The CIL was founded in 1985 equally in Germany, in the Philippines and in the USA.
It conceives of itself as a place in which solidarity between people from the North and the South is practised.
The Christian in its name is related to the founders of the initiative, who all come out of the Christian parts of the social movements of the 80s. In addition to that the Christian reflects the long windedness, the way of dealing with successes and failures, the sympathy for that which transcends boundaries and passion for the paradoxical unity of powerlessness and power.
With its name the CIL expresses the fact that it stands in relationship to other initiatives. Some of these, among them the CIL, were inspired by liberation theology and tied their national and international networks in the course of the 80s during the Concilar Process for Justice, Peace and Integrity of Creation.
They all have a common institutional independence from churches and parties.