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The Emerging Peacemakers Forum aims to empower youth to contribute to building a better future for themselves and humanity, the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Elders said at a meeting in Geneva.

Participants of the Emerging Peacemakers Forum being held at the World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland from 5-14 July, visited Palais des Nations and learned about the United Nations work in Geneva.

50 young people from 24 countries have sent a message of hope to the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP28), which will be hosted by the United Arab Emirates at the end of 2023. The message was delivered during a special ceremony during the second edition of the Emerging Peacemakers Forum, held at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey, Switzerland.

The World Council of Churches (WCC), the Muslim Council of Elders, and Rose Castle Foundation will host an Emerging Peacemakers Forum on 5-14 July for 50 young men and women working in civil society and international organizations, or for influential people in their societies, at the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey.

H.E. Judge Mohammed Abdel-Salam, senior adviser of H.E. Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Elders and co-president of Religions for Peace, visited the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva on 5 June.

A webinar on 25 May, “Exploring the nexus between racism, xenophobia and the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA), and African Union (AU) free movement protocol,” marked Africa Day by focusing on the potential of faith communities, especially Christians, in bridging the gaps that continue to frustrate the free movement of people and goods around the continent.

During the 75th commemoration of what Palestinians refer to as the nakba, or “catastrophe”—when hundreds of thousands of people were uprooted during Israel's creation in 1948—World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed solidarity with member churches in the Holy Land.

During a noon prayer on 19 April, the World Council of Churches (WCC) called for global solidarity with the people of Sudan as an escalating conflict has plunged many innocent people into a situation in which they are barely able to survive. 

The World Council of Churches (WCC) co-organised an in-person side event at Civil Society Policy Forum of the Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank in Washington, DC. Participants shared critical civil society perspectives on reforming international financial institutions, the Bridgetown Initiative, and climate finance.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) has offered input for the articulation of the UN’s “New Agenda for Peace," a process intended to update the world body’s approach to peace and security in the current global context. In its submission – which is inspired to a significant extent by the WCC 11th Assembly statement on “The Things That Make For Peace”– the WCC focused especially on the need for greater financial and practical support for peacebuilding at national and local levels, rather than for division and military confrontation.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) Ecumenical Water Network and its partner organizations hosted a hybrid side event, “Faith Community is a ‘Blue Community,” on 22 March in conjunction with the UN Water Conference in New York City.Prof. Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN Special Rapporteur, human right to water, opened the event with a video message on how this is the first time in almost 50 years that the United Nations has convened a global event to reflect on the global water crisis—a crisis that finds 2 billion people without access to clean water, and 4 billion without access to adequate sanitation.

World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay expressed concern and sadness upon hearing about alleged actions taken against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (UOC) against the background of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

As a “Living Together” celebration in Bagdad opened on 6 March, religious and ethnic leaders from Iraq celebrated diversity and, at the same time, candidly addressed challenges to inclusive citizenship. They were joined by representatives of Iraqi executive and legislative authorities as well as representatives from UN agencies and embassies.