Draft:Mathews George Chunakara

Dr. Mathews George Chunakara is an international ecumenical leader. He is currently the General Secretary/Chief Executive Officer of the Christian Conference of Asia (CCA),  and the Moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

He was elected as the moderator of the CCIA for the period from 2023 to 2030 by the World Council of Churches’ Central Committee in its meeting held in June 2023 in Geneva, becoming the first Asian to hold that position. He was Director of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the WCC from 2009 to 2014, and prior to that served as the Asia Secretary of WCC starting from 2000. He was elected General Secretary of the CCA for a five-year term from 2015 to 2020, and re-elected for a second five-year term.

A trained political scientist specialized in international affairs, he has been a political commentator and analyst on geopolitics and emerging trends in geo-strategic issues. He has been involved in international advocacy at the U.N and inter-governmental levels in areas and concerns such as peace and security, human rights, nuclear disarmament, migration, rights and dignity of children, human trafficking and statelessness, freedom of religion and rights of religious minorities.

In addition to his leadership in the international ecumenical movement and organizations as well as at local, regional, and international ecclesial bodies, he has been providing leadership in human rights advocacy, peace, and reconciliation missions through inter-religious and civil society movements at the local, regional, and international levels. He is currently the Chairperson of the Asian Human Rights Commission and the Legal Resource Centre (AHRC & ALRC) based in Hong Kong. Before moving to Geneva, Switzerland, Mathews George had served CCA in the first stint for seven years from 1993 as the Executive Secretary for International Affairs, Human Rights, and Indo-China Concerns of the CCA based in Hong Kong.

Mathews George coordinated the organization of the largest international ecumenical peace conference - the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC), of WCC held in May 2011 in Kingston, Jamaica with the participation of more than 1000 representatives from around the world. He chaired and coordinated various international fora including the Ecumenical Forum on Peace, Reconciliation and Reunification of Korea –EFK (2008 to 2014); South Asia Ecumenical Partnership Programme – SAEPP (2002- 2009); and Mekong Ecumenical Partnership Programme –MEPP (2003-2008). He was a member of the international board of the Life and Peace Institute, and Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO).

Mathews George began his career as a human rights educator and programme secretary of the Vigil India Movement (VIM), a national human rights organization with its headquarters in Bangalore, which was founded during India’s infamous Emergency rule. He subsequently became the Director of the VIM. He initiated the Institute of Human Rights of the VIM with a special focus on human rights training, and served as the Dean of the Institute of Human Rights. He was also the Associate Director of the Ecumenical Christian Centre (ECC) in Whitefield, Bangalore where he initiated special courses such as School of Politics, and the Institute on Human Rights.

He has authored and edited 17 books, and has also written and published numerous articles, papers and monographs on international affairs, geopolitical trends, human rights, development, peace and security, politicisation of religion, and ecumenism. He has lectured and been an adjunct faculty of different universities and theological colleges/seminaries in Asia, and Africa.

His academic qualifications include B.A. with major in English Literature and Political Science and History of England as subsidiaries; M.A. in Political Science, and Ph.D. in International Relations; Diplomas in Development Journalism, and Certificate Courses in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights and in International Human Rights Instruments. His Ph.D. thesis is on ‘Militarization and its Impact on Human Rights in South East Asia with Special Reference to the Philippines: 1972-1986’. He undertook and conducted doctoral researches in India and overseas at institutions such as Mahatma Gandhi University (Kottayam, India), University of the Philippines (Manila, Philippines), University of British Columbia, (Vancouver, Canada), Library of American Congress (Washington D.C, USA), Moscow Institute of International Affairs (Moscow, USSR), and Institute of South- East Asian Studies (Singapore).