The jpc team works in solidarity with Indigenous Peoples by:
including a UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations, an Inter-sessional Working Group on a draft Declaration of Indigenous Peoples' Rights, and a Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples.
facilitating dialogue of Indigenous spiritualities, among Indigenous traditional religious elders themselves, and with other faiths, including Christian theologians. As a dialogue between equals, the latter seeks to identify common gifts and understandings and encourage healing and reconciliation with all creation.
affirming Indigenous Peoples' ancestral knowledge, identity and contributions to caring for the earth and future generations, while challenging the wider society to follow their example.
This three-year programme addresses issues such as intellectual property, sustainable development, biodiversity and climate change issues.
Since the 1970s, the World Council of Churches (WCC) has supported the struggles of Indigenous Peoples through its Programme to Combat Racism (PCR) and Indigenous Peoples’ Programme (IPP). It has engaged in theological reflection, historical analysis, ethical debate, networking and advocacy at the UN on the inter-related issues of land, culture and spirituality, power and identity, sovereignty and self-determination.
With the accelerating deterioration of the global economic and political situation, Indigenous Peoples are facing further exclusion and grave threats to the continuity and sustainability of their cultures and traditional way of life. The WCC, therefore, continues to support the struggles of Indigenous Peoples, most recently through a study on Education and Indigenous Peoples
Click to important documents...
 WCC Central Committee 2005 statement on "Human rights and languages of indigenous peoples
Intervention to the UN Working Group on Indigenous Populations, 23-27 July, 2001
ECHOES no. 16, 1999: The Earth as Mother
WCC Indigenous Peoples Programme: Walking together towards tomorrow
Dalit Solidarity Peoples: The Vision
Appeal from the Indigenous Peoples: "Why are we still waiting?"
... and related pages on this site
The Churches' Response to Racism: Indigenous Peoples' Contribution
The Churches' Response to Racism: Dalit Solidarity Programme
6 September 2000 WCC press release: "Call for recognition of Indigenous land and identity in the Pacific" on a Pacific Indigenous Peoples' workshop, held in Suva, Fiji, in September 2000, and the
Suva workshop statement |
The WCC engagement in Indigenous Peoples’ concerns is guided by:
recognition of the need to clarify issues of denial, destruction and denigration of Indigenous spiritualities and ancestral values
affirmation of Indigenous Peoples’ right to reclaim what was historically denied them and eventually destroyed - their culture, identity, language, cultural symbols, ancestral land, burial grounds...
respect for the Indigenous Peoples’ right to define for themselves their political, economic, cultural and spiritual development
affirmation of the churches’ responsibility to promote awareness of the issues and concerns of Indigenous Peoples
affirmation of the important role of education in developing an understanding of and commitment to the struggle of Indigenous Peoples
appreciation of Indigenous wisdom and the distinct contribution Indigenous Peoples can make towards the development of new approaches, methodologies and tools which churches can use in their work in education.
See WCC Central Committee 2005 statement on "Human rights and languages of indigenous peoples" |
A Ponca woman tells ecumenical visitors about
racism as a violation of human rights. (USA 1994) |
