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The Family and Sexual Violence Action Committee, based in Papua New Guinea, continues to advocate against sexual violence, and has been lighting a special “lamp of justice and peace” as part of the Thursdays in Black campaign for a world free from rape and violence.

In a video released on 22 October, Elizabeth Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, and Susan Johnson, national bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Canada, are promoting awareness of domestic violence and offering support.

In a message on 15 October, Rev. Dr David Tswaedi, executive director of the Lutheran Communion in Southern Africa, lamented that the voices of survivors and victims of gender-based violence have been muted, due to stigma and the perceived power of the perpetrators.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has released a new publication,“Health-Promoting Churches: Reflections on Health and Healing for Churches on Commemorative World Health Days,” that is designed to accompany churches and strengthen their health-related ministries.

As the global ambassadors for Thursdays in Black gathered online, they looked ahead at what they can accomplish together, as well as ways to deepen their commitment even more to ending gender-based violence.

The Thursdays in Black campaign for a world free from rape and violence has been intensified in Namibia, bringing awareness of the heightened risk of violence against women and children during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Thursdays in Black grew out of women’s movements of resilience and resistance to injustice, abuse and violence. These movements, large and small, continue today to bring what have been longstanding, invisible tragedies to light. One such movement in Canada and the United States seeks justice and change for missing and murdered indigenous women.

Thursdays in Black grew out of women’s movements of resilience and resistance to injustice, abuse and violence. In the Pacific region, which has some of the highest recorded rates of violence against women, churches are leading conversations to change attitudes and actions. Domestic violence is prevalent throughout Fiji. According to UN Women’s Global Database on Violence against Women, almost 2 out of 3 women aged 18-64 in Fiji have experienced physical or sexual violence from their intimate partner – almost twice the global average.

The legacy of sexual slavery before, during and after the brutal Korean War weighs heavily on the shoulders of the thousands of Korean women who lived for decades under a brutal militarized patriarchy.

A campaign that began in South Africa on 21 June—Father’s Day—is being supported by more men every day who are speaking out against gender-based violence.

Thursdays in Black ambassadors play a vital role in increasing the impact of our collective call for a world without rape and violence. Rev. Dr Tapio Luoma is the archbishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland.

In a statement published 23 April, the group “Faith in Beijing,” a collective of religious ac-tors and faith-based networks, called for the world to advocate governments and civil so-ciety for urgent COVID-19-related responses that protect women’s rights and achieve gender equality.

WCC ambassadors of the Thursdays in Black campaign are standing behind a joint statement that urges both awareness and protection from the “dual pandemics” of COVID-19 and gender-based violence.

Thursdays in Black ambassadors and supporters are calling on us all to protect women who, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, are in situations that make them vulnerable to violence.

“Gender justice must be the agenda of men as well as women,” said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in a comment released on the occasion of International Women’s Day 2020. “The WCC as a fellowship has a shared commitment to be a community of women and men, rested equally in the image of God, and we seek for the benefit of all a just fellowship of women and men.”

Brought together by the South Sudan Council of Churches, women and men are sharing the pain of many years of war and associated gender-based violence in a series of workshops in Kenya and Burundi.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) condemned an attack on a Hanukkah celebration at a rabbi´s home north of New York City, on 28 December, stabbing and wounding five people. Several state and local officials have described the location of stabbing as a synagogue.

Gender-based violence and attacks on foreign nationals in South Africa have left communities wondering where to turn. In a visit of solidarity, a World Council of Churches (WCC) Pilgrim Team visited the nation from 7-12 December.