Greek RE rules breach rights, European Court rules

GREECE was found in breach of the European Charter of Human Rights last week, after a group of students and teachers brought an action against it over a declaration that had to be submitted by parents if they wish to remove their children from religious education. The European Court of Human Rights ruled that countries must ensure that RE was “conveyed in an objective, critical and pluralistic manner”, and were “forbidden to pursue an aim of indoctrination that might be considered as not respecting parents’ religious and philosophical convictions”. Its judgment said that the “current system of exemption of children from the religious education course is capable of placing an undue burden on parents with a risk of exposure of sensitive aspects of their private life”.

Hostages from Nigerian school are released

THE female students and two members of staff kidnapped from Engravers’ College, a Christian boarding school in Chikuna, Kaduna State, Nigeria, last month have been released, according to reports. Armed men abducted the eight shortly after midnight on 3 October (News, 18 October). Nigerian newspapers report that a ransom of about £30,000 has been paid for their release. Police said that they were all uninjured, and had been reunited with their families.

IMPLENIAA model of the WCC’s planned Green Village in Geneva

WCC to build Green Village in Geneva

THE World Council of Churches (WCC) is to build the first development in Geneva to qualify for the One Planet Living label, which signals sustainability and carbon reduction. The Green Village will consist of six new buildings in Le Grand-Saconnex, around the existing headquarters, including administrative and residential uses. One Planet Living developments are aimed at reducing fossil-fuel use — eventually to zero — and encouraging biodiversity in their neighbourhood. The WCC was “committed to protecting the environment locally and internationally alongside all its member churches”, its general secretary, Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, said. “By applying the standards of One Planet Living to our Green Village property development, we are fulfilling our undertaking to fight global warming right where we live and work each day.”

Mexican migrants’ defender attacked

A ROMAN CATHOLIC priest and human-rights defender in Mexico, Fr Alberto Ruiz Pérez, was assaulted and robbed at gunpoint at the end of October, CSW reports. He runs a refugee shelter, El Refugio Casa del Migrante, in Jalisco State. The shelter briefly suspended its activities as a security measure, and, on social media, described the attack as “a direct and calculated attack against the El Refugio Casa del Migrante team as human-rights defenders for migrants”.