Standard Newswire is a cost-effective and efficient newswire service for public policy groups, government agencies, PR firms, think-tanks, watchdog groups, advocacy groups, coalitions, foundations, colleges, universities, activists, politicians, and candidates to distribute their press releases to journalists who truly want to hear from them.

Do not settle for an email blasting service or a newswire overloaded with financial statements. Standard Newswire gets your news into the hands of working journalists, broadcast hosts, and news producers.

Find out how you can start using Standard Newswire to

CONNECT WITH THE WORLD

VIEW ALL Our News Outlets
Sign Up to Receive Press Releases:

Standard Newswire™ LLC
209 W. 29th Street, Suite 6202
New York, NY 10001, USA.
(212) 290-1585

WCC Calls for Protection of Church Leaders in Colombia

Contact: WCC Media Office, +41 79 507 6363
 
GENEVA, Jan. 30, 2015 /Standard Newswire/ -- Serious death threats to human rights defenders, many of them church leaders, have been made by a paramilitary group in Colombia. The World Council of Churches (WCC), among other international organizations has called on Colombian government to protect their lives.

Photo: Office of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia, a WCC member church in Barranquilla. © WCC/Marcelo Schneider

On 14 January, the WCC's Commission on International Affairs office received a message from the church leaders in Colombia regarding death threats hurled at them by a paramilitary group. The message stated that on 11 January, 39 human rights activists, renowned for their long time commitment and work on rights, land restitution and promotion of the peace process, were individually named in a list issued by the Aguilas Negras, a paramilitary organization, and was posted online, later reported by the Columbian newspaper El Heraldo.

The paramilitary group explicitly stated that those individuals are considered military targets, stating their intention to eliminate them.

Among the human rights activists mentioned, are also a number of prominent Colombian church leaders, such as Agustin Jimenez from the Mennonite Church Teusaquillo; Fr Fernando Sanchez from the Anglican Church in the Caribbean Coast; Jairo Barriga, German Zarate, Rev. Milton Mejia of the Presbyterian Church of Colombia and Fr Fernando Gary Martinez from the Roman Catholic Church.

"The Church representatives appearing in this list are highly respected members of the international ecumenical movement with whom WCC member churches have worked over the years," said WCC's acting general secretary Georges Lemopoulos, in a letter addressed to the Colombian President Dr Juan Manuel Santos Calderón, issued on 29 January.

"They are known for their outstanding Christian commitment and courageous witness in the struggle for life, peace, justice and human dignity in Colombia," said Lemopoulos.

He described as "very disturbing" the fact that church leaders and activists engaged in the promotion of human rights and peace have themselves become targets of violence. He also raised concern that such threats would impede the work of human rights defenders by creating "a widespread climate of fear."

The WCC, in solidarity with the churches and civil society in Colombia, has called on the Colombian government "to take all necessary measures to effectively protect the life and physical integrity of the Church leaders mentioned above as well as of all other human rights defenders under threat; to carry out an independent and impartial investigation into the authors of these threats with due trial and appropriate penalties; to be mindful of its obligations with respect to the security and protection of those working for the defence of human rights, and in the light of this, to take the immediate and effective measures necessary to ensure that these Church leaders and human rights advocates can continue their work of defending human rights and human dignity, without danger and stigmatization."

Over a number of years, the WCC has been accompanying churches and people in Colombia in their struggle to end the armed conflict. The Council has organized solidarity visits in the country, and its governing bodies have issued public statements denouncing the human rights violations, calling for an end to the armed conflict and applauding steps toward peace talks.

WCC letter to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos Calderón

WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs

WCC member churches in Colombia

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, by the end of 2013 the WCC had 345 member churches representing more than 500 million Christians from Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other traditions in over 140 countries. The WCC works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, from the [Lutheran] Church of Norway.