International Affairs, Peace & Human Security
57th session of UN Commission on Human Rights
March/April 2001

The WCC, through the International Affairs, Peace & Human Security team, maintains a consultative relationship with the UN and its related agencies. One such agency is the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). Working cooperatively with ecumenical partners such as the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC), the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Franciscans International and the Dominicans, the WCC seeks to: provide a space in which church-related groups advocating for human rights can make the most effective use of UN structures and system mobilize public opinion clarify issues such as Indigenous Peoples concerns, religious intolerance, etc. identify issues not presently on the Commission's agenda provide background information on specific areas of human rights concerns

WCC press releases and written interventions UNCHR web sites Related WCC statements on Human Rights

WCC press releases and interventions during the
57th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights:

• Press update: WCC calls on European Union to support Human Rights Commission resolution on violation of human rights in Palestine (17.04.01)
• Press release: UN Commission on Human Rights - WCC to focus on globalisation and religious freedom (15.02.01)
• Written intervention: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Item 10)
• Written intervention: Civil and Political Rights including questions of Religious Intolerance (Item 11)
• Related statement: International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (21.03.01)
• Oral intervention: The question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine (28.03.01)
• Oral intervention: The violation of human rights and funadamental freedom in West Papua/Irian Jaya, Indonesia, and in Cyprus (03.04.01)
• Oral intervention: The protection of freedom of opinion and expression in Guatemala (06.04.01)

UN Commission on Human Rights websites:

• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights
  
• UNHCHR coverage of the 57th session of the UN Commission on Human Rights
• UN Commission on Human Rights documents on Item 8 - Question of the violation of human rights in the occupied Arab territories, including Palestine
  Resolution E/CN.4/RES/2001/7 (adopted 18.04.01 by a vote of 28 for, 2 against with 22 abstentions and 1 absence)
  Report of the human rights inquiry commission established pursuant to Commission resolution S-5/1 of 19 October 2000
  Report of the High Commissioner on her visit to the occupied Palestinian territories, Israel, Egypt and Jordan (8-17 November 2000)

Related WCC statements and documents concerning human rights:

The Question of the Violation of Human Rights in the Occupied Arab Territories Including Palestine at the UN Commission on Human Rights Fifth Special Session and 57th Session. (Report, March 2001) WCC hosts briefing on the human rights situation in Palestine (01 March 2001) Minute on the Situation in the Holy Land after the Outbreak of the Second Palestinian Uprising, adopted by the WCC Central Committee, 29 January - 6 February 2001 IN PURSUIT OF LASTING PEACE WITH JUSTICE - a message of peace and hope from the churches and Christians of Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Oral intervention by the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the WCC to the Fifth Special Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Geneva, 17 October 2000 SHARING THE LAND, THE TRUTH AND THE PEACE. Statement by the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, encouraging an objective investigation of Israeli practices affecting the human rights of the Palestinian people, made to the Fifth Special Session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights presently being held in Geneva, Switzerland. (17.10.00)

Indonesia and East Timor: The Ecumenical Response Collection of WCC press release, updates and statements from 1999 to 2001 Minute on Indonesia adopted by the WCC Central Committee meeting 2001 Minute on Cyprus adopted by the WCC Central Committee meeting 2001 Statement on the Situation in the Sudan adopted by the WCC Central Committee meeting in Potsdam, Germany, from 29 January - 6 February 2001 Minute on Colombia adopted by the WCC Central Committee 2001 Statement on the occasion of the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (21.03.01)

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