WCC NEWS: At Karlsruhe Foyer Church and Law reception, keynote address focuses on challenges to human rights

At the annual Karlsruhe Foyer Church and Law reception on 15 June, German bishops gathered with judges of the Federal Constitutional Court and Federal Court of Justice, as well as representatives of the Federal Prosecutor's Office and of the legal profession in Germany, to hear some reflections on “Ecumenical engagement for human rights, and current challenges.” Karlsruhe, Germany, December 2019. Photo: Xanthi Morfi/WCC 16 June 2021 Offering the keynote address, Peter Prove, director of the World Council of Churches (WCC) Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA), spoke on the history and evolution of WCC’s engagement for human rights. The post-war context in which the WCC was finally born made a profound impact on it, reflected Prove. “The effects of war and the gross violations of human rights that took place during the conflict demanded attention from the churches as well as from governments, and strengthened the appeal for a new international order, institutions and instruments for peace and for human rights,” he said. After recounting the contributions made by the WCC to the development of the international human rights framework and the evolution of its own approach to these issues, Prove highlighted the increasing challenges to this legal framework for the protection of human dignity. He observed that, “in recent years, we have faced an exceptional and unprecedented constellation of challenges to human rights - even to the very legitimacy of the human rights framework as a whole.” The ascendancy of populist nationalist political leaders in many parts of the world, and the increased licence that they gave to such hatreds as racism, xenophobia and antisemitism has become a phenomenon especially grievous to witness, said Prove. “These political forces accelerated a retreat from commitment to the rule of (international) law and from multilateralism in general,” he said. Prove concluded by sharing his hope that the WCC 11th Assembly in 2022 will serve as an opportunity for churches to rise above these challenges and to become even more engaged in support of human rights and the legal framework developed for their promotion and protection. “I hope and I pray that compassion - and the love of Christ on which the theme of the WCC Assembly in Karlsruhe next year is focused - will define the path for our next steps together for human dignity and rights,” he said. Read the full keynote address by Peter Prove See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 350 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 550 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC acting general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Ioan Sauca, from the Orthodox Church in Romania. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches 150 route de Ferney Geneve 2 1211 Switzerland