IARF President’s New Year message for 2017

Dear Friends in IARF,

Peace among religions and freedom of conscience for all, that is our common goal in IARF.

Last year, my message was about the scope of our work to promote Rev Wytske Dijktra, IARF President freedom for each individual to practice, teach, and be educated in the religion of his or her choice.

Moving on to a different aspect of our work, I would now like you to pay attention to our shared aim: to practice what we preach. Only if all faiths are respected equally, can there be peace among religions. Only if we strive to understand, can we hope to respect. That is why IARF throughout its history has promoted interfaith interaction on the highest level.

Throughout 2016 IARF members have been active in interfaith settings. In all kinds of places, from simple board rooms to spacious conference centers, even in the open air, we have organized and taken part in interfaith encounters. Multiculturalism, with IARF, is standard, as is gender equality.

We must now look to the future. Building on the success of its 2016 Macedonia conference, IARF Europe and Middle East has announced a similar event in Poland. Preparations for the 2018 World Congress have started. It will focus on activism and building the skills of interfaith activists throughout the world needed to do their work in their local communities.

As everyone who has been active in IARF knows, learning about each other in an open, free setting is fascinating and enriching, and simply great fun, too. Maybe it is that, more than anything, which makes IARF endearing to so many people. Let this be our aspiration for the coming year: to ‘brand’ all our events and all our undertakings with the hallmark of IARF: to form warm relationships across cultural divides, no matter what befalls us.

Wytske Dijkstra
IARF President

EME Regional Conference 2016: Programme and Registration

The quadrennial conference of the EME, IARF’s Europe and Middle East region, will be held on 22-25 August 2016 in Tetovo, FYR Macedonia. It will be hosted by the Bektashi Community and the Evropa Centre for Human Rights.

The theme will be Religion and Conflict Prevention.

You will find the programme and other details here. You can register online here or fill in this form and submit it to our Administrator at [email protected].

President’s New Year Message 2016

Dear friends in IARF,

Acts of religiously motivated crimes have been dominating the news during 2015. The fanaticism with which oppression and war are being pursued is viewed by many to stem from religious zeal. Now, more than ever, there is a need for IARF to speak out on peaceful coexistence for religions. IARF does not stop there. It seeks to practise what others preach.

This means IARF is inclusive, promoting equality among people, whatever faith, gender, or position in life they take. In the past year, as ever, IARF has shown this through the diversity of the membership of its governing bodies. It has practised it in international and other interfaith encounters, and promoted it through human rights awareness trainings and HR education.

IARF is looking forward to continuing this policy in 2016, expanding the scope of its HR advocacy through diplomacy, education, and interfaith encounters.

I would like to thank all IARF members who have been active on behalf of our core values: religious harmony, diversity, and equality, within IARF or in society. Sometimes all it needs is speaking out. Together, we have a voice. It is up to you to make it sound out loud throughout the world.

I wish you all a happy New Year.

Wytske Dijkstra, IARF President.

March 2012 ToM: Religious violence in Nigeria

Some recent coverage of the rise of Boko Haram in northern Nigeria:

Plus:
Written statement submitted by the Jubilee Campaign to the UN Human Rights Council’s Nineteenth session, March 2012 (Agenda item 4: Human rights situations that require the Council’s attention): Advocacy of religious hatred in Nigeria (PDF, 4 pages)

Plus:
A grassroots project in Jos to bring Muslims & Christians together

January 2012 ToM: Resolution 16/18

Resolution 16/18, a measure adopted “by consensus” – without a vote – at the U.N. Human Rights Council – was introduced by Pakistan on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), a coalition of 57 Muslim states.

Formally entitled “combating intolerance, negative stereotyping and stigmatization of, and discrimination, incitement to violence and violence against persons based on religion or belief,” it follows in the footsteps of the controversial “Defamation of Religion” resolutions passed by the UN since 1999.

These resolutions, which sought to limit criticism or insult to Islam, lost significant support in recent years as more countries came to recognize the danger they posed to free speech and religious expression.

Resolution 16/18 was hailed as a shift away from these earlier resolutions on “defamation of Islam” (later changed to “defamation of religion”) introduced by the OIC and duly voted through each year at both the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly

Religious Tolerance Resolution Backed by Obama Administration Aligns With Islamic Bloc’s Interests
December 16, 2011

December 2011 ToM: Syrian secularism under transformation

Topic of this month is the demise of secularism in an Arab republic.

http://wwrn.org/articles/36648/

Site of film to which above article refers

November 2011 ToM: The fate of USCIRF

Has the U.S. Senate “chosen to quietly shut down the independent U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom” (USCIRF)?
Do the American people “need to remind their senators of the importance of religious freedom in foreign policy and of USCIRF’s key role”?

Consider this article by Nina Shea.