Independence Day Event in Pakistan
IARF Pakistan strives to promote peace and harmony among Islam and minority religions, including many Christians, Bahai, Sikh and others. Bahai and Sikh have proper relations and coexist well with Muslims, but there are tensions between the Muslim and Christian communities. We organize peace meetings with representatives of all faiths to discuss and promote tolerance and peace.
Please direct your inqueries to Dr. Jefferson Tasleem Ghauri at iarfpakistan[at]yahoo.com.
On August 14 2015, Pakistan Independence Day, the Pakistan Chapter of the IARF held an all-day programme for women and children. IARF Pakistan staff members, Robson Ayub and Hanook Yasir, delivered several presentations and moderated a discussion with the participants. The topics taken up included issues of vital importance for the people of Pakistan, such as religious coexistence, tolerance and mutual respect among various faith communities and groups in society, matters of key significance to the mission of IARF. The event met with much interest and was well attended. Below you can see several photographs taken at the meeting.
Introductory Meeting of IARF – Kampala, Uganda, 10may2015
Introductory Meeting of IARF – Kampala, Uganda, 10 May 2015 (PDF 7 pages, illustrated)
Kenya Chapter – Human Rights event, Bungoma
Human Right Sensitization Meeting
@Prayers Warriors Ministry Center, Bungoma, Western Kenya
1st March 2015
BUNGOMA IARF REPORT (PDF illustrated, 8 pages)
India Chapter Chennai branch Human Rights Day event
10 December 2014
@Quaide – Milleth College for Men, Medavakkam, Chennai
PROGRAM:
Invocation: – Students
Welcome Address: Dr. D. Ayub Khan Dawood, QMC for men, Chennai-100
Presidential Address: Dr. A. Rafi, M.Com. M.Phil., Ph.D., Principal, QMC for men, Chennai-100
Inaugural address & Power point on UDHR: K. Ramachandran National Vice-President, IARF, India Chapter
Sharing experience with IARF: Dr. Prof. Rajaram, Principal, Sri Karpaga Vinayagar College of Education, Kamuthakudi. Ramnad District
Special Address on Human Values & Ethics: Dr. Latha Subramanian, Assistant Professor, Dept. Of Criminology, University of Madras
Street Play on Human Rights violations & Remedy: College students
Distribution of Certificates: Mr. J.M. Naidu, Chairman, Anna Nagar west extn. Branch IARF, Chennai
Vote of Thanks: Mrs. K. Yasmin, Asst. Professor and Program Officer NSS Unit, the Quaide Milleth College for Men
IARF-HRE Invitation for Human values & ethics 10.12.2014-1 at QMC, Medavakkam (Invitation doc)
Human Rights Awareness Drive by young adults, S. India
Awareness Drive on the Universal “Human Rights”
Place: Bangalore & Chennai, India
Date : 16th November 2014
Regional coordinators : Fareena Maria (Bangalore) & Vijay Sarathy (Chennai)
On a Sunday morning when most people tend to sleep in and while away their time, a few young adults joined hands to step up and make a difference. The RFYN team from south-India decided to have an awareness drive on human rights as the majority of people in our country are unaware about it.
The awareness drive mainly involved people from 2 cities – Bangalore and Chennai. The drive was a 2 day event where people from both cities were educated using different means.
On Saturday (15th November 2014), a group of 25+ young adults gathered to make up banners and posters depicting the 30 articles as mentioned in the universal charter for human rights. These banners were then kept on display for people to see and learn. These banners were also shared with people using social media. In this digital age, this was the most fastest and efficient means to increase curiosity among the youngsters. A lot of people wanted to know more about how they can do their bit to help others as well as how to manage when they witness a human rights violation.
On Sunday (16th November 2014), a group of 100+ young adults did a silent rally by holding up the banners. The march was for a period of 1 Hr 45 minutes and was on the shores of Marina Beach (Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India) from the labor statue to the Gandhi statue. The whole rally was lead by RFYN (Fareena, Vijay, Sowmya, Satya, Sri ram and Satish) from both the cities. All the participants were given free tshirts with the quote “Keep calm and give everyone equal rights” so as to encourage participation. We had police vans driving alongside us for protection which also garnered extra attention for our cause. The public was intrigued and clicked pictures while a lot of them congratulated our efforts.
This event marked the beginning of many greater things yet to come. A small initiative that was taken by us to do whatever little we could to help ourselves and those around us.
See photos of the event on Facebook
Reported by –
Fareena Maria & Vijay Sarathy
German Unitarian General Assembly 2015 (The 29th ‘Unitariertag’)
WHEN: Pentecost 2015 (22 to 25 May 2015 )
WHERE: Worms, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany ( city of the Niebelungs, vineyards, and the roots of the Free Protestant–Unitarian movement )
Flyer_Unitariertag2015_english
Flyer_Unitariertag2015_deutsch
The Unitariertag is a unique chance to meet about 250 Unitarians and the independent Youth Group “Bund Deutsch Unitarischer Jugend, BDUJ“.
We want to discuss in workshops and during the meeting the needs of our members living in Germany and those in the diaspora who are challenged with a moving society leaving the mainstream Churches (Roman Catholic and Lutheran) and finding very often their answers to their questions in esoteric, humanistic and non-confessional communities.
Examples of Information Desk and Stalls from Indianapolis 1996
Kenya Chapter – Human Rights Education trainings, 2014
11 October 2014
Vineyard Education Centre, Webuye
Kenya Chapter – Webuye HRE report (PDF illustrated, 3 pages)
25 October 2014
Kisumu
Kenya Chapter – Kisumu HRE report (PDF illustrated, 2 pages)
11 November 2014
POA Centre, Kitale
Kenya Chapter – Kitale HRE report (PDF illustrated, 7 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
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
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
Interreligious Harmony Week 2014 – Dhaka rally
Interreligious Harmony Rally
Campus of the University of Dhaka
2 February 2014
Dear Peace-loving brothers and sisters of the world,
Please accept my greetings of peace.
On the occasion of Interreligious Harmony Week declared by the United Nations,
The Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (CIID) of the Department of World Religions and Culture of the University of Dhaka, in collaboration with International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF), United Religions Initiative (URI), Religions for Peace(RfP) and Warm Heart Association Bangladesh (WHAB), held an INTERRELIGIOUS HARMONY RALLY on February 2, in the campus of the University of Dhaka.
The Rally was inaugurated by Professor AAMS Arefin Siddique,the Vice Chancellor of the University.Speaking on the occasion were:
Professor Hirendra Nath Biswas,President of National Hindu Reformation Society; Professor Sumonkati Barua, a reputed Buddhist scholar; Bhai Manjit Singh of Gurudwara Nanakshahi, Dhaka; Professor Father Tapan De Rozario of the Departmet of World Religions; Professor Muhammad Elius of the same Department; and Professor KAM Saaduddin, a renowned sociologist of Bangladesh.Many distinguished professors including Professor Azizun Nahar Islam, Professor Nusrat Sultana and Professor Mahbubur Rahman, and hundreds of students joined this Rally.
Professor Kazi Nurul Islam conducted the whole programme.
Different electronic and printed media gave massive coverage of this Rally.Please pray to God so that we can continue our endeavour to promote world peace and harmony.
With regards to all of you.
Yours in peace
Kazi Nurul Islam
[Chair of IARF Bangladesh Chapter]