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During a virtual press conference on 13 December, the World Council of Churches (WCC) joined leaders from the global faith community in releasing a letter signed by 115 organizations, representing five world faith traditions, calling on World Trade Organization member countries to act before year’s end to waive Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights rules. The faith community spotlighted the moral necessity of increasing access to COVID-19 vaccines and treatments.  

When the World Council of Churches (WCC) launched the Programme to Combat Racism after years of in-depth theological reflections and prayer in 1971, South Africa's insidious racist apartheid policies were in full throw. The programme brought the WCC into the world's spotlight. Yet racism did not start 50 years ago. And it did not end with the casting out of apartheid at the end of the 20th century. During that era, figures such as Nobel Peace Prize laureates Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Nelson Mandela fought racism in society and the church.

Our series of interviews with Thursdays in Black ambassadors highlights those who are playing a vital role in increasing the impact of our collective call for a world without rape and violence. Jessica Roland, is senior specialist for Inclusive Peace for the Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers.

An online webinar held 2 December brought a moving circle of hope to life even as women and men shared their tragic experiences of femicide and domestic violence in North America, Latin America and the Caribbean.

An ecumenical prayer service on World AIDS Day, to be observed 1 December, will focus on the theme “Overcoming Inequalities With Justice and Love,” a special emphasis in the context of 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence, which runs from 25 November until 10 December.

At an event called “Ecumenical Continuing Formation: Youth, Transformative Masculinity 

and Femininity,” young people from the Pacific gathered from 15-19 November, both online and in-person, to express their honest feelings about the issues most important to them.

 

Two upcoming online events, entitled “Missing and Murdered: Addressing Femicide and Sexual and Gender-based Violence in our Global Context,” will address the shadow pandemic of violence against women. 

A webinar on 4 November, “Realizing Equal Nationality Rights for All,” shined a light on the challenges facing an estimated 15 million people worldwide who are stateless, meaning no country considers them to be a national by operation of law.