Coaches to and from Birmingham

The most convenient way to get to Birmingham from London Heathrow airport (LHR) is by coach, from Heathrow Central Bus Station (CBS), using the main national coach operator, National Express.
They have a desk at the CBS which will help put you on the correct bus (and change your ticket for the next one if you miss the bus you’re aiming for).

The Central Bus Station is open 24 hours a day and there is a Travel Centre open from 06:00 to 22:30.

Tickets for all coaches can be bought from the Travel Centre, or booked in advance with the operator.
You may also be able to buy a ticket from the bus driver, subject to availability.
However – IMPORTANT NOTE: You will arrive during a Bank Holiday (national holiday) weekend, so coaches may be fuller than usual.

So we recommend that you book in advance, using this National Express page:

http://www.nationalexpress.com/coach/airport/heathrow-airport/index.html

(for your Birmingham destination, choose “Coach Station”)

Where to catch your coach depends on which of the five LHR terminals you arrive at:

Terminals 1 and 3: All coach services call at the Central Bus Station, which is a short walk from the terminals and has lifts, escalators and moving walkways to help with the journey.
Terminal 4: Coaches arrive and depart from Stops 13 and 14 outside the terminal, at Arrivals level.
Free transfers to the Central Bus Station from Stop 7.
Terminal 5: Coaches arrive and depart from Stops 13-16, outside the terminal at Arrivals level.
Free transfers to the Central Bus Station from Stops 8 and 9.

On arrival at Birmingham Coach Station, please find a taxi and ask for University Edgbaston campus, and specify your lodging (either Conference Park, or The Vale, Mason Hall).

Congress 2014 Evening Visits to Faith Centres

Please see this itinerary:

IARF Congress 2014 – Worship Centres Visits programme (PDF 3 pages)

Kenya Chapter event

Human Rights Education and interfaith encounter
26 January 2014
Kajiado, South Rift Province, Kenya

Interfaith & HRE in Kajiado, Kenya (Report – PDF, 4 pages illustrated)

Side Events at UN HRC 2014

Two events organised by IARF at the 25th Session of the UN Human Rights Council (HRC), March 2014

At the Open/Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Beliefs – From left: Rev. Andreas Peter, IARF Geneva representative; Sheikh Maytham Al-Salman, Head of Religous Freedom Unit of IARF member group Bahrain Interfaith Centre; Rubab Mehdi Rizvi, Chair of the Imam Hussain Council; Rev. Drs. Wytske Dijkstra, IARF Council member; Prof. Heiner Bielefeldt, UN Special Rapporteur on Religious Freedom; Morse Flores and Jean-Claude Cantieni, IARF Geneva representatives.

The event ‘The rise of religious intolerance ‘

Side Event ‘Rise of Religious Intolerance’

Monday, 10 March 2014 – 2:00 to 4:00 PM
Room XXV, Palais des Nations, Geneva

UN HRC Side Event ‘Rise of Religious Intolerance’ – Flyer (PDF, 1 page)

Discussion on the rise of violence attributed to religious intolerance in various regions of the world where antipathy toward members of religious minorities is used to justify targeted hatred, assaults, restrictions and violent attacks on their religious institutions.

Held in conjunction with the Annual Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) – part of the Programme of Work of the 25th Session of the HRC; complements the Special Rapporteur’s presentation of his Annual Report, which this year is titled “Tackling manifestations of collective religious hatred“.

Report in Pakistan newspaper The News
Report in Pakistan magazine Business Standard
Video report

Thursday 13 March
Room XXI, Palais des Nations
In collaboration with the CoNGO Sub-committee on Freedom of Religion or Beliefs:

Open/Interactive Dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Beliefs

Interactive meeting between NGOs and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Beliefs at the Palais des Nations.

NGO Joint Oral Statement

As a practitioner of Human Rights Education in South Asia, IARF at the UN is member of the NGO Working Group on Human Rights Education & Learning within the structure of CoNGO (the Committee of NGOs).

At this session of the HRC, IARF facilitated a workshop which delivered the following Joint Oral Statement regarding the Third Phase of the World Programme for Human Rights Education (2015-2019):

2014 HRC25 – NGOJointOralStatement ITEM 3 – WPHRE P3