avoid becoming embroiled in unethical practices in this area,” Wolff said.

Through its membership of churches and FBOs, ACT Alliance continues to strengthen its operations on the ground through advocacy, development and humanitarian work. ACT Alliance recognizes its ethical and moral role in responding to and countering the racist, discriminatory and xenophobic narrative around migration and migrants and is committed to continuing to fight alongside migrants and relevant actors in the struggle to maintain and defend the human dignity of migrants.

_____

Updated January 24th, 2017 to include quotes from Christian Wolff

After general elections were held in Honduras on November 26, 2017, election observers from the Organisation of American States noted that there were significant systemic inconsistencies and questioned the validity of the election.  This election was the first since the electoral college had changed the law to allow a president to seek re-election.  Early results showed a significant lead for challenger Salvador Nasralla, but several days later the Supreme Electoral Tribunal announced that President Hernandez, the incumbent, was in the lead.

Many people began to participate in daily demonstrations against the election process, taking to the streets to voice their opposition.  21 days after the election, the Supreme Electoral Tribunal announced Hernandez as the winner, despite the OAS’s call for new elections.  Many protestors were arrested as terrorists under the new penal code in Honduras, leading human rights groups to fear that abuses to rival those in the 1980s may soon occur again.  More than 30 killings have been called political assassinations since the protests began.

ACT Alliance shares the concerns of the OAS about democratic rights in Honduras, and calls for the protection of human rights.

Rudelmar Bueno de Faria, ACT Alliance’s General Secretary, said, “We cannot ignore the systematic problems of democratic institutional order and social inequality in Honduras, which are leading to violations of human rights and increasing violence in the country. The Honduran people should not be treated as terrorists when claiming their rights.”

The video below was compiled from footage shot during an ACT visit to Honduras as the protests continued, and shows the reality on the streets facing the people of Honduras.

“We call on the Honduran institutions to guarantee human rights and democracy, and promote sustainable solutions by legitimate and credible actions to respect the rule of law,” concluded de Faria.