Justice, Peace & Environment

Two tireless campaigners against the pernicious global network of drug trafficking visited London this week from Hong Kong. Australian Oblate Fr John Wotherspoon and his colleague Jane Chow, advocate against the exploitation of vulnerable individuals coerced into becoming drug mules and ending up with long sentences in prisons in Hong Kong and other Asian cities. "We are trying to stop families go... Read More

On Thursday, January 22, President Trump announced the start of the "Board of Peace," which requires a $1 billion membership fee. According to Reuters, "US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said the board's focus would be on making sure the plan for peace in Gaza was fulfilled but that it could also 'serve as an example of what's possible in other parts of the world.'" Our colleagues at Pax Christi ... Read More

2025 was a year of devastating climate extremes. From deadly heatwaves and record-breaking wildfires to floods, cyclones and droughts that overwhelmed communities, the impacts of climate change were impossible to ignore. Christian Aid's new report: Counting the Cost 2025, A Year of Climate Breakdown, reveals the true financial and human cost of the world's most destructive climate disasters. The t... Read More

The Partnership for a World without Nuclear Weapons released a statement in recognition of the fifth anniversary of the entryinto force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons: We hope for its further expansion through additional ratifications, now that a majority of the world's countries have signed the Treaty. In July 2017, the Vatican was the first nation-state to sign and ratify th... Read More

Over thirty people gathered outside the UK Home Office in London during the lunch hour on Monday 18 January to remember the many people who have died trying to find safety in Europe, including the UK. At the centre of the circle of people was an icon of Jesus as a refugee, trying to get through a barbed wire fence. Members of different Churches and Church organisations participated, with strong re... Read More

Revd Dr Helen Paynter, Director of the Centre for the Study of Bible and Violence, spoke on Saturday, 17 January at a packed meeting in St James Church, Islington, hosted by Better Story, a movement of Christians organising to resist the far right. Dr Paynter described Christian Nationalism as being ethnic and political as well as religious. It stresses an 'us against them' stance where 'we' are B... Read More

As part of the Service of Thanksgiving for the 80th anniversary of the inaugural meeting of the United Nations at Methodist Central Hall Westminster, this video was put together at the start of the service to highlight the role the church played in hosting the very first meeting of the UN General Assembly. Featuring Prime Minister Clement Attlee, Eleanor Roosevelt, delegations from Ukraine, Venezu... Read More

"On 10 January 1946, as the echoes of the Second World War still reverberated across a shattered continue, representatives from fifty-one nations gathered here, not as victors and vanquished, but as wayfarers on a shared path towards peace. They came to shape the United Nations, an audacious dream born of necessity: that humanity, scarred by unimaginable loss, could choose cooperation over conflic... Read More

A full-to-capacity conference of up to 200 people met today in the Canal Court Hotel in Newry, Co Down, organised by Ireland's Church Leaders' Group, the Irish Council of Churches and the Irish Inter-Church Meeting. This faith-based gathering was a response to the pollution of Lough Neagh, and wider environmental concerns, and involved the participation of theologians, scientists, lay people and c... Read More

The nine 'listening' ears on the Christians Aware poster for its annual conference last weekend was a constant reminder of the theme: 'Ears to Hear - Listening to Minorities.' Artist Beate Dehnen said they represented "all of us who are willing to lend someone an ear." Well, that was certainly true of attendees at this conference, particularly with their very international outlook. Around 60 part... Read More

The first Prayer Vigil of the year for Migrants and Refugees opposite the Home Office, will take place on Monday, 19 January from 12.30 - 1.30pm. During the vigil the names of those known to have died trying to reach the UK in the past month will be read out. Prayers will be said for them and the many more unnamed victims; asylum seekers in detention centres; those who are homeless and those who s... Read More

A film has been premiered which tells the story of the Leeds Women in Black vigil focussing on eight of the women involved in the vigil. The vigil began in August 2019 following the vision of the original Women in Black, Jewish women in Jerusalem who for over 30 years have been protesting the occupation of Palestine every Friday. We started with about a dozen women in 2019. Since October 7th we h... Read More

SCIAF (Scottish International Aid Fund) has welcomed the increase in Scottish Government international aid spending in the draft Scottish budget published today. Proposals include continued spending on humanitarian crises, helping people address the impacts of climate change abroad, and reaching the target set in 2021 of £15m in the next financial year for international development. The budget al... Read More

'From Strangers to Neighbours: Christian Hospitality in a Changing Asylum Landscape' is the theme of this year's Churches Together in Westminster AGM. The talk will be given by George Lapshynov. Drawing on Theos's recent report: 'From Strangers to Neighbours: The Church and the Integration of Refugees', he will be exploring how UK churches are quietly but powerfully helping asylum seekers become n... Read More