Church leaders from Canada, the Holy Land, and South Africa have addressed the central committee of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in Geneva on reconciliation, explaining that the process involving communities is not easy and needs hard work and responsibility.
The World Council of Churches (WCC), in collaboration with the Lutheran World Federation (LWF), Soka Gakkai International, and Brahma Kumaris, convened a side event titled "Deliver climate action: Support a Robust Global Stocktake from a human rights and Ethical perspective," on 5 June in Bohn, Germany. The event brought together experts and stakeholders to emphasize the importance of integrating human rights, ethical considerations, and climate justice into the forthcoming Global Stocktake process.
On 30 June, the World Council of Churches and Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe will host a conversation “remembering all victims of Whiteness, with a particular focus on “The Criminalisation of Blackness and the Toxicity of ‘Greener Pastures".
Despite changes in child rights in recent decades, the world faces attacks on democracy, shrinking civil society space, and an unprecedented backlash against universal human rights, and these undermine child rights.
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.
In an exclusive interview, a prominent figure in the field of peace and justice, the former general secretary of National Council of Churches in Korea and former executive secretary for the Christian Conference of Asia, Rev. Hong-Jung Lee, shared insights into his journey and experiences working towards peace and justice in the Korean Peninsula. Drawing on his extensive experience and involvement in various ecumenical organizations, he shed light on the importance of healing, reconciliation, and the role of churches and Christians in advancing peace in Korea.
“Tax justice is a matter of faith,” said Suzanne Matale. “By faith, [all] are entitled to abundant life. Ordinary people have a right to know and to participate in decision-making tables that affect our own God-given dignity.”
During an ecumenical morning prayer held 15 May, the World Council of Churches (WCC) staff and partners observed the UN International Day of Living Together in Peace, holding in prayer many nations across the world facing challenges to living together in harmony.
“While religions invite believers to have faith in God, ethics give us faith in our shared humanity. Ethics allow us to identify the common good through conflicting interests and needs. They show us the path in dark moments and deep waters,” said Dr Fadi Daou, executive director of Globethics.
A global call for prayers and support for the Democratic Republic of Congo has amplified as floods and landslides left hundreds of people dead in South Kivu, a province in the east of the country.
Strengthening the link between Christian perspectives and practical action for human rights, a symposium on human dignity and rights took place in the Ecumenical Institute at Bossey on 25-26 April.
Participants of the United Nations Economic and Social Council Financing for Development Forum and representatives from the World Council of Churches (WCC), the World Communion of Reformed Churches, the World Methodist Council, the Lutheran World Federation, and the Council for World Mission convened in New York to discuss the converging food, fuel, and debt crises and their impacts on vulnerable communities.
The World Council of Churches (WCC) will host a hybrid event on 2 May in conjunction with the 32nd session of the United Nations Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent.
Gertrude Oforiwa Fefoame was elected to chair the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She is also a commissioner for the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission on World Mission and Evangelism, as well as an active member of the Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network.
World Council of Churches (WCC) general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay is attending the 29th General Assembly of the National Council of Churches in India from 21-24 April at the Henry Martyn Institute, in Hyderabad, India.
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.
In a letter to the Presbyterian Church (USA), World Council of Churches general secretary Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay extended condolences in the wake of a shooting at the Old National Bank in Louisville, Kentucky—just blocks away from the church offices.
The year 2023 marks a decade of diplomatic debate about autonomous weapons – so-called ‘killer robots’. This decade has also seen accelerating development of such weapons systems in a number of countries. But efforts in the context of the Convention on Certain Conventional
Amidst rains in drought-stricken regions in eastern Africa, church leaders and relief agencies are warning the situation is still precarious and the people will need food aid during the next months.
