UNAOC serves as a soft-power political tool of the United Nations Secretary-General for conflict prevention and conflict resolution. Launched in July 2005, UNAOC is a United Nations entity that aims to improve understanding and cooperation among nations and peoples across cultures and to reduce polarization at local and global levels. Its special status and mandate have been recognized by the United Nations General Assembly in its resolutions A/RES/64/14 of 10 November 2009 and A/RES/69/312 of 6 July 2015.
To fulfill our mandate, UNAOC carries out advocacy and programming activities that foster cross-cultural understanding and promote interreligious and intercultural dialogue among diverse communities. In doing so, we partner and work closely with governments and municipalities, other United Nations entities and agencies, the private sector, academia, media, faith-based organizations, faith actors and civil society at large.
In 2019, I was tasked by the United Nations Secretary-General to coordinate the development of a United Nations Plan of Action to Safeguard Religious Sites and oversee its implementation. The Plan of Action is a framework for action to better prevent, prepare and respond to attacks against religious sites. To support the effort to safeguard religious sites and worshippers, UNAOC launched a global communications campaign with the hashtag “#forSafeWorship” inviting individuals around the world to share short multimedia stories highlighting their personal connections to religious sites. The ongoing campaign celebrates the universal significance of these sites as symbols of shared humanity, history and traditions. Under the Plan of Action, UNAOC also is supporting an ongoing effort to map religious sites around the world with a focus first on several pilot countries in accordance with the principles of geographical balance, respect for freedom of religion and belief, and representation of diverse faiths. Sweden was the first pilot country to unveil an interactive map of its religious sites.
Together with the United Nations Office of Counter-Terrorism, the United Nations CounterTerrorism Committee Executive Directorate and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, UNAOC implemented a multi-year United Nations Global Programme on Countering Terrorist Threats against Vulnerable Targets. The Programme aimed to contribute to the development of cooperative approaches to strengthen the protection of vulnerable targets from terrorist attacks, including threats against religious sites and places of worship.
Further, UNAOC delivers a host of activities that bolster the capabilities of civil society organizations and individuals to promote intercultural and interfaith dialogue within their local communities and on a broader scale. Examples include the Intercultural Innovation Hub, through which UNAOC and the BMW Group, with the support of Accenture, empower innovative grassroots projects to promote intercultural dialogue with the aim of achieving a more peaceful and inclusive world. In cooperation with the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and other partners, UNAOC helped develop a Tutored Online Training Course on Global Education and Intercultural/Interfaith Dialogue. Through our Youth Solidarity Fund, UNAOC provides capacity-building and financial support to youth-led organizations that demonstrate innovative and effective approaches to interreligious and intercultural dialogue in the service of fostering peaceful and inclusive societies. We have also mainstreamed intercultural dialogue into our Fellowship Programme and the Young Peacebuilders Programme.
Finally, as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General who holds the post of High Representative for UNAOC, I regularly issue public statements condemning hate crimes, harassment against Jews, Muslims and Arabs and attacks against religious sites and worshippers around the world. I also leverage my policy and advocacy engagements to draw the attention of the international community to acts of religious intolerance and urge all stakeholders to stand in solidarity with those targeted by enforcing empathy and mutual respect through interfaith and intercultural dialogue.
The importance of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions and such similar venues
In his inauguration speech in November 2022, Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, President of the Republic of Kazakhstan, aptly described one of the most important historical assets of the Kazakh people as “unity in diversity”. Indeed, given Kazakhstan’s rich spiritual heritage and history of peaceful coexistence and religious tolerance, the Congress of the Leaders of the World and Traditional Religions is an important initiative with the moral authority to unite diverse faith communities, advance the Kazakh vision of a peaceful, just and harmonious society across borders and appeal for open and inclusive dialogue among all civilizations. By initiating the establishment of the Congress, Kazakhstan demonstrated its genuine commitment to advancing dialogue in the political and religious realms and to strengthening the process of spiritual rapprochement among the peoples of the world. Through the Congress, the international community recognizes that peace, justice and harmony can never be taken for granted. Rather, sustainable and lasting peace rooted in trust, mutual respect, human rights and dignity for all must be nurtured every day.
I would welcome the launch of similar initiatives across the globe because I believe in the power of faith and spiritual leaders to guide their faithful towards universal peace, security and stability by reaffirming our shared human values and our collective commitment to the spiritual and social development of humankind. For many, faith is inextricably linked to hope and resilience. I could point to numerous examples of faith actors, religious leaders and spiritual leaders offering positive narratives in response to hatred and division that proliferate in their respective communities and also online by building trust, fostering dialogue, and calling for unity, solidarity and mutual understanding.
The uniqueness of the Congress
I commend the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan for taking the lead in promoting dialogue among civilizations and religions, including through its establishment of the Congress of the Leaders of the World and Traditional Religions. It is no coincidence that an interfaith forum as important as Congress was born in Kazakhstan, which is home to 17 religions and more than 100 ethnic groups that have peacefully coexisted for centuries. Since 2003, the Congress has fostered dialogue between and among faiths and cultures in a quest for solutions to the most daunting challenges of our time. For instance, the interfaith platform has been critical to building bridges between Christianity, Islam and other religious communities at a time when terrorism and religious extremism threatened to deepen the rift between them. Thus, the mission, objectives and priorities of the Congress are of particular relevance to the mission, objectives and priorities of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. It is an honour for UNAOC to be invited regularly to the Congress and we cherish our partnership with the Nursultan Nazarbayev Center for Development of Interfaith and Intercivilization Dialogue.
The importance of interreligious and interfaith dialogue in the context of modern challenges. Interreligious dialogue’s development in the future.
Intercultural, interfaith and interreligious dialogue is critical not only to address the root causes of radicalization but also to provide a counter-narrative to racism, xenophobia, antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred and other forms of religious intolerance that are feed off each other and foment extremism. Tragically, no region in the world is immune to the threat of extremism.
Most recently, drastic changes in the geopolitical landscape, a tendency towards unipolarity and deepening divisions across ethnic, cultural and religious faultlines have prompted a revival of a debate over the clash between the West and the rest of the world. Interreligious dialogue is one of the keys to reconciliation in conflict zones. There is an urgent need to create the conditions for peace, including rebuilding trust and an environment of mutual respect, in the Middle East, in particular, so that diverse communities can reconnect and engage in sincere and fruitful dialogue.
Unfortunately, interreligious and intercultural dialogue is a viable conflict prevention and diplomacy tool that has been often overlooked. However, as the work of UNAOC has demonstrated, it is critical in the fight against isolation, mistrust and confrontation. In fact, I am convinced that interreligious and intercultural dialogue will prove to be the 21st century’s most powerful vector for conflict prevention and conflict resolution.
It is encouraging that social, cultural and religious matters have become more prominent in the agenda of the international community. The Fez Declaration, adopted by United Nations Member States during the 9th UNAOC Global Forum in Morocco in November 2022, reaffirmed that dialogue among civilizations can play an important role in the search for common ground among civilizations as well as the recognition of the inherent dignity and equal rights of all human beings. The Secretary-General’s report entitled “Our Common Agenda” calls for a reinvigorated multilateralism that recognizes the importance of religious leaders and faith-based organizations in the vast array of actors who can and should engage in collective action.
The United Nations will convene a high-level Summit of the Future from 22 to 23 September 2024 in New York that will bring world leaders together to forge a new international consensus on how we can best safeguard the future and deliver a better world. At the moment, the United Nations General Assembly Member States are negotiating a historic document – a “Pact for the Future” – to be adopted by consensus before the Summit. I am delighted to note that the cultivation of a culture of peace; protection and promotion of culture; eradication of all forms of racism, xenophobia, lslamophobia, antisemitism and all forms of intolerance are being duly recognized in intergovernmental consultations on the “Pact for the Future”. The acknowledgment of the importance of including these elements in international policy and advocacy frameworks gives me hope that dialogue, not war, will prevail and that humanity will achieve sustainable and enduring peace.
Important points in the content of the Development Concept of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions.
I congratulate Kazakhstan for spearheading the 2023–2033 Development Concept of the Congress of the Leaders of World and Traditional Religions document. It is a very elaborate road map that sets a strategic vector for the next decade of action. Since youth and education are among the core pillars of the work of UNAOC, I was pleased to discover in the Development Concept document many areas of convergence for UNAOC and the Congress in the coming years.
As the Kazakh poet, Magzhan Zhumabaev, once said: “I believe in youth.” Since I share that conviction, I was moved to see how much importance the Development Concept dedicated to young people, including convening a Forum of Young religious leaders with secular and spiritual youth. I also welcome the Congress plan to promote international youth dialogue to address concerns of modern generations. I also see promise in the Development Concept proposal to enhance cooperation among educational institutions, research centres, scientists and experts in the interest of supporting research on interreligious and inter-ethnic relations, interreligious dialogue and interaction and the role of religions in modern society. Implementing educational programmes and fostering competencies, knowledge and skills among youth who participate in interreligious and intercultural dialogue are essential to the ongoing effort to build mutual respect and understanding.
Lastly, I appreciate that the Development Concept recognizes the paramount role of UNAOC in reducing intercultural tensions and building bridges between communities through interfaith and intercultural dialogue and that the Congress is committed to strengthening its cooperation with UNAOC.