Celebrating 75 years of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

LWF celebrates 75 years of the Universal Deceleration of Human Rights and reflects on the 76 years of human rights related work within the Lutheran Communion and its humanitarian work.

As a communion of churches deeply engaged in diakonia and the humanitarian and development sectors, the LWF has worked for 76 years to uphold human dignity particularly the vulnerable and oppressed. Legal frameworks such as international human rights and humanitarian law shape the LWF advocacy and humanitarian strategy. With a human rights-based approach to advocacy, the LWF strives to bring grassroots voices and concerns to global decision-making tables and platforms through a local to global approach.

The Human Rights Day broadcast celebrates the human right milestones while providing a look into the ongoing challenges and hopes of the work of advocates and humanitarian workers within the LWF Communion. This celebration further highlights the commitment that LWF has towards promoting human rights together with its member churches and the work of World Service country programs.

Follow online

•  The event will be available online: lutheranworld.org/live

This annual campaign aims to raise awareness about gender-based violence as a human rights issue at all levels, whilst also strengthening local prevention and response work.   

During this time, the Lutheran World Federation provides a platform through which our member churches and country programs can profile and share new and effective strategies to overcome violence against women  and girls.

As part of our support to churches and country programs, we create resources for this work, along with tools to pressure governments to implement commitments made to eliminate violence against women. 

16 days is a campaign which we hope will serve as a springboard for year-round work to end sexual and gender-based violence.

16 Days Tray Lunch with speakers

With statistics showing escalating violence against women and girls (VAWG) around the world, the Lutheran World Federation and the World Council of Churches recognise the need for more concerted efforts to tackle this global scourge.

This tray lunch discussion seeks to explore opportunities for strengthening global mechanisms to end VAWG and amplify the work of civil society in holding governments accountable for their commitments to end VAWG.

Speakers include representatives of the CEDAW Committee, UN Women-Geneva, Every Woman Treaty and leaders of the LWF and WCC. This year’s theme calls for unity and activism to end violence against women and girls.

The 2022 16 Days campaign kicks off with a panel discussion that will explore opportunities to harness ecumenical assets and networks to end violence against women and girls (VAWG).

The discussion will also explore how ecumenical organizations in South Africa have tapped into national discourse on VAWG to strengthen their work.

In line with the 2022 global theme that calls for unity and concrete action, ecumenical partners will share good practices on what has worked in different contexts starting from the grassroots.

The launch will take place on the sidelines of a Gender-Based Violence and 16 Days roundtable convened by the Council for World Mission.

Registration deadline: 14 November

LWF participates in annual 16 Days Campaign 

LWF encourages its member churches and country programs to join the 16 Days Campaign to end violence against women and girls.

This annual campaign seeks to raise awareness about gender-based violence (GBV) and inspire action to prevent and respond to GBV when and where it happens.

The LWF has a long history of engagement in the 16 Days campaign, organizing events and supporting the activities of member churches and country programs around the globe.

The theme for this year’s campaign is ‘Unite! Activism to end violence against women and girls. The theme puts emphasis on women and girls who are the majority of those who experience gender-based violence. LWF will work together with ecumenical partners to give visibility to the global campaign at the Communion Office.