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"Churches around the world are much encouraged" by the multilateral agreement on cluster munitions reached Wednesday in Dublin, and now look with expectation to "powerful governments that have not been at the negotiating table", said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia in a comment on the agreement today.

In Burundi, where democratic elections in 2005 fostered hopes for peace and democracy, recent crime and violence has caused the churches there to fear for the nation's stability. An ecumenical delegation led by former Mozambique president, Joaquim Chissano, visited the central African country at the invitation of the National Council of Churches in Burundi, 28-31 January. Chissano has gained international recognition for a successful disarmament programme in Mozambique.

By Fredrick Nzwili*

The United Nations and the World Council of Churches (WCC) have reaffirmed their commitment to collaborate at a meeting between the general secretaries of both organizations held on 29 October at the UN headquarters in New York.

Ahead of an upcoming vote in the UK parliament on the government's plan to replace the Trident nuclear weapons system, the World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia has written to WCC member churches in the country praising and expressing support for their efforts to stop this.

The need for churches to be vigilant about nuclear proliferation has been stressed by the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee in a statement adopted at its 27 February - 2 March meeting in Bossey, near Geneva.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has congratulated the sponsoring states of a draft resolution on conventional arms control currently before the United Nations General Assembly and urged them to include in the text a specific reference to international human rights law.

As news on the North Korean nuclear test is breaking on 9 October, World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia asks for the response to be peaceful, lawful and collective.

An exploration of changes in church and society since 1966 will be a central feature of the forthcoming meeting of the World Council of Churches' (WCC) central committee - the WCC's main governing body between assemblies.Â

For five years since the first UN global conference on small arms in 2001, hopes around the world were that this year's follow-up conference, which concluded on 7 July, would find new ways to contain the intercontinental epidemic of guns and gun violence.

A multi-religious prayer service and a debate on ethical dilemmas in micro-disarmament are being organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) within the framework of the UN Review Conference on the Programme of Action on Small Arms and Light Weapons taking place in New York from 26 June - 7 July 2006.

Former top United Nations weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix, now the chair of The Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC), is scheduled to present the WMDC's report at the World Council of Churches (WCC) during a ceremony at the Ecumenical Centre on Thursday evening 15 June 2006.

Recent years have seen a slowdown and stalemate in the fields of non-proliferation, arms control and disarmament of weapons of mass destruction and in 2003, former top United Nations weapons inspector Dr Hans Blix was invited to set up and chair The Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission (WMDC).Â

The World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee called today on the government of Iran for a moratorium on its uranium enrichment programme, to recognize the state of Israel, and to support international efforts to end terrorism. Other countries should also contribute to global security, the committee said.

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This year's Nobel Peace Prize affirms that "multilateral, legal and peaceable conduct of international affairs is not only possible but productive," said Peter Weiderud, director of the World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (WCC/CCIA), commenting on the prize awarded to Mohamed El Baradei today. Weiderud also said that "control of nuclear arms and technology" is an "incontrovertible recognition of the God-given value of human life" and that, therefore, the award represents an "important investment in hope as well as peace".

"The outcomes of the UN world summit, the largest gathering of heads of state in history, fall far short of the vision and the expectations of churches and people during this critical period in world history," said World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Samuel Kobia, speaking on the eve of the International Day of Prayer for Peace, 21 September.

In the lead-up to the 14-16 September 2005 United Nations World Summit, the World Council of Churches (WCC) has shared its views on a planned reform of the international body with the governments of the UK and China - the two nations which currently preside, respectively, over the G8, and the G77.