Action for Justice is the expression of the Lutheran World Federation’s advocacy, where the witness, voice, and decades of experience of our member churches, country programmes and communities inform and influence policies, legislation and decisions.
Our advocacy begins with the communities we serve, connects to national and regional levels, links to global policy processes, and then effectively channels back to the national and local contexts in order to transform those realities. This is our local to global to local (L2G2L) approach to advocacy.
As a communion of churches that is deeply engaged in the humanitarian and development sectors, we aim to be a reliable and effective voice to uphold human dignity. Action for Justice lifts up the human rights of all people, in particular the vulnerable and oppressed, to ensure that their concerns are heard and addressed. We integrate analysis and actions in the light of legal frameworks such as international human rights and humanitarian law, and the interlinkages between them. This is our human rights-based approach to advocacy.
The value added to LWF advocacy is also found in its theological underpinning, where our Christian faith informs our work for justice, peace and reconciliation. Our Christian values shape our understanding of people as bearers of the image of God and the whole of creation as a gift of which we must take care. This is our faith-based approach to advocacy.
For maximum impact, LWF collaborates with like-minded organizations within the wider ecumenical and faith family, civil society and peoples’ movements.
Action for Justice focuses on four priority areas:
Climate Justice: The LWF sees care for creation as a core calling and recognizes climate change as a matter of justice and human rights. LWF climate justice advocacy focuses on the protection of the most vulnerable from the impacts of climate change, holding governments accountable to their climate commitments, intergenerational justice, and interfaith collaboration.
Gender Justice and women’s empowerment: Gender justice and women’s empowerment is a cross-cutting theme in all of LWF’s advocacy. Gender justice advocacy focuses on the protection and promotion of human rights and human dignity with emphasis on women and girls. We advocate within the communion and the wider world for the full participation of women in church and society.
Peacebuilding and interfaith engagement: LWF advocacy serves as a catalyst for peace through constructive conversation between interfaith actors and religious leaders, as well as through stronger collaboration with faith-based organizations and human rights advocates.
Protection of human rights: In our human rights advocacy, we hold governments accountable for their human rights obligations, particularly in the context of international human rights frameworks. In our advocacy, we engage with and contribute to national, regional and international human rights mechanisms.
In addition, the global advocacy of the LWF will include humanitarian policy and practice, with a specific focus on the protection of individuals and groups that are most vulnerable to disasters, humanitarian emergencies and armed conflicts. All our advocacy engages with human rights mechanisms and processes, such as the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Special Procedures and Treaty Bodies, the Commission on the Status of Women, CEDAW, the UN Security Council, and other important global policy frameworks such as the Agenda 2030, the Paris Agreement, Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and the Beijing Platform for Action.
