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WCC UN Advocacy Week focuses on Palestine – Israel and Nigeria

Representatives from churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society organizations from around the world will gather in Geneva from 27 September to 1 October 2010 for the sixth United Nations Advocacy Week (UNAW), an annual event organized by the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

Palestinian and Jewish activists call to work for peace

The plight of Palestinians living under Israeli occupation and the need to hold the Israeli State accountable under international law were highlighted at a roundtable hosted by the Palestine Israel Ecumenical Forum in Geneva, Switzerland on 31 May. The roundtable was one of the events marking the World Week for Peace in Palestine Israel.

World Week for Peace in Palestine and Israel begins

Initiators of a World Week for Peace have urged Christians to pray and act for a just peace in Palestine and Israel. The call is "timely", they said, as peace activists have reportedly been killed after Israeli commandos stormed a convoy of ships carrying aid to the Gaza Strip this morning.

Development and justice needed to address communal conflicts in Nigeria

Although it is often portrayed as a religious conflict, the crisis in Nigeria's Central Plateau State is of social and economic nature, the country's foreign minister told church representatives. The church delegation advocated for government action to develop the area and to bring to trial those responsible for an outburst of communal violence last March.

Iraqi church leaders call for end to violence

Recent violence in Iraq has led Iraqi church leaders to issue a statement calling on “all government officials and political parties in order to give priority to the public interest and the security of citizens.”

Work on fair, ambitious climate deal is not done yet, says WCC

"The present day reality shows that our sincere efforts have not been enough to bring in the age of social justice and peace," according to a statement delivered to the plenary of high-level segment of the United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark on Friday, 18 December on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its ecumenical partners.

Negotiators at sputtering climate talks must "act now"

With the climate change negotiations sputtering and showing signs of being less than legally binding, ambitious and fair, leaders of churches and international church organizations sent a message to negotiators Tuesday evening imploring them to "not be afraid." The letter, which was signed by Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the incoming and outgoing general secretaries of the World Council of Churches as well as church leaders from Europe, North America and the Pacific, says the negotiations are at a crucial stage and negotiators need to be steadfast to "act now."

Bells ring a wake-up call for climate justice

As a wave of ringing bells embraced the globe, churches sent a strong message to world leaders gathered at the UN climate summit in Copenhagen: There is only one world and in order to preserve it, bold action needs to be taken now.

Churches to ring the alarm on climate change

As nations are spelling out their bargaining positions for the negotiations on a new international climate deal to take place in Copenhagen next month, churches around the world are trying to ring home the message that climate protection is an ethical and spiritual issue.