In an effort to ensure continued international support for Syrian refugees and their host communities, the European Union is hosting the seventh Brussels Conference on ‘Supporting the future of Syria and the region‘ 14 and 15 June 2023. The Brussels Conference aims at reasserting the international community’s commitment towards Syrians.  It will provide a unique platform for dialogue with civil society.

The ACT Syria Forum has submitted a statement to the conference calling for:

• Humanitarian exemptions which extend beyond the earthquake response and are clear, open-ended and harmonized between jurisdictions; 
• A comprehensive revision of the sanctions’ framework from a legal perspective, in regard to the International Law;
• A sincere analysis of the sanction’s intended, unintended, and counterproductive impacts on the population of Syria from a humanitarian perspective; and 
• Support for national and international organizations in engaging in interventions focusing on re-establishing the access to essential infrastructures to respond to the basic needs of the population on a sustainable manner. 

All the sessions of the Conference will be live-streamed here.

Read the ACT Syria Forum statement here.

The ACT Alliance is asking all people of good will to pray and act in solidarity with people in the Holy Land who will be seeking access to holy sites in Jerusalem during Easter and Ramadan time to ensure that freedom of worship is protected.

During the Holy Fire Saturday celebrations, tradition has always been that Christians- from all denominations- gather on the Orthodox Patriarchate’s rooftop. Once the light is out from the empty tomb, Christians share it from each other’s candles, and the light is taken to their homes and other towns. The light is also taken abroad to Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Greece- to name a few countries.

The 2022 Holy Fire Saturday celebrations witnessed the most unprecedented restrictions since the occupation began in 1967. Israeli police sealed off the Christian Quarter in Jerusalem’s Old City and prevented access to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and Orthodox Patriarchate. Hundreds of police officers manned no less than 15 checkpoints inside a radius of 500 meters. Clergy were not respected and had difficulty accessing the Old City, Coptic Christians from Egypt and other pilgrims were the subject of targeted harassment at the Jaffa Gate area, and local community members were beaten up at the checkpoints.

Ahead of the 2022 celebrations, Israeli police announced that the numbers will be limited to 1000 worshipers inside the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and 500 on the Orthodox Patriarchate’s rooftop. The Patriarchate refused these measures, since the usual number of participants is ten to eleven thousand people. The Patriarchate issued a statement calling on the faithful to come to Jerusalem’s Old City, and not to succumb to fear and intimidation by the police.

The 2022 violence and restrictions by Israeli police drew strong reactions worldwide. The World Council of Churches, as well as the local Heads of Churches, issued solidarity statements and called for respect of the status quo and religious freedom in Jerusalem. UN secretary-general Antonio Guterres issued a statement emphasizing the need to “protect and respect the status quo in the holy sites.” Eight Members of Congress sent a letter to US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, asking the Biden Administration to protect religious freedom and Christian presence in Jerusalem.

The police had announced a weak excuse ahead of the Holy Fire Saturday celebrations, that the aim was to control the numbers for safety purposes. Throughout history, the only incident due to crowds inside the Church of the Holy Sepulture happened in 1834. Before the 1967 occupation, Christians would arrive by private cars from Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq. Moreover, the Jordanians used to deploy a small number of security officers, and the celebrations went on peacefully and joyfully.

During the week before, the 2022 Latin Palm Sunday procession was stopped suddenly by Israeli police, as the celebrants were on their way to the Christian Quarter, and in what amounted to yet another violation of Jerusalem’s historical and religious status quo. The road was closed as the scout groups and the faithful were carrying their palms, chanting their hymns, and praying while they prepared to enter Jerusalem. The faithful tried to reason with the police, but they were kept waiting for nearly one hour until the police decided to reopen the road.

We call for the protection of the rights of Christians – irrespective of denomination – to exercise religious rituals in Jerusalem freely, and that Christians from the West Bank and Gaza have unimpeded access to the city. Orthodox Holy Fire Saturday will be on 15 April 2023.  We urge the Government of Israel not to impose checkpoints, and that the police refrain from using violence against Christian worshipers and clergy. Moreover, Muslim rights must be respected in terms of unimpeded access to Jerusalem during the holy month of Ramadan.

Download a PDF version of the statement.

Los días 19, 20, 21, 22 y 23 de febrero, en la ciudad de Bogotá, Colombia, tuvo lugar el encuentro: “Hacia una Acción Conjunta: Migración y Desplazamiento en América Latina y el Caribe”, en el cual participaron representantes de los foros provenientes de los 15 países donde la Alianza ACT tiene presencia en la región, junto con miembros de los Estados Unidos, aliados estratégicos, la Secretaría Regional y la coordinadora del Programa de Justicia de Género de la Alianza ACT. Además, el gerente del Programa de Migración y Movilidad Humana acompañó el evento de manera virtual.

Durante el encuentro se lograron unos importantes primeros compromisos para robustecer el accionar conjunto a nivel regional. En este sentido, “como actores religiosos y organizaciones basadas en la fe, reafirmamos nuestra voluntad de actuar como alianza en un marco de cooperación regional con estrategias comunes para el acompañamiento, protección y promoción de derechos de las personas desplazadas, migrantes, refugiadas, solicitantes de asilo y apátridas en América Latina y el Caribe”.

Además, los miembros y aliados coinciden en la preocupación sobre una crisis de carácter regional y continental que pone en riesgo los derechos humanos de las personas en situación de movilidad humana: “Expresamos nuestra preocupación por las crecientes situaciones de violencia y crisis en la región y por las medidas restrictivas en materia de derechos…” llamando a los estados de la región a abstenerse de medidas que pongan en riesgo o vulneren derechos.

• “Conscientes de que este es un primer paso, apostamos al robustecimiento de la Alianza ACT para Latinoamérica y el Caribe amplificando las voces de las personas en movilidad y la de nuestros miembros, desarrollando nuestras fortalezas y avanzando hacia el cambio que queremos ver en el mundo”.

Lea el comunicado aquí (SP EN)

ACT Alliance is one of 35 national Syrian NGOs and international NGOs to release a statement today calling for “an urgent scaleup in support and for immediate action to be taken to secure humanitarian assistance to the populations affected by the earthquake in Syria.”

The statement notes that only 5% of the affected areas in northwestern Syria (NWS) were reached by humanitarian teams in the early days, leading to potential survivors under the rubble not being reached in 95% of the region. 

“Conscious that this tragedy has impacted the whole humanitarian response, we express our deep admiration and support to the humanitarian organizations, volunteers and all humanitarian workers on the ground who are shouldering the response while being affected themselves,” the statement reads.  Today, ACT heard that one partner agency is working on the response while over 33% of its staff were directly impacted, with many living in cars or out in the open for fear that their homes will collapse in the more than 500 aftershocks since the massive quake on February 6, 2023.

“The earthquake has brought new suffering, increased the number of people in need, exacerbated existing needs, and hampered the ongoing response. We see new unaccompanied children, collective shelters and existing camps are now full of people with no food, no water, no blankets, no heating options. What is needed is more assistance, more access, and more funding. Redirecting existing resources and funding from other parts of Syria is NOT the solution,” the NGOs state.

The statement concludes, “NGOs call for the international community to stay above politics, put humanitarian principles at the center and move forward an urgent and immediate scaleup of the humanitarian support to relieve the suffering of the affected populations and support those helping them.”

Read the full statement here.

The current crisis in Peru has led to the death of more than 55 people, more than 1,500 people injured and hundreds of people arbitrarily detained.  ACT Alliance has issued a statement calling for an end to the crisis. 

“ACT Alliance, calls for a peaceful resolution of the crisis, respecting the lives and rights of all people; and expresses its willingness to contribute to efforts to ensure a dignified life for all Peruvians,” the statement reads.

ACT is further calling for the Peruvian authorities to “reaffirm their commitment to democracy through the prompt implementation of fair, free and transparent general elections” and to be “accountable for the violent acts and human rights violations perpetrated in repression of social protest.”

Finally, ACT recognizes the need to address the root causes of the crisis including deep inequalities and vulnerabilities. “We call on the State of Peru and Peruvian society to address the structural causes of this crisis, with special focus on those who have been historically marginalized and most vulnerable.”

Read the full statement in Spanish and English here.

ACT Alliance, the World Council of Churches and the World Communion of Reformed Churches sent a joint letter to President Gustavo Petro Urrego of Colombia and the High Commissioner for Peace, Danilo Rueda Rodriguéz on November 28, 2022, congratulating them on including four women, including Rev. Adelaida Jiménez, a Presbyterian pastor, in the eight person team negotiating a peace agreement with the National Liberation Army (ELN).

“Women’s engagement in peacebuilding, peace mediation and negotiation is fundamental, given that as refugees, internally displaced persons, combatants, heads of households, community leaders, activists and peacebuilders, women and men experience conflict differently,” the letter reads. 

“Women make a difference [in peace negotiations],” it continues, “in part because they generally take a more comprehensive approach towards human security and address key social and economic issues that would otherwise be ignored.”

“We reaffirm our commitment to accompany the Colombian people in their search for lasting peace in Colombia and in the region,” the letter concludes. “We pray that you will be granted wisdom and strength to reach that goal.”

Read the full letter here.

Faith leaders from around the world are among the thousands of civil society members at COP27, the UN climate conference, taking place in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.  They have watched with concern as the negotiations have stalled and not pushed for more ambition to prevent the drastic consequences predicted if global temperature rise goes past 1.5C, to support the most vulnerable communities and nations facing the brunt of climate change’s impacts today, and to ensure that human rights, a gender lens, and indigenous people’s knowledge are enshrined in the structures and work of the UNFCCC and its parties as they confront the climate emergency. 

Faith leaders have issued today an urgent call for increased ambition in the final days of COP27.

“While negotiations stall, people are dying and livelihoods are being lost as a result of the impact  of climate change,” the statement reads. “Time is running out and it is unacceptable if world leaders do not take clear and decisive action within the few remaining days of COP 27.”

The faith leaders, drawing on the call from the Interfaith Talanoa dialogue at the beginning of COP, the faith leaders are calling on leaders at COP27 to preserve all of God’s Creation by:

• Recognizing the urgency of the crisis
• Establishing a new funding facility for Loss and Damage
• Richer countries meeting their commitment to $100bn annually for adaptation and mitigation
• Wealthy countries canceling debt, provide adequate new finance, and a L&D facility
• Ensuring gender is not siloed but a clear gender transformative climate action lens be applied in all climate work 

Read the full call here.