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WCC general secretary opens New York symposium on human rights and dignity

World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay opened the 10th Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs on 23 January in New York City, with reflections on the theme “Human Rights and Dignity: Towards a Just, Peaceable, and Inclusive Future.”

23 January 2024

Lecture - Speech

2024 Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith Based Organizations in International Affairs - Address by Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay, WCC General Secretary

23 January 2024

General Secretary

Symposium will explore human rights and dignity on the path to peace

The tenth edition of the Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs will take place on 23 January online, and will explore the theme “Human Rights and Dignity: Toward a Just, Peaceable, and Inclusive Future.”

10 January 2024

10th Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs

23 January 2024

Online

Statement: public statement

Statement: Religious Leaders Unite for Climate Peace in Solidarity with Refugees

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.

12 December 2023

Ecumenical movement

Message

Address by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the WCC Town-Hall Discussion on Interfaith Dialogue, Climate Change, and Refugee Displacement

Address by His All-Holiness Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew at the WCC Town-Hall Discussion on Interfaith Dialogue, Climate Change, and Refugee Displacement - at the Religious Leaders Unite for Climate Peace in Solidarity with Refugees, Ecumenical Center, Geneva, Switzerland 12 December 2023.

12 December 2023

Ecumenical movement

Message

Message of the H.E. Archbishop Dr Aykazian Vicken at the Religious Leaders Unite for Climate Peace in Solidarity with Refugees

Message of the H.E. Archbishop Dr Aykazian Vicken, Vice-moderator of the WCC central committee at the "Religious Leaders Unite for Climate Peace in Solidarity with Refugees" event at the Ecumenical Center, Geneva, Switzerland 12 December 2023.

12 December 2023

WCC Officers

Feature story

WCC seeks effective international engagement for justice, peace, and reconciliation

As the world reaches what UN secretary-general António Guterres has termed “an inflection point” in addressing major, converging crises, the World Council of Churches (WCC) is intensifying its close interactions with the United Nations, key UN agencies, and partner non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

22 November 2023

9th Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs

24 January 2023

Organized by the World Council of Churches and a variety of other faith-based partners, the symposium, an online event, will open with a high-level panel consisting of a UN official, faith-based representative, and member state. The theme of the 2023 edition is "Securing People’s Wellbeing and Planetary Sustainability".

Online event

A woman standing at the entrance of the Global Village, Durban, South Africa

“Statelessness is about expulsion from the human community”

Ekaterina E. wears the human face of statelessness every day.“Statelessness is about expulsion from the human community” she says, “for me personally, being stateless means I have been separated from my mother for nearly 30 years now.”

23 June 2022

A WCC pilgrim team visit to Italy was facilitated by the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME) and hosted by the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI).The group visited church-related initiatives to support refugees and migrants in Palermo, Lampedusa and Rome. At the Methodist temple in Rome, the WCC delegation had the opportunity to visit the exhibition "Listen to my Voice", sponsored by the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy and the Clewer Initiative, May 2022, Photo: WCC

Webinar on World Refugee Day will focus on statelessness and the “Interfaith Affirmations on Belongingness”

On 20 June, World Refugee Day, a World Council of Churches (WCC) webinar will focus on statelessness and the recently addopted “Interfaith Affirmations on Belongingness.”

14 June 2022

A group of Oromo IDPs walk on the dry riverbed near Burka Dare IDP site in Seweyna woreda (administrative unit), Bale Zone, Ethiopia, Photo: Albin Hillert/Life on Earth Pictures

WCC, Religions for Peace will release joint message on statelessness: “Belonging—Affirmations for Faith Leaders’

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and Religions for Peace will issue on 9 May a joint message on statelessness, “Belonging—Affirmations for Faith Leaders”.

The document is one of the most recent fruits of WCC work that has been ongoing for more than a decade around the issue of statelessness. It is currently available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

06 May 2022

8th Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs

25 January 2022

The 8th Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs, entitled "Mobilizing Moral Influence and Governance to End the Systemic Injustices of Racism, the legacy of Colonialism and Slavery", will be held virtually 8:00 – 12:30 EDT on Tuesday 25 January 2022.

How racism and colonialism are exacerbating impacts of climate change

29 September 2021

In the context of the 76th session of the UN General Assembly, this webinar will explore both the tremendous achievement of the decolonization of land and people and the legacies of colonialism and their effects on people and the environment.

Media advisory

Symposium to examine role of religion and the UN in working for gender equality in 2021

Senior UN staff, representatives from faith groups and members of civil society will be presenting at the 7^th Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs on January 26, 2021. This year’s event will focus on “2021: A defining year for accelerating gender equality, equity and justice,” with a series of presentations and discussions on issues including multi-stakeholder collaboration to accelerate gender equality, equity and justice, the urgency for achieving it, women advancing peace and security, and multilateralism and the intersection of religion and human rights.

19 January 2021

"The Old Plantation", ca.1785-1795. Attributed to John Rose, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

In reflections on hate speech and whiteness, “Where is your humanity?”

An ongoing webinar series convened this week by the World Council of Churches (WCC) continues to offer theological reflections on “Hate Speech and Whiteness.”

20 October 2020

Eritrean asylum seekers pray before meal at a church-run shelter in Freudenstadt, Germany. Photo: Paul Jeffrey/WCC

“World of Neighbors” aims to strengthen interreligious relations for migrants and refugees

An interreligious conference exploring religion and migration was hosted from 27-30 January in Sweden by Religions for Peace co-president and Church of Sweden Archbishop Dr Antje Jackelén.

27 February 2020

H. E. Miguel Moratinos, high representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Photo: Marcelo Schneider/WCC

Worshipping safely: UN, faith communities unite to prevent violence

In an era in which places of worship have become, too often, targets for violence, United Nations officials and religious leaders gathered in New York City on 19 September to talk over plans for preventing attacks against people of faith.

20 September 2019