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A High-Level Conference in Geneva of governments, United Nations agencies and civil society organizations, including churches and faith-based organizations, has underlined the need for urgent action to strengthen coordination and cooperation in Europe's response to the refugee and migrant crisis.

The Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe and the WCC have published a revised and updated edition of their joint study, Mapping Migration: Mapping Churches’ Responses in Europe. The 2016 text explores challenges and changes in the European church landscape in light of international migration.

Churches in Europe have a crucial role to play in responding to the arrival of refugees in Europe, Germany's interior minister has told a gathering in Geneva of governments, United Nations agencies, church and faith groups and civil society organizations.

Azad is a refugee from the north of Aleppo, Syria and is currently in The Jungle camp in Calais, France. “It’s hard here” says Azad, and then falls quiet. “People are hungry, cold, afraid and we can’t do anything”. He’s sitting cross-legged on the floor of a small shelter.

Chantal Scheidecker, a former member of the WCC staff who was instrumental in the 1960s during formational stages of the Churches‘ Commission for Migrants in Europe, has died in Geneva on 28 November 2015 at the age of 82.

Climate-induced loss and damage is one of the key points being raised by faith groups during COP21. A discussion panel and a demonstration held at COP21 in early December brought to light many facets of this issue.

In the midst of a mounting climate of fear of refugees and immigrants, the WCC is calling on Christians to be true to the Biblical imperative to “welcome the stranger”.

During the past two years, Italy has experienced massive migration flows from North Africa as hundreds of thousands of people try to cross the Mediterranean to escape persecution, war and mass killings.

Cardinal Kurt Koch of the Roman Catholic Church, president of the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity, has granted an interview to WCC News. The conversation took place at the Global Christian Forum in Tirana, Albania where 150 high level leaders and representatives of various church traditions from more than 60 countries gathered to listen and learn from one another and to stand in solidarity with churches and Christians experiencing discrimination and persecution in the world today.

A group of 35 bishops and church leaders from 20 countries have gathered in Munich, Germany to discuss refugees and the role of the churches in Europe with a recommendation for safe passage to those seeking refuge.

Today 35 bishops and church leaders from 20 countries gathered in Munich, Germany to discuss the refugee situation and the role of the churches in Europe.

Representatives of the WCC visited Greece to strengthen efforts in support of refugees in Europe and the Middle East.

“I cannot forget the poignant memories of the march when thousands of refugees set out from Budapest, Hungary, towards Austria, and finally reached the other side of the border aboard buses provided by the Hungarian government,” said Bishop Tamas Fabiny of the Lutheran Church in Hungary, vice-president of the Lutheran World Federation.

Representatives of major international ecumenical organizations visited Hungary 25-29 September to strengthen efforts in support of refugees in Europe and the Middle East.

Amidst the current refugee crisis, representatives of major international ecumenical organizations will embark on a solidarity visit to Hungary from 25 to 28 September.

While governments in Europe debate strict border controls in dealing with the recent refugee influx, churches and ecumenical organization have marshaled resources to support and welcome those seeking safety in the region from war and conflict.

In view of the current refugee crisis, European churches are being encouraged to deepen their efforts in receiving, supporting and protecting refugees who arrive in the region. This call was made in a letter issued jointly by the WCC, the Conference of European Churches and the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe.

In the wake of recent crisis with the refugees in Europe, it is “absolutely and critically necessary that all European states take their proper responsibility in terms of reception and support for people seeking refuge, safety and a better future for themselves and their families. This cannot be left only to the states where they enter first,” says the WCC general secretary.

In Taizé, the week-long Gathering for a New Solidarity, for solidarity with the poor and excluded, reached its climax on the weekend of 15-16 August. The ecumenical community is celebrating in 2015 the seventy-fifth anniversary of its foundation by Roger Schutz, as well as the one hundredth anniversary of his birth (on 12 August 1915). Also 16 August was the tenth anniversary of his death.

Deeply concerned for migrants in many regions, especially those “driven to undertake journeys of desperate risk and danger”, the WCC Executive Committee has declared: “All members of the international community have a moral and legal duty to save the lives of those in jeopardy at sea or in transit, regardless of their origin and status.”