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In a joint statement, the World Council of Churches and the All Africa Conference of Churches have expressed "grave concern over the increasing incidents of attacks on Christians and destruction of church property in Sudan". The councils report the public burning of Bibles and occupation by government forces of buildings housing the Sudan Council of Churches and Sudan Aid in Dafur province.

Jessie Fubara-Manuel shares her views on violence, the HIV pandemic and struggles of women in churches to become part of the solution in Nigeria. She is a Presbyterian elder, a poet and a human resources consultant and has been involved with the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiative in Africa (EHAIA) programme.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Executive Committee issued a statement expressing concern over the disappearance of asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa and northern Africa, falling prey to human traffickers in the Sinai desert while crossing borders between Egypt and Israel.

Amidst increasing security issues in several African countries plagued by violence, political turmoil, religious intolerance and lack of democratic governance, churches are called to engage in peace-building, said African church leaders in a presentation on

A World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation in Kigali discussed peace and security issues in Africa, with more than ninety church and ecumenical leaders. Together, they also reflected on Rwandan experiences of ethnic violence, genocide and church initiatives of reconciliation in the past.

In a statement read on 9 December to government members from around the world at the United Nations climate summit in Durban, South Africa, the World Council of Churches (WCC) reaffirmed the need for a fair, ambitious and binding treaty to effectively address climate change effects on vulnerable communities.

“This is the only home we have,” said Archbishop Desmond Tutu referring to the crucial significance of our planet and its survival. He was speaking in an interfaith rally in Durban, urging the United Nations conference on climate change (COP17) to deliver a fair, ambitious and binding treaty to address climate change effectively.

While staff of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and sister organizations such as the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) are preparing for the COP17 meeting for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Durban, South Africa next week, the ecumenical community in Brazil is starting to think about 2012 when the UN conference Rio+20 will assess the outcomes of the 1992 UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED).

Considering climate change a “moral and spiritual crisis”, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, calls the COP17 United Nations conference on climate change a “last opportunity for the international community to be responsible in addressing climate change” and urges positive outcomes from the event.

During the past year thousands of people from North Africa have disappeared in the Sinai Desert region while crossing the border between Egypt and Israel.

Participants in the second Africa Human Rights Defenders Training in West Africa organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) have called on faith-based institutions to use their constituencies to uphold human rights and dignity. They have expressed concern on failures in the justice system and denial of human dignity to the majority of people in the Mano River Union countries.

Climate change is impacting human life and nature in severe ways. Yet it is the vulnerable who suffer most. As the life of such people is dependent on eco-systems for survival, churches join hands with other faith based organizations to support their cause, stressing an ethical aspect in the debate on climate change.

This past February the World Council of Churches (WCC) Central Committee announced that the theme for the Tenth WCC Assembly in 2013 in Busan, Korea would be “God of life, lead us to justice and peace.”

In comments to staff of the World Council of Churches (WCC) on 18 August, the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit expressed alarm at the “blocking and hindering of the food supply in famine-struck Somalia, with the effect that more and more people are dying. This interference with humanitarian aid is inhumane and must be strongly condemned.”

Escalating violence against civilians in Sudan’s disputed South Kordofan State is leading to major humanitarian catastrophe with an estimated 300,000 people besieged, cut off from relief aid, and unable to escape fighting, according to a number of aid agencies and witnesses in the region.

The Rev. Joachim Mukambu Ya'Namwisi, who represents both the Mennonite Church and the Church of Christ in the Democratic Republic of Congo, said he has watched churches develop increasing strength when it comes to standing up for basic human rights.

In war-torn or violent communities – and perhaps in so-called peaceful ones – reaching a state of just peace takes strength and courage.

When Archbishop Valentine Mokiwa visited a gold mining operation in Tanzania, he came across something he never expected to see: a world-class runway and sprawling houses with private swimming pools.

Jim Hodgson is a journalist with extensive experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 2000, Hodgson has worked with the United Church of Canada’s Caribbean and Latin America desk, most recently as programme coordinator for South America and the Caribbean.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is among 25 religious and secular organizations who have addressed a letter to the Human Rights Council of the United Nations strongly urging the appointment of a UN special rapporteur or a similar procedure to investigate climate change.  The goal of such an investigation would be to identify “the adverse impacts of climate change for human rights” and make recommendations for further action by international bodies. “Climate justice, a core demand in the WCC climate change work, includes looking at how human rights are protected and enhanced, especially looking at the most vulnerable populations, such as those in Africa, Asia, the Pacific or the Caribbean,” said Dr Guillermo Kerber, the WCC programme executive for climate change. “The WCC has clearly stated that climate change has human rights implications,” he added. “It became clear to us after the COP 15 Conference of Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, at Copenhagen in December 2009, that other avenues in the UN system would have to be explored to protect victims of climate change. Having a special procedure on climate change and human rights would be a way to enhance that protection.” The letter to the UN Human Rights Council calls for action to be taken at the council session to be held in June 2011.