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The World Council of Churches (WCC) is bringing prayers and expertise to the 23rd session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, which is running in New York from 15-26 April. 

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, on behalf of the global fellowship, expressed grave concern regarding the recent escalation of violence in the Middle East following the first direct confrontation between Iran and Israel.

Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm and H.E. Archbishop Dr Vicken Aykazian, moderator and vice moderator of the World Council of Churches (WCC) central committee, respectively, traveled to New York City on 3-4 April to deepen the WCC’s engagement with the United Nations. 

On Palm Sunday, accompaniers from the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel walked in the traditional procession, carrying messages of solidarity with Gaza Christians during an especially painful time. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has published online new materials related to the 2024 WCC-EAPPI Easter Initiative: “Out of the darkness – Easter solidarity with the Holy Land.”

The World Council of Churches, in an intervention before the UN Human Rights Council, called upon the UN to ensure that counter-terrorism laws and practices, including efforts to combat terrorism financing, do not unjustly curtail the legitimate activities of civil society organizations, impede civic space, or hinder humanitarian endeavors in the Philippines. 

Six ecumenical accompaniers have returned to Palestine and Israel, resuming in-person operations for the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel. Ecumenical accompaniers, who were evacuated beginning of October 2023, had been continuing their support and accompaniment online. 

Ministering to the needs of displaced people, most of them south of Gaza, the Department of Service to Palestinian Refugees of the Middle East Council of Churches has a clear message to the world. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) supports a UN resolution, passed on 12 December 2023, demanding an immediate humanitarian ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. 

Canadian churches—including the Anglican Church, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Evangelical Lutheran Church, Presbyterian Church, and United Church—prepared a report for Canada’s Universal Periodic Review. 

Following the outbreak of hostilities on 7 October – with a reported launch of thousands of rockets from Gaza into Israel and the infiltration of southern Israel by Hamas gunmen, and an ensuing Israeli military response – the World Council of Churches (WCC) is adapting its work in the Holy Land to continue to support efforts for just peace.

An interfaith breakfast held in conjunction with the 78th session of the UN General Assembly brought into focus the urgent need for building partnerships for a one-community response to HIV.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is among the “movers and doers” at the UN Climate Action Summit in New York on 20 September. WCC moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm commented on the summit, the first-ever of its kind designed to accelerate action by governments, business, finance, local authorities, and civil society.