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Meeting the ambitious Fast Track targets for 2020, and the goal of ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, will require engaging with and supporting religious leaders, faith-based organizations and people of faith, many of whom have been deeply involved in all aspects of the HIV responses since AIDS was first identified 35 years ago.

Amid reports of a deteriorating human rights situation in West Papua, a minute of support for Papuans was issued on 28 June during the closing day to a meeting in Trondheim, Norway, of the WCC Central Committee.

A plenary discussion on support by religious communities for the rights of children, and a first draft of the statement of “principles for child-friendly churches,” captured the imagination of the Central Committee of the WCC on 27 June. The document will now undergo further revision and be resubmitted at the next WCC executive committee meeting.

Following the burning and demolition of church buildings and the flight of many Christians from their villages in Indonesia, the WCC general secretary has expressed the world fellowship’s support of religious liberty and its solidarity with Indonesian believers as churches assist displaced people and work toward future peace.

“The Arctic is the epicentre of climate injustice,” said Bishop Mark MacDonald of the Anglican Church of Canada and the WCC president for North America during a conference organized by the Church of Sweden and the Canadian Council of Churches held in Storforsen, Sweden.

The life and ministry of Tony Waworuntu from the Protestant Church in Western Indonesia, was fondly remembered by the WCC general secretary. Waworuntu passed away at the age 63 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Dynamics of “indigenous ecological spiritualties and Christian faith” were explored at a WCC seminar in Yogyakarta, Indonesia.

Violence against children was one emerging issue discussed at the Christian Conference of Asia's assembly. “It is still a sad reality in large parts of the world, but momentum to end violence against children is growing within governments and communities, amongst parents and religious leaders. This is a good thing since it takes everyone to make a change”, says Lauren Rumble, UNICEF’s chief of child protection in Indonesia.

Shortly after the 14th General Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia, held recently in Indonesia´s capital Jakarta, WCC News had a brief chat with the newly elected general secretary of CCA, Dr Mathews George Chunakara.

”Truly, I am in the household of God,” began WCC associate general secretary for public witness and diakonia Dr Isabel Apawo Phiri in her keynote speech today at the 14th Assembly of the Christian Conference of Asia.

Amidst intimidation, illegal arrests, disappearances, torture and killings in Tanah Papua resulting from tensions between the Indonesian authorities and the Papuan pro-liberation groups, churches seek justice, peace, dignity and security for the Papuans.

The WCC general secretary has sent a letter to the President of the Republic of Indonesia H. E. Joko Widodo appealing for clemency for the 10 death row prisoners scheduled for imminent execution in Indonesia.

Should robots make life and death decisions? Religious leaders are asked to tell governments “Never”.

Participants in a recent WCC consultation in Myanmar have stressed the need to equip churches and ecumenical organizations to build peace, human security and human dignity in order to move beyond conflicts, towards a world of peace.

Amid the reality of migration, theological education can lead to the transformation of the church, agreed participants in a seminar organized by the WCC.

How should the growing phenomenon of migration affect training for ministry? An upcoming seminar organized by the WCC at the Ecumenical Institute Bossey will focus on evaluating experiences and devising new approaches to theological education that can help churches understand migration as an opportunity of “being the church together”.

As the members of the WCC Central Committee return to their home communities, they will continue some key questions related to their pilgrimage of justice and peace.

The WCC has expressed its support for an appeal against a Malaysian court’s decision in October 2013 forbidding the use of the word “Allah” by non-Muslims. This development, the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said, risks jeopardizing “fundamental values and the long history of multi-religious co-existence in Malaysia”.

A consultation in Geneva termed political dialogue as the only way towards peace and stability in Tanah Papua, a province of Indonesia. The region has remained the focus of tensions between the Indonesian authorities and the Papuan indigenous people for years – resulting in grave human rights violations.

A three-day WCC consultation has featured diverse perspectives from Asia, Africa, Middle East and Europe on the politicization of religion and how this phenomenon contributes to discrimination and persecution of religious minorities around the world.