At the NCCA
WCC Living Letters Visit
12th -17th September 2010
The World Council of Churches (WCC) Living Letters team visited the Northern Territory of Australia in September 2010. The visit was in response to an invitation extended by the NCCA/NATSIEC with the view to shed light on the human rights situation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and to show solidarity with the Indigenous people who feel their voices are not heard. We recognise that there are issues throughout Australia, but the focus of this visit was the impact of the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER).
February 2011 - World Council of Churches releases a statement on the Situation for Indigenous Peoples in Australia
January 2011 - The WCC has released a report written by the International Living Letters team about the visit. Download here 
WCC_LivingLettersReport_Beyond_Intervention_2010
The visit concluded on Friday 17th September 2010 with the Living Letters Team releasing a statement about their visit. Download the statement here - WCC_Living_Letters_statement_NATSIEC.pdf
Media statement at the start of the visit - 
WCC_Living_Letters_Visit_commences_in_Darwin.doc
Some members of the team did an interview on ABC's Sunday Nights with John Cleary - you can listen to the podcast at http://www.abc.net.au/sundaynights/stories/s3015949.htm
Report written about the WCC visit by Dean Whittaker who is a resident of Maparu. This report highlights some of the issues and needs of Maparu. WCC_visit_to_Mapuru_report_final.pdf
Background to the visit
The invitation to the WCC was extended following a forum held in 2009 by NATSIEC. This forum brought together Indigenous Church leaders from around Australia to discuss the Australian Government’s NTER (click here for further details on the forum). The aim of the forum was to show solidarity with Aboriginal people in the NT, and to formulate a common response and plan for action. A key recommendation arising from that forum was to ask the NCCA to extend an invitation to the WCC to send a Living Letters team to visit the Northern Territory.
Living Letters are small ecumenical teams visiting a country to listen, learn, share approaches and challenges in overcoming violence and in peace making, and to pray together for peace in the community and in the world
A Living Letters team previously visited Australia in 1981 to assess the situation for Aborigines. They travelled around the country for three weeks and met with a wide number of individuals, communities and organizations. The 1981 report of this visit reflected the concerns, hopes, dreams and aspirations of Aboriginal people as heard by the Living Letters team. The report gave guidance to the Churches and hope to Aboriginal people. The independent and objective points of view were valuable to take to Government to highlight what was observed and the areas where Australia needed to do better.
The team of eight are Indigenous people from various countries and denominations. Delegates were from Bolivia, Indonesia, Areatora/New Zealand, The Philippines, The USA, Egypt and were accompanied by an Australian team.
For further information about WCC Living Letters click here.