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An ecumenical conference in Thessaloniki, Greece held 20-22 February explored the political, religious and spiritual dimensions of the economic and refugee crisis.

The WACC-SIGNIS Human Rights Award 2016 has gone to the documentary film Cahier africain directed by Heidi Specogna, who was recognized at an awards ceremony on 19 February in Berlin.

Speaking in Stockholm, Sweden, on 14-15 February, WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit addressed the End Violence Solutions Summit, part of the Global Partnership to End Violence Against Children. “On behalf of the WCC, I am very pleased to announce that we commit to supporting our 348 member churches in their efforts to prevent and respond to violence against children," said Tveit.

Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the WCC, will participate in the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos from 24-26 January, 2018. If you are interested in more information or in arranging an interview with Dr Tveit, please do not hesitate to get in touch.

"I think it is wonderful that ICAN won the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize, we really need this when we see what today’s superpowers are doing. We all want peace on earth!"

This year it is five hundred years since the Reformation. This has been commemorated throughout the year. A lot has happened in the world. The Reformation is ongoing in churches around the world. Discussions are constantly held about how a church should be today and how to reach out with the gospel. WCC News meets Bishop Helga Haugland Byfuglien this year, one of the most experienced and prominent women among Lutheran bishops in the world.

An “Interfaith Symposium on Statelessness” held 7-8 December in Rome focused, for the first time in history, on joint actions from Hindu, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian and Jewish groups to address statelessness.

Meeting the Hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, is humbling. Sharing their stories is a challenge. Travelling to Oslo in Norway on 9-10 December, more than 20 Hibakusha joined celebrations of ICAN receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. May we remember them well, with dignity and respect.

More than 3,000 peacemakers from all over the world were gathered in Oslo on 10 December to commemorate the work of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapon’s (ICAN) work with banners with slogans such as: "The world must sign UN nuclear ban."

After adopting a new Book of Worship, the Church of Sweden responded quickly to inaccurate reports related to inclusive language in the text.

On World AIDS Day 2017, the WCC-EAA brought together representatives of faith-based organizations as well as public sector and inter-governmental organizations at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 1 December.

An ecumenical delegation led by the World Council of Churches (WCC) met first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon, in Bonn, Germany, to share concerns over rising sea levels and increasingly severe droughts and storms that are putting into question the very survival of people in the British Commonwealth of Tuvalu.

WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit spoke on 7 November at a Muslim World League symposium in Geneva entitled “The Role of Religions on the Strengthening of World Peace.”

Organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC), the 5th International Conference on Ecological Theology and Environmental Ethics (ECOTHEE-17) brought together people from diverse nations and faith traditions to reflect on the theology of Oikos and indigenous spirituality.

For Father James Oyet-Latansio the South Sudan Council of Churches general secretary admits that in his country the churches are serving “in a difficult time, but we serve wherever we are needed”. He was taking a breather during the 3-6 October Ecumenical Strategic Forum on Diakonia and Sustainable Development convened by the World Council of Churches in Geneva.

"Over a number of years, the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (WCC-EAA) has advocated for governments, intergovernmental organizations, religious leaders, faith organizations and individuals to fulfil their commitments to contribute to the vision of ‘getting to zero’ – zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination, and zero AIDS-related deaths,” explains Francesca Merico, HIV campaign coordinator of the WCC-EAA.

Some forty professionals working on ecumenical relations in different member churches in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and the Middle East as well as North and South America, are currently gathered in Geneva, Switzerland. Their four-day meeting affords them an opportunity to learn about the various WCC programmes as well as from each other.

As young people earned an interreligious studies certificate at the World Council of Churches Bossey Institute, they completed their three-week course with unified thoughts on promoting peace. In a communique issued on 13 July, they identified themselves as Jews, Christians and Muslims - children of Abraham - with a unique openness.