Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture
The Action of Christians for the Abolition of Torture (ACAT) is a Christian human rights organization in Paris that campaigns against torture and the death penalty across confessional boundaries. There are several national organizations. The members are lay people, religious and clergy in church groups, in monastic communities or as individual members.
Foundation in France
The grouping started in France. Two women from the French Reformed Church, Hélène Engel and Edith du Tertre, started the work in Paris in 1974. At the beginning there was a shock at the report of Pastor Tullio Vinay (from the Waldensian Church in Italy), who had returned from Vietnam in 1973 and reported on the atrocities of the Vietnam War . In December 1973, Amnesty International held a World Congress against Torture in Paris. At this congress, all socio-cultural groups and the churches were called upon to face the problem of the spreading torture practices in the world and to work for the abolition of torture.
So Hélène Engel and Edith du Tertre initiated the establishment of the A ction of the C hrétiens pour l ' A bolition de la T orture, the first national ACAT. ACAT-France was founded in June 1974 in the House of Deaconesses in Versailles by around 50 Christians. Among them were Protestants, Catholics, Orthodox and Quakers . Their job and social background were very different. However, they shared a common conviction: "God's will must not be tortured". In the course of the following years other national ACAT organizations emerged.
Germany
ACAT-Deutschland eV, founded in 1984 in Lüdinghausen , is a registered association with around 500 members. The association is financed through membership fees and donations. Chairman is z. Currently Wolfgang Bentrup.
Italy
ACAT Italia was founded in 1987. The association, based in Rome, is ecumenically oriented and independent of church , economic or political organizations. It is presided over by a president who is assisted by an organizing committee and is elected by the general assembly, which meets every two years. The current president is Maria Assunta Zuzccari.
Switzerland
ACAT Switzerland, founded in 1981, is an association that is financed through membership fees, donations and collection campaigns. The association with 30 local groups from 10 cantons had 1821 members in 2010. It is certified by the ZEWO foundation (Swiss certification body for non-profit, donation-collecting organizations).
International alliances
In order to be able to exert more influence in the international legal discussion and work, the first 10 national ACATs (Belgium, Federal Republic of Germany, France, Great Britain, Italy, Canada, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland and Spain) joined the International ACAT Federation in February 1987 Fédération Internationale de l'ACAT (FIACAT) and quickly obtained the advisory status of a non-governmental organization ( NGO ) in the human rights bodies of the Council of Europe (1987) and at the United Nations (1989) and later also in the African Commission on Human Rights.
In their political actions - based on Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights - the 33 national organizations work independently in close collaboration with other human rights organizations in their respective countries, such as Amnesty International, but as members of FI.ACAT are part of a spiritual organization Charter bound.
ACAT work does not only consist of political action, it also has a spiritual dimension. To deepen their faith, the members meet regularly in small groups, in national and international seminars and theological colloquia.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alois Riklin (Ed.): International conventions against torture (= series of publications of the Swiss Society for Foreign Policy , Volume 6). P. Haupt, St. Gallen 1979, p. 112 ff.
- ↑ Sarà solo una piccola goccia d'acqua, ma se non lo fai tu, non ci sarà nessuno a portarla.
- ↑ ACAT Switzerland , accessed on April 13, 2019
- ^ German Bishops' Conference . Permanent Council (Ed.): "International Law: A Way to Peace": World Day of Peace 2004 - January 1, 2004 (= Arbeitshilfen 173). Secretariat of the German Bishops' Conference, 2004.