Press Release
22 October 2019
Kaohsiung, Taiwan, People's Republic of China. Reporting from the city of Kaohsiung, Human Rights at Sea attends the 11th International Christian Maritime Association (ICMA) world conference as a guest civil society NGO alongside the ICMA membership over the period 21-25th October 2019.
Opening the conference on Monday 21st October, Dr. Jason Zuidema, the General Secretary of ICMA along with Elder Daniel Lin and local hosts of the Presbyterian Church, introduced the conference with a celebration of 50 years of common working together by ecumenical bodies.
In the opening address, Dr. Zuidema highlighted, among other points, the need and requirement for working with civil society and NGOs alongside the ICMA membership to broaden engagement, ideas and influence.
ICMA Chairman, the Reverend Canon Andrew Wright, opened with a powerful speech highlighting historical challenges, the need for collective working together, the need to learn lessons and unite the ecumenical effort in support of seafarers, fisher and their families.
Founder, David Hammond, supported by researcher, Mina Chiang, commented: “Attending our first ICMA World conference by kind invitation we have received a warm welcome from members and delegates, all of whom have been very interested in what our independent charity does, why it was set up and the challenges that we mutually face. The key take-away message for ourselves has been the reinforced need to closely work together and which reflects our core professional focus.”
Links
- Video highlights from the Opening Ceremony<https://vimeo.com/367677514
- Pope Francis’ remarks for the conference.<https://www.vaticannews.va/zht/pope/news/2019-10/pope-francis-video-message-icma-conference-taiwan.html
- Speech by ICMA Chairman speech of our chairman, Rev. Canon Andrew Wright
- First Day article The MARE Report
Ends.