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The World Council of Churches (WCC) has invited applications for workshops, exhibitions and side events for its upcoming 10th Assembly to be held in Busan, Korea. Proposals must be submitted by 31 October 2012.

Christian leaders representing organizations of some 90 percent of the world’s two billion Christians have issued a joint appeal to the 194 governments currently negotiating the first global Arms Trade Treaty: Keep ammunition in the treaty. Â

The World Council of Churches (WCC) calls on the churches and congregations around the world to observe an International Day of Prayer for Peace on 21 September. The day coincides with the International Day of Peace initiated by the United Nations.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Royal Aal Al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought (RABIIT) on 12 July issued a report on their joint commitment to help in resolving the tensions in Nigeria. The report reflects a new Christian-Muslim model of cooperation for peace between religions and further interfaith dialogue.

Death threats against human rights defenders in Colombia have caused "great concern" for the World Council of Churches (WCC). A letter from the WCC to the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, calls on the “government to take all necessary measures to effectively protect the life and physical integrity” of the human rights defenders.

By Naveen Qayyum (*)

World Council of Churches (WCC) participants in the Rio+20 Conference have joined a broad religious coalition in rejecting the official outcome document of the United Nations-sponsored event.

"We support the struggle for human rights of the people of Papua. We urge an end to the ongoing violence and impunity. We support the call for social and economic justice through serious dialogue and a concrete political process that seeks to address root causes of the present problems," said Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), has appealed to United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, requesting that the UN give “a stronger and clearer mandate” to Kofi Annan’s initiative for peace in Syria.

In a brief letter of congratulations to Dr Mohamed Morsi, the newly elected president of Egypt , the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, said the WCC has “great admiration for the courage of the younger generation which peacefully led a popular movement seeking democracy and freedom, social justice and equality in citizenship,” resulting in Morsi’s election.

The general secretaries of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC) have expressed their shock and profound concern following the demolition of an Episcopal parish church in Khartoum on orders of Sudanese government authorities.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has been playing an active role in the two major events that are taking place in Rio from 12 to 23 June: the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD), also known as Rio+20, and the People’s Summit.

Emerging geo-political trends in Asia and their impact on international relations and the shaping of a new world order were analyzed and discussed at the 51st meeting of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

“The growing church in the People’s Republic of China today presents four characteristics: independent and autonomous, post-denominational, fast growing and faced with lots of challenges and emerging difficulties,” said the Rev. Gao Feng, president of the China Christian Council (CCC), in a speech in China on 14 June.

A group of former ecumenical accompaniers got together to share updates over the situation in occupied Palestinian territory with European Union (EU) officials. They particularly focused on the conditions in so-called Area C of the West bank, which contains most Israeli settlements.

"€œDiakonia is an essential ecclesial function. It must be prophetic and transformative. It cannot be opted only in convenient forms,"€ asserted participants of a World Council of Churches (WCC) conference, reflecting on "€œTheology of Diakonia for the 21st Century"€. The event took place from 2 to 6 June in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

With one month until governments negotiate the first global arms trade treaty, churches from countries most affected by unregulated trade in arms gathered from 29-31 May in Cape Town, South Africa, to make final advocacy plans.

In a public hearing at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, church activists from the Philippines criticized the Aquino government for not being able to improve the situation regarding human rights violations, citing an increased number of victims of extrajudicial killings, forced disappearances, as well as evictions in the country. Â

The World Council of Churches (WCC) will, for the first time since its 1948 inauguration, be holding its first meeting in Shanghai and Nanjing in the People’s Republic of China, focusing on the unique situation of Chinese churches and ecumenical relations in the region.

A high-level international delegation of Christian and Muslim leaders issued a joint statement at the end of their visit to Nigeria on 25 May, expressing hope for their “visit to demonstrate an international model of Muslims and Christians working together in inter-religious engagement aimed at fostering peace and harmony between people of different religions.”