Contact: Juan Michel, World Council of Churches, +41-22-791-6153, +41-79-507-6363 media@wcc-coe.org

MEDIA ADVISORY, April 23 /Standard Newswire/ -- Two global church organizations have congratulated the Durban Review Conference on the adoption of its outcome document, while regretting that the latter makes no mention of the plight of hundreds of millions of people affected by caste-based discrimination.

In a joint oral intervention at the conference today, The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) welcomed the reaffirmation of the 2001 Durban Declaration and Programme of Action, as well as the international community's commitment to overcome all forms of racism "in all parts of the world, including those 'under foreign occupation'".

However, the two global church groupings regretted that the conference "failed to acknowledge the suffering of the more than 200 million people discriminated against on the basis of work and descent". Formerly known as untouchables, the Dalits are "invisible" in the document, despite their situation falling squarely under the definition of racial discrimination by UN standards.

One month ago, both organizations convened a conference in Bangkok on that subject. On that occasion, representatives of churches and church-related organizations from around the world expressed their solidarity with the Dalit struggle for justice.

The two global church groupings welcomed the proposal made by the High Commissioner for Human Rights of creating an "observatory on discrimination", which may help throw further light on the situation of the millions of victims of untouchability practices. There are some 260 million Dalits worldwide, 200 million of them in India.

Another welcomed development is the exclusion of the concept of "defamation of religions" from the conference outcome document. By not allowing the concept to "inappropriately intrude into [the document's] human rights framework," the document instead "properly addresses itself to the 'stigmatization of persons based on their religion or belief'," the two organizations stated.

Full text of the WCC/LWF oral intervention at the Durban Review Conference:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=6810

Learn more about WCC work in solidarity with Dalits:
http://www.oikoumene.org/?id=3249

Additional information: Juan Michel,+41 22 791 6153 +41 79 507 6363 media@wcc-coe.org

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, today the WCC brings together 349 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 560 million Christians in over 110 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, from the Methodist Church in Kenya. Headquarters: Geneva, Switzerland.