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WCC president for Latin America expresses concern over clashes in Venezuela

Following clashes between protesters and police in Venezuela, which left around 20 people dead in February, the WCC president for Latin America and the Caribbean, Rev. Gloria Nohemy Ulloa Alvarado, expressed concern over the violence. She made these comments on 10 March, conveying solidarity with the churches in Venezuela.

Hearing many voices for justice and peace

On Wednesday, 6 November, the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) facilitated a workshop “Hearing Many Voices for Justice and Peace” at the World Council of Churches (WCC) 10th Assembly. The WACC promotes communication as a basic human right, essential to people's dignity and community.

Situation of Nigerian churches highlighted at the Kirchentag

In developing countries, many Christians are faced with issues of corruption, war, hunger, oppression, killings and new forms of terrorism, said Rev. Dr Ibrahim Yusuf Wushishi, general secretary of the Christian Council of Nigeria, an ecumenical organization representing member churches of the World Council of Churches in Nigeria.

Letters to the future: Eco-justice visions in South Africa

What will the world look like if we continue careening down a slide of eco-injustice? Ninth graders in South Africa have some idea. In a campaign organized by Suwi Siwila, the students pretended they were living in the future, writing a description to their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Statement to COP18 / UN Climate Change Conference Doha

On 7 December at the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), while no agreement has been reached, the World Council of Churches (WCC) delivered a statement to the High-Level Ministerial Segment of COP 18 in Doha, Qatar.

The WCC statement delivered to the plenary stressed that “Climate change is happening! It is imperative to act now without more delays in view of the serious and potentially irreversible impacts of climate change.”

The statement was read by Metropolitan Seraphim of Zimbabwe, from the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria and All Africa.

WCC Programmes

Rio+20: Some “nuggets” to work with despite disappointment

Many church and civil society representatives have expressed disappointment over the lack of vision and ambition in the outcomes of the Rio+20 summit, which took place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, this June. Yet the affirmation of the human right to water and sanitation is one aspect among others in the results that the future work of the ecumenical movement for sustainability and eco-justice can build on.

Economy of Life, Justice, and Peace for All: A Call to Action

As a follow-up to the Alternative Globalization Addressing People and Earth (AGAPE) process, which concluded with the AGAPE Call presented at the WCC 9th Assembly in Porto Alegre in 2006, the WCC initiated a programme focused on eradicating poverty, challenging wealth accumulation and safeguarding ecological integrity based on the understanding that Poverty, Wealth and Ecology are integrally related. The AGAPE Call to Action is the result of a six-year process of consultations and regional studies.

WCC Programmes

Statement on asylum seekers and human trafficking in the Sinai Desert

1. During the past years thousands of asylum seekers from the Horn of Africa and Northern Africa have disappeared in the Sinai desert region while crossing the border between Egypt and Israel. The Sinai desert is a traditional transit route for people from Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and Northern African countries escaping political turmoil, hunger and poverty and hoping to end up in Europe. The people of Eritrea have been facing deep political and human rights crises, due to which around 2,000 people are attempting to flee from Eritrea every month. They end up in the hands of human trafficking rackets or fall victim to organ theft. It is out of sheer desperation, in order to escape conflict, political turmoil and deteriorating human rights situations that people take such risky journeys. However, instead of safe passage to Israel, the refugees find themselves in desert detention centres in Sinai, where they are abused in the most dehumanizing manner.

Executive committee

Ecumenical group calls for end to food blockade of North Korea

The silence of the international community to the plight of millions of North Koreans facing starvation and severe malnutrition was of deep concern to the members of an ecumenical forum for peace and reunification of the Korean Peninsula, which met last week, 16 to 19 June, in Nanjing, China.