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World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed shock at the recent suicide bombings in Kampala, Uganda, for which the so-called ‘Islamic State’ group has reportedly claimed responsibility.

“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.

«L’apatridie rend invisible aux yeux des autorités nationales la vulnérabilité des personnes face aux abus ou à la négation de leurs droits. En cela, le droit à une nationalité est un enjeu fondamental pour l’accès à la protection de tous les autres droits humains. Il s’agit presque d’un "droit d’avoir des droits"», a déclaré Peter Prove, directeur de la Commission des Églises pour les affaires internationales du COE, après un atelier régional de formation traitant de l’enregistrement des naissances et des lois sur la nationalité qui entraînent une discrimination en fonction du sexe. Cet atelier était organisé par le COE à Addis-Abeba (Éthiopie) du 11 au 13 mai.

The African continent bears witness to the tragic consequences of the manipulation of religion to incite violence. Yet it is also the home of untold instances of the power of religious leaders and actors to exert a positive influence, said panellists at an international meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today.

“Science and religion can provide solutions to poverty and injustice.” This was the theme of the 3rd International Conference on Sustainable Alternatives for Poverty Reduction and Ecological Justice (SAPREJ) in Kampala, Uganda, on 4-7 April. The conference was organized by the Kyambogo University and the WCC economic and ecological justice programme.

The WCC general secretary, the Rev. Samuel Kobia, wrote a letter to Uganda's President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, saying that the WCC was "saddened and distressed to receive the news from Uganda regarding a proposed law against homosexual individuals [...], which also proposes the death penalty to be meted to homosexual individuals who are HIV positive".