WCC NEWS: WCC reiterates important role of UN relief agency in Gaza, Lebanon

World Council of Churches (WCC) moderator Bishop Dr Heinrich Bedford-Strohm and director of the WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs Peter Prove met online with representatives from the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Caption & credits 22 October 2024 Bedford-Strohm said that the exchange with UNRWA officials has confirmed the extremely important role of UNRWA in the present situation both in Gaza and in Lebanon.  “In a situation where there is no functioning government, UNRWA is the only institution providing effective humanitarian assistance to desperate people,” he said. “I urgently appeal to all parties in the war to avoid everything that keeps UNRWA from doing their work and to actively support them in every possible way. All sides involved in destructive activities must stop the violence and open the door to a path to peace and reconstruction.” Prove noted that UNRWA is in an impossible position, struggling with reduced funding to fufill its humanitarian mandate and responsibility towards displaced, suffering, and threatened people and communities in the most difficult and dangerous of circumstances.  “They do this on behalf of the entire international community, but at the same time are beset by accusations, acute political pressures and threats of many kinds—including to their very lives—simply for providing a humanitarian response where no one else is able or willing to do.” 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 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa. Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland