Statements
- 2011 Nobel Peace Prize
- In a statement published on Friday 7 October, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, formally acknowledged the commitment and achievements of the three women who are to be awarded this year’s Nobel prize for peace. It was announced on Friday morning that the prize will be shared by Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Roberta Gwobee of Liberia and Yemeni woman’s rights activist Tawakkul Karman.
- 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions
- In a public statement marking the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, Kobia stressed that the complexity of today's armed conflicts requires the international community to think of new ways to strengthen effective mechanisms to ensure respect for the Geneva Conventions.
- 65th anniversary of 1st atomic bombings
- Public statement by the general secretary of the World Council of Churches on the 65th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
- Anniversary of the Fukushima nuclear disaster
- A year ago we were all confronted with the chain of tragic events unleashed by the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster which followed the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011.
- Call for response to the humanitarian crisis in Libya
- The World Council of Churches, together with the Conference of European Churches and the Commission for Migrants in Europe, call for a response to the humanitarian crisis in and around Libya.
- Cluster Munitions Convention, Dublin 2008
- Comment on Ingrid Betancourt's liberation in Colombia
- Comment on North Korea nuclear test
- The World Council of Churches is deeply troubled by North Korea's nuclear test and profoundly concerned for the people of North Korea and surrounding countries, none of whose interests are served by this tragic failure of international relations.
- Comment on signing of Cluster Munitions Convention
- Commenting on the signing of the convention in Oslo, Norway, Kobia congratulates the more than 100 signatory countries and reiterateds the need for those states that have not yet done so - the United States, Russia, China, India, Pakistan, Israel and Zimbabwe - to "sign and support this timely arms control and humanitarian initiative".
- Concern for the people of Egypt
- "Our hopes and prayers are for the safety of citizens, for wisdom and compassion on the part of the authorities and for a non-violent and just resolution of conflicts and grievances", the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said 31 January 2011, commenting on the current situation in Egypt.
- Concern on escalation of violence in Gaza and Israel
- WCC GS deeply concerned about the escalation of violence in Gaza and Israel
- Concern on tensions over Korean Peninsula
- Statement by WCC General Secretary on resolving the rising tensions over the Korean Peninsula
- Condemnation of hate crimes in France
- Acts of terror committed in south-western France in March 2012 have been condemned in the strongest terms by the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.
- Condolence letter to the Church of Pakistan following the 2010 monsoon floods
- Grief over the many deaths and the devastation caused by recent floods in Pakistan, as well as appreciation for the relief work provided by the Diocese of Peshawar of the Church of Pakistan, was expressed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in a letter to the church.
- Condolence letter to the Pakistani president following the 2010 monsoon floods
- Grief over the many deaths and the devastation caused by recent floods in Pakistan, as well as appreciation for the relief work provided by the Diocese of Peshawar of the Church of Pakistan, was expressed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in a letter to the government.
- Conflict between Israel and Lebanon
- Election of 266th pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church
- Expression of hope for Palestinian Unity
- WCC general secretary welcomes the May 2011 agreement ending political division and seeking the achievement of national unity Egypt between the two Palestinian movements Fatah and Hamas.
- Faith in Human Rights
- At the International Inter-religious Conference in The Hague, The Netherlands on the 10th December 2008 ten invited supreme authorities of the different world religions signed a Statement Faith in Human Rights.
- Fire at the Alliance Church in Jerusalem
- Food and faith
- Forest: Our good neighbour
- Believing that the Earth and everything in it belongs to the Lord implies that all of creation lies at the heart of God. In these times of violent crisis of eco-systems we confess that all of creation is groaning for liberation and these cries are the loudest from forests and forest communities. As the participants of the international conference on Forests: Our Good Neighbour held at the CSI Synod Centre, Chennai from the 24th to the 26th of October 2011 affirm that eco-justice ministries forms an integral part of the mission of the church. We are called to witness in the context of deforestation, global warming, pollution, natural resource depletion; species extinctions and habitat destructions that are affecting the whole community of creation especially forest communities.
- Gilo settlement expansion
- Haiti's foreign debt
- In this 25 January statement, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit calls for the immediate and unconditional cancellation of Haiti’s foreign debt.
- Human rights in the Philippines
- Israel and Palestine - 60 years
- Israel and Palestine - 60 years, comment by the World Council of Churches general secretary
- Killings in Gaza and Israel
- NATO summit: Nuclear weapons in Europe
- A public statement by the World Council of Churches, the Conference of European Churches, the Canadian Council of Churches, and the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the U.S.A.
- Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Liu Xiaobo
- On the Agreement Reached at The Six Party Talks
- The World Council of Churches, since the early 1980s, has monitored developments relating to peace and security in North East Asia. Of particular concern to the Council was the division of Korea and the consequential tension and the potential threat of conflict in the peninsula.
- On the execution of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein
- On the Russia-US nuclear agreement
- Public statement on the Russia-United States nuclear agreement
- Ratification of new START treaty
- Statement on the ratification by the US Senate of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty between the United States and Russia
- Response to LWF/WARC on "ecumenical assembly"
- Ruling on Migrants' Right of Non-Refoulement
- The World Council of Churches welcomes the landmark ruling of the European Court of Human Rights on 23 February 2012, in which the EU Court ruled that Italy violated the rights of Eritrean and Somali migrants by sending them back to Libya.
- Shootings in Virginia, USA
- Solidarity with Fiji churches
- Statement against cluster bombs and nuclear weapons
- The World Council of Churches welcomes two decisions just taken here in Geneva to protect human lives from lethal and indiscriminate weapons. Both decisions are heartening examples of a world majority of mostly small countries taking leadership for the common good when powerful states have failed to do so. Both address threats that churches have long decried.
- Statement ahead of COP17 in Durban 2011
- Ahead of the UN Conference on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa, 28 November – 10 December 2011 (UNFCCC COP17), the WCC general secretary, the Rev Dr Olav Fykse-Tveit, reiterates the WCC call for climate justice.
- Statement on Arms Trade Treaty
- Statement on Arms Trade Treaty on UN Conference on Arms Trade Treaty in New York, 2012
- Statement on Iraq
- Statement on Jerusalem killings
- The World Council of Churches condemns the use of deadly force by the Israeli security forces, resulting in the killing of more than twenty and the wounding of hundreds of Palestinians in Jerusalem. The manner in which the Israeli authorities have acted reflects total disregard of their obligations under international law and makes them fully responsible for this tragedy. The Council extends to the families of the victims its sincere condolence and upholds them in its prayers.
- Statement on Kenya initiatives to overcome violence
- The World Council of Churches welcomes the initiative taken by people of faith all across Kenya to continue praying for a peaceful end to the crisis that swept through the country following the violent aftermath of the recent elections.
- Statement on Libya
- In a public statement issued 4 May 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, said that the power and political will being used in Libya to protect the safety and interests of the Libyan people “must be directed away from the use of armed force†and “channelled into negotiations to end the bloodshed†now consuming Libya.
- Statement on post-election situation in Zimbabwe
- Statement on post-election violence in Kenya
- The people of Kenya and their many friends in countries and in churches around the world are appalled and concerned as the outcome of the recent elections has descended into violence, says WCC general secretary Samuel Kobia.
- Statement on Syria
- Voicing an appeal for the renunciation of violence by all sides in ongoing political conflict in Syria, the general secretary of the World Council of Churches has stated, "it is particularly urgent that the army and government security agencies cease the indiscriminate use of force" against demonstrators, moving instead to protect all Syrian citizens' lives, dignity, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
- Statement on the Gaza crisis
- Statement on the global financial crisis
- Statement on the storming of a Gaza-bound vessel
- Statement on violence in Syria
- The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit's statement to condemne the violence occurring in Syria, expressing solidarity with the victims, and invoking prayers for peace in the country.
- Statement urging non-violence and respect for religions
- WCC statement urging non-violence and respect for religions following the release of an Anti-Islamic film on YouTube.
- Ten years after 9/11
- Ten years after the 9 September 2001, when thousands of people from more than 90 countries were killed in a coordinated assault on targets in the United States, the WCC general secretary reflects on the legacy of pain, grief, disorder and enmity, and on the power and meaning to be found in supportive prayers and other expressions of compassion.
- Tensions on the Korean Peninsula
- "It is with great concern that we received the news about the escalation of tensions on the Korean peninsula," said WCC general secretary Tveit on 24 November 2010 in an expression of concern over tensions on the Korean Peninsula. The crisis erupted on Tuesday, 23 November 2010, when the North launched an artillery barrage on the South Korean-controlled Yeonpyeong Island as a South Korean naval drill was taking place in nearby waters.
- UN membership application of Palestine
- In a statement published on Wednesday 28 September 2011 in Geneva, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said that the WCC and its member churches were watching to see if peace and justice would be served in how the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly process the application of Palestine to become a full member state of the UN.
- US-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty
- The new US-Russia nuclear arms reduction treaty signed today in Prague is news that the World Council of Churches has awaited for a long time: the achievement of a nuclear weapons agreement between the two most heavily armed nations in the world, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said, commenting on the signing of the New Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (New START) by Presidents Medvedev and Obama in Prague, 8 April 2010.
- Violence in Cote d’Ivoire
- In a public statement issued 5 April 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland the general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, expressed deep concern regarding the ongoing violence and killings of a large number of civilians in Cote d’Ivoire, including women and children, particularly in Duekoue and Abidjan.
- We cannot live with such dangers
- World Council of Churches' general secretary statement on the 66th anniversary of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 6 and 9 August 1945.
- World Food Day 2008
- WCC General Secretary's Statement on the Global Food Crisis on the occasion of World Food Day - 16 October 2008
- Public comment on the adoption of the world's first Arms Trade Treaty
- “This long-overdue act of international governance means that people in many parts of the world who live in fear for their lives will eventually be safer,” the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said, commenting on the Arms Trade Treaty adopted on 2 April 2013, voted by 155 countries at the United Nations in New York, United States.
- Statement on escalating violence in Egypt
- Statement condemning the attacks against St. Mark’s Cathedral in Cairo, and the killing of Christians in the village of Al-Khosous.
- Kidnapping of two archbishops in Syria
- Statement from the WCC General Secretary about the kidnapping of two archbishops in Syria
