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Sixteen Thursdays in Black ambassadors—a growing number of global voices for a world free from rape and gender-based violence—held their first online meeting of 2021.

The All Africa Conference of Churches has welcomed the coming into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, stating on 26 January that the treaty “addresses the disproportionate impact of nuclear weapons on women and indigenous peoples.”

A panel of human rights experts from across Asia gathered in a live streamed, online conference, organized by the Christian Conference of Asia on 15 December, to discuss emerging challenges around gender equality and growing religious extremism.

As “16 Days Against Gender-Based Violence” drew to a close, churches around the world expressed their prayerful determination to keep carrying the message past 16 days, into the coming new year and beyond.

Damaris, a Nigerian woman, described her experience of 2020: “We’ve gone through hell.”

Damaris and her sisters were kidnapped in March 2020 and threatened with death as their kidnappers demanded money. Her father had to sell everything and beg on the streets to meet their demands. “We are just a common people in Nigeria,” she said. “We don’t know what we did.”

Thursdays in Black ambassadors have created a joint message, unifying their voices in support of “16 Days against Gender-Based Violence.”

A webinar hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 26 November will explore “Conflict Zones and Covid-19: A call to compassion.” Speakers from Cameroon, Nigeria, South Sudan, Lebanon, Belarus and Colombia will offer their insights on how conflict exacerbates the conditions for contracting and treating COVID-19 among civilians caught in the crossfire, especially women.

A new Facebook profile frame developed by the WCC is helping people express their support for the upcoming “16 Days against Gender-Based Violence.”

Our series of interviews with Thursdays in Black ambassadors highlights those who are playing a vital role in increasing the impact of our collective call for a world without rape and violence. Rev. Michael Blair is general secretary of the General Council for The United Church of Canada. He is also a member of the World Council of Churches Commission on World Mission and Evangelism.

The Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee, based in Papua New Guinea, continues to advocate against sexual violence, and has been lighting a special “lamp of justice and peace” as part of the Thursdays in Black campaign for a world free from rape and violence.

In a video released on 22 October, Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Susan Johnson, national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, are promoting awareness of domestic violence and offering support.

Upon the 20th anniversary of the UN Resolution 1325, the question is still being answered as to whether women’s important work in peace and security is getting the visibility it deserves.

In a message on 15 October, Rev. Dr David Tswaedi, executive director of the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa, lamented that the voices of survivors and victims of gender-based violence have been muted, due to stigma and the perceived power of the perpetrators.