World Council of Churches Office of Communication Press Release 150 route de Ferney, P.O. Box 2100, 1211 Geneva 2, Switzerland E-mail: media | ||||
Ecumenical Team at Geneva 2000 concerned about slow progress | ||||
When the members of an ecumenical international team arrive in Geneva on Wednesday, June 21, they will already have completed a marathon of meetings in preparation for the United Nations (UN) General Assembly's Special Session on Social Development (UNGASS) - "Geneva 2000", June 26-30. The United Nations meeting in Geneva will review progress on commitments made at the 1995 World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen, Denmark. It is the role of the ecumenical team to monitor critically the Special Session and to bring expert local voices to the UN discussion. The ecumenical team is supported and coordinated by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in cooperation with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF). Its members represent the Council's global networks, member churches, faith-based groups and partner organizations. Explaining the team's goals Gail Lerner, WCC UN representative in New York, and Rogate Mshana, WCC executive secretary for economic justice, said that they were giving primary emphasis to the first of the ten commitments in the plan of action adopted in Copenhagen: creation of an "environment that will enable people to achieve social development". Church representatives are also stressing the urgency of the second commitment, eradiction of poverty, they said. From experience in the meetings they have already attended, the ecumenical team has concluded that Geneva 2000 will not likely bring any major steps towards the goals they consider especially important for social development in the poorer countries. But they point to promising incremental developments in three key areas:
The WCC is also among the initiators of an International Public Gathering on Sunday, 25 June, in Geneva, and has participated in the preparation of two events:
Sunday, 25 June:
12:00 Further WCC / ecumenical team events to which media representatives are invited:
Monday, June 26:
Wednesday, June 28:
Among the members of the Ecumenical team will be:
Dr. Agnes Abuom, WCC President
Ms. Mia Adjali
Mr. Liberato Bautista (Philippines)
Ms. Esther Camac Ramirez
Ms. Nicoleta Druta
Ms. Wendy Flannery (Australia)
Mr. Dennis Frado
Mr. Albert Gyan (Ghana)
Ms. Joy Kennedy
Ms. Beauty Maenzanise (Zimbabwe)
The Rt. Rev. Bernardino Mandlate
Ms. Cynthia Moe-Lobeda
Mr. David Pfrimmer
Mr. Jürgen Reichel
Dr. Molefe Tsele
Ms. Hellen Wangusa
Ms. Judy Williams
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