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Writing to the churches of Brazil from the World Council of Churches' executive committee meeting in Geneva, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia and central committee moderator Rev. Dr Walter Altmann convey the Council's "solidarity and prayers" to the victims of recent gang violence in São Paulo, and comment on the social and legal background to these events.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee today said that the new UN Human Rights Council needs to avoid "policies and practices of double standards, en-bloc voting and politicization of the human rights agenda that were so prevalent at the UN Commission on Human Rights" that they "virtually paralyzed" it before its "ignominious end".

Patriarch Theophilos III, head of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Jerusalem, was received by the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia today at the WCC headquarters in Geneva in their first official encounter since he was elected in 2005.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee called today on the government of Iran for a moratorium on its uranium enrichment programme, to recognize the state of Israel, and to support international efforts to end terrorism. Other countries should also contribute to global security, the committee said.

Free high resolution pictures available, see below

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee meets at the Bossey Ecumenical Institute outside Geneva from 16-19 May 2006 at its first session since its election at the Council's 9th Assembly in Brazil earlier this year.

The general secretary of the World Council of Churches, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, called upon churches and ecumenical partners to take action to stop "terminator technology". "Applying technology to design sterile seeds turns life, which is a gift from God, into a commodity. Preventing farmers from re-planting saved seed will increase economic injustice all over the world and add to the burdens of those already living in hardship," stated Kobia.

The Vatican and the World Council of Churches (WCC) are launching a three-year joint study project aimed at developing a shared code of conduct on the controversial issue of religious conversion.

Mr Huibert van Beek, until recently the WCC staff person responsible for the organisation's relationships with member churches, received a high Dutch distinction in honour of the Queen's birthday on 27 April 2006. Van Beek was named Knight in the Order of Orange Nassau. He received the distinction because of his "exceptional meritorious service to the (world church) community".

Expressing "alarm and concern" the World Council of Churches (WCC) has presented a formal protest to the Israeli ambassador in Switzerland over two recent incidents involving violence by Israeli settlers against Christian volunteers participating in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel (EAPPI).

Just published, a booklet on the WCC's 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre, Brazil reviews, in words and images, an event that gathered over 4000 people from churches throughout the world. An event that, in the words of the WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, "heralded a new era in ecumenical history, to be marked by increasing attention to the spiritual strength of ecumenism along with the institutional concerns of the ecumenical movement".