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A report from the WCC calls for an effective response in meeting the needs of communities faced with unprecedented financial and economic crises, the threat of climate change and widespread ecological devastation.

At the 2nd General Assembly of the ACT Alliance held in Punta Cana, the Dominican Republic, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit congratulated the new leadership of the ACT Alliance, a partner organization of the WCC, which has elected representatives of its governing bodies at the event.

In South Asia, where conflicts are often fueled by religion, a WCC conference stressed the role of Christians and Hindus as eminent stakeholders in their common search for justice and peace – beyond majority and minority politics.

The Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches, has congratulated the two children's rights activists who won this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

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

A set of recommendations advocating the rights of stateless persons was presented by a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation at the First Global Forum on Statelessness organized by the UNHCR and Tilburg University in The Hague, Netherlands.

To give visibility to the voices of stateless people in our society as well as to strategize together in how to support protection of their rights, a consultation was held by church organizations in Den Dolder, the Netherlands, in preparation of the UNHCR First Global Forum on Statelessness to be held from 15 to 17 September in The Hague.

The WCC hosted the Global Energy Parliament at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva, Switzerland. The event addressed the theme “The Science of Peace in Humans, Humans in Peace,” exploring a scientific understanding of peace featuring reflections on how lasting peace can be built by individuals and nations.

The WCC general secretary has given thanks for the life of Samuel Isaac, whom he said made contributions in the “search for unity” and in the churches’ “determination to respond to the needs of people”. Isaac, who served as deputy director of the WCC’s former Commission on Inter-Church Aid, Refugee and World Service, passed away on 20 August in Chennai, India at the age 72.

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.

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

As young people help to facilitate the meeting of the WCC's governing body, they are pursuing a collective pilgrimage of their own.

Churches in the United States, including member churches of the WCC, have called on the Obama administration to open up a high-level dialogue with Cuba aimed at normalizing relations between the two countries.

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”.

A group of activists from Manipur, India, visited the WCC headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland on 26 March, sharing accounts of human rights violations in their region and efforts to lobby against the Armed Forces Special Powers Act at the 25th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Dr Dietrich Werner is the recipient of an honorary Doctorate in Divinity, awarded to him by Serampore College in India. The title was conferred in recognition of Werner’s long-term contributions to theological education, mission and ecumenism, and for building ecumenical partnerships among Christian academic institutions in Asia and advising forums on theological education in India.

Member churches of the WCC in India have expressed deep concern over discrimination faced by Christian and Muslim Dalit communities there, demanding protection of the right to freedom of religion in a meeting with Prof. Dr Heiner Bielefeldt, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief.

A resource book on HIV and AIDS has recently been launched by a member church of the WCC promoting visions of a strengthening partnership among churches and faith-based organizations in the Philippines to address country’s HIV epidemic.

Dr Erlinda N. Senturias, a physician, educator, ecumenical activist and former WCC staff member from the Philippines, has been named by President Benigno Aquino III to the nation’s new Human Rights Victims’ Claims Board.