Search results

Vigilance is needed to sustain people's acceptance of one another to prevent aberrations such as the Rwanda genocide in 1994 and the Russian-Ukraine war, a UN special adviser has told a group of young Christians, Jews, and Muslims.

A woman who works with youth in Kenya—young people who once turned to heinous crimes—had a group of young Christians, Jews, and Muslims weeping tears of compassion and joy as she recounted her tough upbringing and how she helps turn those youth from crime to community.

Peace is not a given these days, an international group of young Christians, Jews, and Muslims has heard from a woman whose father survived the Holocaust as she stressed the need to talk and listen to one another.

“We carry the cross with dignity and hope.” These were the opening words as Middle East Christians stood to bear witness at the World Council of Churches central committee meeting, to the burdens and challenges – but also the resilience – that they live on a daily basis in the land where Christianity was born. 

In Renk, a small South Sudanese town on the banks of the White Nile, churches are working to help thousands of people fleeing the war in the neighbouring Sudan.

The latest group of World Council of Churches (WCC) ecumenical accompaniers reported incidents between 14 April and 22 May that ranged from violence to displacement, from harassment to intimidation in the West Bank. 

Marking 75 years since Al-Nakba—the Arabic term for the events of 1948, when many Palestinians were displaced from their homeland by the creation of the new state of Israel—religious leaders reflected on what Al-Nakba means today.

A World Council of Churches webinar on 25 April explored obstacles, opportunities, and strategies to combat racism, xenophobia, and racial discrimination in the church and in the world. Speakers led an exploration of overcoming obstacles in order to continue the quest for racial justice.

Strengthening the link between Christian perspectives and practical action for human rights, a symposium on human dignity and rights took place in the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey on 25-26 April.

Amidst amplified calls for peace in Sudan, a glimmer of hope has spread in the northeastern African country, after fighting forces announced a 72-hour ceasefire.

"The soldiers went away because you were watching.”

“I am able to herd my sheep near the military base because I feel safe in the presence of ecumenical accompaniers, and settler harassment is much less when you are around.”

“We feel safe when the ecumenical accompaniers are present.”

The year 2023 marks a decade of diplomatic debate about autonomous weapons – so-called ‘killer robots’.  This decade has also seen accelerating development of such weapons systems in a number of countries.  But efforts in the context of the Convention on Certain Conventional

Meaningful participation by women in a conflict resolution and peace-building promotes a more sustainable peace, a panel discussion with women peace-makers concluded, after the screening of a documentary on the 2015 “Women Cross the DMZ” initiative.

For the 380,000 Palestinians that live in East Jerusalem, daily life is often marred by inequalities related to everything from housing, health services, childcare, and even garbage pickup. Even though Palestinians make up 39% of the city, there are many discrepancies in the services they receive.

Dr Jad Issac tends to think in numbers. When it comes to the land in the West Bank on the outskirts of Jerusalem and the Jordan Valley—known simply as E1— Issac is weighing a stark figure: a loss of $2 billion a year for Palestinians versus the ability to net the same amount of revenue, pay off debts, and, in turn, help poorer countries.  The astronomical figure amounts to lost tourism opportunities due to the lack of access to E1, Jordan Valley, and the Dead Sea—as per the Economic Cost of the Occupation Study done by the Applied Research Institute of Jerusalem.

Alexander Brock, an international development practitioner from Ireland, recently returned from a deployment with the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. On 1 March, he gave an eyewitness account of what it’s like to monitor human rights in Hebron, in the southern part of the West Bank. He was part of a group of 27 ecumenical accompaniers from all over the world.