The World Council of Churches (WCC) sent greetings to the Presbyterian Church of Colombia as the church commemorates 164 years of preaching and service.
Within the context of confinement to prevent the spread of COVID-19, multifaceted violence persists in Colombia, as well as violations of the rights of social leaders, Indigenous, Afro-Colombian and peasant populations.
While violence against women is rampant in situations of war and oppression, women often take the lead standing up against injustice. The courage shown by mothers and grandmothers of the disappeared during Argentina's Dirty War period (1976-83) is an example and a challenge for us today.
The WCC has welcomed the historic announcement made by the Colombian government and the FARC revolutionary force agreeing to a framework for ending 50 years of internal conflict in the nation and addressing issues of justice and reparations to the victims.
The adverse impact of business activities on the lives of members of the local population in Colombia and El Salvador was highlighted by the WCC-sponsored participants at the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights.
Young students from the Mexico’s Student Christian Movement “MEC por la Equidad” and the World Student Christian Federation in Latin America and the Caribbean have called upon churches, ecumenical bodies and the international community to show support for the families of 43 students from Ayotzinapa, who went missing following a student protest in Iguala, Mexico, on the evening of 26 September.
For the National Council of Churches of Brazil (CONIC), the World Cup offers a unique opportunity to provide pastoral care and highlight understanding about Brazil.
Dr Magali do Nascimento Cunha, a Central Committee member of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and professor at the Methodist University of São Paulo, has joined Brazil’s National Truth Commission as a researcher. The commission will investigate human rights violations in Brazil that occurred between 1948 and 1988, including the years of military dictatorship in that country.
Substantial information on torture and other human rights abuses was entrusted to the Brazilian attorney general at a ceremony in São Paulo on 14 June 2011. There was also a call for a national truth commission in Brazil to shed more light on past atrocities during the ceremony.
During a two-decade period of brutal dictatorship, in 1979, Brazilian church workers and dissenting lawyers found a loophole in the legal system allowing them to gather evidence of atrocities and other abuses committed by the military regime.