Excerpt from Together on the Way: Official Report of the Eighth Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Harare, Zimbabwe, 3-14 December 1998

Non-violence and reconciliation

Truth, justice and peace together represent values basic to granting of human rights, inclusion and reconciliation. When these values are ignored, trust is replaced by fear and human power no longer serves the gift of life and the sanctity and dignity of all creation.

Violence arising from various forms of human-rights violations, discrimination and structural injustice represents a growing concern at all levels of an increasingly plural society. Racism combines with and aggravates other causes of exclusion and marginalization. Conflicts are becoming increasingly complex, located more often within nations than between nations. Woman and children in conflict situations represent a special concern.

There is a need to bring together the work on gender and racism, human rights and transformation of conflict in ways that engage the churches in initiatives for reconciliation that build on repentance, truth, justice, reparation and forgiveness.

The Council should work strategically with the churches on these issues to create a culture of non-violence, linking and interacting with other international partners and organizations, and examining and developing appropriate approaches to conflict transformation and just peacemaking in the new globalized context.

Therefore, the WCC proclaims the period 2000-2010 as an Ecumenical Decade to Overcome Violence.