Up to 100 religious leaders from diverse faiths including Christianity, Judaism, Hindu, Sikh, Buddhist, Islam, Indigenous Spirituality and Shinto traditions will gather in Winnipeg in June 21-23, 2010 at the invitation of Dr. Lloyd Axworthy, President & Vice-Chancellor, University of Winnipeg and the Canadian Council of Churches

It is the first time Canada will host the G8 Religious Leaders Summit which, for the past five years, has been organized to complement the meeting of G8 political leaders. G8 leaders are meeting in Huntsville, Ontario, from June 25-27, 2010.

This high profile religious leaders from around the world will gather at The University of Winnipeg from June 21- June 23 to listen and report to one another – but most importantly collaborate on sending a unified message to government leaders of the G8/G20 nations.

The message will press governments to remain true to the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) ratified by the 192 member states of the U.N. ten years ago. The goals aim to halve global poverty by 2015. The G8 nations – including Canada – pledged assistance in achieving the goals, but are well behind in meeting the promised deadline.

Faith leaders are also challenging each other to “not remain silent” on the MDGs, said Rev. Dr. Karen Hamilton, Chair of the Interfaith Partnership and General Secretary of the Canadian Council of Churches.

“Society is growing ever more ambivalent about the role and influence of the world’s faiths and their leaders. This is ultimately an exercise in proclaiming what we believe together, and acting on it together,” added Hamilton.

CALL FOR LEADERSHIP

Virtually all of the world’s major faith traditions hold to some form of the Golden Rule: treat your neighbour as yourself. Together, the world’s faith traditions will issue a “Call for inspired leadership and action,” said Hamilton.

The interfaith summit will feature some high profile speakers: Canadian Senator Romeo Dallaire, whose global warning about an impending Rwandan genocide was largely ignored; Rev. Jim Wallis (USA) of Sojourners magazine and long time activist for social justice; Rwandan Dr. Andre Karamaga, President of the All Africa Conference of Churches, H.E. Sheikh Shaban Mubaje, Grand Mufti of Uganda, and John McArthur (USA), CEO of Millennium Promise, an international non-profit organization solely committed to supporting the achievement of the MDGs.

There will be two concurrent events on opening day: religious communicators will meet to hear speakers and discuss how current issues of faith are represented in the popular media; a human rights and religious freedom themed event will address these issues from the perspective of poverty, the environment and peace and security.

First Nations representatives will welcome guests to the host facility at the University of Winnipeg, which sits on Treaty 1 land, and by University of Winnipeg President Dr. Lloyd Axworthy. Numerous side events including music and musical theatre are planned to represent the theme with added culture and color.

(Note prepared by Mussie Hailu, Chairman of the Board, Interfaith Peace Building Initiative, Ethiopia, Coalition member organization)

The SNAMMM addressed the existing, new and emerging challenges to the promotion of a culture of peace and development.  It also reaffirmed that the common fundamental values contained in the United Nations Millennium Declaration of freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature, and shared responsibility are essential to international relations.

Of special interest for the DECADE Initiative is paragraph 27 of SNAMMM’s Declaration, which acknowledges “the important and significant role civil society, faith-based non-governmental organizations and media could play in promoting interfaith and intercultural dialogue and understanding towards fostering social justice, and, in particular, the attainment of the internationally agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals”. Furthermore, in its Progamme of Action, SNAMMM “Encourage faith-based non-governmental organizations and civil society to support the efforts of governments as well as to develop partnerships among each other, in order to cooperate for social and economic justice, for all within the society”.

118 countries are associated to NAM, having Mr. Hosi Mubarak, President of Egypt, as its Secretary-General.

Read the Declaration and Progamme of Action

In its last paragraph the resolution …

“Requests the Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly at its sixty-fifth session on the implementation of the present resolution and, at its sixtysixth session, in coordination with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, to further solicit views of Member States on the possibility of proclaiming a United Nations decade for interreligious and intercultural dialogue and cooperation for peace, building on the information contained in the reports of the Secretary-General at the sixty-fourth and sixty-fifth sessions and the relevant initiatives to be taken in the course of 2010.”

Although the possibility of proclaiming a UN Decade of Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue and Cooperation remains in the GA agenda, a decision on this matter is now likely to be postponed until 2011.

(See the full text of the revised project of resolution; the final text has not yet been published by the UN UNGA resolution A.64.L15.rev1)

Among the partners of this project are the World Council of Churches, the World Conference of Religions for Peace, Christian World and Tearfund. The Coalition on support of the Initiative for a UN Decade of Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, Understanding and Cooperation for Peace has invited all its member organizations and their constituencies to join this project by visiting http://tcktcktck.org/pt-br/partners/oxfam

* Alliance of Religions and Conservation – United Nations Development Programme

Windsor, 15 October 2009

http://www.windsor2009.org/

Download SG Report On Decade August 2009

MESSAGE FROM H.E. MIGUEL D’ESCOTO BROCKMANN,

PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY,

TO THE COALITION IN SUPPORT OF THE INITIATIVE FOR A UN DECADE OF INTERRELGIOUS AND INTERCULTURAL DIALOGUE, UNDERSTANDING AND COOPERATION FOR PEACE

NEW YORK     4 MARCH 2009

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

I warmly welcome all of you to this house, to the United Nations, an organization of governments where your voices, as representatives of civil society organizations, must also be heard.

When I learned last August about this initiative promoting a General Assembly proclamation of a “UN Decade of Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue, Understanding and Cooperation for Peace” from 2011-2020, I welcomed it with enthusiasm for several reasons.

First, this is a grassroots initiative, emerging from civil society organizations. It has now become a global effort and will undoubtedly bring a needed breath of fresh air here at UN Headquarters.

Secondly, you are coming to the United Nation with a proposal for partnership with a vast constituency -the Brothers and Sisters of the religious communities, faith-based organizations and value-based secular groups around the world. I am convinced that partnerships between our 192 Member States and organized civil society are the only way we are going to successfully meet the overwhelming challenges that threaten our very existence here on our dear, abused Mother Earth.

And third, you promise to mobilize these immense spiritual, human and organizational resources in pursuit of peace — a common aspiration of all humanity, a shared value for virtually all religions and a core goal of the United Nations.

You – and I say now we — are looking for sustainable peace; a peace based on justice, increasing solidarity among individuals, peoples and nations, and growing respect and appreciation of our cultural and religious diversity.

Finally, you understand that high-level meetings and wise declarations are not enough. You want to go further and use the proposed Decade to build new action-oriented partnerships with the United Nations, its Member States and other constituencies of the civil society. You envision a decade of collaboration on the UN’s central concerns, among them the Millennium Development Goals, the deepening of a culture of respect for human rights, decent work for all, dialogue among civilizations, and promoting global commitment to peace and nonviolence.

Last November, during its remarkable session on a Culture of Peace, the General Assembly adopted the resolution 63/22 which requests that the UN Secretariat facilitate the consideration of the possibility of proclaiming a United Nations decade for interrreligious and intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation for peace. That  guarded request was an important step forward. At that session I stated: “…while we do, obviously, have differences in our religions and theologies, we are very much united in our essential values. Just as important, we must apply these values if we are to survive the consequences of the convergence of man-made crises that we face at this critical historical juncture.”

I am sure that you understand that, because of the current global economic turmoil, the General Assembly, indeed the entire United Nations family of organizations, is focusing its attention on the confluence of crises that challenge us. Our immediate interventions must ensure that the world’s most vulnerable – those who are the least responsible for the meltdown – are spared what could be an unending catastrophe of unimaginable proportions. Nevertheless, the establishment of this broad Coalition in support of this initiative is by itself an important step forward and will enhance your capacity to respond to the challenges posed by the crises in the longer term.

I appreciate that you have created this coalition not for fighting a war, as other coalitions have done throughout history, but for helping to build a genuine and lasting peace. You are mobilizing not for battle, but to build more equitable, fraternal and harmonious societies, respectful of human rights and all life around us. Yours is a coalition in which dialogue, cooperation and agreements will displace all forms of violence in the solution of conflicts.

Sisters and Brothers. Please be assured that I share your vision and appreciate your determination to engage yourselves in this noble and challenging undertaking in partnership with the UN and its Member States.  I promise you that you can count on me.

Forty-two religious, interfaith, and value-based organizations from five continents agreed to form a coalition to advance a “United Nations Decade for Inter-religious and Intercultural Dialogue, Understanding, and Cooperation for Peace.” Coalition members expressed the hope that the UN Sixty-Fourth General Assembly, which will begin its deliberations in September 2009, will approve a resolution establishing such a decade from 2011-2020. 

The meeting took place at the Maryknoll, New York, on 2-4 March. Participants included Baha’i, Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, Muslim, Shinto, Sikh, Zoroastrian as well as indigenous spiritual traditions. The most influential international inter-faith organizations – CPWR, IARF, ToU, URI and WCRP among them– were also represented.

A  provisional steering committee worked for the Decade with UN member states during 2008, and the UN General Assembly on 14 November, 2008, took the first step by adopting resolution 63/22 which calls for exploring the feasibility for such a decade. The resolution was co-sponsored by 78 states.

On Monday, the President of the UN General Assembly, H.E. Miguel D’Escoto Brockmann, reiterated in a message addressed to the meeting his previous calls for a “new spirit of solidarity and a powerful injection of moral and ethical values into our business and political lives.” He urged the religious leaders to work together with the United Nations since these concerns require “life-long commitment” and religious institutions have the “staying power in the face of these challenges.”

The Coalition nominated  a Steering Committee composed by 15 member organizations, which will include six religious/spiritual organizations (two Christian, two Muslim, one Buddhist, one Jewish, one Hindu and one representing Indigenous spiritual traditions), five international interfaith organizations and two secular values-based organizations.  Mr. Stein Villumstad, who had performed as Chair of the Provisional Steering Committee and has been offered by Religions for Peace to continue fulfilling that function in this new phase of the DECADE initiative, was elected as Chair of the Steering Committee. Two Vice-Chairs, one based in Geneva and one in New York, will be designated by the Steering Committee once formally constituted. 

Coalition members hope the proposed UN Decade will be launched on 21 September 2010, the International Day of Peace. This would immediately follow the current 2001-2010 International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World and the 2010 International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures.