Faith-based organizations issue a statement at the Human Rights Council
“A shared vision for safeguarding the dignity of girls and women”
Geneva, 17.06.2015.
Faith-based organizations have issued a joint statement to promote the rights of women and to condemn gender-based violence at the 29th session of the UN Human Rights Council. In a joint event, the LWF and “Islamic Relief Worldwide” (“IRW”) organized a panel discussion to discuss how faith communities can defend women and girls.
“Although we come from different religious traditions, we share a vision to safeguard the dignity and rights of women and girls,” the statement says. It has been signed by the LWF, the World Council of Churches, “IRW” and the World “YWCA”.
“We are aware that religious conviction can become not only an obstacle, but also a source of inspiration when it comes to gender-based violence,” the statement continues on the question of “deliberate distortions” and “the misinterpretation of religious texts and traditions”.
The statement urges the Human Rights Council to consider faith-based organizations as partners in order to speak about gender-based violence and defend the rights of women, and to create space for cooperation between faiths in promoting human rights. Women turn to religious authorities
At this event, representatives of various organizations discussed the reality of women’s rights and the violence against women and girls that they witness in their daily work.
“The church blessed their union without any prejudice,” recounted Olga Chiveve, a WCC representative from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, about a teenage girl who was forced to leave school and marry a man twice her age. “When her husband began to abuse her, she had nowhere to go. Was she supposed to seek help in the very same church that had earlier blessed her marriage?”
“They have the same dreams”
“Young women in this region have the same dreams: education, good health and human rights,” said Hendrica Okondo, the World “YWCA” global program manager for HIV AIDS. “But culture dictates gender norms.”
Mallah Harper, the head of Gender Equality and Diversity at UNAIDS, emphasized the need to work with and through faith communities, and that faith communities must take a stand against gender-based violence. “In traditional societies, women are unlikely to go to a formal court, but will turn to traditional leaders,” she said.
“We must distinguish between culture and religion,” said Imaan Sandra Perteka, a senior gender policy advisor at “IRW”. “Human rights must be seen as fundamental rights given by God. The Scriptures give us a basis to question forced marriages and gender-based violence, and to defend the rights of the child.”
Elaina Neuenfeldt, the head of the LWF Women in Church and Society program, also called for the violation of human rights to be acknowledged in theological language. “As we found when discussing the LWF action plan ‘Churches Say No to Violence against Women’, we must call this violence by its true name,” she said. “It is something against God’s will, and therefore, theologically speaking, it is sin.”
Photo: LWF/C.Kästner
Translated from English by ELCLAbroad pastor Ieva Puriņa
Proofreader Mag. Theol. Milda Klampe
Source: Lutheran World Federation