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Many church and civil society representatives have expressed disappointment over the lack of vision and ambition in the outcomes of the Rio+20 summit, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this June. Yet the affirmation of the human right to water and sanitation is one aspect among others in the results that the future work of the ecumenical movement for sustainability and eco-justice can build on.

As a 10-year-old schoolgirl, on 6 August 1945, at 8:15 a.m., Setsuko Thurlow, then Nakamura, suddenly saw a brilliant bluish light flash outside her schoolroom window. “I remember the sensation of floating in the air. When I regained consciousness, in the total darkness and silence, I found myself in the rubble.”

Fourteen-year old Gudiya Putul is not in Kingston, Jamaica attending the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC), but her name and history were brought to the attention of some IEPC participants Saturday during a workshop about economic injustice and human trafficking.

When Archbishop Valentine Mokiwa visited a gold mining operation in Tanzania, he came across something he never expected to see: a world-class runway and sprawling houses with private swimming pools.

As peace advocates from around the world relayed heartrending stories of violence and oppression, they also expressed their ongoing hope that a movement of peace will prevail during the proceedings of the second day of the International Ecumenical Peace Convocation (IEPC) being held in Kingston, Jamaica.

Jim Hodgson is a journalist with extensive experience in Latin America and the Caribbean. Since 2000, Hodgson has worked with the United Church of Canada’s Caribbean and Latin America desk, most recently as programme coordinator for South America and the Caribbean.

By Theodore Gill*

By Mark Beach (*)

by Karen Burke (*)

Laws designed to empower and protect women in India have been described as “toothless” by activists who have spoken out against the government’s failure to implement them.

As the United Nations has made a small but significant step forward towards declaring caste-based discrimination a human rights violation, Indian Christian leaders have called on the churches to confess that the caste system is still being practised also within them.

A team of church representatives from Europe, Latin America, Africa and Asia will pay a solidarity visit to churches, ecumenical organizations and civil society movements in India from 21 to 27 September.

By Maurice Malanes (*)

Roughly one in ten women attending the 53rd session of the UN Commission on the Status of Women is part of Ecumenical Women, an international coalition of churches and ecumenical organizations.

Conflicts in Congo and Gaza, recognition of the International Year of Reconciliation, the impact of the global economic crisis on the WCC budget and an update on the election of a new general secretary were topics of discussion and action by the WCC Executive Committee which met in Bossey, Switzerland, 17 to 20 February 2009.

The myth according to which host countries are "victims" of migration needs to be challenged, as in fact their economies benefit from the exploitation of the migrants' work.

By Annegret Kapp (*)