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WCC well-represented in Religions for Peace leadership

Religions for Peace is the world's largest and most representative multi-religious coalition, and as in other multi-faith groups, the World Council of Churches (WCC) and its ecumenical family figure strongly in its leadership bodies.

Faith groups at COP24 advocate for just transitions

Faith-based groups gathered on 2 December, the eve of the opening of the United Nations climate conference, in Katowice, Poland, for an Interfaith Talanoa Dialogue to take stock of the collective global efforts to reduce the emissions of greenhouse gases.

Interfaith Gathering in the Spirit of Talanoa Dialogue at COP24

02 December 2018

The 24th Conference of Parties (COP 24) of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Katowice, Poland, is a crucial moment for governments to adopt the guidelines for the effective implementation of the Paris Agreement. We believe that faith communities have made significant contributions in addressing the immense challenges posed by climate change through advocacy, mobilisation, capacity building and education. While gathering around the COP 24, there will be a moment of sharing together.

We invite all faith-oriented participants of COP24 to participate in this informal gathering.

Katowice, Poland

Arab religious leaders create first-ever platform for social cohesion

An “Interreligious Dialogue for Peace, Promoting Peaceful Coexistence & Common Citizenship” in Vienna on 26 February is creating a first-ever joint action plan for Arab religious leaders to lead the way in repairing the divisions created by extremists, and rebuilding social cohesion and common citizenship in the Arab region.

Turning plans into action to prevent incitement to violence

Another step towards preventing incitement to violence that could lead to atrocity crimes was taken on Tuesday this week, when religious leaders and other actors gathered for a three-day meeting in Vienna to discuss the implementation of the Plan of Action for such prevention.

WCC/UN conference calls for coordinated action on refugee crisis

Following the WCC/UN High Level Conference on the Refugee Crisis in Europe, which took place at the Ecumenical Centre Geneva on 18-19 January, a statement has been issued entitled "Europe’s Response to the Refuge Crisis, From Origin to Transit, Reception and Refuge, A Call for Shared Responsibility and Coordinated Action”.

WCC urges responsibility for and support to the refugees 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.

Armenian genocide of 1915 commemorated by WCC Executive Committee

“The member churches of the World Council of Churches have pledged themselves to stand against all genocides, wherever they happen,” said the Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, general secretary of the council (WCC), on the morning of 10 June after a solemn service of remembrance at the Armenian Genocide Memorial and Museum overlooking the capital city of Yerevan. The service took place in the context of the one-hundredth anniversary of an era of great suffering following mass arrests, executions and deportation of Armenians beginning on 24 April 1915.

Momentum builds for ban on nuclear weapons

After a concerted examination of the evidence presented at the Vienna Conference on the Humanitarian Impact of Nuclear Weapons and two earlier conferences, 44 of the states present called for a ban on nuclear weapons. The host government Austria added momentum with a specific, cooperative pledge to “fill the legal gap for the prohibition of nuclear weapons” and eliminate them.