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Deeply concerned for migrants in many regions, especially those “driven to undertake journeys of desperate risk and danger”, the WCC Executive Committee has declared: “All members of the international community have a moral and legal duty to save the lives of those in jeopardy at sea or in transit, regardless of their origin and status.”

More than 400 representatives of member churches and partner bodies from 28 countries in Asia, Australia and New Zealand, headed home on 27 May from an exciting week in Jakarta, Indonesia after attending the Christian Conference of Asia's (CCA) 14th General Assembly.

Four weeks of negotiations on nuclear weapons came to a close on Friday 22 May, as the Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty ended without a formal agreement. Despite the outcome, a bright new prospect towards a world without nuclear weapons has emerged in the form of a Humanitarian Pledge, now endorsed by 107 states, which promises “to fill the legal gap for the prohibition and elimination of nuclear weapons”.

“Christianity in China” forms the theme of 14 articles published in the March 2015 issue of The Ecumenical Review, a quarterly journal of the WCC. According to guest editors Xiao Ping Sun and Dietrich Werner, “Although early issues of The Ecumenical Review devoted some attention to the developments in Chinese Christianity and the need for better understanding and dialogue, in recent years the journal has published few articles” describing expressions of faith in China.

The prospect of armed robots taking human lives, and whether to ban autonomous weapons before they are made, concentrated the minds of governmental and non-governmental delegates at a United Nations forum in Geneva in mid-April.

Qualities of the Pacific region – communal life, unbroken tradition of faith, work to combat injustice, deep scriptural grounding – are valuable contributions toward fulfilling the WCC call for a “pilgrimage of justice and peace”, said Rev. Dr Mele’ana Puloka, WCC president for the Pacific.

The Rev. Dr Walter Altmann, former moderator of the Central Committee of the WCC, has been congratulated on his 70th birthday in a private letter from the WCC general secretary Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit. Altmann, a Brazilian Lutheran pastor who has played a leading role in the ecumenical movement, turned 70 on Tuesday 4 February.

The WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea, concluded on 8 November, acting to inspire churches to renew their commitments to justice and peace. Through varied encounters and dialogue within the fellowship of churches, the Assembly has made concrete decisions and recommendations setting priorities for the future work of the WCC.

The 10th Assembly of the WCC opened on Wednesday, 30 October in Busan, Republic of Korea under the theme “God of life, lead us to justice and peace.”

The WCC general secretary has expressed “great sadness” over the death of Rev. Dr Prakai Nontawasee, former member of the WCC Central Committee and the Commission on Faith and Order in the 1970s and 1980s.

In a recent solidarity visit to Bangladesh, an ecumenical delegation was updated about the on-going persecution and attacks against religious minorities occurring in the country since early March of this year.