Religious representatives taken on a struggle for peace

Tzeitel Allen, PANAMA CITY, Panamá, June 26, 2006

“Latin America has joined, a little late but with a great deal of energy, the Taxi Heathrow Airport process in which the religions of the world make an effort in favor of peace,” said Anglican Bishop Julio Cesar Holguin, president of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) at the end of the third meeting of Latin American and Caribbean Council of Religious Leaders for Peace, held in this city.

“This event has served to strengthen this organization which has swiftly taken shape and which has had an admirable acceptance,” said Bishop Holguin, who saluted the participation of representatives from Catholic, Evangelical, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu communities as well as indigenous people and representatives from afro religions.

The inter-religious meeting opened with a session of the Coordinating Committee of the Latin American and Caribbean Network of Women of Faith (CCLMF) that elaborated an action plan for faith communities based on overcoming domestic and family violence.

The participants named an executive team to disseminate and implement the agreements elaborated in previous meetings, in particular agreements in Lima in 2003 and those from the regional meetings in Santiago in 2004, Lima and Argentina in 2005 and Guatemala in 2006.

In the Inter-Religious Consultation on Childhood convened by UNICEF and the Latin America and Caribbean Council of Religious Leaders of the World Conference on Religions for Peace from June 20 – 21, religious leaders reaffirmed the value of all human life, in particular that of children.

Members of different religious traditions and faith expressions manifested the need to join efforts to prevent, educate, disseminate and raise the awareness of society regarding all types of violence affecting children.

The Regional UNICEF Office said that its action priorities for children in the region focus on HIV-AIDs and childhood and the violence that children suffer. “We have been interested so that Churches can contribute, have an understanding of what is happening and help us make these issues visible,” said the regional director Nils Katsberg.

Finally on June 22-23 an intense discussion was promoted about the issue of Human Safety with the participation of renowned consultants like Dr. Bernardo Kliksberg, general coordination of the Inter-American Initiative of Social Capital, Ethics and Development of the Inter-American Bank and Dr. Raul Leis of the Adult Education Council of Latin America (CEAAL).

Participants expressed great concern about the related issues such as unemployment, the sale and consumption of drugs, HIV-AIDs, gangs, violence and their relationship to poverty.

The meeting was a preparatory event for the VIII Assembly of the Conference of Religions for Peace to be held in Kyoto, Japan August 26-29, 2006 where the Latin American delegation will be around 50 people.