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During National Ecumenical Prayers for Peaceful Elections in Zambia, held 1 August, religious and civic leaders gathered in-person and online to pray for peaceful elections in the nation, which has been coping with a rise in violence during the lead-up to 12 August voting.

Zambia’s founding president, Kenneth Kaunda, passed away at the age of 97. He led his country for 27 years and championed Africa's struggles against apartheid and HIV.

Conflict has ingrained itself in the people of Mozambique for many decades from the days of Portuguese colonial rule, to the ensuing civil war which only ended this century, and now Daesh along with the unseen enemy of COVID-19. So, the churches have their hands full as peacemakers.

In a joint letter, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ACT Alliance urged the president of Mozambique, Filipe Nyusi, to protect lives, property and livelihoods from increasing violence in the country.

Young African clergy, theologians and laypersons are eager to engage with the challenging issues facing their continent and the world. This became clear in a recent essay competition for authors below 35 years by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in partnership with the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC).

Numerosos jóvenes clérigos, teólogos y laicos africanos están dispuestos a comprometerse para afrontar los profundos desafíos a los que se enfrenta su continente y el mundo. Esto se puso de manifiesto en un reciente concurso de ensayos para autores menores de 35 años organizado por el Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) en colaboración con la Conferencia de Iglesias de Toda el África (AACC).

The Council of Churches in Zambia released a press statement on 3 September indicating its refusal to submit thoughts on a controversial bill that would change the nation’s constitution.

The last of three capacity-building seminars on Human Resources and Church Leadership for Diakonia and Development took place in Maputo, Mozambique, 18-20 June. This most recent seminar was for Portuguese speakers in Africa, with participants coming mainly from Angola and Mozambique. The first two seminars - for French and English speakers respectively - were held in May in Cotonou, Bénin, and Nairobi, Kenya.

The huge impacts of businesses on the communities in which they operate often bring benefits, but companies can disregard and even harm people’s rights in pursuit of economic gain. The WCC, ACT Alliance and the Lutheran World Federation hosted a side event at the 6th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva on 28 November, in this context.

As Zambia prepares for its general election on 11 August, church leaders and human rights advocates within the country and across the world strengthened their calls for nonviolent campaigning and a stable constitution.

“Statelessness renders people’s vulnerability to abuse and to denial of their rights invisible to national authorities. In this sense the right to a nationality is a threshold issue for access to protection of all other human rights - almost a 'right to have rights'”, said Peter Prove, director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), following a regional training workshop on birth registration and gender discriminatory nationality laws in Africa, organized by the WCC in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 11–13 May.

“La apatridia hace que la vulnerabilidad de las personas a los abusos y la denegación de sus derechos sea invisible para las autoridades nacionales. En este sentido, el derecho a una nacionalidad es primordial para el acceso a la protección de todos los otros derechos humanos, se trata casi de un ‘derecho a tener derechos’”, dijo Peter Prove, director de la Comisión de las Iglesias sobre Asuntos Internacionales del CMI, tras un taller regional de capacitación sobre el registro de nacimientos y las leyes de nacionalidad discriminatorias por motivos de género en África, organizado por el CMI en Addis Abeba (Etiopía) del 11 al 13 de mayo.

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.

Durante el cuarto Foro de las Naciones Unidas sobre las Empresas y los Derechos Humanos, el CMI en colaboración con ACT Alianza y la Federación Luterana Mundial, organizó un evento sobre “La contribución de las organizaciones religiosas a la protección de los derechos de las comunidades sobre las tierras: lecciones aprendidas y buenas prácticas de África, Asia y América Latina”.