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A Toolkit on Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights for religious leaders, developed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) in collaboration with INERELA+ and UNESCO, was launched during an event on 19 November.

Persons with disabilities may be even more vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic, but they have also shown resiliency and wisdom that can be shared across the world.

“The church has lots of roles in removing barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from living a fulfilled life. All are created in the image of God and have equal rights. Sexual and reproductive health is one such right that should not be denied to any woman,” said Rev. Evans Onyemara, general secretary of the Christian Council of Nigeria during a training on empowering women with disabilities on sexual and reproductive health care held at Umuahia, Nigeria from 9-11 March.

At a meeting in Harare on Tuesday this week, church and civil society leaders in Zimbabwe strongly rejected all forms of violence and urgently called upon the state to restore the rule of law and constitutionalism in the exercise of state power.

The voices of young people will ring through the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva on 21 November as part of global celebrations for World Children’s Day linked to other events involving the World Council of Churches (WCC) in different places.

On 11 October, students of Makerere University officially launched the WCC Thursdays in Black campaign against sexual and gender based violence in Uganda.

Last week, the chairperson of the WCC Ecumenical Water Network, bishop Arnold Temple from The Methodist Church Sierra Leone, came to Stockholm to participate in the World Water Week, which is the world’s leading annual water event where experts and decision-makers from all over the world gather to strengthen the systems and processes that govern access to – and protection of – fresh water.

When more than 100 religious leaders and other actors from around the world gathered at the UN in Vienna in mid-February, it was a manifestation of unity between religious and non-religious organizations, and a genuine commitment to cooperate in dealing with hate speech and incitement to violence that could lead to atrocity crimes.

The huge impacts of businesses on the communities in which they operate often bring benefits, but companies can disregard and even harm people’s rights in pursuit of economic gain. The WCC, ACT Alliance and the Lutheran World Federation hosted a side event at the 6th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva on 28 November, in this context.

The book, “There is Something We Long For” compiled by African female theologians received accolades when its authors were presented with the Marga Bührig Award 2017 at a weekend symposium in Basel, Switzerland. The prize was celebrated on 4 November at the Missionshaus in Basel with some of the authors and editors of the group known as Tsena Malalaka who wrote the book.

Gathered in Kigali, Rwanda on 25-29 September, religious leaders from a variety of faith communities in French-speaking Africa have explored the issue of ”faith-healing only” practices, where some faith communities encourage people living with HIV to stop taking their anti-retroviral medication, claiming they can be healed by faith alone – a rationale devastating for work to overcome HIV and AIDS.

“I believe we need an advocacy strategy to listen, share experiences, and address the issues we face in working for treatment adherence,” said Rev. Dr Nyambura Njoroge, World Council of Churches Ecumenical HIV and AIDS Initiatives and Advocacy (WCC-EHAIA) coordinator as she addressed a consultation on HIV Treatment Adherence and Faith Healing in Africa on 5 September.

Taking place on 4-8 September in Kampala, Uganda, a WCC and UNAIDS regional consultation on HIV Treatment Adherence and Faith Healing in Africa has gathered to address issues of “faith-healing only” practices in the context of HIV and AIDS. At the core is the question of how religious leaders can partner with governmental organizations nationally and internationally, as well as with other parts of civil society to develop strategies to advocate for HIV treatment adherence, and to build bridges to those among faith-healing only practitioners who are open to dialogue.

Marching through the streets of Nairobi on the Day of the African Child 2017, religious leaders from a range of faith communities in Kenya spoke up publicly for the rights of children and adolescents living with HIV, accompanied by hundreds of people, among them school children from six Nairobi-based schools, as well as dozens of youth volunteers.