Promoting Peaceful Coexistence and Common Citizenship

[ xiv ] — INTERRELIGIOUS DIALOGUE FOR PEACE — World. This network will develop a common curriculum on interreligious dialogue training for these religious institu- tions. The core group of sixteen institutions will exchange students between faculties, as well as share expertise to bind them together. One of the faculty members told us that the Network made it possible for his institution to have its very first meeting with a Christian faculty to discuss how to teach dialogue in seminary schools. And finally, in the past three years, we have established or strengthened interreligious platforms in the Central African Republic, Myanmar and Nigeria. In each of these countries, as well as in Beirut, we have posted country experts who are in constant contact with their religious community and governmental partners; and I am pleased to say that they are also with us today. We are very honoured that His Eminence, the Cardinal of Abuja, the Sultan of Sokoto, and the President of the Chris- tian Association of Nigeria are taking part in this meeting. They are leading figures in the Christian–Muslim dialogue platform in Nigeria that we support. The platform speaks out against ethnic and religious violence, and has drafted legis- lation to outlaw all hate preaching by any denomination. The legislation is now in deliberation in the Nigerian Parliament. We are also grateful that two of the founders of the Cen- tral African Republic interreligious platform have travelled to this conference. We are proud to support the platform which undertakes projects to rebuild trust and peace in the country. One project uses dialogue to help people who have been driven from their homes in the recent conflict to return to the neighbourhood they had fled. At this point, I wish to extend our thanks to the United Religions Initiative, one of the world’s largest interreligious NGOs, which granted KAICIID the 2018 African Peace Prize for its work in interreligious dialogue in Africa. In Myanmar, the Centre supports an NGO, the Peaceful Myanmar Initiative and, here too, I thank the three members who have travelled fromMyanmar to be with us. Their plat- form is young, yet it has successfully organized an annual national interreligious conference. In a breakthrough, they have provided intensive interreligious dialogue training to Buddhist Masters from the leading Burmese Buddhist aca- demic institutions. Our work also includes cooperation with international organizations such as the United Nations. It is a pleasure to welcome to this conference our good friend, Mr. Adama Dieng, the UN Secretary General’s Special Adviser for the Prevention of Genocide. Special Adviser Dieng, the World Council of Churches and the Network of Religious and Tra- ditional Peacemakers are some of our partners to whom we are grateful for their shared commitment and efforts. The Centre was privileged to contribute to the Global Action Plan along with these partners. The Plan provides religious leaders with the capacity to prevent incitement that leads to genocide. Having worked together for two years, gathering over 200 religious leaders in meetings around the world, the Global Action Plan was ratified by the United Nations Secretary General and we are now engaged in sup- porting its implementation. Now we are extending our hands to you. We invite you to support and celebrate the launch of the first Interreli- gious Platform for Dialogue and Cooperation in the Arab World. The platform will offer Christians and Muslims in Arab countries the means to establish cooperation and understanding in order to secure and strengthen common citizenship, bridging the gap between communities. Never before have religious leaders of different communities worked jointly across national borders in a coordinated manner, but we hope that this platform will set a precedent. We will build partnerships between religious leaders across the region to advocate the protection and preservation of the rights of all religious communities in the Arab world under the umbrella of common citizenship and equality, regardless of religion, sect or ethnicity.The unity of purpose betweenChris- tians andMuslims on vital issues, such as common citizenship cannot be ignored. Unity among religious leaders is the strong- est message of hope the region has seen in many years. KAICIID is here for the long run. We will help these religious leaders to build their own new platform. We are not given a chance for peace every day. I urge you all to seize this chance. It will not be easy or quick, yet together we will build a platform that bridges nations and religious communities around the world. Once again, I welcome you and wish you good health, a pleasant stay and, most importantly, much dialogue. We are not given a chance for peace every day. I urge you all to seize this chance