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The World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Accompaniment Programme in Palestine and Israel is reporting that nine homes in Wadi-Al-Hummus have been demolished, with at least two families forcibly removed from their homes, as observed by Ecumenical Accompaniers on site. Over 100 families were removed altogether and prior to the demolitions.

“We express our deepest concern with regard to the search for peace in Colombia, and we call upon the Colombian government and all armed actors to refrain from targeting social leaders and communities in conflict zones”, said Rev. Frank Chikane, moderator of the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), in light of the recent killings of social leaders in Micoahumado, South Bolivar, and elsewhere around the country.

Despite a signed and ratified peace agreement, the long journey of regional churches and the WCC in support of peace in Colombia is not over, says the WCC central committee, which urges churches, governments, and others to press toward fulfillment of the terms and promises of the agreement, to prevent momentum ceasing and violence resurging.

"Churches can play a fundamental role in building peace in Colombia," said Colombia president Juan Manuel Santos, on 28 February, during his keynote speech at a public forum promoted by the World Council of Churches (WCC), in Cartagena, Colombia.

As the statements calling for justice in Cremisan Valley fail to work, churches urged the international community at the 36th Session of UN Human Rights Council for action regarding the occupied territories between Jerusalem and Bethlehem.

On 20 March 2017, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) delivered a statement on the human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories at the 34th session of the Human Rights Council at the United Nations Office in Geneva.

The 54th meeting of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) began today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, marking its yearly regional focus on Africa. During the meeting CCIA members are discussing the commission’s previous work and its outcomes focusing on Middle East, as well as setting strategic directions for activities until 2021.

“The Nobel Peace Prize awarded today to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos is a sign of hope and encouragement on the path to peace, and towards the end of the 52-year-long conflict”, said Mr. Peter Prove, director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), commenting on the announcement of the award by the Norwegian Nobel Committee earlier today.

The Central Committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC), at its meeting in Trondheim, Norway, 27 June 2016, has elected a new executive committee with 11 new members.

“The way we handle the refugee crisis, not least the settling in and integration process, will be of utmost significance, both for the attitude towards refugees and asylum seekers in the future, and for the long-term stability and sustainability of our own societies”, said Knut Vollebaek, ambassador and former Norwegian foreign minister, in his speech at the recent WCC/UN conference on Europe’s refugee crisis.

Reduction in and prevention of statelessness, and the protection of stateless people in the Middle East provided the focus of a workshop organized by the WCC and the Middle East Council of Churches in Beirut, Lebanon.

New members of the WCC Commission on Youth (ECHOS) have gathered for the first time, for a four-day meeting hosted by the Coptic Church in Cairo, Egypt.

The WCC mourns the death of Leopoldo J. Niilus, former director of the WCC’s Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), renowned lawyer, peace negotiator and author of several writings on human rights and international affairs.

A communiqué adopted at a WCC consultation describes human trafficking as a “serious human rights violation” and its consequences are “most horrific results of the economic and social disparities that increase the vulnerability of millions of people”.

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.

A three-day WCC consultation has featured diverse perspectives from Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe on the politicization of religion and how this phenomenon contributes to discrimination and persecution of religious minorities around the world.