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The Lutheran World Federation
Lutheran World Information |
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| 04.07.2003 |
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| Overall Number of Visa Denials for LWF Assembly Participants is Growing |
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LWF General Secretary: “I am Anxious and Desperate”
GENEVA, 4 July 2003 (LWI) – The General Secretary of the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Rev. Dr Ishmael Noko, is urgently appealing to Canadian authorities to act swiftly on visa applications from participants in the forthcoming LWF Assembly.
“I am anxious and desperate,” says Noko, “that a significant number of the participants from churches mainly in the South will be locked out from this very important event in the life of the Federation.”
With only about two weeks remaining before the July 21-31 LWF Tenth Assembly in Winnipeg, the Canadian authorities are still denying visas to 27 participants from eleven countries in Africa and Asia.
Two letters from the LWF, dated May 29 and June 27, were hand-delivered to the Minister for Citizenship and Immigration, Denis Coderre, but the Canadian Government has not responded so far. “We are waiting for specific indications of the action that Minister Coderre is taking to deal with the rejected applications, and also the larger issue of applications that are still in process,” Noko says.
The LWF is using every means possible to communicate with the delegates and churches affected, asking them to prepare additional supporting documentation as requested. “We now urgently need an indication from Minister Coderre as to when, and in what form, they should present their requests for reconsideration of their applications,” says Noko.
The good news that four previously rejected visa applications have now been granted after reconsideration is overshadowed by the overall increasing number of visa denials. One Czech passport holder, a Kenyan and two Colombians whose requests were originally rejected are now understood to have been granted visas.
Affected currently are participants from Bangladesh, Cameroon, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, the Philippines, Senegal, Sierra Leone, South Africa and Tanzania. Two entire delegations – from the DRC and Sierra Leone – were rejected. Bishops and high-ranking church leaders are among those who received negative replies from Canadian embassies as well as nominees to the new LWF Council who are up for election at the Tenth Assembly. The number includes 15 women and 12 men.
“I was encouraged to read in the media that Minister Coderre is intervening personally to ensure that the cases are reviewed,” says Noko. “But, why is the result of this intervention not visible?”
In the June 27 letter the LWF general secretary reminded Coderre of the severe consequences: “As you know from my previous letter, the denial of participation to so many delegates from the South severely impacts the effectiveness and credibility of our gathering. As we meet under the theme ‘For the Healing of the World,’ it is inconceivable that Canada should be seen to limit the people and voices who have been invited to participate.”
Noko's letter also expressed concern that important information about the LWF and “our guarantees” for full financial responsibility and for the return home of each participant, have not been taken into account by individual embassies when considering these applications. “We had understood that the formal relationship established between your department and our Canadian hosts would provide a reliable basis for communicating such information to Canadian embassies, but this seems not to be the case.”
“Minister Coderre should be aware of the divisive impact the visa denials would have on our Assembly,” Noko points out. “It would segregate the Lutheran communion and work against our commitment to heal divisions between the North and South, East and the West, women and men, and the young and the elders.”
The LWF leadership and the Assembly host, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, prepare to receive more than 800 international participants for the Federation’s Tenth Assembly. Participants from 51 countries are required to obtain visas to enter Canada.
An Assembly is an important event in the life of the LWF. It is the highest decision-making body and is convened only once every six years. Out of the 136 member churches, 133 are entitled to send a designated number of delegates to take part in making commitments and setting the organization’s priorities for the next six-year period.
The previous LWF Assembly was held in Hong Kong, China in July 1997, a few days after the return of the territory to Chinese rule. The Chinese authorities granted entry visas to all of the participants on that occasion.
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