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Inspired by the theme “pilgrimage of justice and peace”, the Central Committee of the WCC, a chief governing body of the Council, has set directions for the work of the Council from 2014 to 2017.

In a statement “Towards a Nuclear-free World”, the Central Committee of the WCC recommended ways for churches to work to end nuclear dangers and respond to the witness of those affected by continuing nuclear tragedies – from Hiroshima in 1945 to Fukushima in 2011 and beyond.

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

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit in his recent visit to Iran underlined the important role of faith leaders, religious communities and governments to work together for the cause of “justice and peace”.

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.”

In preparation for the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea (South Korea), pastors and peace activists in that nation are holding a 40-day “fasting prayer” in front of the Busan City Hall. They are protesting the dangers of nuclear radiation and asking to shut down South Korea’s oldest and incident-prone Kori Nuclear Power Plant, some 20 kilometres from the venue of the WCC assembly.

The WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has congratulated the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for recognition of its life-saving work on elimination of chemical weapons, especially in Syria, through the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize 2013.

During a visit to Rome the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit called on the churches to be congregations of peacemakers. Tveit also met with Pope Francis of the Roman Catholic Church as part of his participation in an event sponsored by the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.

World leaders at the United Nations last week backed two steps in relation to the Arms Trade Treaty, promoted by churches, to make people safer through new laws to control deadly weapons.

Events in Northeast Asia this year “dramatize how much the region and the world still live in the shadow of mass destruction”, the WCC general secretary said in a comment on the 68th anniversary this week of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945. “The God of life calls all of us to take up [the survivors’] tireless cry and make certain that a Hiroshima or Nagasaki bombing can never happen again.”

In an unprecedented show of global public concern that included strong religious voices, 500 civil society representatives and 132 governments met from 2 to 5 March in Oslo, Norway, to address the humanitarian effects of nuclear weapons.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit has expressed “grave concern” over both the recent nuclear test on the Korean peninsula and responses to it.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is urging the NATO summit in Chicago 20-21 May to “lead by example” and withdraw NATO nuclear weapons still deployed in Europe more than two decades after the close of the Cold War.

Two international actions to curb the potential use of cluster bombs and nuclear weapons have been welcomed by the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the World Council of Churches (WCC).

By Jonathan Frerichs (*)

By Jonathan Frerichs (*)

“The Pacific is a region that displays many warm and strong expressions of peace,’’ World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit said in a speech to the Pacific Conference of Churches (PCC) 50th anniversary celebration held in Samoa this past week.

Each August 6 and 9 since 1945 there is a profound moment of sorrow and reason for hope when the world remembers the dropping of atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, 66 years ago during World War II.

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.”