WCC

Preserving Life on Land: Plans, Projects, Pitfalls and Partnerships for Rainforest Preservation

Dear UN partners and participants at the HLPF,

On behalf of co-sponsors The Episcopal Church, Interfaith Rainforest Initiative Colombia, World Council of Churches, and the Parliament of the World’s Religions, you are warmly invited to a virtual parallel event on the occasion of the HLPF review of Goal 15 – Life on Land:

“Preserving Life on Land: Plans, Projects, Pitfalls and Partnerships for Rainforest Preservation”

Monday, July 11th, 1 – 2:30 pm EDT

Register here: https://zoom.us/meeting/register/tJItfu6tpz4vG9Q-XsUmPdh2r5SPPQ4H8CRv

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-Vienna, please visit congocsd.wordpress.com.

Two years after the death of George Floyd: Antiracism, #BLM and the United Nations

As people continue to challenge the systemic racism that has devalued the lives of Black and Brown people globally, many are asking the question: why do some of these tragic events spark a stronger call for change than others?

Floyd’s murder also revived the concept of antiracism. The webinar will explore, in practice, what it means to be antiracist. Participants will also be invited to reflect on the role played by Christian nationalism in reinforcing white supremacy and racial subjugation, thereby fueling racism, xenophobia and racial discrimination.

As a follow up of its 1 June 2021 webinar marking the 100th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Massacre, the World Council of Churches Commission of the Churches on International Affairs will host this webinar on the sides of the 30th session of the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent, which will be taking place in New York city, USA, from 23 to 27 May 2022.

Speakers:

Moderator: Rev. Chebon Kernell, ordained elder in the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference

  • Gaynel D. Curry, member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on People of African Descent
  • Rt. Rev. Elizabeth A. Eaton, presiding bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America
  • Rev. Dr. Leah Gunning Francis, vice president for Academic Affairs and dean of the Faculty at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis
  • Prof. Gay McDougall, member of the United Nations Committee for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD)

Register here to join this webinar live on Wednesday, 25 May, 3:30 pm CEST / 9:30am EST.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@yahoo.com or bknotts@uua.org. 

Remembering Past Massacres: Honoring the legacy and resilience of the victims | EUROPE

The webinar is part of a series of regional webinars organized by the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in collaboration with the WCC Spiritual Life.

It is part of the many virtual events organized this year to mark the 75th anniversary of the CCIA.

Realizing that several of these massacres have lost relevance over the years, or are simply forgotten, the purpose of these regional webinars is to reflect on how these fallen heroes and heroines are remembered and honoured today.

Moderator: Rev. Karin van den Broeke, WCC Executive Committee member

The following speakers will share country perspectives:

  • Dr. Geraldine Smyth, Northern Ireland
  • Rev. Assoc. Prof. Habil. Cristian Sonea, Roumania
  • Eugenia Koukoura, Greece
  • Rev. Prof. Dr Konrad Raiser, former WCC General Secretary, will also be on the panel, and will bring insights the role of healing of memories.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_-a7AJvGURAeQmQ5DiQx05Q

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Human Rights, please email the co-chairs at bobbinassar@gmail.com or bknotts@uua.org. 

COP26, Fossil Fuel Divestment and a Just Transition for All

Around the world, faith institutions are supporting a just transition from fossil fuels to clean energy by divesting from fossil fuel companies and investing in climate solutions.

More than 500 faith institutions have made fossil fuel divestment commitments, including the Irish Catholic Bishops’ Conference, the Methodist Church of Great Britain, the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, American Jewish World Service, the Islamic Society of North America and Sydney Buddhist Centre. In 2020, the Vatican recommended that Catholic institutions divest from fossil fuel companies.

Join this interactive webinar the week before COP26 in Glasgow to hear from inspiring leaders on the steps that faith institutions are taking on fossil fuel divestment and investment in climate solutions.

The webinar will highlight the recent call from Southern African Anglican Bishops for an immediate end to oil and gas exploration in Africa. You will also hear from faith institutions demonstrating leadership on investment in climate solutions, including the Church of Sweden.

We are delighted to welcome the following speakers:

  • Keynote speaker: Bishop William Nolan, Bishop of Galloway and Lead Bishop on the Environment for the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Scotland
  • Bishop Hugh Nelson, Bishop of St Germans in the Diocese of Truro (Church of England): The Diocese of Truro decision to divest from fossil fuels and invest in renewable energy
  • Rev. Dr. Rachel Mash, Environmental Coordinator of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa (Green Anglicans): The call of Southern African Bishops for an immediate end to fossil fuel exploration in Africa
  • Gunnela Hahn, Head of Responsible Investment, Church of Sweden: Fossil fuel divestment and investment in climate solutions
  • Sunita Viswanath, Co-Founder of Hindus for Human Rights and GreenFaith Fellow
  • Richard Brooks, Climate Finance Director, stand.earth
  • James Buchanan, Bright Now Campaign Manager at Operation Noah, will join the speaker panel for the Q&A

Webinar chair: Prince Papa, Africa Programs Coordinator at Laudato Si’ Movement

It will provide an opportunity to find out how your Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish or other faith organization can join the next global divestment announcement in the spring of 2022.

This webinar is organized by Laudato Si’ Movement, Operation Noah, World Council of Churches, Green Anglicans and GreenFaith.

Register here!

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Financing for Development, please visit ngosonffd.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP. For more information on the NGO Committee on Sustainable Development-NY, please visit ngocsd-ny.org. 

Remembering Past Massacres: Honoring the Legacy & Resilience of the Victims

Dear ecumenical friends,

The WCC/CCIA (Commission of the Churches on International Affairs) series of regional webinars focussing on REMEMBERING PAST MASSACRES: HONORING THE LEGACY AND RESILIENCE OF THE VICTIMS will take us this time to the Pacific. We hope you’ll join us! Please share in your networks.

Date: Monday 18 October 2021

Time: 9:00 – 10:30 AM CEST (i.e. 8AM Lagos, Nigeria / 2PM Bangkok, Thailand / 7 PM Suva, Fiji / 8PM Nakualofa, Tonga)

Speakers:

  • Rev. James Bhagwan, General Secretary, Pacific Conference of Churches
  • Danity Laukon, University of the South Pacific Marshall Islands
  • Taaitulagi Tuioti, Methodist Church in Samoa
  • Rev. Billy Wetewea, Protestant Church of Kanaky New Caledonia

Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_auNIo99OSg2-BSipSLGTMA

Learn more via Twitter or Facebook.

Objectives of the webinar:

This series of regional webinars is organized by the Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) of the World Council of Churches (WCC) in collaboration with the WCC Spiritual Life. It is part of the many virtual events organised this year to mark the 75th anniversary of the CCIA. Realizing that several of these massacres have lost relevance over the years, or are simply forgotten, the purpose of these regional webinars is to reflect on how these fallen heroes and heroines are remembered and honoured today. Each webinar will be a moment of lament and will explore among others, the following questions:

  • How do we recognised these tragedies, and celebrate the survival, resistance, resilience, and heroes of these communities?
  • How do we honour their martyrdom?
  • What is done to prevent them from falling into amnesia or denial?
  • How do we memorialise these tragedies?
  • How do we transcend these past massacres and move towards healing?
  • How do we ensure that future generations learn from the past, ensuring that history will not be repeated?
  • What of reparations to descendants of these victims?
  • Are monuments sufficient even though they can be perceived as a reminder of trauma, and as memorials of symbolic reparations?

We offer these regional webinars in the hope that we will be empowered to elicit a promise and a pledge to ensure the non-recurrence of such human atrocities even as we celebrate the legacy of those who have survived these massacres.

Dates of regional webinars:

  • 27 August 2021: Africa
  • 27 September 2021: Spanish-speaking Americas
  • 11 October 2021: Asia
  • 18 October 2021: Pacific
  • 18 November 2021: Middle-East
  • 6 December 2021: Europe

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Disarmament, Peace, and Security, please visit ngocdps.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP.

Remembering Past Massacres: Honoring the legacy and resilience of the victims

The webinar, part of the ongoing “Remembering Past Massacres” series, will focus on Latin America, with speakers reflecting on the atrocities committed against Indigenous populations in the name of Christianization, the trans-Atlantic slave trade, the ruthless military dictatorships in South America during the 1960s-80s, and the 1937 massacre of Haitians in the Dominican Republic.

The webinar will be in Spanish and English.

Register here: us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8Rd14QbmQkKa50EyZyGmyQ

Speakers include:

  • Moderator – Rev. Gloria Ulloa Alvarado, WCC President for Latin America
  • Co-facilitator – Rev. Dr. Mikie Roberts, WCC staff

Panellists:

  • Dr. Betty Ruth Lozano Lerma, Colombia
  • Nobel Peace Laureate Mr. Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Argentina
  • Prof. Dr. Jessica Byron-Reid, WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs member, Trinidad and Tobago

More info via social media:

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, please visit facebook.com/NGOCoRIP. For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org.

Remembering and Honoring Past Massacres: The Legacy and Resilience of the Victims

Remembering and Honoring Past Massacres: the Legacy and Resilience of the Victims

This webinar conversation will start by marking the 100th year anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot, and will broaden its scope on other similar tragic events the English-speaking Americas (USA, Canada and the Caribbean).

This webinar will be a conversation (not a lecture) and remembrance, punctuated with moments of art (poetry, drums). A moment to lament, but also to recognize these fallen heroes. Other webinars focussing on the same issue of past massacres will be organized throughout the year and will focus on other regions.

We invite you to register here for this event:

https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_qsguoT97Th2e76YIYcmNvw

Moderator: Bishop Mary-Ann Swenson, WCC Central Committee

Co-facilitator: Rev. Dr. Mikie A. Roberts, WCC programme executive for Spiritual Life

Panellists:

  • Rev. Dr. Robert Turner, pastor of Historic Vernon chapel A.M.E. church, Tulsa, Oklahoma and academic dean for Jackson Theological Seminary
  • Dr. Michael McEachrane, co-founder and consultative member of the European Network of People of African Descent
  • Mrs. Jennifer P. Martin, Education in Mission Secretary, Caribbean and North America Council for Mission (CANACOM)
  • Dr. Daniel D. Lee, academic dean of the Centre for Asian American Theology and Ministry, assistant professor of theology and Asian American ministry at Fuller Theological Seminary
  • Mr. Russel Burns, member of the National Indigenous Ministries and Justice Council (NIC), of the Indigenous caucus of Western Mining Action Network (WMAN), and of the Comprehensive Review Task Group (CRTG) of the United Church of Canada.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Social Development, please visit ngosocdev.org.

Covid-19 Vaccination: How churches can ensure that stateless people are not left behind

Covid-19 vaccination: How churches can ensure that stateless people are not left behind

Link to join the webinar on Monday 15 March @ 13:00-14:30 CET: oikoumene.org/live

As any virus, Covid-19 is an invisible threat which has changed our lives and affected our economies a great deal. The current Covid-19 pandemic has been a good reminder that the right to health is a universal right, as enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (article 25). It is a right that every individual is entitled to, irrespective of his or her legal status.

The pandemic is also a reminder that we need to work together as a global family to escape this global health crisis. This means that vaccination should be accessible to all, ideally as soon as possible before the virus mutates and becomes resistant to existing vaccines.

In these times of health crisis, governments have been confronted with difficult decisions to make, including avoiding economic disaster while at the same time finding a decent response to the pandemic. It is almost natural that their primary concerns are their nationals. Yet, there are many individuals living on the margins in their territory, such as undocumented migrants, refugees, and stateless people.

Stateless people, i.e. people with no legal identification, have been in most cases overlooked and forgotten. Invisible, yet living in our midst.

How can governments ensure that an invisible threat like Covid-19 does not disproportionately affect people and communities who have been always been overlooked and treated as invisible in other times? The pre-existing vulnerability of stateless people, i.e. their invisibility, put them at greater risk of being left behind when national public health campaigns (such as vaccinations) are planned.

How can churches and ecumenical bodies ensure that the vaccinations are accessible to all, including stateless people and other people undocumented people living on the margins during this time of pandemic?

The current pandemic is an important reminder that we are all equally vulnerable in the face of the current pandemic: Covid-19 does not discriminate, but our responses to it does.

Speakers include (alphabetical order):

  • Mr. Amal de Chickera, Co-Director, Institute of Statelessness and Inclusion
  • Dr. Ronald Lalthanmawia, Programme Coordinator for Prophetic Diakonia, Christian Conference of Asia (CCA)
  • Ms. Mira Neaimeh, Regional Executive, World Student Christian Federation – Middle East
  • Ms. Marcella Rouweler, Legal Officer, UNHCR Statelessness Section
  • Mr. Gorden Simango, Director, All Africa Conference of Churches (AACC)

The webinar will be moderated by Rev. Prof. Dr Cornelia Füllkrug-Weitzel, member of CCIA.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the NGO Committee on Migration, please visit ngo-migration.org. For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com.

CSW 65: How to Challenge and Change a Social Norm?

Gender injustice is deep-rooted in social norms. Social norms are the values defined by a group and to which members of the group are expected to comply, otherwise risking disapproval, marginalization and/or exclusion. Religion and culture have a strong influence on the definition of social norms, including those relating to gender. At any given moment, many social norms are presented as fixed. Our event brings together gender advocates, who are challenging and changing social norms, to achieve gender justice. Tackling social norms related to Sexual and Gender-Based Violence, Women in Leadership, Child Marriage, Political Voting, Masculinities, FGM and Social Protection.

To register for “CSW 65: How to Challenge and Change a Social Norm,” and to explore other upcoming events on gender equality, click here. 

Organized by: Side by Side, Islamic Relief Worldwide, ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation, Religions for Peace, All Africa Conference of Churches, World Council of Churches, Christian Aid

Religions for Peace’s Co-Moderator, Dr. Vinu Aram, will be a speaker at this event.

Please note that you must have a profile on the NGO CSW65 virtual platform to register for this event. You can register as an NGO CSW65 Virtual Forum Advocate for free here: NGO CSW65 Forum Advocate registration page link.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-NY, please visit ngocsw.org. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Geneva, please visit ngocsw-geneva.ch. For more information on the NGO Committee on the Status of Women-Vienna, please visit ngocswvienna.org.

[Webinar] Reconnecting in Faith with Creation, Land and Water

Webinar #1 on the series “Churches on the Road to an Economy of Life and Ecological Justice”

Organized by the World Council of Churches

28 July, 14:00 – 15:30 CEST

Registration: https://forms.gle/pKduMbJhXSBfNtjP7

Live stream: www.oikoumene.org/live

Moderated by: Manoj Kurian: coordinator, WCC-Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance Dinesh Suna: coordinator, WCC-Ecumenical Water Network

For additional information, please read the “Roadmap for Congregations, Communities and Churches for an Economy of Life and Ecological Justice” on the WCC website: https://www.oikoumene.org/en/press-centre/events/webinar-series-churches-on-the-road-to-an-economy-of-life-and-ecological-justice.

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CoNGO Notes: For more information on the Committee of Religious NGOs at the United Nations, please visit rngos.wordpress.com. For more information on the NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns, please visit csvgc-ny.org.

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