ELCA NEWS SERVICE
September 24, 2004
LWF President Hanson To Raise Concerns About Free Trade, Global Peace
04-178-FO*
CHICAGO (ELCA) -- At the end of a visit to El Salvador, the
Rev. Mark S. Hanson, president of the Lutheran World Federation
(LWF) and presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in
America (ELCA), affirmed his commitment to transmit to the LWF
and the ELCA concerns of Central American Lutherans about Free
Trade Agreements (FTA).
The six-day visit was Hanson's first to Central America as
LWF president. He visited El Salvador Sept. 11-16 at the
invitation of the Communion of Lutheran Churches in Central
America.
In a news conference before he returned to the United
States, Hanson said during meetings with Central American
Lutheran communities he witnessed people living in situations of
extreme poverty. He noted that Central American Lutheran churches
have understood their ministries as accompanying the suffering
population, caring for creation and defending such human rights
as access to health care, education, housing and employment, the
LWF release said.
In talks with civil society representatives, Hanson said he
sensed their frustration because the peace accords signed after
the end of the 1980-1992 conflict in El Salvador had not been
implemented fully and had not brought expected peace with
justice, the news release said.
"For us peace is not just the end of the armed conflict;
rather, it involves ensuring access to all basic rights," Hanson
said.
The churches expressed gratitude for LWF's accompaniment,
and satisfaction that the LWF was seriously debating the impact
of economic globalization, especially on the most vulnerable
people, LWF reported.
The churches expressed their concern over FTAs' potential
impact on people's lives in Central America, Hanson said. They
cited lack of transparency and public participation in discussion
on such agreements, as well as poverty in rural areas and among
indigenous people and women.
Lack of clear regulations on the exploitation of natural
resources and the subsequent deterioration of the environment
were other concerns cited by the churches.
"I am committed to taking this message and these concerns
back to the LWF and particularly to my church in the United
States," Hanson said.
Hanson noted on the third anniversary of the September 11,
2001, that terrorist attacks against the United States showed
"once again, the cruel and continuous violence affecting our
world. We are witnesses to how violence generates more violence
in Iraq. This visit has helped me see how violence is also
expressed in unjust structures and in situations of exclusion and
marginalization."
"As I return to my country, I have a renewed commitment to
act in favor of peace, investing my best efforts to construct a
more just world without exclusion," he continued.
As a religious leader committed to nonviolence, Hanson said
he recently participated in meetings with United Nations
Secretary General Kofi Annan to discuss peace in Iraq, and with
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell, to seek peaceful means to
resolving the crisis in the Middle East.
Hanson criticized the decision to start war against Iraq,
adding that peace in that country would only be achieved if the
sovereignty of the Iraqi people was respected, and not as a
result of United States imposition.
*Fernando Oshige, director, Agencia Latinoamericana y Caribena
de Comunicacion, Lima, Peru, reported for Lutheran World
Information, the information service of the Lutheran World
Federation, which is based in Geneva, Switzerland.
For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or [log in to unmask]
http://www.elca.org/news
