Churches to press UN on climate change, indigenous rights and Colombia

The needs of people displaced by climate change, the rights of indigenous people, and the drawn out internal conflict in Columbia are high on the agenda of church representatives gathering at the UN next week.

More than 80 representatives from around the world will take part in the annual UN Advocacy Week (UNAW) in New York from November 15 to 20.

Dr Guillermo Kerber, programme executive for climate change with the World Council of Churches, said they would call for an “ambitious, fair and binding” deal on climate change that addresses climate displaced peoples when government leaders gather for the UN’s climate summit in Copenhagen in December.

“We want to bring this message forcefully into the UN system during the advocacy week,” he said.

Sessions will address the needs of people in the Pacific and Africa who face losing their homes in the coming decades because of climate change.

“Pacific islands like Tuvala and Kiribati will probably disappear in the coming decades because of rising sea levels so churches in the region are already addressing the issue of resettlement,” said Dr Kerber.

“In the Horn of Africa and the Great Lakes region, population displacement is a growing problem as changing weather conditions affect farming communities.”

Delegates will also consider the response of the church to conflict in Colombia and the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The session will look particularly at what churches can do to engage with the struggles of indigenous people in light of the church’s historic involvement in colonisation and violence.

UNAW is being run this year in partnership with the Global Platform for Theological Reflection, a meeting of churches, ministries, ecumenical organisations and theological institutions in New York from 20 to 22 November.

WCC representative to the UN in New York, the Rev Christopher Fergusson, said UNAW was “a call to ecumenical advocacy in the global arena”.

“The Advocacy Week is a crucial moment for the churches to come together to speak to these burning issues. The UN in New York is the new ‘public square’ in a world in crisis,” he said.

“The voice of the church, standing with those whose life and being threatened, must be heard.”