Religions for Peace

 EIGHTH WORLD ASSEMBLY         

RELIGIONS FOR PEACE convened its Eighth World Assembly in Kyoto, Japan, on 26–29 August 2006. More than 800 religious leaders representing the world’s diverse faiths from a hundred countries rejected the highjacking of religions as an excuse for violence. Religions for Peace:

• Confronted violence. Pledged to promote a notion of “shared security” in which everyone is responsible for the other. Twenty concrete action steps were outlined for religious leaders, governments, international organizations, and businesses.

• Worked to transform violent conflict—Iraq, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Palestine/Israel, Korean Peninsula.  Convened multi-religious representatives from these troubled areas to develop collaborative plans to transform conflict.

• Addressed poverty. Trained and equipped religious leaders to become front-line actors in the fight against poverty and disease. For example, Religions for Peace partnered with the UN to develop, field test, and launch a tool kit specifically designed to help religious communities reduce child mortality and hunger and combat HIV/AIDS in accordance with the UN Millennium Development Goals. The tool kit is in English, French, Spanish, and Arabic. 

• Mobilized women. Global women of faith networks forged coalitions, built program alliances, initiated public partnerships, and shared concrete strategies for peacebuilding. More than 400 women from sixty-five countries initiated collaborations at the Women’s Assembly, 24-25 August 2006.

• Launched global youth network. At the Youth Assembly, 21–24 August 2006, nearly 300 youth launched a global inter-religious youth network and devised a detailed five-year action plan.

CONFLICT TRANSFORMATION        

RELIGIONS FOR PEACE confronted extremist sectarian violence in the Middle East, Asia, and Africa.

• Iraq.  Convened senior Iraqi Sunni, Shiite, and Christian leaders three times in 2006 to address escalating sectarian violence: in London (March), at the Eighth World Assembly in Kyoto, Japan (August), and Oslo (December).
 
• West and East Africa. Trained religious leaders in Uganda, Sudan, and Liberia in justice and reconciliation regarding the International Criminal Court. Initiated conflict prevention responses in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone.

• Middle East. Brought grassroots religious leaders together from Palestinian and Jewish communities in eight encounters to dialogue on core issues of conflict. Strengthened the capacity of Jewish, Muslim, and Christian leaders to engage in reconciliation and peace-promoting activities such as developing school curricula and engaging Arab and Jewish youth a joint social action project.

ADVOCACY AND ACTION FOR THE CHILD

RELIGIONS FOR PEACE addressed violence against children and focused on HIV/AIDS in Africa.

• UN partnership to stop violence against children. Convened more than 40 religious leaders and experts from 30 countries in Toledo, Spain, to develop ways in which religious communities can address violence against children. This consultation was convened in partnership with UNICEF and its resulting declaration was presented to the UN in October at the launch of the UN global Study on Violence Against Children.

• Stigma training in Africa. Mounted a broad-based training and advocacy campaign to combat discrimination against HIV/AIDS. Such trainings resulted in reaching 4,500 women and youth trainers in Kenya alone and the delivery of thousands of relevant sermons and messages at grassroots houses of worship. Production on a training manual for religious leaders was completed for distribution to local communities.

• Regional coordination with partners. Mobilized substantive development aid to equip 10 Religions for Peace inter-religious councils to reach more children orphaned by HIV/AIDS, resulting in such major contracts as a $15 million grant from USAID to the Inter-religious Council–Uganda.

• XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto. Placed inter-faith religious communities on the front lines of action against the HIV/AIDS pandemic at this major assembly.

INTER-RELIGIOUS COUNCIL DEVELOPMENT      

RELIGIONS FOR PEACE continued to grow its family of multi-faith alliances and groups, particularly in Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean.

• Ten new Inter-religious Councils (IRCs). Launched new IRCs—two in Africa and eight in Latin America and the Caribbean. These IRCs were established in Botswana and the Democratic Republic of Congo in Africa and Bolivia, Chile, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guyana, Panama, Puerto Rico, Surinam and Trinidad and Tobago in Latin America and the Caribbean.

• Latin America. The sub-regional Latin American Council of Religious Leaders was launched in June.

• African Council of Religious Leaders. New regional network forged action plans and played a key role in preparing for the Eighth World Assembly.
 

WOMEN’S MOBILIZATION PROGRAM       

RELIGIONS FOR PEACE engaged women of faith as key peacebuilders, particularly in Africa and Latin America.

• Central America. Forged collaborative action plans to address violence against women, rural poverty, and gender inequity in Guatemala.

• Great Lakes Region, Africa. Helped train workers on how to heal children who survived genocide in Rwanda.

• Religions for Peace Governance. During the Women’s Assembly in Kyoto, Japan, delegates elected the International Women’s Coordinating Committee to serve the thousands of women’s groups working in Religions for Peace.

• Resources. Produced and distributed source materials on networking, transforming conflict, and addressing poverty.

YOUTH PROGRAM          

RELIGIONS FOR PEACE  further built its global, multi-religious network of youth dedicated to building peace.

• Youth Assembly. Six Pre-Assemblies were held throughout the world—in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, Europe, Latin America, and North America—to define ways youth can build peace. These were directly addressed at the Youth Assembly and the Religions for Peace Eighth World Assembly, where youth gained a representative seat on the World Council and developed a concrete work plan for the next five years.

• African Inter-Religious Youth Network. This new network convened to prepare for the World Assembly, the first time that the multi-religious youth in Africa confronted shared security and advanced peace.