New BWA director takes up appointment Raimundo Cesar Barreto Jr. of Brazil assumed the position of Baptist World Alliance director of Freedom and Justice (F&J) on March 1, 2010. Baretto is the first person to fill this position, which was created on September 1, 2008, following a decision of the BWA General Council in July of that year in Prague, Czech Republic. An ordained Baptist pastor since 1993, Barreto holds a doctoral degree in Christian Social Ethics from Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey in the United States; as well as degrees from the McAfee School of Theology at Mercer University in Atlanta, Georgia, also in the US; and from the North Brazil Baptist Theological Seminary in Recife. He also studied at the International Baptist Theological Seminary in Prague, Czech Republic.     Barreto has conducted research on Christian and social justice issues in Latin America. He has a special interest in working with organizations in human rights, and in advocating for those who have special needs. Prior to joining the staff at the BWA Center in Falls Church, Virginia, in the US, Barreto was pastor of Igreja Batista Esperanca (Hope Baptist Church) in Salvador, Bahia state; and worked as general coordinator for the Martin Luther King, Jr. Center for Social Ethics in Brazil, among several other appointments in church and community organizations. The F&J Division addresses issues of human rights and religious freedom, and coordinates the relationship between the BWA and the United Nations, where the BWA holds membership in several UN  

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