Three World Council of Churches (WCC) commissions—the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, Commission on Health and Healing, and Commission on Climate Justice and Sustainable Development—are jointly meeting from 5-8 March in Geneva to explore the theme "Faith and Effective Witness and Diakonia in the 21st Century.”
The World Council of Churches (WCC), on 12 February, submitted comments to the zero draft of the “Pact for the Future,” the envisaged outcome of the UN Summit for the Future.
As the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting commenced in Davos beginning 15 January, World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay urged the gathering to renew its commitment to multilateral cooperation for the longer-term good of all people.
Events with involvement of the World Council of Churches and ecumenical partners at the COP28 conference in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, 30 November - 12 December.
The Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations (CoNGO), celebrated its 75th anniversary, held a webinar in New York City on 27 October entitled “UN-NGO Relations: Enhancing Multilateralism, Protecting NGO Access, Civic Space, and Democratic Discourse.”
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling on Azerbaijan for the immediate lifting of the blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh, as more than 120,000 people—including 30,000 children—are suffering under an increasingly dire humanitarian crisis.
In February 2023, members of the Stop Killer Robots coalition met in Costa Rica to consider the impact of digital dehumanisation - a process in which humans are reduced to data points, on which decisions are made which can negatively impact us. The potential of such automated harm includes injury or death from the use of autonomous weapon systems.
During the debate on human rights and obstetric fistula at the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council, the World Council of Churches (WCC) with its ecumenical partners called upon governments to pay more attention to the prevention of obstetric fistula in their policies, strategic plans, and budgets.
A joint statement of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs, Geneva for Human Rights, Our Lady of Charity of the Good Shepherd, and Vivat International delivered during the debate on human rights and obstetric fistula at the 52nd session of the UN Human Rights Council on 17 March 2023. The statement was delivered by Eva Abel from Kenya, masters student at the WCC Ecumenical Institute in Bossey.
In a pastoral letter to the Korean Christian Federation, World Council of Churches acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed deep concern over the COVID-19 outbreak in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
In a letter to Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, president of the Russian Federation, and Volodymyr Oleksandrovytch Zelensky, president of Ukraine, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca urged the leaders to listen to the cries of their own faithful people.
In a response to a letter from First Lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska, World Council of Churches (WCC) acting general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca expressed both his appreciation for her candid reflections as well as his own pain at the ongoing and increasingly grave humanitarian consequences of the conflict.