Search results

A World Council of Churches (WCC) webcast on 3 December will introduce a new campaign guide for churches concerned about autonomous weapons systems, also known as “killer robots”.

Working on human rights and disarmament for the World Council of Churches (WCC) does not show instant results. The quest needs perseverance, says the WCC programme executive who interacts with the United Nations in Geneva. Jennifer Philpot-Nissen, a trained human rights lawyer, has the task of engaging on human rights and disarmament for the WCC's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.

The All Africa Conference of Churches has welcomed the coming into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, stating on 26 January that the treaty “addresses the disproportionate impact of nuclear weapons on women and indigenous peoples.”

When WCC’s long-time partner, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), was awarded the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, another small but important step towards a safer world was taken. Not only was it a recognition of global efforts to abolish nuclear weapons, but also an affirmation of the role Christian churches have played at local and grassroots levels to raise awareness and mobilize people against nuclear proliferation.

Nearly 70 percent of the world’s countries have now begun negotiations to ban nuclear weapons. One-hundred-thirty-two governments from all regions took part in the first-ever such talks at the United Nations on 27-31 March. There is concerted opposition to the talks from nuclear-armed governments and their allies.

By a three-to-one margin, the United Nations is authorizing negotiations to ban nuclear weapons in 2017. The decision caps five years of rising international will to eliminate nuclear weapons because of their catastrophic effects. The UN General Assembly’s First Committee took the decision on 27 October.

“Negotiate a legally-binding instrument to prohibit nuclear weapons”. Do it “in 2017”. Make sure the negotiations are “open to all states” and include civil society. These are key points in a much-disputed report adopted last week by a United Nations working group of more than 100 countries meeting in Geneva.

This year's “Sunday of Prayer for the Peaceful Reunification of the Korean Peninsula” will be observed on 14 August. The special day of prayer follows a visit from a delegation of the National Council of Churches in Korea and the National Council of Churches USA with USA policymakers. The delegation is advocating for a permanent peace treaty between North and South Korea.

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.

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”.

Inspired by the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace”, the Central Committee of the WCC, a chief governing body of the Council, has set directions for the work of the Council from 2014 to 2017.

World leaders at the United Nations last week backed two steps in relation to the Arms Trade Treaty, promoted by churches, to make people safer through new laws to control deadly weapons.

Governments sign new Arms Trade Treaty on first day

In an unprecedented show of global public concern that included strong religious voices, 500 civil society representatives and 132 governments met from 2 to 5 March in Oslo, Norway, to address the humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons.

by Jonathan Frerichs*

The president of Iran and the US secretary of state made early headlines at the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) conference in New York with a volley of accusations over nuclear development and nuclear weapons.