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.
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.
Sanctions should not harm the support for the most vulnerable, says a report on the impact of sanctions on humanitarian work presented at a side-event of 52nd session at the Human Rights Council of the United Nations in Geneva on 10 March.
In a joint letter to President Joe Biden, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and ACT Alliance urged that he find ways in which the intended purposes of sanctions can be pursued without harm being inflicted on ordinary Syrians.
In a response to false reporting in Germany on Israel and Palestine, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca reiterated the WCC’s history of denouncing antisemitism and, at the same time, responding to the experiences and suffering of Palestinians.
World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca reiterated calls for the release of two Syrian archbishops, Syriac Orthodox Archbishop Yohanna Ibrahim and Greek Orthodox Archbishop Paul Yazigi, who were kidnapped near Aleppo, Syria in April 2013.
World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca called on the Palestinian Authority to investigate recent attacks on Christians in the West Bank, and to ensure justice and dignity for all citizens. “The WCC call follows two attacks last week against Christians in the Nablus and Bethlehem areas,” said Sauca.
World Council of Churches (WCC) director of the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs Peter Prove presented, via video message, an intervention at an “International Ecumenical Solidarity Gathering for Human Rights and Peace in the Philippines” held 7 October.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed solidarity with the people and churches of Lebanon on the anniversary of the explosion in Beirut that killed more than 200 people, injured thousands, and has left the whole nation still coping with the trauma and economic fallout.
At a 28 July ecumenical briefing on INVESTIGATE PH’s “Second Report of the Independent International Commission of Investigation Into Human Rights Violations in the Philippines,” religious leaders discussed their renewed commitment to act in solidarity with people in the Philippines whose human rights are increasingly in peril.
As tension grows in the long-running regional dispute over a giant dam built by Ethiopia on the Blue Nile, one of the Nile River’s main tributaries, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary, Rev. Prof. Dr. Ioan Sauca appealed to all WCC member churches in Ethiopia, Egypt, Sudan and around the world to pray for a peaceful solution to the problem.
The World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs delivered two statements to the 47th session of United Nations Human Rights Council, being held 21 June-21 July.
In a letter to the UN Security Council, World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed grave concern over the impending expiry on 10 July of the resolution allowing cross-border humanitarian assistance to North West Syria.
World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed mounting concern and profound grief at the rising toll of people killed and injured in the escalating violence in Israel and Palestine.
As human rights violations worsen in the Philippines, religious leaders there are urging global solidarity for their increasingly urgent quest for justice.
In an oral statement delivered to the UN Human Rights Council, the World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs expressed grave concern about inadequate COVID-19 vaccine access for Palestinians in the Occupied Territories.
As a report on human rights abuses in the Philippines was delivered to the UN by the global group Investigate PH, churches and human rights groups reiterated their concerns over propagation of a culture that allows the abuse to happen.
World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent a congratulatory message to Dr Audeh Quawas for being appointed by His Majesty King Abdullah II as a member of the Jordanian Senate on 26 November.