Implementing human rights: The Churches’ programme

In 1979 the churches in "the Helsinki area" (the area covered by the 35 countries which signed the Helsinki Final Act in 1975) set up a programme with the rather clumsy title "The Churches' Human Rights Programme for the Implementation of the Helsinki Final Act". It was sponsored by three bodies: the Conference of European Churches (CEC), the Canadian Council of Churches (CCC), and the National Council of Churches of Christ in the USA (NCCCUSA). A full-time secretary, Dr Theo Tschuy of Switzerland, was appointed in 1980, together with a Working Group of II persons from, respectively, Eastern Europe (4), Western Europe (4), Canada (1) and the United States.(2). The programme was given a five-year mandate, which was later extended to the end of 1986. Its aim was to share information, to . engage in common study of human rights issues, and to work on serious cases of human rights violations; its method of working was to be in accord with the spirit of "H~lsinki". It soon became clear that human rights issues could not be separated from such matters as peace, security, and disarmament. Disagreements as well as agreements were expressed; but the members learned much from one another, and were welded into a unity which did much to bridge the political and' ideological gap between East and West.