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The Global Media Monitoring Project, able to take place safely amid the COVID-19 pandemic, continues to promote gender justice in media coverage. Thousands of volunteers from 145 countries are participating.

The National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP) has expressed disappointment in the inadequacy of a recent resolution by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHCR) concerning human rights in the Philippines.

Rt. Rev. Joy Evelyn Abdul-Mohan is moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Trinidad and Tobago. She shares reflections on the role of prayer in developing a healthy democracy, and the unique challenges of her nation and her faith community.

Rev. Fr Dr Lawrence Iwuamadi is dean of the Ecumenical Institute, the graduate school which opened its academic year this week. Below, Iwuamadi reflects on the arrival of new students at the Ecumenical Institute during this remarkable time.

God’s creation groans in the Amazon forest, a sacred space for 34 million people suffering from the growth of inequality, land invasion, extractivism, relaxation of environmental laws, criminalization and murder of its defenders, and arson orchestrated by agribusiness—all of it made worse by proselytizing.

La Creación de Dios gime en la selva amazónica, un lugar sagrado donde treinta y cuatro millones de personas sufren a causa de la desigualdad creciente, la invasión de las tierras, el extractivismo, la relajación de las leyes medioambientales, la criminalización y asesinato de los activistas medioambientales y los incendios orquestados por las industrias agrícolas. Todo ello, agravado por el proselitismo.

Church leaders and human rights advocates are amplifying calls for justice after the death of Zara Alvarez, a health worker and human rights defender in the Philippines. Alvarez, who was killed on 17 August, worked closely with churches in a common quest for human dignity and rights.

Thursdays in Black grew out of women’s movements of resilience and resistance to injustice, abuse and violence. In the Pacific region, which has some of the highest recorded rates of violence against women, churches are leading conversations to change attitudes and actions. Domestic violence is prevalent throughout Fiji. According to UN Women’s Global Database on Violence against Women, almost 2 out of 3 women aged 18-64 in Fiji have experienced physical or sexual violence from their intimate partner – almost twice the global average.

Trees are being planted by people participating virtually in a ceremony that both commemorates the life of Dag Hammarskjöld, the second UN secretary-general, and sows seeds for West Papua’s return to the UN.

As Rev. Dan San Andres Sr, known as a defender of human rights, was arrested a week after the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act was passed in the Philippines, the World Council of Churches (WCC) joined with the bishops of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) in calling for justice.

As the people of Maohi (French Polynesia) are remembering the seventh year of their re- inscription on the United Nations decolonisation list, the Pacific Conference of Churches, in a 19 June statement, called on France to act with justice.

In a statement to the president of the Republic of Indonesia, Papuan religious leaders are urging justice for seven defendants on trial in the Balikpapan - East Kalimantan District Court who held a demonstration because they were rejecting racist treatment. “But the indictments and charges at the trial were very different from the data and facts in the field,” reads the statement. “They are victims of racism but they have been accused of treason.”

Dr Jurjen Zeilstra is a historian and theologian. His biography “Visser 't Hooft, 1900-1985 Living for the Unity of the Church” served as a dissertation in the humanities at the Amsterdam Free University in order to receive the degree of Ph.D. in 2018. Willem Visser 't Hooft led the World Council of Churches (WCC) during its formative stages. Below, Dr Zeilstra reflects on what it was like to study the life of Visser 't Hooft.

In a 5 May message entitled “The Story of our Pacific Household in the ‘New Normal,’ ” the Pacific Conference of Churches acknowledges those risking their lives to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and expressed condolences to those who have lost loved ones.

In a letter to its European sister organizations, the Council of Churches in the Netherlands reiterated its call to the Dutch government to honour the call from the European Committee regarding the relocation of vulnerable and unaccompanied children from Greek refugee camps. The letter also urges European sister organizations to appeal to their governments to exercise the same human compassion.

In a pastoral letter marking the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, Rev. James Bhagwan, general secretary of the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC), reflected on what a “renewal” of our normal might offer Pacific churches and communities.

In a letter of solidarity to church leaders in the Solomon Islands, Fiji, Vanuatu and Tonga and the Pacific, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Fr Ioan Sauca expressed sadness and concern over the recent devastation caused by Tropical Cyclone Harold.

Taking into consideration the growing global concerns and implications of the current spread of COVID-19 (coronavirus), the World Council of Churches (WCC) will postpone its annual Ecumenical Continuing Formation on Youth seminar in the Pacific to the end of the year 2020, with a date to be announced. The event was scheduled for June 2020 in Tonga.
The WCC is taking steps to prevent the spread of COVID-19, including cancelling or postponing certain meetings and limiting travels.

Pacific islands experience lasting impacts of the 50 years of nuclear testing and the region has become a global hotspot of climate change, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) learned in its meeting this week in Brisbane, Australia.

Las islas del Pacífico experimentan los impactos duraderos de 50 años de pruebas nucleares y la región se ha vuelto el punto caliente del mundo en lo que se refiere al cambio climático supo la Comisión de las Iglesias para Asuntos Internacionales (CIAI) del Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) en su reunión de esta semana en Brisbane, Australia.