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At the World Social Forum 2024, taking place 15-19 February in Nepal, the World Council of Churches (WCC) will have an active role in this platform for the convergence of a diverse range of participants, including social movements, laborers, farmers, civil society groups, marginalized communities, and those affected by the impacts of neoliberal capitalism and privatization. 

World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed great concern in the wake of a 7.3-magnitude earthquake that struck the northern part of Luzon Island in the Philippines on 27 July.

Der Ökumenische Rat der Kirchen (ÖRK) hat das Massaker an 14 Bäuerinnen und Bauern durch die Polizei in der Stadt Canlaon und den Gemeinden Manjuyod und Santa Catalina in der Provinz Negros Oriental auf den Philippinen Anfang dieses Monats verurteilt. Zudem hat der ÖRK auch seinen Aufruf an die Regierung der Philippinen wiederholt, der Kultur der Straflosigkeit ein Ende zu bereiten, eine umfassende Untersuchung derartiger Tötungen sicherzustellen und die Verantwortlichen zur Rechenschaft zu ziehen.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) condemned the massacre earlier this month of 14 farmers by police officers in Canlaon City, as well as Manjuyod and Santa Catalina towns in Negros Oriental in the Philippines. The WCC also renewed its call for the government of the Philippines to end the culture of impunity and to ensure full investigation and accountability for all such killings.

Pilgrims coming from Germany, Italy and Norway ended their journeys for climate justice on 7 December upon arrival at the St Stephen’s Church in Katowice, Poland, where the United Nations (UN) climate conference is underway. They were warmly welcomed by the delegations of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) that are attending the 24th Conference of Parties of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24).

Athena Peralta is dedicated to observing and encouraging people who are defending their livelihood and defending creation across the world. “There is so much injustice in this world that it is really something beautiful to learn about and be able to accompany, even in tiny ways, struggles of communities and churches,” she said.

„Als Professor für Wirtschaft und Wirtschaftsethik mit einem theologischen Hintergrund und als Dekan des Ökumenischen Seminars für Leitung, Wirtschaft und Management (GEM School) kann ich sagen, dass die pluralistische Wirtschaft – die als internationale Initiative von Studierenden neue Bekanntheit genießt – ein Versuch ist, die neoliberale monolithische Wirtschaft herauszufordern. Es ist an der Zeit, auf eine neue Art und Weise über die Wirtschaft nachzudenken“, sagte Prof. Martin Büscher, erster Lehrstuhl für Wirtschaftswissenschaften und Wirtschafts- und Unternehmensethik am Institut für Diakoniewissenschaft und Diakoniemanagement an der Kirchlichen Hochschule Wuppertal/Bethel (Deutschland) zum Abschluss des Seminars für Leitung, Wirtschaft und Management (Governance, Economics and Management, GEM), das vom 22. August bis 2. September in Hong Kong stattfand.

“As a professor of economics and economic ethics with a theological background, and as dean of the GEM school, I can say that pluralistic economics – getting new prominence as an international student initiative – is an attempt to challenge neo-liberal monolithic economics. It is time for new thinking about economics”, stated Prof. Martin Büscher, first chair for economics and business ethics at the Institute for Diakonia and Management at the Protestant University of Wuppertal/Bethel, Germany, at the conclusion of the Governance, Economics and Management School held in Hong Kong on 22 August-2 September.

The globalization of the world economy has not been an even process, and in many ways governance for the protection of capital has overtaken governance for the protection of human well-being. A recent Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics and Management for an Economy of Life addressed this very asymmetry.

Ein Wirtschaftssystem, das auf hemmungslosem Konsum und Gier beruht, ist ein fester Bestandteil unseres modernen Lebens geworden. Es ist deshalb an der Zeit, dieses Paradigma zu ändern und sich für eine neue Finanz- und Wirtschaftsarchitektur einzusetzen. Der ÖRK gemeinsam mit der WGRK jetzt zum ersten ökumenischen Seminar für Leitung, Wirtschaft und Management mit dem Thema „Für eine Ökonomie des Lebens" in Hongkong ein.

An economic system based on over-consumption and greed has become firmly rooted in today’s world and it is high time to change this paradigm by working for a new financial and economic architecture. The WCC together with the WCRC now convenes a first ever Ecumenical School on Governance, Economics and Management for an Economy of Life, in Hong Kong SAR.

As the 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change came to a close in Paris, a consultation organized by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance of the WCC on 11 December in Quezon City, Philippines considered “The Right to Food and Life in the Context of Climate Change.”

Während des 4. UN-Forums für Wirtschaft und Menschenrechte organisierte der ÖRK in Zusammenarbeit mit dem ACT-Bündnis und dem Lutherischen Weltbund eine Veranstaltung zum Thema „Der Beitrag kirchlicher Organisationen zum Schutz der Landrechte von Gemeinschaften: Erkenntnisse und bewährte Praktiken aus Afrika, Asien und Lateinamerika”.

During the 4th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, the WCC, in collaboration with the ACT Alliance and Lutheran World Federation, organized a side-event on “Faith-based organizations’ contribution to the protection of communities’ land rights: lessons learnt and good practices from Africa, Asia and Latin America” at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

"In COP21 we decide whether the glass is half full or half empty, but the glass must be transparent", tweeted climate activist Yeb Saño at the end of a day full of activities engaging leadership and staff members of the WCC, the Lutheran World Federation and ACT Alliance, at the Ecumenical Centre, in Geneva, Switzerland.

Dynamics of “indigenous ecological spiritualties and Christian faith” were explored at a WCC seminar in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

A declaration emphasizing the need for greater convergence in the struggles for justice and rights of communities, particularly for land, water, forests, natural resources, livelihood and identity, was the outcome of a meeting in Nepal, involving civil society organizations and social movements.

At the recent World Social Forum, ecumenical voices warned about the grave consequences of extraction of natural resources and mining, which they say generate a tremendous amount of social and ecological debt.