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The World Council of Churches (WCC), a global fellowship of 352 churches representing more than half a billion Christians from around the world, has been deeply involved in the work of the United Nations from as early as 1946 through its Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA). The WCC is a platform for common action by churches on issues that negate or threaten the dignity of all people. 

Reinforcing the traditional role of faith communities in offering sanctuary and, indeed hospitality to refugees, 90 faith-based leaders today committed to offering their continued and additional support to refugees, including children, on their journey to safety, including in reception and admission, meeting protection or service delivery needs and supporting communities to find solutions such as private sponsorship or scholarship programmes.

Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness (Genesis 1:26)

The World Council of Churches, at its 11th assembly, in Karlsruhe, Germany, abhors the perpetuation of all forms of racism, xenophobia and related discriminations against humanity and the pervasive suffering it causes. 

"War in Ukraine, Peace and Justice in the European Region", statement by the WCC 11th Assembly in Karlsruhe, Germany

On Thursday 14 April 2022, the United Kingdom and Rwanda announced a new Migration and Economic Development Partnership. Through this partnership, asylum-seekers who are already on UK soil can be transferred to Rwanda, where their asylum claims will be processed. Though UK government officials claim that the agreement “fully complies with all national and international law, including the UN Refugee Convention and European Convention on Human Rights”, many reputable human rights organizations as well as senior church leaders in the UK have criticized it.

Advocacy statement on situation of migrants and refugees in Europe, 22 September 2020.

Christmas Statement, signed by European church leaders – issued jointly by the Churches’ Commission for Migrants and the Conference of European Churches.

Statement by WCC Executive Committee, November 2018

Entitled “To Bonn and Beyond: Act Now with Justice and Peace”, the statement was read by Frances Namoumou, representing the WCC and the Pacific Conference of Churches, to the plenary of the High Level Ministerial Segment of the 23rd Session of the Conference of the Parties (COP23), in Bonn, Germany, where the United Nations Climate Change Conference took place under the presidency of Fiji.

Joint Statement of World Council of Churches (WCC), ACT Alliance (ACT) and The Lutheran World Federation
on US Presidential Executive Order “Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry into the United States” and its Impact on Refugees

With its 2016 plenary meeting, the Joint Working Group between the WCC and the Roman Catholic Church (JWG) returned to the Ecumenical Institute at the Château de Bossey near Geneva, where the first meeting of the group was held in 1965.

The WCC Central Committee calls for more concerted and coordinated international action to resolve the root causes of forcible displacement of people.

On 22 March 2016, the CCME, CEC and WCC sent a letter to member churches and partner organizations in Europe urging increased advocacy for more refugee resettlement with their national governments and parliaments.

Statement from the WCC/UN High Level Conference: Refugee Crisis in Europe.

The WCC, the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria and the Evangelical Church in Germany jointly hosted a Church Leaders' Consultation on the European Refugee Crisis, on 29 October 2015.

The Executive Committee of the WCC expresses its deep concern for the lives of the increasing numbers of people globally who, fleeing from situations of violence, oppression, occupation or economic deprivation, are driven to undertake journeys of danger.

Adopted by the WCC 10th Assembly as part of the Report of the Public Issues Committee.

1. During the past years thousands of asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa and Northern Africa have disappeared in the Sinai desert region while crossing the border between Egypt and Israel. The Sinai desert is a traditional transit route for people from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Northern African countries escaping political turmoil, hunger and poverty and hoping to end up in Europe. The people of Eritrea have been facing deep political and human rights crises, due to which around 2,000 people are attempting to flee from Eritrea every month. They end up in the hands of human trafficking rackets or fall victim to organ theft. It is out of sheer desperation, in order to escape conflict, political turmoil and deteriorating human rights situations that people take such risky journeys. However, instead of safe passage to Israel, the refugees find themselves in desert detention centres in Sinai, where they are abused in the most dehumanizing manner.