Youth gathering at CLAI VI Assembly, Havana, Cuba

CUBA
CLAI VI GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Youth Training In “Good Treatment” and United Nations Fund for Population Perspective on Importance of Strategic Alliances with Churches

Youth training workshop focuses on “Good Treatment” of children and adolescents, and UN official points to sustainable development resting “in people, with women empowered, with young people engaged, with people of all traditions, faiths and cultures living in dignity and rights.”

HONDURAS
A Just and Sustainable Future without Illegitimate Foreign Debt: LWF Partners in Central America Say Public Debt Leads to Structural Violence
Tegucigalpa, Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Social Forum on the External Debt of Honduras (FOSDEH) and other non-governmental organizations in the Central American country say Honduras is on the brink of ruin. It cannot pay government employees, contractors or suppliers. Construction unions owed more than USD 100 million by the State are demanding payment. Teachers can go up to six months without salaries. Road construction has stopped and the government health provider is threatening to dismiss employees. + Details

SIRIA
Update on abduction of Archbishops Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim Metropolitan of the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo, and Boulos Yazaji Metropolitan of the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo
Thursday, May 23, 2013
The Secretary of the Global Christian Forum, Rev. Dr. Larry Miller, has received a message May 22 from the office of Archbishop Mar Gregorios Yohanna Ibrahim of the Syriac Orthodox Archdiocese of Aleppo. + Details

CUBA
CLAI VI GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Creating a biblical ethic of peace in Colombia
Havana, Wednesday, May 22, 2013
Colombia’s churches, supported by their international partners, must develop a single “ethic of peace that comes from Biblical values,” a number of that country’s faith leaders told a packed room at the Havana Libre hotel May 20, prior to the sixth General Assembly of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI). + Details

BRAZIL
Brazil Lagging in Fight against Human Trafficking
Rio de Janeiro, Wednesday, May 22, 2013
In contravention of international law, in Brazil trafficking in human beings remains invisible and unpunished, which encourages the practice of trafficking for sexual exploitation, forced labour, illegal adoption and the trade in human organs, according to experts. + Details

CUBA
CLAI VI GENERAL ASSEMBLY: Continental Consultation on Church and Sexual and Reproductive Rights underway
Havana, Tuesday, May 21, 2013
"As long as we have philosophical theories that rationally justify the appropriation of truth and we do not reflect on their principles and foundations, admitting that they are creations of ours and not visions of reality, an ecumenism of concrete gestures cannot be sown, cannot germinate,” said Dominican Republic biblical scholar Tirsa Ventura yesterday, May 20, when opening the reflections supporting the theme of the Latin American Council of Churches (CLAI) VI General Assembly in Havana, Cuba: An Ecumenism of Concrete Gestures. + Details

PERU
Open Media initiates campaign against Internet restrictions
Lima, Tuesday, May 21, 2013
"Changing our copyright laws in ways that restrict the open Internet and economic opportunity are unfair to citizens, businesses, creators, and civil society organizations. Not only could such changes raise prices for users of copyright works, but they could also stifle our knowledge economy and chill innovation," says Open Media International. + Details

SWITZERLAND
The Lutheran World Federation Develops New Visual Identity: New Logo Is a Dynamic Expression of the Lutheran Communion
Geneva, Monday, May 20, 2013
The Lutheran World Federation (LWF) has begun rolling out its new visual identity including a new logo. It will be officially launched together with a redesigned LWF web site on 12 June during the LWF Council meeting. + Details

NICARAGUA
Indigenous Nicaraguans Fight to Death for Their Last Forest
Managua, Monday, May 20, 2013
Mayangna indigenous communities in northern Nicaragua are caught up in a life-and-death battle to defend their ancestral territory in the Bosawas Biosphere Reserve from the destruction wrought by invading settlers and illegal logging. + Details

COLOMBIA
WACC supported project in Colombia bringing about change in media racist and sexist language
Friday, May 17, 2013
A project supported by the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) in the area of Tumaco, on the Colombian Pacific coast, worked with eight of the ten communication media there, to create a protocol for the coverage of ethnic and gender issues. In addition, a newspaper and radio program was begun for the purpose of dealing with those issues. + Details