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| Above: CCA General Secretary Dr. Mathews George Chunakara (centre) receives a gift from Timor Leste Prime Minister José Maria Vasconcelos | |
Timor Leste Prime Minister meets with CCA General Secretary
Prime Minister of the Democratic Republic of Timor Leste, José Maria Vasconcelos, met in an audience with CCA General Secretary Dr Mathews George Chunakara, at the Prime Minister’s official residence in the capital Dili, on 22 September 2022. The Prime Minister applauded the solidarity and accompaniment of the worldwide ecumenical family, especially the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) and the World Council of Churches (WCC), extended to the people of Timor Leste over the years, in their struggle for right to self-determination.
The Prime Minister thanked CCA for having assisted the people’s movement and their struggle against Indonesian occupation of that country for such a long time.
Accompanying the CCA General Secretary were IPTL leaders Rev. Moises A. da Silva, Rev. Martinho Faria, and Rev. Juliana Temparadja.
More photos from this visit can be found here.
CCA Trains Ecumenical Enablers
A training program organised by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA) for enabling the pastors and church workers in Timor Leste was held from 21 to 22 September at the headquarters of the Synod of the Igreja Protestante iha Timor Loro Sa’e (IPTL) in Dili, Timor Leste.
This capacity-building training aimed at reaching more church workers and equipping them with a basic understanding of ecumenism and the ecumenical movement.
Read: CCA Trains Ecumenical Enablers in Timor Leste
CCA holds Ecumenical Women’s Action Against Violence (EWAAV) program in Dili.
On the UN Gender Inequality Index, Timor Leste ranks 128th out of 187 countries (GII). With 59 percent of women experiencing intimate partner violence, gender-based violence is the most common type of crime reported to the police. However, the figure only represents a fraction of actual cases because most domestic violence incidents are handled informally and never reported to law enforcement.
The high prevalence of gender-based violence, especially domestic violence, in Timor Leste is considered to be a major challenge for the long-term conflict-ridden Southeast Asian country. This was the experience shared by the participants of a two-day training programme organised by the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA).
