20
APPENDIX
Witnessing to life in the Asia/Pacific Region
We the participants of the 1986 Human Resources
Development Programme of the World Student Christian
Federation Asia/Pacific Region, who are active members of the
Student Christian Movements
in the region and
in North America, together with other cause -oriented groups
- Young Men Christian Association, Christian Conference of Asia-Youth,
United Ministries in Education, International Movement of Catholic Students, believing that God, our
Creator and Master, gave life to all of creation that all might enjoy life to
its fullest;
That we being one body in Christ, are being called to witness
to life in our contexts by fulfilling our prophetic role through the living out
of God's good news to all people:-
Do, hereby declare our concerns and convictions on the following issues of
society, particularly, in the Asia/Pacific Region:
A. On Foreign Intervention and
Recognizing that the countries of
We therefore condemn such domination and control of
the above-mentioned countries.
B. On Militarization
Knowing that militarization is a form of
authoritarianism and fascism and, as such does not contribute to the
perpetuation of life, but instead, ultimately destroys the meaning and essence
of life.
Those in countries like
21
Having strong convictions on these we therefore call
on:
1) The
Government of
immediately withdraw all forms of military activity in the
northern and eastern provinces of
resolve the ethnic
conflict currently existing in the country without further use of violence on
either Tamils or Sinhalese;
stop all
forms of human rights violation;
stop the
importation of military armaments from
concede the
right of self-determination to the Tamils.
We urge Tamil militants to lay down arms and seek
peaceful solutions in order to avoid further bloodshed.
We call upon both the Sri Lankan Government and the Tamil
militants to co-operate with mutual understanding to come to a concrete
solution based on justice. In order that
peace maybe restored to the island, we also urge all interested foreign parties
to refrain from using the ethnic conflict in
2) The
Government of
stop the
illegal detention and brutal torture of Korean students and all forms of human
rights abuses on all Korean people;
stop the use
of human and economic resources in their preparation for national security and
instead devote these precious resources for the improvement of people's
security;
start
disarmament operations to lessen the threat of global nuclear holocaust.
3) The
Government of
cut down
military expenditure in the national budget;
22
stop all
forms of aggression against political parties, action groups, student unions
and labour unions;
allow
democracy based on international standards;
to work towards withdrawal of Russian troops and return of
refugees back to their homeland in
4) The New
guard and fight against the remnants of the Marcos
Government, fascist military bloc which is still intact and has strong government
interests and influence;
Furthermore, we condemn all forms of military support
given by first world nations to third world countries and call on the first world
peoples to pressure their governments to stop all forms
of military aid to third world countries.
C. On Militarism
Realizing that militarism is the highest form of
militarization in that it is expressed in social control of societies either through
police or military direction and manipulation and, as such, is a subtle form of
militarization;
This is done through the reorientation of education,
distortion of historical data, police and military personnel in public and
private institutions, and the like;
The overall objective being to make military an
acceptable and institutionalized class or elite group in society, and not as a
service oriented body protecting the masses from external aggression and;
Believing that this is present in countries like
We therefore call on governments of these countries
to:
immediately stop this social control and to
23
give back to the
people the right to determine and rule their societies;
to scrap all
laws, decrees, bills and regulations that deny the fundamental rights of the
people as enshrined in the U. N. Charter on Human Rights.
D. Human Rights
1) Minority
Issues
Believing that minority groups are also God's creation
and as such are equal with all of humankind, for all human beings are created
according to God's image and not one
above the other;
That minority groups are strongly discriminated directly
or indirectly, as in the experiences of the Maoris in Aotearoa,
Aborigines of Australia, Koreans in
With these beliefs, we therefore call on all peoples
of these countries and their governments to respect the dignity and majesty of
the above-mentioned minority groups, and that they be
given an equal place in society;
Furthermore, we call on the Government of Japan to:
abolish the
fingerprinting law and revise the alien registration law; and
that they be granted the right of self-determination;
We also call on the government of
grant land
rights to the aborigines in the country and indemnification, because of the
consequences of family division, cross marriages, unemployment, irrelevant education
during the periods when the so-called protection board exploited these people;
that they be given equal representation in parliament and
all other law-making bodies;
We also call on the Government of Aotearoa (
return all
lands taken from the Maoris;
that they be given welfare, education, employ-
24
ment opportunities, proper representation in parliament in
equality with white New Zealanders
Moreover we call on all peoples to join hands in
solidarity with the Maoris, Aborigines, Koreans in
2) Women's
Issues
Confirming the creation of humankind, women and men
are created equal in God's sight as co-creators of this world;
That although God created men and women as equals,
the realities of our society
is that, women are greatly discriminated against not only by men, but by the society, due to the existing
structures in the social, economic, religious and political life;
In full support of the struggle of women in our societies:
we condemn all forms of discrimination of women by both men
and society;
We call on all women and men to appreciate, understand
and support the legitimate demands of women in society for justice and equality
in education, employment, politics, business and other fields including the
church and other religious institutions.
We therefore support the women's call for:
reinterpretation of the Bible from a non-patriarchal women's
point of view, which includes not taking of Bible reference out of context;
removal of sexist reference or stereotype portrayals in
school textbooks and other publications, in jobs, in education choices and
church work.
give more
time to women-women, men-men, and women-men dialogues in the WSCF Asia/Pacific programmes and rename women's concerns to 'women and men'
concerns.
25
E. On Student
and People's Movement
Realizing that was Christians in the student movement,
are an integral part of the people's struggles in general, within our countries
and the whole region. That we in the spirit of unity and cooperation join all peoples
movement fighting for a just and humane society.
Therefore, we call on all SCMs
to fully support these movements in the context that our task is to not
only preserve humanity, but also to make our societies where people can
live freely, justly, humanly and equally;
Further, we call for regular sharing of information
from member movements pertaining to issues and events related to students and
people's movement on a regional and inter-regional level.
F. On Church Issues
Realizing that the Church of today has become institutionalized,
in the sense that it has given greater emphasis on structures of hierarchy and
its relationship with other institutions;
That the church should be rooted in the peoples
experiences, pains and joys, instead of perpetuating the idea that leads to the
separation of the church and the people.
That even in the church discrimination
of youth, women, and progressives exist.
We therefore make these stands:
that youth should not be dominated by elders. Instead, there
should be mutual respect for each other.
that youth should be given more participation in policy
making and church service;
that we condemn the euro-centrism of the church leading to loss
of the indigenous church culture;
that dialogues should be initiated between Christians and
other religions in the spirit of understanding;
that ordination of women should
be permitted
26
in the church;
We call on SCMs to build-up new
and workable ties with Churches in their countries in order to facilitate the preaching
and acting of God's good news to the masses.
G. On Nuclearization
Having strong conviction on the causes and efforts of nuclearization in both the military and economic uses;
We condemn the destruction of all forms of life, land and property due to nuclear testings and waste disposal, huge expenditure on nuclear weapons, plants
and other such facilities; and,
We call on all governments in the Asia/Pacific Region
to halt and abolish all present and future plans to create nuclear plants and
armaments;
We call on governments to oppose all
Furthermore, we call on all SCMs
to actively participate and be vanguards in peace movements, anti-nuclear
activities and other such movements/ forces that support nuclearization.
H. On
Socio-economic issues
After having analyzed socio-economic situations in our
region, we believe that economic structures in our societies are depriving the
masses their right to live;
We therefore, condemn such plunder and exploitation by
multi-nationals and call on our governments to stop these institutions and the
elite class in their activities.
We further demand for the immediate nationalization of
all MNCs giving the masses the control and ownership
through a proper workable formula.
27
We call on all SCMs and
other cause-oriented groups and individuals to conscientize
their people and enjoin them in the struggle against this system of
exploitation.
HRD '86 participants
with Batak dancers
Oh God give us
grace and guidance
(Morning Worship)