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A major conference on peace and security in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), convened by the WCC, began on Wednesday its search for solutions to the DRC’s steepest challenges.

Four weeks of negotiations on nuclear weapons came to a close on Friday 22 May, as the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ended without a formal agreement. Despite the outcome, a bright new prospect towards a world without nuclear weapons has emerged in the form of a Humanitarian Pledge, now endorsed by 107 states, which promises “to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons”.

“Nuclear weapons are incompatible with the values upheld by our respective faith traditions”, representatives of some 50 Christian, Buddhist, Muslim and Jewish organizations said on 1 May. The inter-religious statement came in a joint call to the 191 governments participating in the world’s largest disarmament treaty. The call, co-sponsored by the WCC, was made during civil society presentations to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Review Conference in New York City.

The prospect of armed robots taking human lives, and whether to ban autonomous weapons before they are made, concentrated the minds of governmental and non-governmental delegates at a United Nations forum in Geneva in mid-April.

Leaders and representatives from the Cuban Council of Churches, the Latin American Council of Churches, the National Council of Churches USA and the WCC have spoken out together on the normalization of relations between Cuba and the United States.

The WCC mourns the death of Leopoldo J. Niilus, former director of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), renowned lawyer, peace negotiator and author of several writings on human rights and international affairs.

A court decision in the Dominican Republic annulling the citizenship of an estimated 200,000 Dominicans of Haitian ancestry has been strongly criticized by church leaders, including the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church.

The WCC and its member churches expressed deep concern over reports of widespread violent demonstrations in Kinshasa since 19 January.

The WCC has expressed deep shock over the attacks by extremist group Boko Haram in Nigeria, which is said to have cost the lives of more than 2,000 people, including children used in suicide bomb attacks.

A workshop with the aim of strengthening electoral process in the Democratic Republic of Congo was held Kinshasa by the Church of Christ in Congo and the Independent National Electoral Commission in partnership with the WCC and the All Africa Conference of Churches. Participants in the workshop encouraged renewed engagement from local churches in the nation.

Following the attack on the Great Mosque of Kano in Nigeria on 28 November resulting in the deaths of over 100 people, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit extended sympathies for those bereaved or wounded.

United Nations leaders and the WCC have agreed that the international community and faith leaders need to cooperate more on working to fight the scourge of the deadly Ebola virus.

The WCC Executive Committee has expressed deep concern over recent developments in the United States following the Grand Jury’s decision not to indict officer Darren Wilson in the killing of Michael Brown.

The “pilgrimage is both a way to continue working for the one ecumenical movement and a way to move forward in our times that offer new dimensions, opportunities and practices,” said the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit.

UNICEF, the United Nations Children’s Fund, this week invited 20 of its major partners from the private sector and civil society to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the adoption of the Convention on the Rights of the Child. The WCC general secretary represented faith based-organizations at a high-level breakfast in New York hosted by the UN agency.

Indigenous peoples have a role to play in the struggle against climate change, indigenous faith leaders said during a panel at the Interfaith Summit on Climate Change held at the Church Center for the United Nations in New York City.

Scattered throughout the recent history of Indigenous Peoples are national treaties, declarations and laws that languish in obscurity or are brushed aside and ignored.

Inspired by the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace”, the Central Committee of the WCC, a chief governing body of the Council, has set directions for the work of the Council from 2014 to 2017.

WCC announced it will hold an Interfaith Summit on Climate Change in September in New York City.

Situations of conflict, social fragmentation and political tensions in South Sudan, South Korea and Nigeria, as well as struggles of the churches in these countries seeking justice, peace and stability for all people and communities, formed the focus of a session on 3 July at the WCC Central Committee meeting in Geneva, Switzerland.