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Resolutions of the 10th World Assembly

Resolutions Committee - July 20, 2001

 

Introduction

To ensure continued action on the important subjects listed below the members of the Tenth World Assembly recommend that the World Federation of Methodist and Uniting Church Women (hereinafter shall be referred to in this document by the officially recognised abbreviations of "WFM&UCW" or "World Federation") Areas and Units:

1.       Ensure that all these resolutions are communicated to the World Methodist Council and all levels of church structures.

2.   Prioritise the resolutions, determining which to act on first, then develop and implement appropriate projects and programmes, collating information on funding opportunities.

3.   Measure Area and Unit progress and development on these resolutions in order to report to the Area Seminars and the Eleventh World Assembly in 2006.

We stress that in all the issues where resolutions are being formed poverty is a key factor in the experience of most women, men and children. It may be helpful as you seek to implement these resolutions to target first those living below the poverty line.

Gender Justice

In many countries women continue to experience discrimination through legislation and cultural behaviour, including harassment, disempowerment and attitudes which may be reinforced by the church.

·         We call upon Non-Governmental Organisations and the United Nations to progress the instruments and resolutions provided by the Beijing Platform for Action.

·         We challenge the churches to recognise and affirm the full potential for the role of women in church and society and to act in support of secular agencies progressing women’s empowerment. We acknowledge that some women with particular life experiences and needs, for example women with disabilities, widows, single women, lesbians and those living with particular negative traditional and cultural practices, may need special support, ministry and compassion.

·         We urge the WFM&UCW in Area Seminars to include this issue and consider how to empower their women to achieve positions of responsibility in churches and society locally, nationally and internationally.

Children

Children are a gift – our present as well as our future, yet across the world children continue to suffer deprivation, poverty and abuse in all its forms so that their true right of childhood is denied.

We affirm the development of the UNICEF programme "Educating Girls Transforming the Future".

We acknowledge that some children with particular life experiences need special care, for example, child soldiers, children orphaned by AIDS and warfare and females threatened by infanticide.

·         We urge the church to acknowledge children as equal members, including those with disabilities, and take seriously, accept, nurture and value the spirituality of all our children.

·         We urge the church to exercise its important role in nurturing children and developing their full potential.

·         We urge the WFM&UCW members in Areas and Units to respond to actions, agreed by the 2nd Summit for Children, to be held in New York in September 2001.

·         We urge the WFM&UCW members to act locally and support all Non-Governmental Organisations and Statutory Agencies in providing safe shelters for children living and working on the streets.

·         We urge the WFM&UCW members to lobby/campaign governments to legislate and educate, so that children may be protected from exposure to pornography, violence on the internet and access to games which promote violence.

·         We urge WFM&UCW members to work to change the perception of women’s roles in society by providing girls with good quality education and career information, enabling them to realise that they can make their own life choices.

·         We urge the WFM&UCW members in Units to make themselves aware of the UNICEF programme, assisting in its implementation where possible.

·         Regarding the physical, sexual and emotional abuse of children we urge WFM&UCW members to pressurise governments of the world to acknowledge this abuse. Furthermore, they should implement appropriate punishment and rehabilitation of offenders, counselling for victims and their families, educate people to recognise abuse and teach parents to build up confidence in their children, to enable communication and trust.

HIV/AIDS

Since the 1996 WFM&UCW Assembly Resolution on "Women and AIDS", the incidence and the awareness of HIV/AIDS has increased dramatically and has moved from being a health to a development threat.

·         We therefore call on churches and governments to intensify educational programmes to combat HIV/AIDS, in close collaboration with state agencies and Non-Governmental Organisations.

·         As part of educational programmes, information about all forms of transmission should be reinforced to limit stigmatisation and discrimination against women in particular. Also we urge women and churches to denounce harmful traditional practices that promote the spread of AIDS.

·         People living with HIV/AIDS are part of our family. We challenge ourselves and others to be sensitive in the use of appropriate language to describe their condition.

·         We call on the WFM&UCW members to reinforce that families should support, where they are able, family members living with AIDS.

·         We urge the WFM&UCW members to join international campaigns to encourage global pharmaceutical companies to provide affordable medication for those living with AIDS, including providing access to generic drugs.

·         We urge the WFM&UCW members to encourage all world governments to designate appropriate funding for long term programmes for research, prevention, testing, care of those living with AIDS and their dependants, and counselling.

Racism

Racism is endemic in most countries and is the major cause of ethnic conflict, resulting in violence and war.

·         We urge the WFM&UCW members through the United Nations and churches to challenge their governments to resist and stop ethnic conflict and racial discrimination by encouraging equal opportunity for all people. In addition, to develop educational programmes to enable people to appreciate diversity, affirming cultural difference and taking positive action. We recommend that women should be given every opportunity to engage in the peace making process.

·         We urge the WFM&UCW members in Areas and Units to respond to actions agreed by the United Nations World Conference against Racism, Xenophobia and related intolerance, to be held in Durban in September 2001.

Violence

Violence against women continues in many forms – domestic violence (including marital rape), forced marriage and abduction and the trafficking of women and girls. The rights of women in particular countries and communities, for example, Afghanistan, are currently being dramatically and systematically eroded to the extent that women, and their children are dying, having been denied the opportunity to work in order to feed and clothe their families. We commend and urge women to participate in the World Council of Churches Decade to Overcome Violence.

·         As in 1996, we urge the WFM&UCW members in Areas and Units to lobby their governments to put into action Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDaW) measures, and with regard to specific national abuses of women, to join in campaigns to alert the international community.

·         We urge the WFM&UCW members to challenge their churches, Units and Conference or Synod, as appropriate, to listen to, believe and support and protect the victims of abuse, to help perpetrators to learn to address and limit their abusive behaviour and to break the silence surrounding this issue.

·         We propose that the WFM&UCW Units challenge their churches to develop/implement education for all, initiate training modules for ministers and laity, challenge instances of violence underpinned by theological interpretation, share examples of good practice and work with other people of faith and local and national secular agencies working in this area.

Personal and Communal Spirituality

The WFM&UCW members affirm the power of God’s Spirit at work in and through us and the importance of all members of the human family. We encourage women and men to work together to provide a secure environment where each can be nurtured and become whole. We encourage each other to keep reminding the church that each member of the human family and each congregation is called by God to model peace to the world.