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Patriarchy has been the dominant influence in shaping men and oppressing women, a workshop sponsored by the World Alliance of Reformed Churches (WARC) and the World Council of Churches (WCC) has concluded.

In a letter to the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, the World Council of Churches (WCC) has expressed continued concern about the situation in Zimbabwe and asked the world body to utilize its resources to assure an end to pre-election violence in the southern African country and a free and fair election on 27 June.

By Christian Johannessen (*)

The 29 March elections in Zimbabwe were "far from being free and fair" and were "skewed in favour of the incumbent who openly utilised state resources to his advantage," two ecumenical bodies said in a recently released report on the election. The Zimbabwean people "expressed their will on polling day" and that will must be "upheld and respected" the report said.

Concerned about the integrity of elections, the World Council of Churches Central Committee stated recently that, "…in democratic systems, elections serve as a way for people to confer legitimacy on a participatory democratic political system. In order to ensure that an election truly reflects the will of the people, attention should be paid to pre- and post-electoral mechanisms."

In a wide ranging discussion at the Geneva-based World Council of Churches (WCC) the UN secretary general, H.E. Ban Ki-Moon and WCC general secretary, Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia found agreement for the two world bodies to work more closely on several global issues, particularly climate change.

As 2008 marks the 60th anniversary of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights, it will be a "fantastic opportunity" for churches to re-connect with the endeavour of protecting and promoting human dignity, participants at an international ecumenical consultation were told.

In face of what he called "escalating human rights violations," the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia announced stronger ecumenical advocacy efforts to bring the Philippines under international scrutiny.

By Maurice Malanes (*)

The global ecumenical family's concern about the growing human rights violations in the Philippines will be a major focus of the 18-21 November visit to the country by the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia.

The bloody conflict in Northern Ireland, the crimes committed under the apartheid regime in South Africa and under communist rule in eastern Germany, mass killings perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia or by the Guatemalan military during a 35 year long civil war: the diverse cases of these nations and their struggles to cope with the legacies of massive human rights violations are at the heart of the 1-4 October ecumenical consultation "Healing of Memories - Reconciling Communities" in Dublin, Ireland, co-organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Irish School of Ecumenics.

"The impact of migration on the church and the ecclesial context" is the theme of a 6-8 June 2007 conference in Nairobi, Kenya of the Global Ecumenical Network on Migration (GEM). To be opened by Kenya's minister for immigration, and hosted by the All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC), the conference will be attended by representatives of churches, church-related organizations and ecumenical bodies in Africa, Asia, Australia, the Caribbean, Latin America, the Middle East, North America and the Pacific.

"People of African descent in the diaspora and in Africa await an unambiguous apology and clear sign from European nations that acknowledges their participation in this terrible part of colonial history" that was the slave trade, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has told UK prime minister Tony Blair.

Nearly 1,300 religious advocates are expected for this year's Ecumenical Advocacy Days taking place 9-12 March in Washington, DC on the theme, "… and how are the children?"

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee has expressed worries about the "deteriorating human rights situation in Ethiopia and Eritrea", while encouraging the establishment of a "joint Christian and Muslim Peace Committee for Somalia".

Writing to Mrs Adelheid Kistner on 5 December, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia characterized her husband, South African pastor Dr Wolfram Kistner, as "a tireless champion for justice, equality and human dignity for all," and "one of the clearest voices, articulating biblically and theologically why we as Christians had to support the struggle against apartheid".

The central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) has appealed to the United Nations and the African Union to endorse a plan for a sustainable peace process between the government of Uganda and the "Lord's Resistance Army" (LRA).

In a pastoral letter to member churches in the Democratic Republic of Congo on the eve of historic elections, World Council of Churches' (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has offered words of compassion and an appeal to the nation's leaders - and to the wider world.

:: World AIDS Day events in Geneva and Bern

<span style="font-weight: bold; "» African church leaders visit Israel & Palestine