'Intervention to Board of Religious NGOs'

Intervention to Board of Religious NGOs (New York - chair Hiro Sakurai) on 24 May 2006 at Church Center U.N. (777 U.N. Plaza 9th floor) . Speech given by Dr. Charles Graves

  Thank you for the invitation to speak before you today, to represent in a certain way the Religious and Spiritual NGOs in Geneva. I certainly can not claim to speak for all, but prior to my coming I spoke with several Committees of NGOs related to CONGO (Conference of NGOs in Consultative Status with the United Nations ECOSOC) and they provided some input for this meeting with you today.

I mention first of all the NGO Committee on Freedom of Religion and Belief whose chair is Diane Ala'i (Baha'i International Community). The secretary of this Committee is Mr. John Taylor , representing International Association for Religious Freedom. His e-mail : echappee@bluewin.ch Web site : www.congo.cx.la This Committee has been giving NGO support to the the U.N. Special Rapporteurs on Freedom of Religion and Belief - previously Mr. Abdelfattah Amor and now Ms. Asma Jihanghir. The last-named presented a report on Civil and Political Rights, Including the Question of Religious Intolerance to the 61st session of the Commission on Human Rights. As you probably know, that session of the Commission dealt only with 'procedural matters' in preparation for the newly-voted Human Rights Council, and Madame Jihanghir could not give an oral report to the Commission. A substitute was found, however, where she presented her work orally to a large number of NGOs at the Palais Wilson (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights) in Geneva. The web-site of this Committee will give the programme and the organisations active in this Committee.

Secondly, there is the new CONGO-related NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns (e-mail secretariat@csvgc-geneva.org ) chaired by Mr. Trevor Davies of the Anglican Consultative Council and the secretary is Ms. Astrid Stuckelberger a psychologist related the University of Geneva and expert in gerontology. There is a New York equivalent of this Committee headed by Diane Williams ( dmbwilliams2000@yahoo.com ) At the Geneva Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns a wide variety of topics are represented in Working Groups, notable of which are groups on 'Circle of Peace for the Spiritual Empowerment of the United Nations', 'Spiritual and Values Education', 'Sacred Knowledge and Sacred Natural Sites', 'Science and Ethics', etc. The Committee has circulated under the intiative of the Women's World Summit Foundation under Ms. Elly Pradervand, a ' Appeal to the United Nations - a Call for Spiritual Empowerment' ' I have some of these 'appeals' to distribute if you wish. At the bottom of the appeal you will find listed some of the organisations involved in the work of this Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns. Their web site is www.csvgc-geneva.org

Thirdly, our Interfaith International is secretary of the CONGO-related NGO Committee Against Racism and Racial Discrimination. ( charlesgraves@vtx.ch Our chairperson is Jean-Jacques Kirkyacharian of the French Anti-Racist NGO called MRAP (Movement Contre le Racisme et pour l'Amitié entre les Peuples). The Committee was a key actor in the organisation of the NGO Forum at the World Conference Against Racism in Durban, South Africa in August-September 2001. The Committee members discuss racism and cooperate with the Special Rappporteur on Contemporary Forms of Racism, Dr. Doudou Diene. Last Year we published an interesting brochure related to our two major preoccupations : 'National Action Plans : Defeating Racism After the Durban Conference' and 'The Clash of Civilisations' - a report of a seminar held at the United Nations, Geneva. Our Committee is particularly concerned with the problems of xenophobia, racism, inter-ethnic and inter-religious conflict.

These Committees are part of a larger CONGO Special Committee on Human Rights , chaired by Mr. Peter Prove of the Lutheran World Federation e-mail : humanrights@ngocongo.org Another member organisation is the NGO Committee on the Status of Women chaired by Dr. Krishna Ahooja-Patel of the Womens International League for Peace and Freedom kpatel@iprolink.ch I have not gone into details about these last committees because they are not specifically related to the work of 'religious' NGOs', although there are many correspondences.

There are a number of other interfaith, religious and spiritual initiatives in Geneva beginning with the 'Spiritual Appeal' launched just after the September 11th events where all the various religious communities participated in some ceremonies in the Protestant Cathedral with the leitmotif of combatting religious extremism. This was led by the dean of the (Protestant) St. Pierre Cathedral in Geneva, together with local Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and Baha'i leaders. It was Geneva's reaction to religious intolerance spiked by the terrorist attacks. Astrid Stuckelberger (see above NGO Committee on Spirituality, Values and Global Concerns) was the secretary of this group of religious dignitaries.

There is also the 'Partnership Committee for the Creation of a Spiritual Forum for World Peace at the United Nations' , led by Mr. Gerardo Gonzalez of Chile ( gerardo.gonzalez@mi-mail-cl which consists of a selection of religious leaders from all the major world religions and world interfaith organisations. It has met twice at the Château de Bossey - Oecumenical Institute - near Geneva, to write a 'Proposal for Creating a Spiritual or Interreligious Forum for World Peace in the United Nations'. This initative is quite similar to the Tripartite Form in which the RNGOs are involved here in New York, but on a smaller scale and without specific government collaboration.

A special problem which I learned about recently was that there is a 'credibility gap' between New York and Geneva . It's not known where this started to widen, but may be related to the concept among Geneva-based permanent government missions and NGOs that 'New York decides everything' and Geneva must follow. One recent government spokesman even said, let's not let the new Human Rights Council (whose seat is in Geneva) be 'micromanaged' from New York. However, this 'credibility gap' is not very relevant to NGOs in my opinion. Each actor - both New York and Geneva - has special perspectives to offer to the whole and they complement each other.

Another issue which must be faced by 'Religious NGOs' is the new religious situation in the world brought about by the rise of what have been called 'developing countries' vis à vis what are called the 'Western' nations. Religion has become an apparently important issue in this new situation. Hence 'Religious NGOs' find that their objectives are growing more and more relevant to the world situation. Religious leaders and their contributions to world peace are being considered important to the United Nations since the Millenium Summit. The General Assembly has adopted several resolutions concerning the rights of all the world religions to exist on an even par without being subordinated one to another. Moreover, the role of religions to promote world peace is being underlined, all the while recognising that religion as misused can also cause divisions and foment hatreds.

Moreover, the 'Dialogue Among Civilizations' is being promoted by the United Nations General Secretariat - a domaine previously held only by UNESCO. The recent outbursts of violence related to the Danish newspaper's printing of some cartoons showing the prophet Mohammed has demonstrated that a little bit of hasty humour (perhaps with a purposeful provocation behind it) in one outlying region of a rather small European country has repercussions in far-away Pakistan where both a Catholic and a Presbyterian church were burned and in Beirut, Lebanon where two government missions (Denmark and Sweden) suffered serious damage. In this case we saw that a little local provocation can 'cause' the international 'Clash of Civilisations' . Here again the world's religions (i.e. their leaders and intelligent followers) must become mobilised in order to teach peoples how delicate is the equilibrium between religions and cultures. They must also try to see clearly the 'provocatory' element leading to these clashes.

As for the aftermath of September 11th (New York and Washington), March 11th (Madrid) and July 7th (London) - here again the world's spiritual and religious forces have their work cut out for them. The obvious result of these is the denigration of Islam and Muslims. How will the religious leaders and followers of religions react to a 'popularised' denigration or 'populist' misrepresentation of this one major religion ? The world religions must achieve together a common standpoint or platform which might prevent phenomena such as the September 11th from being actualised.

For some of the above-mentioned reasons, some of our organisations are supporting the idea of proposing to the United Nations General Assembly to vote a ' United Nations Decade of Inter-religious Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace'.

The main actors for creating such a Decade would, naturally, be such groups as the RNGOs at the United Nations in New York, the similar groups in Geneva and Vienna together with the United Nations itself and the governments members of the United Nations. Fortunately, you here in New York already have constructed an organisation called the 'Tripartite Forum' in which all the necessary elements are included : NGOs, governments and the United Nations organisations. You must not forget your 'religious' and 'spiritual' Geneva and Vienna counterparts in this initiative. On the other hand there are other important partners which must be brought 'on board' and I think here specifically of the International Interfaith Organizations Network (IION) based in Oxford, England. Some of its members are represented in the RNGOs here present but perhaps not all. The members of IION have done a marvelous work over the decades in promoting discussions between religious leaders and fostering common actions.

In fact, for example (chosing two important actors who might support the idea of a 'Decade' ) it appears that 'the Tripartite Forum's' main preoccupation is good relations with governments and the U.N. and common action on behalf of world peace by both religious and political actors'. The main preoccupation of IION (International Interfaith Organisation Network) on the other hand is coordination in interfaith work. However, it is evident that IION preoccupation with interfaith coordination cannot be insensitive to a programme of involving U.N. member states in interfaith work (as the Tripartite Forum proposes) and the Tripartite Forum cannot be insensitive to the fact that IION member organisations represent many, if not most of, the world's religious and spiritual leaders.

I have just one more point before I finish. Our contacts with spiritual and religious leaders must never lose sight of the fact that before such leaders can be mobilized for United Nations work, a certain cadre or context must be provided for them. By themselves alone they can 'dialogue' with one another but they are usually poor 'organisation men' and they need the NGOs and governments to create appropriate institutions for them. If these are created they can display their theological or pastoral talents on behalf of the United Nations and its objectives. We as NGOs have the ability to provide this context if we work together with states and the U.N. bodies, and without competition. For example, we can work together to convince the General Assembly that a 'Decade of Inter-religious Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace' would be a good idea. Then, having worked together on this one common project of a 'Decade' , we could perhaps implement it with a  'Forum' (like the 'Tripartite Forum' idea) an institution which would promote the  'Decade' and give a practical application to it.

Charles Graves, D. Theol.
Secretary General
Interfaith International

Interfaith International was created in 1993 at the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna. It received special consultative status with ECOSOC in 1998. Its President is H.E. Sayyed Mohammed Musawi (London) a Shi'a Muslim cleric. Its seat is in Geneva canton, Switzerland. It has been active at the Commission on Human Rights on behalf of religious and ethnic groups oppressed by human rights violations - mainly in the Middle East and South Asia. Its members represent all major religions.