Announcement of 34th World Congress, 2014
“Challenges for Religious Freedom in the digital age”
Sun 24 to Weds 27 August 2014
University of Birmingham,
United Kingdom
Announcement flyer (PDF)
Updates (also on Twitter and Facebook Friends and Event pages)
Information to date on the Congress
RFYN meets UN official India visit
27 April 2013, Chennai
Following the wave of concern over women’s issues in India since the New Delhi rape atrocity of December 2012, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in the United Nations arranged, under the ‘Special Procedures’ instrument for human rights issues, a country visit by the Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, from April 22 to May 1, 2013.
The SR herself (Ms Rashida Manjoo) was unable to attend a scheduled meeting with civil society organisations in Chennai on 27th April 2013, but our RFYN representatives met with her proxy.
Please read their report here (PDF, 3 pages).
Council meeting 2013
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REPORT: 2013 International Council meeting at the Konko Church of Izuo in Osaka, 17-19 April 2013
Preceded by the annual Executive meeting – hosted once more by our Osaka member group Shitennoji Temple – the two-day annual board meeting ended on Friday (19 April), in general agreement that this was the most positive so far during the presidency of Rev. Mitsuo Miyake, which ends next year at the General Meeting to take place within our 34th World Congress, in 2014.
This meeting was tasked with considering three different proposals for a location for the congress within IARF’s Europe & Middle East (EME) region. (By historical tradition the event cycles between our four regions. It now takes place every four years).
Very keen and compelling motivations were put forward by our Israeli member group the Interfaith Encounter Association (for Jerusalem as a site) and our Swiss member group Libref (for Geneva), but in the end most votes went to a last-minute bid by the British Chapter for an event in the multi-faith city of Birmingham, supported by the city’s council and a range of interfaith organisations there. So in the last week of August 2014, Britain will attempt to match the success of the last, 33rd IARF world congress held in India and featuring the Dalai Lama.
Much more information to follow once the Host Committee gets to planning, which has begun already since the event is now only just a little over a year away.
Other major decisions taken were: to reduce the size of the governing board, and to introduce from next year a membership fee that will cover support costs in a sustainable manner.
A Nominating Committee was appointed to choose the slate for the next Council (2014-2018); the IARF Bylaws were modified for the approval of the General Meeting next year; project work in India & Israel was commended, along with our representatives’ work at the UN in Geneva; and new membership was approved from groups in Austria, Bahrain, Ghana & Malawi – with additional new chapters under formation in Kenya, Togo & Benin receiving conditional acceptance.
A budget will be presented to the board for discussion and approval very shortly.
Altogether, IARF has restored its fortunes considerably since the mid-2010s, and looks forward to welcoming its membership to a vibrant congress in Birmingham next year – an event that will assure them of our place among the handful of liberal internationalist organisations that are confronting, within their means but with serious intent, the human rights agenda of a troubled world – and in particular, as always, the now-burning issues of freedom of faith and interfaith awareness-raising.
IARF and HRWF co-sponsor HRC UPR side event
UN Human Rights Council, Universal Periodic Review (UPR)
Side Event on freedom of religion in Russia
29 April 2013
in conjunction with the review of the human rights records of Russia through the Working Group on the UPR of the Human Rights Council.
Jointly organised by IARF and Human Rights Without Frontiers International (HRWFI)
Topics & Speakers:
- The law on extremism – Alexandr Verkhovsky from Sova Center in Moscow
- A number of court cases in Russia – Sergey Ivanenko, a Russian lawyer
- European Court decisions against Russia in religious matters – Attorney Patricia Duval from Paris
- Religious intolerance fostered by the state and anti-sect movements in Russia – Willy Fautré from Brussels
HRWF Report: Russia Side Event, UPR 2013 (PDF 1 page)
IARF co-sponsors Multi-faith Coalition event at UN
Report to the “Multi-Faith Coalition on Partnering with the United Nations”
On a meeting during the 22nd session of the Human Rights Council
United Nations, Geneva.
7 March 2013
Sponsored by the Republic of Kazakhstan;
FICIR (Forum Intercultural & Interreligious);
IARF (International Association for Religious Freedom)
Report to the Multi-Faith Coalition (PDF, 6 pages)
IARF Peace Commission Conference 2013
Theme: RELIGIOUS FREEDOM & RESPONSIBILITY
Co-Sponsored by IARF Peacemaking Commission and World Congress of Faiths (WCF)
Starts 20 August, continue though 23 or 24 August.
@Unitarian Church in Horsham (25 minutes from Gatwick Airport, one hour from London) rooms in the Travelodge 100 yards away.
Registration, room and board: £260 (approx $390 US), reduced for shared rooming.
£50 each for non-residential registration if lodging & supper not required.
Full registration has now closed.
Registration with meals but without accommodation will remain open until 15 August: £50 by cheque to “Horsham Interfaith Forum” c/o Richard Boeke 16 St. Mary’s Gardens, Horsham, RH12 1JP
IARF-WCF Horsham 2013 – Conference Poster
(Conference Poster — one-page print version)
IARF 2013 Horsham – Daily Schedule
Attending to speak and lead sessions:
Rev. Chris Hudson MBE, Belfast;
Dr. Marcus Braybrooke, President WCF;
Rt. Rev. Kieran Conry, Roman Catholic Bishop of Arundel & Brighton;
Dr Kishan Manocha, Director, Office of External Affairs of the Baha’i Community of the U.K.
Dr. Dan McKanan, Harvard;
Dr. Shlomo Alon, Vice-President IARF;
Adv. V. Rengapashyam, IARF Council, India;
Dr. Yehuda Stolov, IARF Council Member, Israel;
Professor Hal French, University of South Carolina, IARF US Chapter chair;
Sheikh Muhammad Amin-Evans
Charanjit & Ajit Singh MBE;
Dorothee Gehrmann, Germany;
Dr. Doris Hunter, IARF Council, USA;
Annelies Trenning, IARF Council, Netherlands.
Speakers’ bios (PDF)
Outing to Worth Abbey 22 Aug
23 Aug: Peacemaking Commission till 3pm.
RFYN Interfaith Peace Rally
Chennai seafront
23rd January 2013
Co-ordinators: Krishnan Ramachandran, Anbumani Arumugam, Nitya Saheba
The rally was held in consonance with the UN declared Interfaith Harmony Week (February every year) to be observed by organisations across the world.
We are happy that the rally attracted 800-odd students from 3 districts in and around Chennai city. There was representation from the Ramakrishna Math, Brahma Kumari’s, Jain monks, Buddhist monks from Burma based in Chennai, from the Archbishop of Chennai, from Islam.
All the religious and inter-faith leaders present agreed to meet again in the near future for a longer program to create awareness among the younger generation for a better environment.
Report (PDF 7 pages, illustrated): RFYN Interfaith Peace Rally Report (23 January 2013)
Photos (Picasa link)
2012 International Human Rights Day in India
10 December 2012
- Visakhapatnam – Integral Institute Of Advanced Management
- Bangalore – Sri Krishna International Group of Institutions
British Chapter meets Canterbury archbishop
Derek McAuley, Chief Officer of IARF member group the British Unitarian General Assembly, met the Archbishop of Canterbury at an Interfaith Reception at Lambeth Palace on Thursday 22 November 2012.
The event was held to celebrate InterFaith Week, mark the 25th Anniversary of the UK’s InterFaith Network, and to recognise the Archbishop’s contribution to inter faith relations over the last ten years.
Derek is pictured with Dr Rowan Williams and Harry Shukla MBE, an interfaith activist from Newcastle Gateshead who was one of the speakers at the event.
Picture: Paresh Solanki, InterFaith Network.
Interfaith dialogue in Nepal Chapter
24 November 2012
Kathmandu, Nepal
Report: Interfaith dialogue on Religious Tolerance & Citizen’s Responsibility (PDF, 10 pages illustrated)