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Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm, chair of the Council of the Evangelical Church in Germany (EKD) and a member of the church leaders’ pilgrimage to Japan on the 70th anniversary of the atomic bombings, pressed the case for the Humanitarian Pledge against nuclear weapons at the Hiroshima Day rally on 6 August 2015.

Church leaders from seven countries currently making historic choices for or against outlawing nuclear weapons will embark on a pilgrimage in early August to the two Japanese cities that were decimated by atomic bombs 70 years ago.

Four weeks of negotiations on nuclear weapons came to a close on Friday 22 May, as the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ended without a formal agreement. Despite the outcome, a bright new prospect towards a world without nuclear weapons has emerged in the form of a Humanitarian Pledge, now endorsed by 107 states, which promises “to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons”.

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

Four member churches of the WCC are represented among 26 faith leaders in the United Kingdom who issued a joint statement recently calling on states with nuclear weapons to join other states in negotiations to eliminate nuclear arsenals.

After a concerted examination of the evidence presented at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons and two earlier conferences, 44 of the states present called for a ban on nuclear weapons. The host government Austria added momentum with a specific, cooperative pledge to “fill the legal gap for the prohibition of nuclear weapons” and eliminate them.

Inspired by the theme “a pilgrimage of justice and peace” – a call issued by the WCC 10th Assembly in 2013 – a conference in Germany affirmed the commitment of working together with churches in South Korea and Japan towards a “common journey of spiritual renewal and prophetic calling” for a “just peace” in the region.

A reflection on the recent United Nations meeting on the Non-Proliferation Treaty, by Jonathan Frerichs, WCC programme executive for peace building and disarmament, and member of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

Public health and human rights remain woefully unprotected from nuclear disasters. This is a key assessment of a “Human Rights and Natural Disasters” workshop, three years after the Fukushima disaster and 30 years since Chernobyl. The workshop was hosted by the WCC on 28 February in Geneva, Switzerland

A workshop on “human rights and nuclear disasters” hosted by the WCC and led by lawyers and doctors from France, Japan, Canada, Belarus and Switzerland will be held on Friday, 28 February at the Ecumenical Centre, Grand Saconnex, Geneva.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has welcomed the interim agreement between Iran and six world powers reached in Geneva, Switzerland on 24 November. Tveit prayed for the agreement to become “a sign of hope in a region where many yearn for peace.”