Search results

Armenian people and churches urgently need “a generous international response to the humanitarian needs of the refugees who fled from Nagorno-Karabakh, especially vulnerable women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities, and those without any other means of support,” the World Council of Churches (WCC) executive committee stated during its meeting in Abuja, Nigeria. 

Climate change, the rights of asylum seekers and indigenous issues were amongst human rights concerns raised during a 2-day workshop organised by the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of Churches on International Affairs and the National Council of Churches of Australia in Brisbane on 24-25 February. The workshop, which included representatives from the Uniting Church, Catholic Archdiocese of Brisbane, The Salvation Army, Sisters of Saint Joseph, Queensland Churches Together and the Anglican Board of Mission, took place in the context of the upcoming Universal Periodic Review of human rights in Australia by the United Nations Human Rights Council later this year.

For World AIDS Day 2019, the World Council of Churches (WCC) embraces the theme "Communities make the difference." World AIDS Day is being commemorated in the context of 16 Days Against Gender-based Violence, an annual international campaign that began on 25 November and ends on 10 December, Human Rights Day. The WCC also helps bring about grassroots awareness and change through the Thursdays in Black campaign for a world free from rape and violence.

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is supporting a new ecumenical campaign advocating for tax justice, called the Zacchaeus Project (#ZacTAX), that was launched 11 July at the United Nations in New York City.

Last month, three members of Nigeria’s Christian community spoke to Government representatives in Geneva, spotlighting the challenges that children, and particularly girls, face in their society. Their meetings took place ahead of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of their country, at the United Nations this week.

The 3rd meeting of the Ecumenical Panel on a New International Financial and Economic Architecture (NIFEA) took place on 21-22 April in New York City to coincide with the United Nations 3rd Economic and Social Council Forum on Financing for Development on 23-26 April.

The WCC Executive Committee met in Amman, Jordan from 17-23 November to approve the 2018 plan and budget and prepare for renewal of the WCC strategic plan. The Executive Committee also discerned the way forward for the WCC’s involvement in Palestine and Israel by learning more about the particular situation in Jordan and the Middle East, then discussing the challenges of the churches and the WCC response. The Patriarch of the Holy City of Jerusalem, All Palestine and Jordan, Theophilos III, welcomed the group.

Members of a church-backed coalition have called on Indonesia to open access to West Papua for international journalists, independent observers, human rights organizations and the International Red Cross.

Hope in a Pilgrimage of Justice and Peace formed the integral thread for proceedings at the meeting of the Central Committee of the WCC in Trondheim, Norway this week. The 2016 meeting took place 22-28 June, the second gathering since the Central Committee was elected at the WCC 10th Assembly in Busan, Republic of Korea in 2013.

“Once, the Mediterranean Sea was called ‘the lake of peace’,” said Dr Tarek Mitri of Lebanon at a recent conference promoting a coordinated response to massive migration in Europe. "Today, we find it is a lake of tears, fears and dangers.”

A coalition of faith-based organizations is emphasizing a joint approach in addressing unprecedented levels of violence against women and girls.

Commemorating the Armenian Genocide of 1915-23 was to have been the principal focus of the service of Sunday morning prayer on 15 November in the cathedral church of Saint-Pierre at the summit of Geneva’s old town. Following terror attacks in Beirut and Paris killing and wounding hundreds of civilians over the preceding days, the prayers of the Protestant Church of Geneva and the WCC Executive Committee took on a new dimension.

Representatives from the WCC offered significant input at a Global Conference on Religion and Sustainable Development held in Washington, D.C.

Meeting from 17 to 24 June, the newly reconstituted Commission on Faith and Order of the WCC has begun to define its principal trajectories for ecumenical study and common activity from 2015 until the next WCC Assembly in 2020.

At the Central Committee meeting of the WCC, leadership of the Council’s consultative bodies was announced. These bodies will steer through the work of the WCC in accomplishing the call from its 10th Assembly to engage in a “pilgrimage of justice and peace”. The WCC assembly was held in the Republic of Korea in 2013.

The WCC Executive Committee, currently meeting in Switzerland, is working to translate the mandate of the WCC 10th Assembly into strategic plans and visible actions, focusing on the churches’ efforts toward a “pilgrimage for justice and peace”.

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.

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.