Rev. Sugino advances RfP’s Multi-Dimensional Approach to Freedom of Religion or Belief
October 16, 2019
(Brussels, Belgium) Rev. Kyoichi Sugino [Acting Secretary General, Religions for Peace] highlighted RfP’s interreligious and multi-stakeholder approach to advancing Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB) at a high-level meeting of the European Union (EU), discussing the scaling of EU support of FoRB.
Participants engaged in a focused discussion stressing the synergy between FoRB and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the need to scale multilevel, multilayered and multidimensional interreligious engagement.
Rev. Sugino presented RfP’s historic facilitation and co-building of the Inter-religious council of Bosnia and Herzegovina (IRC-BiH-RfP), which collaborated in drafting the country’s first freedom of religion legislation. He also presented RfP’s unique expertise using a context-driven and inclusive method to secure FoRB: the current RfP Advisory Forum on National Reconciliation and Peace in Myanmar. Al Haj U Aye Lwin [Chief Convener, Islamic Center of Myanmar; Founding Member, RfP Myanmar] discusses the opportunities and challenges that this unique RfP mechanism provides (watch full interview below) including the inclusion of local voices directly impacted by the conflict and the continuous, deep-rooted societal changes necessary to reorient communities towards peace and Shared Well-Being. These locally lead Advisory Forums simultaneously implement concrete multi-religious action on SDGs 4, 5 and 16: Quality Education, Gender Equality and Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions, respectively.
Rev. Sugino stressed the importance of context specific, strategic, multi-level inter-religious collaboration:
“It is imperative to harmonize not only the top-down and bottom-up approaches, but also to harmonize multiple levels, layers and dimensions of the context in order to scale up inter-religious engagement for freedom of religion or belief.”
Freedom of Religion or Belief can be violated by negative stereotyping, hate speech, intolerance and/or discrimination based on religion or belief. Religiously motivated violence and social hostility often intersect with authoritarian practices characterized by hostility toward dissent, pluralism, independent media and active civil society. They may also take place under the guise of national security or countering terrorism. “Othering,” the construction of the self-identity through the opposition to a negative-valued, dangerous or threatening “Other,” must be overcome through RfP’s multi-religious action to “welcome the other.”
For this meeting, Rev. Sugino joined a select group of fifty ministers, ambassadors for religious freedom, senior representatives of EU Member States, representatives of academic institutions and civil society organizations. The meeting was convened by EU Special Envoy Ambassador Jan Figel.
