Bangkok: The following is the concluding statement of the Consultation on Reconciliation and Peace in Asia, held April 7- 11, 2015 in Bangkok.

It was organized by the Office of Human Development of the Federation of the Asian Bishops Conferences (OHD – FABC)

Summary of the proceedings:

The representatives of the Justice and Peace Commissions and concerned organizations of the Catholic Episcopal Conferences hailing from Japan, Hong Kong, Macao, Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan met in Bangkok to discuss the prospects and challenges of peace and reconciliation in Asia. The consultation was also joined by Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace, Catholic Relief Services, Representatives of the Catholic Bishops Conference of Thailand, Pax Christi International, Asian Center for Progress of Peoples, Secretaries of Federation of Asian Bishops’ Conferences and its Office of Human Development.

In his opening address, Charles Cardinal Bo, the Chairperson of OHD –FABC highlighted the complexities of peace and reconciliation and the need to address them intelligently.

Bishop Bernard Katsuya of Japan read the message of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Japan on Militarization of the region and amendment to Article 9 of the Japanese Constitution. He requested widest possible dissemination and support from the Asian Churches and beyond.

The consultation involved deliberations on the challenges of bringing reconciliation and peace to the societies affected by armed conflicts, wars and different forms of violence in Asia followed by a briefing by Peter Jacob. Furthermore, the participants discussed the attributes of transitional justice in relation to accountability regarding grave human rights violations.

Peter K. A. Cardinal Turkson, President of Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace presented an overview of the Catholic Social Doctrine concerning peace and reconciliation. He also shared the efforts of some local churches and the Holy See about building peace in the world. Marie Dennis, the Co-President of Pax Christi International, spoke on the challenges of peace and reconciliation in a militarized context using examples from Asia.

The participants also looked at the requirement of a gender sensitive response in peace building and reconciliation in light of a talk by Sr. Daphne Sequeira RSCJ that analyzed the concrete situation of violent conflicts in Jharkhand, India. The participants deliberated upon the role of women and family in Peace-building after an input by Ms. Wendy Louis.

Sr. Deepa Fernando HF presented the post conflict situation of Sri Lanka and discussed the successes and challenges of local efforts for building Peace and Reconciliation among the people affected by the civil war. She drew our attention to the pastoral letter “Towards Reconciliation and Rebuilding of our Nation” issued by the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Sri Lanka in 2013.

Observations, affirmations and recommendations:

Today’s Asia presents paradoxical trends; we enjoy relatively higher GDP growth; increasing literacy and technical advance; but on the other hand the disturbing trends in pervasive abject poverty, malnutrition; high scale of militarization, lack of rule of law and democratic governance, require deep introspection and response by the government and non-government stakeholders.
A sustainable peace is contingent upon making social and economic justice a reality while the political reconciliation among the parties in conflicts should give effect to retributive justice and victims’ right to know the truth about grave human rights violations.

Women and children are often more severely affected by violent conflicts, which ignore gender dimension of the conflicts or resolves thereof, does not help the purpose of a just peace.

The rise of narrow nationalism in Asian countries at the expense of exclusion of smaller ethnic, linguistic and religious groups is a disturbing fact. We feel that such nationalism poses threat to freedom of religion and belief. The acceptance for social, cultural and religious plurality is the beauty of Asia therefore any ideology that brings division and conflict should be discouraged by all.

Some Asian countries today maintain exceptionally big militaries and high defense expenditures. The region also houses four out of nine countries in the world that have nuclear arms with sophisticated delivery systems. The fact that Pakistan and India have developed mini nuclear weapons in recent past enhances the risk that these weapons may be used in cross country conflicts. Steps should be taken to make progress on reduction of conventional and unconventional weapons, making nuclear free zones, reduce defense expenditures and to save further environmental degradation.

Asia has already become susceptible to disasters and calamities due to climate change. As Justice and Peace Commissions in Asia we commit to strengthen our response to this growing threat.

In the event of the use of nuclear weapons there will be catastrophic ecological as well as human consequences. Steps should be taken to make progress toward nuclear disarmament, including through the creation of weapons of mass destruction free zones. Accession to International treaties such as Non Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT) would be away forward.

The participants note with concern that land grabbing and exploitations related to natural resources by the corporate sector, especially Transnational Corporations is faced by many Asian countries, which has led to increased poverty, conflicts and several forms of human rights violations.

The economic growth without regard to labour rights such as safe working conditions, just and equal wages, has failed several countries from achieving integrated development and political stability. As Justice and Peace Commissions working in Asia we shall constantly urge our governments to fulfill their duty to respect, protect and fulfill human rights especially in eradicating child and forced labour and human trafficking.

We reaffirm our commitment to working for equality of human beings and equality of rights for the marginalized groups namely; women, minorities, tribal and indigenous peoples.

We the participants of this consultation, working on these issues in our countries, feel the need of a regional solidarity and collective response to the issues mentioned above. The Catholic Social Teaching presents a wealth of resource, values and principles based on inviolable human dignity and integrity of creation. We feel duty bound to discern these teachings, promote universal values of justice and peace and apply them according to contemporary social analysis.

The recent visit of Pope Francis to Asian countries encourages us to expression of solidarity with the neglected and marginalized people, the interfaith engagement for Peace-building and his stand for building an inclusive Church of the 21st century.

We appreciate OHD for its services up to now and urge it to continue to making efforts to highlight the above mentioned issues, support national Justice and Peace Commissions and other Episcopal bodies in the role and spirit of subsidiarity and collegiality.

We also urge OHD to approach the FABC to consider issuing a joint pastoral letter to guide the faithful in Asia about their responsibility to foster Peace and Reconciliation according to needs of our context.

April 11, 2015