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Forty years after the Soweto uprising, leaders of churches in conflict-torn countries gathered in South Africa to study the ways of peace and reconciliation.

Many people were gathered at the Orlando Stadium in Johannesburg, South Africa on 11 June. To remember, to continue the walk never finished on 16 June 1976, when hundreds of young people were killed by apartheid police and soldiers after student uprisings. Today, 40 years later, representatives of the victims and of the conscripted soldiers walked together for justice, peace and reconciliation.

Forty years after pupils in South Africa’s largest black township, Soweto, took to the streets to protest an inferior education system and set in motion the demise of apartheid, the release of Nelson Mandela and democracy, disillusion has replaced hope.

On his way to a Peace-building and Reconciliation Consultation in Johannesburg, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary stopped off to visit South African Nobel Peace Prize laureate Desmond Tutu.

WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, went to Cape Town to talk with Archbishop Emeritus Tutu, the former leader of the Anglican church during the turbulent apartheid days.

The African continent bears witness to the tragic consequences of the manipulation of religion to incite violence. Yet it is also the home of untold instances of the power of religious leaders and actors to exert a positive influence, said panellists at an international meeting in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, today.

“The time has come for healing of memories,” said Fr Michael Lapsley, director of the Institute for Healing of Memories, South Africa, during an event held at the UN headquarters in New York, on 26 April. “This generation will not complete this task, but the next generation will be thankful for the effort.”

Faith campaigners have presented a total of 1,780,528 signatures gathered worldwide calling for decisive action to curb global warming. The petitions were delivered to leaders of the United Nations COP 21 climate conference beginning its work in Paris.

Les militants religieux ont présenté un total de 1 780 528 signatures rassemblées à travers le monde pour demander une action décisive afin d’enrayer le réchauffement de la planète. Les pétitions ont été remises aux responsables de la Conférence sur le climat des Nations Unies, la COP 21, qui entame son travail à Paris.

Adebayo Anthony Kehinde leads an African group supporting ICAN, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. Its interfaith campaign is especially significant on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings in Japan.

In tiefer Sorge um die Migrantinnen und Migranten in vielen Regionen der Welt, insbesondere um diejenigen, „die aus Verzweiflung unter großen Risiken und Gefahren reisen“, erklärte der Exekutivausschuss des ÖRK: „Alle Mitglieder der internationalen Gemeinschaft haben die moralische und rechtliche Verpflichtung, das Leben der Menschen zu retten, die auf See oder auf der Durchreise in Lebensgefahr schweben, ungeachtet ihrer Herkunft oder ihres Status.“

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.”

Profundamente preocupado por la situación de los migrantes en muchas regiones y, en particular, por la de aquellos “obligados a emprender viajes desesperados llenos de riesgos y peligros”, el Comité Ejecutivo del CMI declaró que “todos los miembros de la comunidad internacional tienen el deber moral y legal de salvar las vidas de aquellos que están en peligro, sea en el mar o durante su tránsito, independientemente de su origen o condición”.

Profondément inquiet pour les migrants dans de nombreuses régions du monde, en particulier ceux qui «sont motivés à entreprendre des périples désespérément risqués et dangereux», le Comité exécutif du COE a déclaré: «Tous les membres de la communauté internationale ont une obligation morale et légale de sauver la vie des personnes en danger en mer ou en transit, quels que soient leur origine ou leur statut.»

Christians need a "spirituality of resistance" to face oppression, violence and experiences of defeat, the WCC general secretary said in an address at Germany’s biggest Protestant gathering.

Four weeks of negotiations on nuclear weapons came to a close on Friday 22 May, as the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ended without a formal agreement. Despite the outcome, a bright new prospect towards a world without nuclear weapons has emerged in the form of a Humanitarian Pledge, now endorsed by 107 states, which promises “to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons”.

Der Ökumenische Rat der Kirchen (ÖRK) hat eine entschiedene Haltung gegen die jüngsten gewaltigen Ausschreitungen gegen Einwanderer in Südafrika eingenommen, indem er die Stellung der Kirchen gegen rassistische, ethnozentrische und ausländerfeindliche Gewalttaten bekräftigte.

The WCC has taken a clear stand against recent violent attacks against migrants in South Africa, reaffirming churches’ positions against racist, ethnocentrist and xenophobic acts of violence.

El Consejo Mundial de Iglesias (CMI) ha adoptado una postura clara con respecto a los recientes ataques contra migrantes en Sudáfrica, reafirmando la posición de las iglesias contra el racismo, el etnocentrismo y los actos de violencia xenófoba.

Le COE a clairement pris position contre les récentes attaques qui ont violemment ciblé des migrants en Afrique du Sud, réaffirmant ainsi l’opposition des Églises au racisme, à l’ethnocentrisme et à la violence xénophobe.

Der Zentralausschuss des ÖRK, das höchste Leitungsgremium der Organisation, hat vom Thema „Pilgerweg der Gerechtigkeit und des Friedens“ inspiriert die Ausrichtung der Arbeit des ÖRK von 2014 bis 2017 festgelegt.