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If we do not adjust aid better to the needs of the minorities in Syria and northern Iraq, we run the risk of building walls instead of bridges. As the populations of Syria and Iraq feel the toll of armed conflicts in their countries, the World Council of Churches and Norwegian Church Aid are now releasing a unique joint study, “Protection needs of minorities from Syria and Iraq,” today, 28 November, in Oslo, Norway.

Women walk slowly around in their sanctuary at Lalesh. Some have their children with them. They have been collected from the refugee camp to go to the Yazidis’ holy place, in the mountains of northern Iraq, some distance from Dohuk. All are quiet to begin with, and everyone makes sure not to tread on the doorstep to the temple.

Madeline, 14, and sister Sabrine, 16, are both paralyzed in their legs. “They were paralyzed by shock. Something happened to their nervous system”, says father Mohammad. The family was caught in the crossfire in Daraa, in southern Syria. Son Louay, 3, was killed by a bomb. That’s when they decided to flee. Bombs were constantly falling during their flight.

IS attacked at four in the morning. In the small village of Tel Hermes, only men stayed behind to try to defend it. The elderly had also stayed behind. Now IS dragged everyone out in their pyjamas. Of around 30 men, half were killed. One of them was electrician Fouad Younan.

The WCC convened an inter-Orthodox consultation in Cyprus on 6-13 October to respond to the text “The Church: Towards a Common Vision,” a convergence document presented by the WCC Faith and Order Commission.

Manuel Quintero is retiring after eight years of service as the international programme coordinator for the WCC Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI). He took time to reflect on the mission of EAPPI, particularly within its current context, as well as aspects of the programme that have been dear to his heart.

Rev. Dr Owe Boersma will take over the post of EAPPI international programme coordinator in Geneva, effective 26 September 2016. Mr Manuel Quintero, after eight years of service as EAPPI international programme coordinator based in Geneva, has reached retirement age and will be leaving the World Council of Churches’ EAPPI international office at the end of August.

The WCC Central Committee meeting in Trondheim, Norway authorized the convening of an international ecumenical conference in 2017 “to reaffirm and strengthen ecumenical witness for peace with justice for Israelis and Palestinians.”

The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), at its meeting in Trondheim, Norway, 27 June 2016, has elected a new executive committee with 11 new members.

Forty years after the Soweto uprising, leaders of churches in conflict-torn countries gathered in South Africa to study the ways of peace and reconciliation.

After traveling to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv in the last week for a climate justice meeting, World Council of Churches staff and partners were detained or deported in a manner that WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit terms both unprecedented and intolerable.

A crane began lowering 12-meter concrete slabs into place in the Cremisan Valley, near Bethlehem in occupied Palestine on 6 April, marking the final phase of construction of an extension to the Israeli separation barrier. The World Council of Churches, through its Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI), has been alongside the affected Palestinian community in the valley, both Christian and Muslim, throughout their legal struggle to stop the construction.

With a background in international conflict resolution, peace-building and reconciliation, Professor Emily Welty is uniquely suited to her role as acting moderator of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs of the WCC. She facilitated the commission’s work most recently during its annual meeting in Geneva from 7 through 14 March.

When Stephen Sidorak speaks about “A Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace to Japan on a Matter of Life and Death” his voice rings with passion, commitment and regret along with a yearning that nuclear weapons must never be used in anger again.

“The way we handle the refugee crisis, not least the settling in and integration process, will be of utmost significance, both for the attitude towards refugees and asylum seekers in the future, and for the long-term stability and sustainability of our own societies”, said Knut Vollebaek, ambassador and former Norwegian foreign minister, in his speech at the recent WCC/UN conference on Europe’s refugee crisis.

To promote open discussions on the theological and practical discourse, narrative and experiences on implications for the work of the multi-religious organizations on religion, violence and extremism, the WCC, along with the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church and the General Conference of Seventh-Day Adventists held a Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs.

Following the recent nuclear test conducted by North Korea, the WCC is calling on all parties involved in the current situation on the Korean peninsula – especially South Korea, North Korea, the USA, Japan and China – to “invest in initiatives to reduce tensions, to promote dialogue and to encourage negotiations for an end to the suspended state of war, and for peaceful co-existence on the Korean peninsula, rather than measures that increase the risk of catastrophic conflict“, according to WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

In an official statement issued on 12 October, the WCC has expressed grave concern over the dramatic escalation of the conflict in Syria.

Reduction in and prevention of statelessness, and the protection of stateless people in the Middle East provided the focus of a workshop organized by the WCC and the Middle East Council of Churches in Beirut, Lebanon.

In the wake of recent crisis with the refugees in Europe, it is “absolutely and critically necessary that all European states take their proper responsibility in terms of reception and support for people seeking refuge, safety and a better future for themselves and their families. This cannot be left only to the states where they enter first,” says the WCC general secretary.