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The 54th meeting of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) began today in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, marking its yearly regional focus on Africa. During the meeting CCIA members are discussing the commission’s previous work and its outcomes focusing on Middle East, as well as setting strategic directions for activities until 2021.

Expressing concern regarding recently announced US measures related to refugee admissions and entry into the US by seven Muslim-majority countries, the World Council of Churches (WCC), ACT Alliance (ACT), and The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) affirmed that faith calls all Christians to love and welcome the stranger, the refugee, the internally displaced person - “the other.”

During the visit to Iraq on 20-24 January, a delegation of church leaders shared the findings and recommendations of a recent study exploring the specific needs of displaced people in Iraq and Syria. The delegation also learned a lot about the current situation and challenges from representatives of local faith communities in Iraq, heads of the country’s Christian churches and Christian young people.

A global delegation of church leaders concluded a visit to Iraq on 24 January, focusing on the future of vulnerable components of Iraq’s society following the expected military defeat of the so-called “Islamic State”. The delegation called for an emergency response from international donors to support efforts to secure, stabilize and rebuild affected communities and societies.

Upon her first visit to Iraq, Antje Jackelén, archbishop of the Church of Sweden, had the same questions as many others across the world: “What’s really happening? What can we do to help our Christian brothers and sisters? What can we do to also assist other communities under huge pressure?”

Repeated and new forms of violence in Middle East, notably in Jerusalem, Damascus and Baghdad, is strongly condemned, and calls for more prayer and strengthened peace efforts to halt extremists seeking do divide humanity, says the World Council of Churches’ (WCC) general secretary.

The ecumenical dialogue between churches has a long and fruitful history. But since war and terrorism are threatening the existence of churches in the Middle East, Christians of this region feel more and more neglected by their Western partners.

Father Emanuel Youkhana rues that, for the third Christmas in a row, the church bells will not ring in Mosul. He recounts that, around June 2014, the numerical religious minorities such as Yazidis and Christians around Iraq’s second biggest city began to face a horrific onslaught by the group calling itself IS (Islamic State), or Daesh in Arabic.

Le père Emanuel Youkhana déplore que, pour le troisième Noël d’affilée, les cloches de l’église ne retentiront pas à Mossoul. Aux alentours de juin 2014, raconte-t-il, les minorités religieuses telles que les yézidis et les chrétiens installés autour de la deuxième ville d’Irak ont commencé à subir les atroces assauts du groupe qui se fait appeler l’État islamique, ou Daesh, en arabe.

Analyzing efforts to protect religious communities and groups and build peace in Syria and Iraq, the WCC and Norwegian Church Aid presented a joint study on protection needs of religious and ethnic minorities in Syria and Iraq. The findings were announced on 12 December to the media and public at the Palais des Nations in Geneva.

Une étude sur les besoins de protection des minorités religieuses et ethniques en Syrie et en Irak, analysant les efforts à mener pour protéger les minorités religieuses et consolider la paix dans la région, a été présentée conjointement par le Conseil œcuménique des Églises (COE) et l’Aide de l’Église norvégienne (NCA). Les conclusions de l’étude ont été annoncées le 12 décembre aux médias et au grand public au Palais des Nations, à Genève.

As the populations of Syria and Iraq feel the toll of armed conflicts in their countries, the WCC and Norwegian Church Aid have released a joint study, “Protection needs of minorities from Syria and Iraq”. On 12 December, media and public are invited to the Palais de Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, for a press conference and seminar presenting the report.

The story shared by Fr Yakoub Babawe of the Oum-El-Nour Relief Committee of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Iraq’s city of Erbil moved and challenged participants at a recent meeting in Beirut.

The removal of the group calling itself Islamic State will not alone secure the return of displaced minority communities or their longer-term wellbeing in Iraq or Syria, a new report by The World Council of Churches (WCC) and Norwegian Church Aid (NCA) released today in Oslo has found.