Press Release No: 17/45
12 December 2017
Brussels

In Advent times, every year, Christians are reminded of the “message of a God who identified with the weakest and persecuted and who arrived to earth as refugee with his family.” This message resonates well with the spirit of human rights.

Recently every human’s dignity was celebrated through the International Human Right’s day and the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights on 10 December 1948. The document affirmed that all human beings are endowed with inalienable rights no matter to which religion or belief, sex, ethnicity or any other status each of them belong.

In its work this year, CEC has emphasised the fundamental right of religious freedom or belief and the respect of holy places and believers’ access to such sites. It is thus of particular concern that holy places in Jerusalem and Bethlehem as known from the scriptures are again at the crux of political disputes and violence.

CEC stresses that the shared holy places of Christianity, Judaism and Islam carry great potential of becoming centres of peace and dialogue for all humanity.

The Conference therefore urges all relevant international stakeholders to respect, protect and promote human rights.