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The WCC says it is grateful that the churches of the Union of Utrecht, the Philippine Independent Church, and the Episcopal Church have embarked on a study about Globalization and Catholicity.

Filipina church emergency programme manager Minnie Anne M. Calub looks to the prophet Isaiah for inspiration in rebuilding her country after the worst recorded typhoon smote her nation of islands in November 2013.

In tiefer Sorge um die Migrantinnen und Migranten in vielen Regionen der Welt, insbesondere um diejenigen, „die aus Verzweiflung unter großen Risiken und Gefahren reisen“, erklärte der Exekutivausschuss des ÖRK: „Alle Mitglieder der internationalen Gemeinschaft haben die moralische und rechtliche Verpflichtung, das Leben der Menschen zu retten, die auf See oder auf der Durchreise in Lebensgefahr schweben, ungeachtet ihrer Herkunft oder ihres Status.“

Deeply concerned for migrants in many regions, especially those “driven to undertake journeys of desperate risk and danger”, the WCC Executive Committee has declared: “All members of the international community have a moral and legal duty to save the lives of those in jeopardy at sea or in transit, regardless of their origin and status.”

Young ecumenical leaders from Asia have met in Siam Reap, Cambodia to examine how religious traditions can offer resources to overcome religious violence in a changing Asian context.

More than 400 representatives of member churches and partner bodies from 28 countries in Asia, Australia and New Zealand, headed home on 27 May from an exciting week in Jakarta, Indonesia after attending the Christian Conference of Asia's (CCA) 14th General Assembly.

The WCC general secretary has sent a letter to the President of the Republic of Indonesia H. E. Joko Widodo appealing for clemency for the 10 death row prisoners scheduled for imminent execution in Indonesia.

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.

Following bomb attacks on two churches in Lahore, Pakistan, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has condemned the violence against people and communities on the basis of their religious identity, and has called upon the Pakistani government to act swiftly in bringing the perpetrators to justice.

Following the massacre of dozens of students and staff in Peshawar on 16 December, the WCC general secretary extended sympathies to those bereaved or wounded, offering prayers for the victims and their families, for their communities.

After a concerted examination of the evidence presented at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons and two earlier conferences, 44 of the states present called for a ban on nuclear weapons. The host government Austria added momentum with a specific, cooperative pledge to “fill the legal gap for the prohibition of nuclear weapons” and eliminate them.

Participants in a recent WCC consultation in Myanmar have stressed the need to equip churches and ecumenical organizations to build peace, human security and human dignity in order to move beyond conflicts, towards a world of peace.

The recent killing of a Christian couple by an angry mob in Pakistan has prompted condemnation from the WCC. The victims had been accused by community members of desecrating the Qur’an.

Der Generalsekretär des ÖRK hat tiefe Besorgnis geäußert nachdem die Berufung gegen das Todesurteil für die pakistanische Christin Asia Bibi abgelehnt wurde. Asia Bibi war nach dem umstrittenen Blasphemiegesetz Pakistans verurteilt worden. Um Toleranz, religiösen Frieden und den Schutz der Rechte von Minderheiten zu fördern, so Tveit, sei es wichtig, dass in Fällen wie jenem von Asia Bibi Gerechtigkeit sichergestellt werde.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has expressed profound concern over the rejection of an appeal against the death sentence for a Pakistani Christian woman, Asia Bibi, convicted under Pakistan’s controversial blasphemy law. To promote tolerance, religious harmony and protection of the rights of religious minorities, Tveit said it is important that justice is ensured in cases like that of Asia Bibi.

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

Pater Rex R. B. Reyes, Jr. erinnert sich lebhaft an den – wie er ihn nennt –„schicksalshaften Morgen des 8. November“ 2013. Während seiner Teilnahme an der 10. Vollversammlung des ÖRK in der Republik Korea erfuhr Reyes, dass Super-Taifun Haiyan in seiner Heimat das Leben von mehr als 25 Millionen Menschen bedrohte. Zusammen mit tausenden anderen Teilnehmenden an der Vollversammlung betete Reyes für die von dem Taifun betroffenen Menschen.

Fr Rex R. B. Reyes, Jr. vividly remembers what he calls “the fateful morning of 8 November” 2013.

A reflection on the recent United Nations meeting on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, by Jonathan Frerichs, WCC programme executive for peace building and disarmament, and member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

A communiqué adopted at a WCC consultation describes human trafficking as a “serious human rights violation” and its consequences are “most horrific results of the economic and social disparities that increase the vulnerability of millions of people”.