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A group of bikers from the Bike for Peace visited the World Council of Churches on 30 August as part of a commemoration in the Place de Nations. 

Daniel Högsta is campaign coordinator for the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. He reflects below on the tie between climate change and nuclear weapons, as well as on global progress toward a nuclear-free world. 

Working on human rights and disarmament for the World Council of Churches (WCC) does not show instant results. The quest needs perseverance, says the WCC programme executive who interacts with the United Nations in Geneva. Jennifer Philpot-Nissen, a trained human rights lawyer, has the task of engaging on human rights and disarmament for the WCC's Commission of the Churches on International Affairs.

Rev. Prof. Dr Fernando Enns, on behalf of the World Council of Churches (WCC), presented a prayer in an interfaith setting during the 7th Global Interreligious Conference on Article 9 of the Japanese Peace Constitution, held 9 March in Okinawa.

Following the January 2021 entry into force of the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, a group of 60 German Christians including theologian Jürgen Moltmann and former World Council of Churches general secretary Konrad Raiser has demanded an end to the doctrine of nuclear deterrence.

The National Christian Council in Japan, in a “Statement Regarding the Enactment of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons,” expresses a “strong sense of disappointment that we have arrived at this point with the Japanese government neither approving nor ratifying” the treaty.

In a 27 January webcast hosted by the World Council of Churches (WCC), speakers spoke candidly about encouraging signs and discouraging obstacles along the path to a nuclear weapons-free world.

Religious leaders in Hiroshima and Nagasaki are welcoming the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, even as Japan's Christian council “regrets” that the government has not supported or ratified the treaty.

The All Africa Conference of Churches has welcomed the coming into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, stating on 26 January that the treaty “addresses the disproportionate impact of nuclear weapons on women and indigenous peoples.”

As the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons enters into force on 22 January, the World Council of Churches joined other global faith communities in welcoming the groundbreaking moment.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is hosting a webcast on 27 January that focuses on how to reach the vision of a nuclear weapons-free world after the celebrated milestone of the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.

An appeal from representatives of Religions for Peace in Norway is urging the Norwegian government to join the UN Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons, which will come into force on 22 January.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) welcomes and celebrates the ratification by 50 States of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), which seeks for the first time to establish a comprehensive ban on the development, testing, production, stockpiling, stationing, transfer, use and threat of use of nuclear weapons, as well as obligations for victim assistance and environmental remediation.

On 6 August, a “Joint Interfaith Statement on the 75th Anniversary of the Atomic Bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki” was released, reaffirming the existential threat to humanity that nuclear weapons pose.

A Declaration for the People’s Korea Peace Agreement was launched on 23 July at a global Zoom convention initiated by the National Council of Churches in Korea, along with civil organizations.

August 2020 will mark 75 years since the nuclear attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki - attacks which devastated those cities and killed or injured several hundred thousands of people. Many more suffered for years afterwards, from having been exposed to the deadly radiation released into the air and water on those days.

A Joint Ecumenical Peace Message for the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the start of the Korean War was publicly delivered on 22 June during a live-streamed event. Co-sponsored by churches and councils of churches around the world, especially from countries that participated in the Korean War, the message describes the Korean War as an “appallingly destructive conflict” after which no peace treaty was ever concluded.