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World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed grave concern about the ongoing humanitarian catastrophe in Sudan, and urged an end to hostilities.

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.

The churches of Sudan – and especially the Sudan Council of Churches as their ecumenical forum – have suffered from a serious lack of attention and support by international ecumenical partners since the separation of South Sudan in 2011.

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.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) expressed grave concern over the current state of emergency in Sudan. “Government officials, including ministers and civilian members of the Transitional Sovereign Council, have been arrested,” said WCC acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca. “It has also been reported that at least seven people have been killed and some 140 others injured after soldiers opened fire on demonstrators.”

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.

As Ethiopia faces increasing inter-communal tensions and violence, and rising cases of COVID-19, the nation’s religious communities have been jointly observing a special week of prayer for peace, an interreligious initiative that is bringing people together from all over the country.

World Council of Churches (WCC) interim general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca sent letters to Ethiopian prime minister Dr Abiy Ahmed Ali as well as to WCC member churches in Ethiopia expressing serious concern over alarming reports of conflict, massacres and other human rights abuses, particularly in the Tigray and Beninshangul-Gumuz regions, over the last months.

A senior African church humanitarian official is calling for joint efforts to meet the growing humanitarian challenge in Tigray, the region in northern Ethiopia.

In a pastoral letter to “sisters and brothers in Ethiopia,” eight faith-based organizations expressed Christian love and care, as well as a commitment to accompany churches and people of Ethiopia as they face the challenges confronting their country.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Water Network is condemning those who are depriving the innocent and vulnerable of their human right to water in this time of a pandemic.  

“The unbearable toll of lives lost, and the impact on the affected communities and nations, must engage the concern, solidarity and action of the international community and all people of goodwill, to stem the bloodshed and to confront the brutal ideologies behind such atrocities,” wrote Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, interim general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC), on 3 November, as he commented on the violent extremist attacks in western Ethiopia, Kabul and Vienna.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed great hopes for the success of the work of the Syrian Constitutional Committee, which has begun its work this week.