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A webinar, “People on the Move: Solidarity and Advocacy,” highlighted the current experiences of refugees, stateless persons, seasonal and migrant workers, and undocumented persons, with a particular focus on ways they are being affected by COVID-19 as the pandemic rages on.

A 12 November webinar entitled “People on the Move: Solidarity and Advocacy” will highlight the experiences and often untold stories of refugees, stateless persons, seasonal and migrant workers, and undocumented persons, with a particular focus on ways they have been affected by COVID-19.

Following a deal reached between the European Union and Turkey in March 2016, Turkey has been taking measures to prevent migrants – many of them fleeing the conflict in Syria – from reaching the EU, in exchange for European aid for migrants and refugees, and for relaxation of EU visa requirements for Turkish citizens. On Friday 28 February, after military losses in north-west Syria – where Turkey has been trying to create a safe area to resettle millions of Syrian refugees and to serve Turkish interests against the Kurds – those measures were suspended, resulting in large numbers of people attempting to cross into Greece and consequent clashes with Greek security forces.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) joined other organizations in signing a statement delivered to the United Nations Refugee Agency on 7 October that urges immediate action on statelessness.

Virag Kinga Mezei is a Hungarian intern for the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs. With a passion for human rights, she regularly engages in discussions while also getting training through the WCC on mechanisms that lead to the achievement of racial and social justice.

Twenty-seven young ecumenists from across Asia are currently attending the month-long Asian Ecumenical Institute organized by the Christian Conference of Asia. The programme aims to provide ecumenical formation and leadership development training for prospective church and ecumenical leaders. It is being held at the Christian Conference of Asia headquarters in Payap University Campus in Chiang Mai, Thailand.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) coordinated an ecumenical delegation that attended the World Conference on Statelessness and Inclusion held 26-28 June at The Hague.

An international ecumenical consultation held in Chiang Mai, Thailand from 20-23 May, gave serious attention to the plight of stateless and trafficked people, and how to better preserve their human rights. The consultation, organized by the Christian Conference of Asia and the World Council of Churches, drew participants from various parts of Asia.

A delegation from the World Council of Churches (WCC) including representatives from Malaysia and Jordan as well as the Director of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) visited The Bahamas from 13-17 November 2018 to consult with church leaders, to participate in a workshop coordinated by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“I didn’t have any document that says who I am, so I started to look for answers that would help me to understand the real definition of my condition as a stateless person”, said Maha Mamo in a video interview published by World Council of Churches communications.

Shortly after a two-and-a-half-day fact-finding mission to the Dominican Republic, World Council of Churches (WCC) communications spoke with Sophia Wirsching, policy adviser on migration and development at Bread for the World, the German Protestant development service.

A regional training workshop, “Statelessness in the Caribbean Context: Prevention, Reduction and Protection,” was held from 6-9 May in Willemstad, Curacao.

An “Interfaith Symposium on Statelessness” held 7-8 December in Rome focused, for the first time in history, on joint actions from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Jewish groups to address statelessness.

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, revealed in October that at the end of 2016 the number of people displaced from their homes due to conflict and persecution was a record 65.6 million, with 22.5 million of them refugees.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) on 14 September expressed its concern over the worsening situation of the Rohingya people in Myanmar.

A regional conference held 5-6 September in Berlin allowed participants to look at statelessness in the European context through the lenses of human rights and development.

The conference, with the theme “Statelessness in the European Context: Prevention, Reduction and Protection,” approached statelessness as an issue that is often invisible even though it occurs in so many countries around the world.

The 54th meeting of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) began today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, marking its yearly regional focus on Africa. During the meeting CCIA members are discussing the commission’s previous work and its outcomes focusing on Middle East, as well as setting strategic directions for activities until 2021.

The experience of his father’s fleeing Nazi Germany in 1938 and then living alien and stateless in Sweden provides biblical theologian Hans Ucko with the touchstone of his writing about stateless persons.

Christians awaiting the advent of the Lord and the reign of God are invited in this season and in light of the scriptures to assay our lives and lifestyles, to identify with the vulnerable and marginalized among us, and to search anew for ways to incarnate the reign of God and the teaching of Jesus in our personal relationships and social structures.