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What else could your family, your parish, your community do to respond to the needs of migrants and refugees arriving in your country? Representatives of many different churches met in Rome in September to discuss that practical question, as well as respond to the broader challenge of how people of faith can combat the rising tide of racism, xenophobia and nationalist policies that increasingly target vulnerable migrants and asylum seekers.

During the 4th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, the WCC, in collaboration with the ACT Alliance and Lutheran World Federation, organized a side-event on “Faith-based organizations’ contribution to the protection of communities’ land rights: lessons learnt and good practices from Africa, Asia and Latin America” at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

Representatives of more than 150 faith-based organizations gathered in Bogota, Colombia on 5 November to discuss their role in the peace process in that country. The meeting was organized by the Ministry of Interior and drew participation from the WCC.

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.

Three human rights activists from indigenous communities in Guatemala and Colombia will present cases highlighting human rights violations by multinational corporations in their countries, including instances of land grabbing, at the Second United Nations Annual Forum on Business and Human Rights.

Human rights of indigenous peoples in Guatemala are under threat due to large scale extraction of natural resources and on-going encroachment on their lands. Their conflict with the state over these issues is now impacting their security, said Pablo Ceto, an indigenous community leader and a human rights activist from Ixil, Guatemala.

The WCC Executive Committee has expressed deep concern about the alarming increase in threats to human security in Latin America. The committee has called for renewed efforts by churches to ensure peaceful and just societies.

By Marcelo Schneider (*)

“Sixteen years after the signing of the peace accord in 1996, Guatemala is still struggling to overcome wide ranging issues that put the economic, political and social wellbeing of the country at risk,” noted a World Council of Churches (WCC) delegation visiting Guatemala from 27 to 29 November.

A World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation on peace and human security in Latin America has adopted a communiqué demanding protection mechanisms that insure peace and human security in Latin America.

“Long years of civil war and import of weapons since the 1980s have created a difficult situation in Latin America, where it is challenging to prevent proliferation of arms”, stated Prof. Benjamin Cortes Marchena at a World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation in Antigua, Guatemala. Â

With the help of participants from several regions of the world a World Council of Churches (WCC) consultation recently looked at Christian self-understanding in the context of indigenous spiritual traditions.

Tuvalu, a Polynesian island nation in the Pacific Ocean between Hawaii and Australia, is home to more than 11,000 people, whose very existence, which at one time was tied to the ocean and its bounty, is now threatened by rising ocean water levels.

With the voices of speakers including Martin Luther King III and German Lutheran pastor Dr Margot Kässmann, the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) will begin next week. This major ecumenical event organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) is to take place at the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Kingston, Jamaica.

“Water and Just Peace” will be the theme of this year's Lenten reflections provided by the Ecumenical Water Network (EWN). Starting on Monday 7 March the weekly reflections will explore the connection between access to water, struggles over this precious resource and building just peace.

Governments, civil society organizations and Christian agencies have expressed their disappointment that the ministerial declaration adopted at the World Water Forum in Istanbul does not include a reconfirmation of water as a human right.