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.
At a Peace for Life consultation in the Philippines on 18 February, World Council of Churches (WCC) deputy general secretary Prof. Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri delivered a message from the WCC that focused on peace, justice and human rights.
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.
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 human rights violations worsen in the Philippines, religious leaders there are urging global solidarity for their increasingly urgent quest for justice.
As Rev. Dan San Andres Sr, known as a defender of human rights, was arrested a week after the controversial Anti-Terrorism Act was passed in the Philippines, the World Council of Churches (WCC) joined with the bishops of the United Church of Christ in the Philippines (UCCP) in calling for justice.
Participants in Manilakbazan 2015, called by some the “Lumad caravan”, have come to Manila for a month-long series of activities and protests to bring attention to human rights violations in Lumad communities of the Philippines.
Deeply concerned for migrants in many regions, especially those “driven to undertake journeys of desperate risk and danger”, the WCC Executive Committee has declared: “All members of the international community have a moral and legal duty to save the lives of those in jeopardy at sea or in transit, regardless of their origin and status.”
The WCC general secretary has sent a letter to the President of the Republic of Indonesia H. E. Joko Widodo appealing for clemency for the 10 death row prisoners scheduled for imminent execution in Indonesia.
Participants in a recent WCC consultation in Myanmar have stressed the need to equip churches and ecumenical organizations to build peace, human security and human dignity in order to move beyond conflicts, towards a world of peace.
Jayonta Adhikari, a Bangladeshi member of the WCC Central Committee, speaks about socio-political realities for Christians in his country, aspirations for protection of human rights, as well as what the WCC's call for a “pilgrimage of justice of peace” means for the region’s churches.
A communiqué adopted at a WCC consultation describes human trafficking as a “serious human rights violation” and its consequences are “most horrific results of the economic and social disparities that increase the vulnerability of millions of people”.
Human rights defenders from Bangladesh, gathered in a meeting sponsored by the WCC, are calling the international community’s attention to the severe persecution of Bangladesh’s religious and ethnic minorities.
The WCC general secretary has expressed solidarity with Bangladesh, and concern over recent tragedies in the country, including the loss of over a thousand lives in a garment factory accident near Dhaka, as well as increasing attacks against religious minorities.
The international tug-of-war over carbon emission thresholds and other instruments meant to limit the deterioration of the earth's climate has caused a big stir in recent months, but yielded little results. Therefore the international community must now get ready to take care of those who will be forced from their homes by climate change.