Kuala Lumpur Consultation 2004

A Coordinated Faith-based Response to Child Sexual Exploitation in Asia
February 25 - 29, 2004, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The Asha Forum movement began to consolidate in Asia in February 2004.

Over 50 leaders in organizations participating in The Asha Forum movement came together in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia to develop strategic 10, 5, 2 year and 90 day plans to combine there efforts to best address all forms of child sexual abuse in Asia. These leaders prioritized four areas of need which they are now beginning to address in a more coordinated way.

One of The Asha Forum Asia's working groups is addressing education and awareness needs, another is addressing advocacy issues, another group of organizations is working to bring healing to survivors, and the fourth working group is helping get financial resources to organizations working to address sexual abuse in Asia.

Twenty-two of the organizations represented at the consultation signed The Asha Forum Declaration and participants committed to finding 127 additional organizations to sign the declaration by June of 2004. They also committed to finding 774 individuals and 130 churches to fast and pray one day monthly for people at risk of sexual abuse and those working to help them.

Working group action plans and consultation notes are available online at The Asha Forum website so that others can join in this coordinated effort.

The first ever Asha Forum Asia Consultation was held in partnership with Viva Network’s Asia Cutting Edge Conference February 23-27, which gathered 270 Christians working with children in Asia from 22 countries, representing over 120 entities. Participants at this Asia Consultation were energized by having the opportunity to work with other leaders to develop a coordinated action plan for addressing child sexual exploitation in Asia. They are already planning a second consultation for February 2005 in order to evaluate their progress, include others in this global-linked regional strategy, adjust plans as needed, and provide some shared training, which many organizations would not have the capacity to provide on their own.

According to Michael McGill, child psychologist, who founded The Asha Forum, “We stand now at a pivotal point in history. Now is the time for us to step beyond fragmented efforts to bind together with resolve and strategy, and by the grace of God to begin to turn the tide against the growing epidemic of sexual exploitation that is ravaging our world... Churches are the single largest untapped resource in the fight against child sexual exploitation. They are present in every country of the world and have a mandate to protect, and advocate for the abused.”

The first Latin American Asha Consultation is being planned for November 2004, and the second international consultation for early 2005.

Press release (pdf, 49Kb)

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