LWF’s human rights advocacy in 2024 included a side-event at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Banjul, Gambia. Photo: Jamestina Quee/ Evangelical Lutheran Church in Sierra Leone
“Our rights, our future, right now” theme signifies urgent action
(LWI) - On the occasion of the 2024 Human Rights Day, The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) urges the international community to reaffirm and reclaim commitment to human dignity as the foundational pillar for the human rights of all people.
Since its founding in 1947, the LWF has stood for the ideals and values of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today, more than 75 years after the United Nations (UN) adopted the Declaration, “we see an urgent need to reaffirm and strengthen the struggle for human rights and dignity for all human beings,” said Isaiah Toroitich, LWF Head of Global Advocacy.
It is important to remember that “human rights are at the core of the lives and livelihoods of each and every person in the world,” he noted. “Human rights make it possible for people and communities to live with dignity.”
Human rights make it possible for people and communities to live with dignity
Isaiah Toroitich, LWF Head of Global Advocacy
Toroitich observed that this year’s Human Rights Day theme — ‘Our rights, our future, right now’ —signifies the urgency to defend the human rights of everyone as “a prerequisite for a dignified future for all.” But, he added, “this needs to go beyond words and rhetoric – into commitment and action.”
As a global communion of churches, the LWF engages extensively in the promotion and protection of human rights. The work with member churches and country programs includes support for theological engagement and community-based activities that prioritize the rights of people to live with dignity, including protection of human rights defenders themselves.
Global and regional mechanisms
In 2024 alone, the LWF has worked with organizations, communities and individuals through national, regional and international human rights mechanisms, including the UN Universal Periodic Review of states, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
In October, LWF facilitated the participation of two refugee representatives in the Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in Gambia. The women raised awareness on how gender-based violence impacts the right to education for displaced people. Their attendance, despite the travel restrictions refugees face, was very much appreciated by the international community, with the African Union Commissioner pledging to take up their demand in discussions with government representatives.
LWF’s engagement also covers the struggles of marginalized groups for civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, access to indigenous land and other resources. This includes countries such as Colombia, El Salvador, Ethiopia, Japan, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestine, Sierra Leone, Slovakia, South Sudan, Uganda and Ukraine, where member churches and country programs are active.
In addition to the systematic engagement with various UN human rights mechanisms, the LWF continues to speak boldly against human rights violations, particularly in the context of conflicts, where international humanitarian law and human rights have been disregarded.
