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Sanctions should not harm the support for the most vulnerable, says a report on the impact of sanctions on humanitarian work presented at a side-event of 52nd session at the Human Rights Council of the United Nations in Geneva on 10 March.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS) publication highlights the lessons learnt from the project Strategic Engagement of Civil Society Networks and Faith Actors in the HIV Response in India, Dominican Republic, Indonesia, and Jamaica.

During an online morning prayer service on 16 November, Bishop Arnold Temple, chairperson of the World Council of Churches Ecumenical Water Network and the president of All Africa Conference of Churches, reflected on World Toilet Day, which will be observed this year on 19 November.

Pacific islands experience lasting impacts of the 50 years of nuclear testing and the region has become a global hotspot of climate change, the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) learned in its meeting this week in Brisbane, Australia.

A couple of days of light rain brought some relief to those resisting killer bushfires across southeastern Australia. Still, firefighters, residents and other responders were bracing themselves and preparing for more mayhem.

Indigenous peoples are not only on the frontline of climate change impacts, they are also uniquely equipped with expertise to help defend ecology. Two groups - the Ecumenical Indigenous Peoples’ Networks Reference Group and the Working Group on Climate Change of the World Council of Churches (WCC) - underscored this idea as they met to discuss the world’s climate emergency. Both are composed of theologians, indigenous persons, scientists and experts on ecology and economy, representing churches from around the world.

Pilgrims coming from Germany, Italy and Norway ended their journeys for climate justice on 7 December upon arrival at the St Stephen’s Church in Katowice, Poland, where the United Nations (UN) climate conference is underway. They were warmly welcomed by the delegations of the World Council of Churches (WCC) and the Lutheran World Federation (LWF) that are attending the 24th Conference of Parties of UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP24).

As Kerala, the southern state of India, nicknamed “God’s Own Country,” battles one of the worst flood disasters in a century, various religious communities have opened their doors to help homeless people.

At a meeting in Auckland, New Zealand from 1-3 August, the Pacific Conference of Churches released texts on climate change and nuclear weapons, and issued calls to action related to human rights and other issues.

Worsening global inequality is borne out as more people face famine now than any other time in modern history. Fr Nithiya Sagayam, national coordinator of the Association of Franciscan Families of India, is gravely concerned that the global response to extreme poverty is too low in almost every country while, he says, “corporations continue to grow richer and richer.”

Thirty-five years into the response to HIV and AIDS, it remains a disease that not only thrives on, but exploits the lines of exclusion and inequality in society. In the Philippines, where there has been an alarming increase in people testing positive for HIV, the country’s National Council of Churches recognized that more than words were needed. While dialogue and debate were important, they needed to translate into action, given the ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor in Filipino society, and a faith-based and societal milieu still dominated by a sex-negative theology.

As participants in a workshop on HIV offered their personal reflections, they shared how their hearts have been deepened and changed by a dialogue facilitated by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines (NCCP).

“I came here to know the difference between HIV and AIDS, and to distinguish the role of women, especially women pastors, in educating, empowering, and enlightening people in her flock about their view on HIV,” said Rev. Mary Ann Kadile, a pastor from the United Church of Christ in the Philippines. She traveled from Mindanao to San Pablo City, Laguna to participate in a workshop on HIV led by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines.

As the 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change came to a close in Paris, a consultation organized by the National Council of Churches in the Philippines and the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance of the WCC on 11 December in Quezon City, Philippines considered “The Right to Food and Life in the Context of Climate Change.”

Some 40 individuals from churches, faith-based groups, community-based organizations, academia and the government will gather in the Philippines on 11 December for a consultation entitled The Right to Food and Life in the Context of Climate Change.

During the 4th United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, the WCC, in collaboration with the ACT Alliance and Lutheran World Federation, organized a side-event on “Faith-based organizations’ contribution to the protection of communities’ land rights: lessons learnt and good practices from Africa, Asia and Latin America” at the Ecumenical Centre in Geneva.

To promote strong measures against climate change, the WCC and the Geneva Interfaith Forum on Climate Change, Environment and Human Rights organized a side event to the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Christians need a "spirituality of resistance" to face oppression, violence and experiences of defeat, the WCC general secretary said in an address at Germany’s biggest Protestant gathering.