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By Susan Kim (*)

Despite the contributions made by the World Council of Churches (WCC) towards “zero new infections, zero HIV related deaths and zero stigma and discrimination” there is “more we can do,” said Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri.

Concerns about Asian countries doing less to protect the rights of migrant workers and the reality that most countries have not ratified United Nations and International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions on the rights of migrant workers were high on the agenda of a recent ecumenical workshop on migrant workers held in Bangkok, Thailand.

The participants in a World Council of Churches (WCC) human rights training in Bangkok, Thailand affirmed that defending “rights and dignity of the voiceless, persecuted, socially marginalized and alienated is the responsibility of all God’s people.”

Arrests of Palestinian civilians and vandalism of their homes at the hands of Israeli military forces is not a new phenomenon in the West Bank. Natalie Maxson, a volunteer for the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel speaks from her experience of meeting a family in Azzun faced with a similar situation.

In offering “’gendered voices’ as a critical contribution to reflection on justice and peace,” Ecumenical Review guest editors Fulata Lusungu Moyo and Sarojini Nadar note the ways in which gender has become a crucial element in ethical and theological analysis because it “recognizes the unequal power relationships which exist between women and men in the context of different racial, class or caste experiences.”

As violations of human rights and human dignity are on the increase in Asian countries, selected representatives of Asian churches will take part in a regional human rights training seminar in Thailand.

Youth engagement in eco-justice is expanding in scope and sophistication, says Marcelo Leites, Latin American and Caribbean regional secretary for the World Student Christian Federation (WSCF).

[Joint release with the World Communion of Reformed Churches and the Council for World Mission.]

The current global economic and financial scenario has been described as the “mess we are in” by Sir Richard Jolly at a global conference on a new economic and financial architecture taking place in Brazil this week. He pointed out the lack of good governance in many countries.

Fifteen representatives from churches, ecumenical organizations and other partners from Africa, Asia, North and South America, Europe and the Pacific came together this week in Crete to assess the work of the World Council of Churches (WCC) on care for creation and climate justice and to strategize for the future.

“It is not possible to talk about a new financial architecture without linking it to the pain and struggles of the people,” said Rev. Dr Collin I. Cowan at an ecumenical conference on a new financial and economic architecture, currently underway in Brazil.

A framework and criteria for a new financial and economic architecture will be discussed at an ecumenical conference in Brazil this week. These criteria will embrace ethics and justice to address ecological concerns. The debates at the event will highlight the concerns of millions of people affected by the financial crisis.

What are the connections between widespread poverty and ecology? Seventy-five scientists, activists, philosophers and theologians are meeting from 26 to 30 September at the Orthodox Academy of Crete, in Kolympari, Greece, to understand the intertwined dynamics of economic development and environmental sustainability.

By Marcelo Schneider (*)

Citing the European churches’ “strong commitment over the past century to the ecumenical movement and fellowship in Europe,” WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit urged their direct engagement in the current financial and social crisis in and beyond Europe.

By Naveen Qayyum (*)

The participants of a World Council of Churches (WCC) sponsored hearing on the misuse of Pakistan’s blasphemy laws have urged the Pakistani government to “take realistic and solid steps to stop abuse of the blasphemy law that are causing massive human rights violations.”

“No state should take away the right of its citizens to debate a law that affects them gravely. Therefore, there is a growing need of dialogue on the blasphemy law and its negative impacts on religious minorities in Pakistan,” said I.A. Rehman, veteran human rights activist and director of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan in a side event at the United Nation’s Human Rights Council in Geneva, Switzerland.

While accusations of blasphemy in Pakistan have once again captured the news headlines, Bishop Samuel Azariah, moderator of the Church of Pakistan, hopes for the Pakistani government to consider repealing the controversial clause in the Pakistan Penal Code which, he says, invokes misuse of the blasphemy law.