Philippines On 18 June, Mervin Toquero, deputy general secretary of the National Council of Churches in the Philippines, delivered a WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs statement in an interactive dialogue with the UN special rapporteur on Summary, Arbitrary, and Extra-judicial executions. The WCC statement urged the government of the Philippines to protect victims and their families. “This includes shielding them from reprisals such as violence, arbitrary arrest, or online intimidation,” the statement reads. The WCC also participated in a briefing for nongovernmental organizations on the situation of human rights in the Philippines. Speakers shared that, despite the end of the Duterte regime in 2022, and his upcoming trial in the International Criminal Court, the situation for human rights in the Philippines has not improved. Killings, abductions, and repression continue and there has been no justice for the thousands of victims of the “war on drugs.” Rise Up, a nongovernmental organization in the Philippines, reported that the government of Duterte’s war on drugs has caused one of the worst human rights crisis in our country killing thousands of the poor, leaving thousands of grieving widows, mothers and orphaned children. “People in the urban poor communities have been slaughtered and slain in staggering numbers,” reported Rise Up. “Working with the victims' families has been the main focus of Rise Up since its formation in October 2016.” No jobs are available so the families experience greater hunger and vulnerability to illness, Rise Up reported. “This dark period must be remembered for future generations not only to know this state-sponsored bloodbath, but more importantly, to resolve that it must never happen again.” On 24 June, the WCC cosponsored a side event with the UN special rapporteur on Freedom of Opinion and Expression, Irene Khan, who recently visited Philippines. She presented a summary of her findings. Angola and Madagascar On 1 July, the WCC delivered a statement in the adoption of the Universal Periodic Review of Angola. On 2 July, the WCC delivered a statement in the adoption of the Universal Periodic Review of Madagascar. The statements on Madagascar and Angola both focused on women’s rights, particularly obstetric fistula, in connection with the WCC visits to those countries in 2022 and 2024. Obstetric fistula is a childbirth injury usually caused by prolonged, obstructed labour without access to appropriate medical care, which can have devastating physical, emotional, and economic consequences for women, even resulting in permanent disability. The Angola statement also notes that, during a WCC visit to Angola, women from member churches expressed concerns about increasing levels of domestic violence, of which they do not dare speak, as they are afraid of the consequences and are intimidated by the perpetrators. “The Municipal Family Counselling Centre works with both perpetrators and victims, but the majority of staff are unpaid volunteers,” reads the statement. “We call upon the Government to replicate this excellent centre throughout Angola to reach all victims of domestic violence, to provide shelters for such victims, and to fully resource these facilities with salaried staff.” The Madagascar statement notes that Investment in preventing the obstetric fistula is critical. “The establishment of secondary education in rural areas would help delay early marriage and pregnancy. Culturally appropriate and sensitive sex education for boys and girls should be introduced into the school curriculum,” the statement reads. “The provision of transport to medical facilities for women in labour would reduce many cases of fistula.” The statement notes that there is an urgent need for improved training of Malagasy surgeons to carry out fistula repair, so that they can then transfer their knowledge to others, in lieu of the strong reliance on surgeons from abroad. “More assistance for women recovering from surgery is needed,” the statement concludes. Cosigned statement On 30 June, the WCC cosigned a statement of the Geneva Interfaith Forum on Climate Change in the interactive dialogue with the UN special rapporteur on climate change. Side events On 24 June, the WCC Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network participated in a side event, “Holding the Line: Advancing Civil Rights and Gender Justice in Shrinking Civil Space,” cohosted by the Permanent Missions of Sweden and Brazil, the EU, ACT Alliance, Lutheran World Federation, World Council of Churches, and other key partners, The side event, convening multilateral and civil society voices, focused on collaborative strategies to push back against increasing restrictions on civic space, particularly for women and marginalized groups. Redistributing land, restoring rights On 30 June, a side event to the 59th session of the UN Human Rights Council, co-organized by the World Council of Churches (WCC) and partners in Geneva, explored “Redistributing Land, Restoring Rights: Tackling Land Inequality to Overcome Global Crises.” The accumulation of vast amounts of land by a small group of global corporate landowners is fueling inequality and accelerating the climate crisis, according to a new report from FIAN International, which calls for land redistribution and global tax reforms to reverse this dangerous trend. During the event, Ana Maria Suarez, FIAN secretary general, raised the concern that increasing amounts of land are being transformed into financial assets, rather than life-sustaining resources. Emerging challenges related to food, climate, energy, and financial crisis have tremendously increased the monetary value of land. In addition, there are now unusual actors in the context of land investments and management, such as pension funds and insurance companies. There is also a sharp rise of transnational land investments. “Seventy percent of farmland is controlled by one percent of the world’s largest farms,” said Suarez. Ten global transnational landowners, dubbed the “Lords of the Land” – now control more than 400,000 square km (40 million hectres) across multiple countries, an area equivalent to the size of Japan. “Thanks to the colonial practices, land in the global south is controlled by financial actors in the global north,” said Suarez. Another issue is with “green grabbing,” meaning carbon/biodiversity projects are driving land grabbing, and not necessarily supporting life-sustaining practices. H.E. Martha Viviana Carvajalino Villegas, minister for agriculture in Colombia, via a video message, said: “We need land for the people in need. We need land to work, land to produce food, land to eat, and land for life. For this to happen, we need another agrarian reform.” Colombia will host the 2nd International Conference on Agrarian Reforms in February 2026. Morgan Ody, general coordinator of Via Campesina, referred to the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forests that were endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security in May 2012. She emphasised that agrarian reform has to focus on addressing poverty and hunger, but also cautioned that it will face challenges. She gave past examples of agrarian reforms in Chile and other countries that faced resistance from rich land owners. Michael Fakhri, UN special rapporteur on Right to Food, echoed that we must place land under the control of Indigenous people for its effective management. He drew attention to his next report to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2026, where he will focus his report on land with a human rights perspective. Dinesh Suna, WCC programme executive for Land, Water, and Food, pointed out that the FIAN International report did not take into account land owned by the faith communities, which accounts for 8 percent of habitable land. Churches themselves own about three times more than the 10 large transnational landowners. “Maybe another report has to be produced on this aspect to land,” Suna suggested. “How can we engage the faith-based organisations and faith communities in agrarian reform and land distribution?” WCC Commission of the Churches on International Affairs Learn more about the WCC work on "Human dignity and rights" WCC work for "Care for creation and climate justice" Learn more about WCC work on Water Justice here Ecumenical Disability Advocates Network (EDAN) Learn more about the WCC interreligious work | 
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