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On Tuesday, 29 January 29 2019, the Fifth Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs will focus on financing for sustainable development and build on this vision of an economy of life as the flourishing of all life. Panel discussions will consider the broad issues of economic justice as addressed in the course of human rights-based development, governance and accountability in the global financial architecture, the implications for environmental sustainability, gender justice and financing social protection.

Under the 2018 theme of "Know your status", World AIDS Day is an opportunity to remember the people who have been lost to the epidemic, to we give thanks for the progress made and make new commitments to ensuring no one is left behind.

On the occasion of the 7th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights (26-28 November, Geneva), you are warmly invited to a forum convened by the Indigenous Peoples’ Movement for Self-determination and Liberation (IPMSDL) and the World Council of Churches on the situation of Indigenous communities struggling against transnational extractive operations, energy projects and agro-industrial plantations.

The World Council of Churches invites a Churches’ Week of Action on Food, from 15-22 October 2018.

The United Church of Canada, in partnership with the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, is presenting a webinar on anti-Black racism and Afrophobia. This webinar is part of the church’s participation in the UN International Decade for People of African Descent.

During a 23 August service in the Netherlands in the Nieuwe Kerk, a 15th-century church in Amsterdam, World Council of Churches leaders will celebrate the WCC’s 70th anniversary at the very spot in which the organization was founded.  A “Walk of Peace” through Amsterdam, and a symposium under the theme “Hospitality on a pilgrim's way to peace and justice”, at the Vrije Universiteit, will also be held on the same day.

Convinced of the pivotal role that the churches can play in the task of promoting a just and peaceful human society, the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development and the World Council of Churches in collaboration with the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, undertake to host a world conference that brings together governmental, intergovernmental, civil society, academic, religious, and ecumenical leaders and actors from around the globe to reflect and together seek cohesive and realistic responses to the phenomenon of increasing xenophobia [xénos/stranger+phóbos/fear], racism, and populist nationalism in political and social responses to migrants and refugees. The conference is committed to inclusive participation and to hearing the voices of migrants and refugees themselves.

The Global Day of Prayer to End Famine hopes to unite ecumenical partners and faith communities all over the world as a prayerful and spiritual movement to: encourage prayer, reflection and action with information and suggestions; bring awareness regarding famine’s impact on the most vulnerable children and families and to help address its root causes; connect with church-related and other humanitarian organizations that are currently working to bring immediate relief and positive long-term change so children and families can live out God’s aspiration for a dignified, peaceful and violence-free future; help communities and congregations to uphold each other in prayer and support, by sharing experiences, challenge and solutions.

The faith-based response to HIV and AIDS has become more visible and integrated because of the increased engagement and coordination of faith-based representatives over the past International AIDS Conferences. A range of faith-based activities are now being planned for AIDS 2018 in Amsterdam, the Netherlands, 23-27 July 2018.

On 23 February 2018, the World Council of Churches joins Pope Francis and the Roman Catholic Church in calling for a day of prayer, for peace in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

On 1 December 2017, the World Council of Churches invites to a full-day event at the Ecumencial Centre in Geneva, featuring a commemorative service, an interactive exhibition and a panel discussion on the lives and rights of children and adolescents living with HIV.

Organized by the World Council of Churches and the Canadian Council of Churches on 2-4 November, in Toronto, Canada, "Redesigning the Tree of Life" is intended as a participatory learning conference, informed by expert presentations, with time to build relationships and shared learning that make future shared work possible.

The "Hearing on Racism, Discrimination, Afrophobia and Xenophobia: The experience of people of African descent in the USA" is organized by the World Council of Churches, together with the National Council of The Churches of Christ in the USA. It will be an opportunity to learn about the racial discrimination, xenophobia and afrophobia that people of African descent are experiencing in the USA, and acknowledge and reaffirm the role of faith communities as agents of transformative justice in the face of racial injustice.

On 16 June 2017, the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance in partnership with the Kenya chapter of the International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or personally affected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA+ Kenya), along with many other organizations, is coordinating an event to highlight country-led action backed by global support. Religious leaders and leaders of faith-based organizations will remind governments of their commitments agreed in the June 2016 United Nations’ Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS that there should be “special emphasis on providing 1.6 million children (0-14 years of age) with antiretroviral therapy by 2018.”

More than 100'000 participants are expected at the Kirchentag festival organized by a Protestant lay movement in Germany. Among the 2500 events on the Kirchentag programme, many involve representatives of the WCC member churches and its leadership, including the moderator of the WCC Central Committee, Dr Agnes Abuom; WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit; the WCC president for Africa, Rev. Dr Mary-Anne Plaatjies van Huffel; and various members of the WCC Central Committee.

At its first Eco-School on Water, Food and Climate Justice, the WCC's Ecumenical Water Network (EWN) along with its Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance will bring together about 20 young people from the Africa region. Over a period of 10 days, in an ecumenical setting, participants will have the opportunity to study the local, regional, and international manifestations and causes of the water crisis and food security affected by climate change. They will examine the situation and challenges from a perspective of faith and ethics, and search together for possible ecumenical responses to these challenges.

As more people face famine today than any time in modern history, the WCC together with the All Africa Conference of Churches and a range of faith-based partners and networks invite a Global Day of Prayer to End Famine on 21 May 2017, in response to the hunger crisis.

This interactive panel aims to build awareness and momentum within the Human Rights Community around the new targets for children and adolescents set in the Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS Free Framework, and in the 2016 Political Declaration on AIDS. In addition, participants will discuss how the rights of children living with HIV can be mainstreamed into the work of the human rights mechanisms.

This interactive panel will focus on the impact that HIV has on a woman’s right to own and manage property. Panelists will address stigma and discrimination toward women living with HIV, including deprivation or dispossession of property rights, and they will share best practices and potential pathways to promote and protect women’s economic equality.

It has been two years since the United High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) launched its Global Action Plan to End Statelessness and the first ever Global Forum on Statelessness in The Hague, The Netherlands, where an ecumenical delegation shared their Recommendations. The purpose of the webinar is to mark this anniversary and assess the work achieved during the launch of this global campaign.