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.
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