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The WCC president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Rev. Gloria Ulloa, has participated at the 35th Assembly of the World Student Christian Federation. The event is currently underway in Bogotá, Colombia, until 5 March.

Serious death threats to human rights defenders, many of them church leaders, have been made by a paramilitary group in Colombia. The WCC, among other international organizations has called on Colombian government to protect their lives.

Serias amenazas de muerte dirigidas a defensores de los derechos humanos, muchos de ellos líderes de iglesias, han sido lanzadas por un grupo paramilitar en Colombia.

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.

La manera en que las actividades empresariales afectan a las vidas de los miembros de la población local de Colombia y de El Salvador fue señalada por los participantes patrocinados por el CMI en el Foro de las Naciones Unidas sobre las empresas y los derechos humanos.

At the Second United Nations Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights, human rights defenders from Colombia and Guatemala exposed degrading environmental, ecological, economic and social impacts on indigenous communities. These impacts are consequences of the projects run by multinational companies in a number of countries.

En el segundo Foro anual de las Naciones Unidas sobre las Empresas y los Derechos Humanos, los defensores de los derechos humanos de Colombia y Guatemala expresaron su preocupación por el impacto de la degradación medioambiental, ecológica, económica y social en las comunidades indígenas. Este impacto es una consecuencia de los proyectos gestionados por empresas multinacionales en varios países.

Three human rights activists from indigenous communities in Guatemala and Colombia will present cases highlighting human rights violations by multinational corporations in their countries, including instances of land grabbing, at the Second United Nations Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights.

The world's first Arms Trade Treaty is “a milestone in efforts to bring commerce in deadly weapons under much-needed controls,” according to the general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

The WCC Executive Committee has expressed deep concern about the alarming increase in threats to human security in Latin America. The committee has called for renewed efforts by churches to ensure peaceful and just societies.

Church representatives at a recent Oikotree Global Forum in Johannesburg, South Africa stressed the need to support peoples'€™ movements promoting justice in the economy and ecology, a concern, they say, that lies at the heart of the faith.

By Marcelo Schneider (*)

While peace talks are underway between the Colombian government and FARC rebels (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) in Norway, Dr Ricardo Esquivia of the Mennonite Church in Colombia affirmed that “creativity and audacity to advocate for justice in a nonviolent way” is essential at this time.

A public statement applauding steps toward peace talks in Colombia was issued recently by representatives of churches and ecumenical organizations that form the Peace Commission of the Evangelical Council (CEDECOL), the Ecumenical Network in Colombia and the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI).

Death threats against human rights defenders in Colombia have caused "great concern" for the World Council of Churches (WCC). A letter from the WCC to the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, calls on the “government to take all necessary measures to effectively protect the life and physical integrity” of the human rights defenders.

By Marcelo Schneider (*)

By Marcelo Schneider (*)

By Marcelo Schneider (*)

Official statistics indicate the existence of three million people who were pushed away from their land and property in Colombia due to armed conflict that has taken place for years in the country. Human rights organizations claim, however, that the number of "displaced people" is actually close to 5 million people.

by Theodore Gill (*)