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International calls grow for recognizing tie between climate change, human rights

Faith-based and civill groups from around the world are amplifying their call for the UN to more formally recognize the tie between climate change and human rights. A webinar on 26 March convened by the Geneva Interfaith Forum on Climate Change, Environment and Human Rights, reiterated the need for a new position within the UN: a special rapporteur on Climate Change and Human Rights.

World Social Forum convenes to “express and practice solidarity”

The World Social Forum 2021 is taking place virtually from 23-31 January, taking into account the interlinked global crises of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic hardship and climate emergency. Faith groups are continuing to accompany this process by organising discussions on theologies of liberation.

The rights and dignity of the other

In the words of Prof. Rev. Dr John Langan SJ, a human right "is a right that a human person has simply by virtue of being (human), irrespective of his or her social status, cultural accomplishments, moral merits, religious beliefs, class memberships or cultural relationships.” 

Morning Prayer for Monday, 30 November 2020

O Lord, open to us the gates of righteousness…

This week, on the first week of Advent, in the Ecumenical Prayer Cycle, we are praying with the people and churches of Myanmar and Thailand.

In the context of the 16 Days against Gender-Based Violence, this week marks World AIDS Day (December 1), the International Day for the Abolition of Slavery (2 December) and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (3 December).

WCC Programmes

As repeat hurricanes threaten, churches offer vital services in Nicaragua, Honduras

Two weeks after Hurricane Eta struck, Nicaragua and Honduras are now bracing for another massive storm, Hurricane Iota. Eta killed at least 120 people in flash floods and mudslides. By 15 November, ahead of Iota’s landfall, some 63,500 people had been evacuated in northern Honduras, and 1,500 people in Nicaragua had been moved from low-lying areas of the country's northeast. Carlos Rauda, a regional officer with ACT Alliance, offers a glimpse of this unfolding situation, and the important role of churches.

Webinar explores "Reconnecting in faith with creation, land and water”

A 28 July World Council of Churches (WCC) webinar entitled "Reconnecting in faith with creation, land and water” explored the ways in which we tie our faith to living responsibly on earth. Participants explored together why and how a sustainable future must be based on the interdependency of the whole creation, not an anthropocentric understanding in which human beings are the dominant species.

Rt. Rev. Sharma Nithyanandam: “Contribute toward suspending negativity”

Rt. Rev. Sharma Nithyanandam is the bishop in Vellore, Church of South India. Below, he reflects on how churches can infuse hope as an antidote to despair by becoming agents of tangible social action. During the COVID-19 lockdown, our church doors may be closed but our hearts are not, and Bishop Nithyanandam reflects on why this is a time for deeds and not just words.

Calling for an Economy of Life in a Time of Pandemic

In a joint message released on 15 May 2020, the World Council of Churches, World Communion of Reformed Churches, Lutheran World Federation, and Council for World Mission underlined that cooperation and solidarity within and across countries, embodied in networks of faith communities, civil society, and social movements as well as fresh systems of global governance rooted in justice, care, and sustainability are needed in response to the global health crisis of the Covid‐19 pandemic and the longer‐standing economic and ecological emergency.

WCC Programmes

Faith communities vital in overcoming hunger

As the coronavirus pandemic continues to require the world to protect its most vulnerable people, the reality of undernourishment faces more than 820 million people in the world. This increases vulnerability in our one human family. Dr Manoj Kurian, coordinator of the WCC Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, reflects on the current state of food security.