Today, we present our ELCA Advocacy Update for the month of April. Please read below for important information on ELCA Advocacy efforts in Washington, across the country and throughout the world. To read the full version of the update and for more information on advocacy efforts from our Lutheran State Advocacy offices, visit our blog!

Advocacy Update – April 2016

ELCA Advocacy, Washington D.C.

ELCAVOTES!: ELCA Advocacy, along with Young Adult Ministry and Racial Justice Ministries, officially launched the ELCAvotes! initiative, and the website is now live. Lutherans can access a number of resources, including Bible studies and discussion guides as part of a toolkit developed to focus on civic participation, voting rights and racial justice. As part of the initiative, 20 individuals from across the country received scholarships to attend Ecumenical Advocacy Days April 15-18 in Washington, D.C. With the event’s theme “Lift Every Voice! – Racism, Class, and Power,” Lutherans will engage alongside other participants in education, worship and advocacy.

INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY: On International Women’s Day, ELCA Advocacy encouraged support for the International Violence Against Women Act. The legislation, which is pending in Congress, would enable the U.S. government to develop faster and more efficient responses to violence against women in humanitarian emergencies. Globally, an estimated 1-in-3 women will experience physical, sexual and psychological abuse in their lifetime. Advocates can take action at the ELCA Action Center.

EL SALVADOR UPDATE:Alaide Vilchis Ibarra, Assistant Director for Migration Policy and Advocacy, traveled to El Salvador for the first Ecumenical Conference for Peace and Reconciliation. The Salvadoran government has responded to the incredibly high murder rate in the country, similar to rates during its civil war, with militarization and the criminalization of anyone involved with gangs. Earlier this year, the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees released a plan to protect Central Americans and work with the governments in the region to ensure that they improve their ability to provide protection. Although the plan is comprehensive, no countries have agreed to help pay for these critical tasks.

MIGRATION AND VOTING: Several synods and interfaith leaders have expressed concerns about vitriolic rhetoric directed at immigrants and refugees during the current election campaigns. ELCA Advocacy encouraged Lutherans to join a webinar earlier in March, explaining how congregations can share tools and strategies to support and engage immigrant and refugee communities.

METHANE STANDARDS: ELCA Advocacy announced support for a proposed methane standard. This long anticipated plan would help reduce natural gas waste on tribal and publicly owned lands. The proposal, created by the U.S. Department of the Interior, is expected to be approved by the end of this administration. If passed, the safer standard will help stop the frequency of dangerous methane leaks, which pollute communities, and will lessen our contributions to climate change. The proposal is open for public comments until Earth Day, April 22.

Lutheran Office for World Community, New York, N.Y.

ECUMENICAL WOMEN: Ecumenical Women is a coalition of 18 congregations and ecumenical organizations accredited with the United Nations, including The Lutheran World Federation. On Saturday, March 12, Ecumenical Women held an orientation for its approximately 160 delegates to the 60th Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). During this orientation, Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of U.N. Women Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka spoke about the importance of this being the first commission held after the adoption of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development in 2015 and thanked faith-based organizations for their work on the agenda. Maria Cristina Rendón of The Lutheran World Federation moderated a panel on the role of women’s empowerment in the implementation of the sustainable development goals. Throughout the week, Ecumenical Women delegates had the opportunity to meet with member states to discuss gender justice and the sustainable development goals. Overall, member organizations of Ecumenical Women organized and sponsored more than 20 events during the CSW.

Both Nicholas Jaech of the Lutheran Office for World Community (LOWC), the communications chair for Ecumenical Women, and Christine Mangale of LOWC, the coalition’s treasurer, were keys to the success of Ecumenical Women during the event. You can learn more about the work of Ecumenical Women during the two weeks of the commission by checking out their Twitter page.

LUTHERAN DELGATION: LOWC welcomed 36 delegates to the Commission on the Status of Women this year. These delegates joined us from Lutheran churches in Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, Indonesia, Madagascar, Malawi, Malaysia, Mexico, Swaziland, Switzerland and the United States. The Lutherans came together on Sunday, March 13, for a day of learning about global Lutheran programs on gender justice, as well as an opportunity to learn more about each other. That evening, the Lutheran delegates worshiped at the beautifully unique Jazz Vespers at St. Peter’s Lutheran Church. During their time at the commission, the Lutheran delegates were able to attend U.N. events and meet with government representatives from their home countries. On the third day, the Lutheran delegates led morning worship at the Church Center for the United Nations.

LUTHERAN-ORGANIZED AND CO-SPONSORED EVENTS AT CSW: LOWC organized and co-sponsored four events on role of faith-based organizations in sustainable development and addressing gender-based violence. At these events, Lutheran delegates, particularly the international delegates, had the opportunity to share their experiences on the role of the church in gender justice.

On Tuesday, March 15, Dennis Frado, director of LOWC, moderated a CSW parallel event, “Forced Migration, Human Trafficking, and Child Soldiers: How ISIL [the so-called “Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant”] is Exploiting the Conflict in the Middle East.” A diverse and superb group of panelists spoke on the topic: Li Fung, office of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict; Shafferan Sonneveld, Muslims for Progressive Values; Edward Flynn, U.N. Counter-Terrorism Executive Directorate; and Emeka Obiezu, Augustinians International and the U.N. Nongovernmental Organization Committee on Migration. Particularly valuable was a contribution of Sonneveld, who noted that she and her organization use “the word Da’esh instead of ISIS because what they [Da’esh] are doing does not represent Islam” in any way. She also pointed out the misuse of Quranic scripture by Da’esh. Fung stressed the importance of upholding international human rights and humanitarian law.

The other events included:

Monday, March 14: “Developing a Common Feminist Faith Discourse to Achieve Gender Equality.” During this event, the Rev. Cibele Kuss, executive director of the Lutheran Foundation of Diakonia in Brazil, discussed how a feminist faith discourse can help to achieve gender justice.

Tuesday, March 15, at “Women and Tech: Effective Video Documentation of Sexual Violence – Lessons Learned,” the Rev. Yumba Wa Nkulu Solange from the Evangelical Lutheran Church in (the Democratic Republic of) Congo and Doo Aphane of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Southern Africa shared their experiences.

Wednesday, March 16: “Engaging Faith Communities to Implement SDGs – Achieving Gender Justice And Eliminating Violence Against Women and Girls.” During this event, the Rev. Cibele Kuss of Brazil also spoke.

Also on Wednesday: “Faith at the Crossroads of Sustainable Development and Sustained Gender-based Violence.” During this event, the Rev. Julinda Sipayung of the Simalungun Protestant Christian Church (Gereja Kristen Protestan Simalungun) in Indonesia, the Rev. Margaret Kelly of the ELCA, and Mabel Madinga of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Malawi shared their experiences.