annual symposium on the role of religion in international affairs

10th Anniversary Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs—Human Rights and Dignity: Towards a Just, Peaceable and Inclusive Future

10th Anniversary Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs

Human Rights and Dignity: Towards a Just, Peaceable and Inclusive Future

Tuesday, 23 January 2024
8:00 AM to 12:30 PM

Hybrid (Register here for online participation)

                                       Physical Venue: 8th Floor Conference Room, Church Center for the United Nations                                      (777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017)

LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION IN ENGLISH, FRENCH, SPANISH, ARABIC and SIGN

Sponsoring Organizations:

ACT Alliance, General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, Islamic
Relief, Religions for Peace, Seventh-Day Adventist Church, Soka Gakkai International, United
Religions Initiative, World Council of Churches, UN Women, UNFPA, UN Office on the Prevention of Genocide

In partnership with:

UN Inter-agency Task Force on Religion and Development

The 2024 Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs marks a significant milestone as it celebrates its tenth anniversary. A decade ago, faith-based partners initiated this symposium, which coincided with Martin Luther King’s birthday and aimed at fostering dialogue on the intricate interplay between religion and international affairs. With a deliberate inclusion of UN member states and entities, the symposium sought to create a platform for collaborative policymaking and constructive engagement.

In 2016, the second symposium established a strong partnership with the UN Interagency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development, creating an annual policy dialogue involving UN entities, member states, faith-based actors, and civil society to address pressing global challenges. Past themes have included a wide range of critical issues related to human rights, the prevention of atrocity crimes and their incitement, the promotion of peace, inclusion, and combating systemic injustice. The upcoming 10th Symposium will reiterate commitment to human rights and dignity. It aims to inspire collective action for a compassionate society and aligns with World Interfaith Harmony Week that will take place from 1 – 7 February 2024 to promote understanding among diverse religious communities worldwide.

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Speaker Bios

 

OVERALL MODERATORS

Ms Simona Cruciani, OSAPG

Simona Cruciani serves as a Senior Political Affairs Officer at the United Nations Office on the Prevention of Genocide (UNOSAPG) where she is the Head of Programs and the focal point for the implementation of the UN Strategy and Plan of Action on hate Speech.  Before joining the UNOSAPG, Simona served in United Nations field operations, respectively from 2004 to 2006 in the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Burundi as an Electoral and Civil Affairs Officer, and from 2006 to 2008 at the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Sudan as a Civil Affairs Officer. 

Simona’s focus has primarily been on preventing and responding to atrocity crimes as well as supporting human security, democratization and human rights in conflict and post-conflict situations.  Simona owns a master’s degrees in Contemporary History, International Affairs and Public Health. 

 

Mr Rudelmar Bueno de Farcia, General Secretary, ACT Alliance

Rudelmar Bueno de Faria (Brazil) is the General Secretary (CEO) of the ACT Alliance, an international coalition of 140 churches and faith-based organizations working together in humanitarian, development and advocacy work in over 125 countries.  Prior to this, he served as the World Council of Churches Representative to the United Nations and Deputy Director for the Lutheran World Service. He has over 30 years of experience working with national and international faith-based organizations. His education embraces business administration, international relations and foreign trade.  He has post-graduation studies on Diakonia and Community Development and several specialization courses related to international, humanitarian and human rights laws. 

Rudelmar is the former co-chair of the United Nations Multi-Faith Advisory Council, member of the UN Steering Committee for the Implementation of the Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent Incitement to Violence, Commissioner of the UN High-Level Commission of the Nairobi Summit on ICPD25 Follow-up and member of the COVAX Facility AMC Engagement Group. Rudelmar has extensive expertise in areas such as Gender Justice, Climate Justice, Peace and Human Security, Migration and Displacement, and Humanitarian Response and Disaster Risk Reduction. He is a member of the Steering Committee on Humanitarian Response (SCHR), member of the Advisory Board for the Humanitarian Encyclopedia, and member of the NGO Working Group on the UN Security Council.


HIGH LEVEL OPENING

 

Ms Alice Wairimu Nderitu, OSAPG

Alice Wairimu Nderitu of Kenya is Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide. Ms. Nderitu is a recognized voice in the field of peacebuilding and atrocity crimes prevention. As mediator of armed conflicts, she served as a member of the African Unions Network of African Women in Conflict Prevention and Mediation (Fem-Wise), the Women Waging Peace Network and Global Alliance of Women Mediators. She contributed to defining the role of women mediators, as one of the few women who are signatories to peace agreements as a mediator.

 She previously served as Commissioner of the National Cohesion and Integration Commission (NCIC) in Kenya; Director, Education for Social Justice at Fahamu; Head of the human rights education department of the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and was a Commonwealth Exchange Fellow at the South African Human Rights Commission. She was also a member of the Concerned Citizens for Peace, a group of Elders facilitating peace confidentially between African leaders at the highest levels. 

Ms. Nderitu holds an Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters from Keene State College, a Master’s Degree in Armed Conflict and Peace Studies and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Literature and Philosophy from the University of Nairobi. 

 

Ms Diene Keita, UN Assistant Secretary-General, Deputy Executive Director (program), UNFPA

Ms. Diene Keita is the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund. Prior to this, she served as Minister of Cooperation and African Integration of the Republic of Guinea, and brings to this position nearly 30 years of experience including senior leadership with the United Nations. 

Ms. Keita first joined to the United Nations System in 2006 as UNDP Program Officer in New York. Subsequently, she served as UNDP Deputy Representative in Africa and the Caribbean, and Representative to the African Union in Addis Ababa. 

During her tenure at UN System, Ms. Keita served as UNFPA Representative in Mauritania, Benin, DRC and Nigeria (two of UNFPA’s largest programs worldwide). Concurrently, she was the UN Resident Coordinator in Mauritania, Benin and DRC. During this period, Ms. Keita led with success large and complex public health programs, expanded strategic partnerships and mobilized critical resources to support efficient delivery at local and global level. 

Throughout her career, Ms. Keita has worked extensively on women and youth empowerment, inclusive growth, demographic issues and sustainable human development, sexual and reproductive health, as well as gender-based violence issues in the context of humanitarian crises. 

Dr Keita holds a doctorate in law, summa cum laude, a DEA in international economics and development law, and a DESS in international relations from the University of Paris 1 Panthéon Sorbonne and is fluent in English, French and Italian, among other languages. 

 

Rev Prof Dr Jerry Pillay, General Secretary, World Council of Churches

 Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay is the General Secretary of the World Council of Churches. Pillay was previously dean of the Faculty of Theology and Religion at the University of Pretoria. A member of the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa, he is from South Africa.

When he became part of the leadership of the Uniting Presbyterian Church, he was appointed to serve on the WCC central committee, and was also appointed to the board of trustees of the Council for World Mission. He also served on the National Executive of the South African Council of Churches for many years, and was the first President of the World Communion of Reformed Churches from 2010 – 2017.

His first formal engagement with the WCC was at the WCC 9th Assembly in 2006, where he served as a delegate from his denomination. He brings to the general secretary position his desire for the churches to come together. With church unity as one of his absolute priorities, he also believes that churches need to offer guidance and direction to a suffering world.

 


SESSION 1: Upholding Human Dignity: Respecting Rights, Flourishing Humanity 

 

MODERATOR

Ms Audrey Kitigawa, President/Founder, International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation

Audrey E. Kitagawa, JD, is the President/Founder of the International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation, President of the Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family, and the former Advisor to the Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict at the United Nations.

She is the Chair of the Anti-Racism Initiative, and Gender Equality Working Group, and a member of the Advisory Council of the G20 Interfaith Forum.  She is a United Nations Representative for the United Religions Initiative, a board member of the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy, and a member of the Advisory Council of Global Security Institute.

She has been listed in Who’s Who Of American Law, Who’s Who Of American Women, Who’s Who In America, Who’s Who In The World, and Prominent People of Hawaii. She is a recipient of the Ellis Island Medal of Honor which celebrates diversity, and the importance of immigrants to the economic and social success of the United States for her work in multiculturalism, Asian women’s history and empowerment, and spiritual leadership. She is the recipient of the Medal “Pride of Eurasia” and a Diploma from the Republic of Kazakhstan Ministry of Education and Science L.N. Gumilyov Eurasian National University for her outstanding contribution to the development of spiritual culture and education in Eurasia. 

 

PANELISTS 

Dr Ganoune Diop, Director, Public Affairs and Religious Liverty, Seventh-day Adventist Church

Ganoune Diop, PhD, is the Director of the Public Affairs and Religious Liberty Department (PARL) at the Seventh-day Adventist Church world headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA. He is the Secretary General of the International Religious Liberty Association. He is also the Secretary of the Conference of General Secretaries of the Christian World Communions.

Dr. Ganoune Diop was the director of the United Nations Relations of the General Conference of Seventh Day Adventists.

Previous to his current functions, he was the Director of the Five World Religions and Philosophies Study Centers (Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, Secularism and Postmodernism).

He regularly trains leaders in capacity building in reference to peace, justice, and human rights: the pillars of the United Nations. In the ecumenical world and interfaith partnerships, Dr. Diop participated as advisor to the Public Issues Committee at the WCC General Assembly in Busan, Korea. He was also invited as advisor to the work of the reference Policy Committee of the Central Committee of the WCC.

Dr. Diop was granted a doctorate Honoris Causa for his work in helping promote a culture of human rights grounded on human dignity. In 2017, he was the recipient of the Thomas Kane Religious Freedom Award, from the well-known J. Rueben Clark Law Society in Philadelphia, United States of America. In 2019, he received the Award of Excellence: Ambassador for Liberty and Peace – Jean Nussbaum & Eleanor Roosevelt at the United Nations in Geneva. In 2020, Dr. Diop was one of four recipients of the Charles Elliott Weniger Society for Excellence Award of Excellence, Loma Linda University. 

Bio adapted from: https://www.rfp.org/leadership_member/dr-ganoune-diop-phd-2/ 

 

Ms Elisa Gazzotti, SGI Representative to the UN, Human Rights Education Focal Point and Chair of NGO Working Group on Human Rights Education

Elisa Gazzotti works as programme coordinator for Human Rights Education at Soka Gakkai International Office for UN Affairs. In 2018 she was appointed as the chair of the NGO Working Group on Human Rights Education and Learning, a coalition of non-governmental organizations that advocates for human rights education at the United Nations, to ensure implementation at the national and local level. 

From 2020-2022 Elisa served as the co-chair of the Human Rights Engagement Task Team of the Global Protection cluster led by UNHCR. Before joining Soka Gakkai International Elisa was working with the UN Food and Agriculture Organization in Rome, Italy and UNDP in Amman, Jordan. Elisa holds an Executive Master in International Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflicts with a thesis on ‘Women’s protection in Syria and Iraq’ from the Geneva Academy in Geneva, Switzerland and a Master in International Relations from ‘Università degli Studi di Pavia’ Italy. 

 

Mr Atallah Fitzgibbon, Faith and Partnership Adviser, Islamic Relief Worldwide

Atallah FitzGibbon has worked in local economic and social development both in the public and voluntary sector in the UK and overseas. Most recently over the last 20 years he has served at Islamic Relief Worldwide as International Programmes Director, Head of Policy & Strategy and Head of Global Advocacy.  Currently as Faith & Partnerships Advisor at Islamic Relief Worldwide, he currently leads IRW’s engagement and partnerships on faith-based approaches to tackling the major challenges of our time.

Atallah has led the development of Islamic Relief’s last two global strategies between 2009-21, which has involved leading on the drive to improve faith literacy and localisation within IRW’s work and the development of IRW’s conceptual framework and theory of change on human development. This included developing our policies on Islamic social financing and approaches.  As Global Advocacy Manager Atallah focussed heavily on faith community contribution to the SDGs and refugee protection.  Atallah leads IRW’s work on faith-based approaches to peace-building and has been active in recent initiatives and research that has focussed on the role of faith-based actors in refugee protection and conflict transformation. He is active both in the World of Neighbours initiative in Europe as well as KAICID’s Network for Dialogue which explores the role of interreligious and intercultural dialogue for the social inclusion of migrants and people seeking refuge in Europe.

 

Mr Michael Wiener, Human Rights Officer, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva

Michael Wiener has been working since 2006 at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, including for five years supporting the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief and now working in the Rule of Law, Equality and Non-discrimination Branch. He was also part of the core team organizing the expert workshops that led to the adoption of the Rabat Plan of Action on the prohibition of advocacy of national, racial or religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence. Since 2017, he has been working on the design and implementation of the Beirut Declaration and its 18 commitments on “Faith for Rights”. In addition, he has been a Visiting Fellow of Kellogg College at the University of Oxford since 2011. During his UN sabbatical leave in the summer of 2022, he was also a Senior Fellow in Residence at the Geneva Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies. 


SESSION 2: Gender Equality, Peace, and Eradicating Violence 

 

MODERATOR

Ms Dawn Minott, Advisor, Gender and Gender-Based Violence with Humanitarian-Development-Peace Nexus focus at United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)

With over 20 years of progressive experience at the United Nations, Dawn Minott has dedicated her efforts to advocacy for sexual reproductive health, gender equality and youth empowerment working with UN Women, United Nations Development Program and currently UNFPA. Her current role involves setting normative standards from a gender perspective to guide how UNFPA’s work, with a particular focus on gender-based violence, can be strengthened by working across the continuum of humanitarian, development, and peace-responsive actions. 

Dawn’s career has spanned diverse roles from Head of Office to Special Assistant to the UNFPA Executive Director. She’s served at the country, regional, sub-regional and headquarters levels across duty stations in Barbados, Jamaica, South Africa, and Nigeria, and the UNFPA Headquarters in NY.

Dawn is also committed to cultural diversity and social justice. She serves as Diversity Equity and Inclusion Corporate Advocate for UNFPA and holds certification for that function. She also holds a MA degree from York University, Canada. She actively engages in nurturing young professionals and team members through mentorship and professional development. Outside of work, Dawn wears many creative hats. As a published author, poet, blogger, and motivational speaker she channels her creativity to inspire and connect with diverse audiences. She also serves as a ministry leader within her church community testimony to a holistic approach to her personal and professional life.  

 

PANELISTS

Ms Karen Volker, Director of Partnership and Violence Prevention, United Religions Initiative

Karen Volker was born and raised in California before starting her international journey of diplomacy and violence prevention. She joined URI in January 2023 after a ten-year stint at Cure Violence Global (CVG), a community-based violence prevention nonprofit, and a 26-year career at the U.S. Department of State as a member of the U.S. Foreign Service. At CVG, Karen specialized in adapting the model to different social and cultural contexts and different types of violence.  

While at the State Department, Karen spent over a decade overseeing the implementation of U.S. foreign assistance programming in a variety of regions undergoing transition (including Central & Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, the Balkans, and the Middle East).  Other areas of focus include countering violent extremism and multilateral diplomacy, especially vis-a-vis the European Union. At URI, Karen focuses on expanding URI’s partnerships and brings intentionality and effective practice to sharpen URI’s mandate to reduce religiously motivated violence worldwide. Karen represents URI at the United Nations, seeking to strengthen and expand relationships with partners as well as influencing global policies to advance interfaith cooperation, prevent violence, and promote cultures of peace, justice, and healing.

 

Rev Dr Elaine Neuenfeldt, Gender justice Program Manager, ACT Alliance

As a Gender Program Manager at ACT Alliance, Elaine Neuenfeldt leads the development of the work on gender justice and mainstreaming across the global network of faith-based organizations. Elaine has a PhD in Theology and she has academic research and teaching exploring the ethical and transformative implications of religion and faith in the intersection of gender justice and human rights. Elaine has also developed expertise in cross-cultural teamwork, policy development, and networking with multiple stakeholders at different levels and regions.

Elaine has acquired experience and knowledge in advocacy for women human rights, participating in designing curriculum for training and capacity sharing for faith actors, jointly with other ecumenical and interfaith organizations.

In a challenging time when religion and faith (institutions, movements and leaders) are becoming major actors in public space, to be agents of change or, sometimes, strong impediments for implementing women human rights and gender justice, Elaine has been dedicating time and knowledge sharing on developing methodologies with faith-based organizations developing critical narratives and practices on faith, religion, and theological understandings.

 

Mr Jimmie Briggs, Co-Founder and Director, Man Up Campaign

Jimmie Briggs has more than two decades of experience as a journalist, author, and activist. He was a co-founder and executive director emeritus of Man Up Campaign, a global initiative to activate youth to stop violence against women and girls. This led to his selection as the winner of the 2010 GQ Magazine “Better Men Better World” search, and as one of the Women’s eNews ‘21 Leaders for the 21st Century’. Jimmie has served as an adjunct professor of investigative journalism at the New School for Social Research and was a George A Miller Visiting Professor in the Department of African and African American Studies at the University of Illinois: Champaign-Urbana. 

For a decade, he has been an adjunct teacher of documentary journalism at the International Center of Photography. As a journalist, he has written for scores of publications following staff tenures at The Washington Post, The Village Voice, LIFE magazine and others. The recipient of honors for his work as a journalist and advocate, he’s been a National Magazine Award finalist, recipient of honors from the Open Society Institute, National Association of Black Journalists, the Carter Center for Mental Health Journalism, the Congressional Black Caucus, Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism, and the Freedom Center in Cincinnati, among many others. His 2005 book Innocents Lost: When Child Soldiers Go To War took readers into the lives of war-affected children around the world in half a dozen countries. His next book project is an oral history of Ferguson, Missouri in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in 2014. He currently contributes to Vanity Fair, AARP, and other publications. Jimmie holds a Bachelor of Arts degree with honors, in Philosophy, from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, as well as a Medal of Distinction from Barnard College. He lives in New York City.

 

Dr Azza Karam, President, Women’s Learning Partnership

Dr. Azza Karam is the President and CEO of the Women’s Learning Partnership; serves as a member of the United Nations’ Secretary General High Level Advisory Board on Multilateralism; and also as a Professor of Religion and Development at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam (The Netherlands). She is Secretary General Emerita of Religions for Peace International.

She served for nearly two decades in the United Nations (in UNDP and UNFPA), where she Coordinated the Arab Human Development Reports, co-founded and Chaired the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion – with over 20 UN system bodies – and founded and convened its Multi Faith Advisory Council, as part of the 750 global NGO database she coordinatedDuring her tenure at the United Nations, Azza was a Lead Facilitator, Coordinator and Coach, for a methodology she pioneered: peer to peer “Strategic Learning Exchanges”, on religion, development and diplomacy. 

Apart from the work in the United States, she has worked with other intergovernmental and international organizations such as the OSCE, the EU, and International IDEA in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, Europe, and East and Central Asia, where she created and managed global programs on Women and Politics, Democracy and/In the Middle East, and Applied Research on Democracy. She has lectured and taught in various universities, including West Point Military Academy (from 2002 to 2018). She has published widely, and was translated into several languages (on political Islam, gender and women’s rights, Human Rights, democracy, conflict, peacemaking, and education). She has received multiple awards, including for her work on/in the United Nations, as well as in/on Interfaith work and Culture. She was awarded an honorary Degree by John Cabot University in 2022. Born in Egypt, Azza is also a citizen of the Netherlands. 


SESSION 3: Key Learnings for a Just, Peaceable and Inclusive Future

 

MODERATOR

Rev. Dr.  Liberato Bautista, President, Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship wirh the United Nations (CoNGO)

The Rev. Dr. Liberato C. Bautista is a civil society leader whose professional life has been dedicated to working with faith-based, ecumenical and non-governmental organizations worldwide, spanning the last four decades.  He serves as President of CoNGO, the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations. He is an ordained minister of The United Methodist Church. He has served for 27 years to the present as Assistant General Secretary for United Nations and International Affairs of the General Board of Church and Society.  

Bautista represents CoNGO and UMC-GBCS as an NGO representative to the United Nations worldwide. He previously chaired the Council of Organizations of the United Nations Association of the USA (COO UNA-USA) and the Committee of Religious NGOs at the UN (CRNGO). Bautista studied political science, history, and international studies at the University of the Philippines and religion and social and political ethics at Drew University (USA) and was awarded in 2016 a Doctor of Divinity, honoris causa, by Union Theological Seminary in the Philippines. Bautista is a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS). He received the 1996 Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award from Drew University and recognition in 2017 by the Korea Democracy Foundation for his contributions to the democratization and struggle for peace and justice in the Korean Peninsula. Bautista has taught in university, college, and seminary settings and has published on varied subjects, including international affairs and multilateralism, NGO and civil society, social and political ethics, theology and religion, ecumenism, religious liberty, human rights and human dignity, Indigenous peoples, global and forced migration, and peace, justice, and social transformation. For more information about Bautista, including his publications, visit bit.ly/47DL0hf and https://bit.ly/4aYLDVv.

 

PANELISTS

Mr Anwar Khan, President, Islamic Relief USA

Anwar Khan, a distinguished humanitarian leader, holds a Master’s Degree in Philanthropic Studies from Indiana University. As the co-founder and current president of Islamic Relief USA, he brings over 30 years of invaluable experience in the field of humanitarian and development assistance. He has served on the boards of Inter Action and US Agency for International Development (USAID)’s Advisory Committee on Voluntary Foreign Aid (ACVFA). He has also served in the U.S. State Department’s Religion and Foreign Policy Working Group, where he advised on humanitarian issues and the intersection of faith and development. 

Currently, he serves on the board of World Food Program USA, Joint Learning Initiative and the Alliance to End Hunger. He is on the Advisory Council for the Muslim Philanthropy Institute at Indiana University.  

As President of IRUSA, Anwar has prioritized programs that elevate human dignity and advocates for strengthening resilience to climate change and natural disasters. He also helped ensure that the organization continues to hold governments accountable for their commitments under the Paris Agreement and fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals related to climate change.   Throughout his work, he always emphasized community security through peacebuilding activities, behavior change campaigns, and youth empowerment and involvement. The organization is involved in strengthening food security, famine prevention, climate change, and increasing advocacy.

 

Ms Emily Kenney, Policy Specialist, Rule of Law, UN Women

Emily Kenney is a Policy Specialist on Rule of Law and Transitional Justice at UN Women headquarters, where she works in the Peace, Security and Resilience Section on women’s access to justice in conflict-affected countries and accountability for conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence. Emily holds a J.D. from NYU School of Law, an M.Phil from the University of Cape Town in Justice & Transformation Studies, and a B.A. from Tufts University. 

 

 

Mr Peter Prove, Director, International Affairs, World Council of Churches

Peter Prove, Director, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs (CCIA) at the World Council of Churches (WCC) since 2014 (responsible for WCC programs in the fields of human rights, peacebuilding and disarmament, and for relations with the UN system). Previously Executive Director, Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance (EAA), 2010-2014; Assistant General Secretary for International Affairs and Human Rights, Lutheran World Federation (LWF), 1997-2010; and a lawyer in private legal practice in Australia, 1986-1996.

Extensive experience of interfaith networking for human rights, peace and development. Numerous leadership roles in UN and civil society contexts, including as President of the NGO Special Committee on Human Rights (Geneva), 2000-2008; member of the UN International Task Team on HIV-related Travel Restrictions, 2008; member of the UNCTAD Expert Advisory Group on Promoting Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing, 2009; member of the UNAIDS International Advisory Group on Universal Access, 2011; member of the World Economic Forum Global Agenda Councils network 2012-2014; member of Steering Group of International Partnership on Religion and Sustainable Development (PaRD), 2018 to date; founding member of the International NGO Committee on Human Rights in Trade and Investment (INCHRITI); and founding member of the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN).

 

H.E Sheikh Shaban Mubaje, Grand Mufti, Uganda Muslim Supreme Council; Co-Moderator, African Council of Religious Leaders – Religions for Peace; Co-President, Religions for Peace

Sheikh Mubaje was born in Bungokho in Mbale district. He became familiar with Islamic affairs early in his life, thanks to the years spent in a Madras Islamic Primary School in Natete Kayunga district and Namatembe Islamic Institute in Namutumba. Sheikh Mubaje later joined Bugembe Islamic Institute in Jinja, where he completed senior six in 1976 in Islamic studies. In 1977, he went to Riyad in Saudi Arabia for a bachelor’s degree in Sharia (Islamic law). In 1981, he became the Imam of Madinah Mosque, Mbale and founded Mahdi Noor Islamic Institute.

Months later, he became the Mbale district khadi, while pursuing a post-graduate diploma in philosophy at Mbale Islamic University. Mubaje later enrolled at Makerere University for a master’s degree in religious studies. After graduation, he returned to Mbale University as a lecturer in religious studies.

In 2000, Sheikh Mubaje was unanimously elected Grand Mufti of Uganda and was instrumental in founding of Religions for Peace‘s Interreligious Council of Uganda. In 2001, he helped form the African Council of Religious Leaders-Religions for Peace. He continues to hold the position of Co-Chair of the Council and is an ex-officio member of Religions for Peace World Council.

 

Ms Amani Aruri, Karama Network

Amani Aruri is a human rights activist, committed to supporting youth, women and girls in Palestine and the MENA region. Amani brings 10+ experience advancing gender justice, human rights and peace and security agendas working with civil society organizations, collectives and networks, public and private foundations, and UN agencies. Being results driven, Amani has utilized her skills in managing innovative programs that serve marginalized groups especially youth and women, in addition to designing and implementing capacity-building programs for youth. 

She is currently a member of Generation Equality Global Youth Task Force, served as member of the taskforce of the Generation Equality Compact on Women, Peace and Security and Humanitarian Action, a panelist at Global Resilience Fund, YPS/WPS ambassador of Karama Network and a council member of the International Peace Bureau.

 

Ninth International Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs 

NINTH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE ROLE OF RELIGION AND FAITH BASED ORGANIZATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Theme: Securing People’s Wellbeing and Planetary Sustainability

24 January 2023 | 8:30 AM – 1:30 PM EST 

Virtual Event | Interpretation in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese and Spanish

REGISTER: bit.ly/2023_symposium

READ SPEAKER AND MODERATOR BIOGRAPHIES HERE.

PROGRAM

8:15     Zoom opens for participants to join 

8:30     WELCOME

            Video Introduction to the Ninth Symposium 

8:45     HIGH-LEVEL OPENING SESSION

The moderator will introduce the theme of the symposium, and the 9th Symposium will open with representatives of the three major organizing components of the annual symposium–UN official, faith-based representative and member state providing their perspectives on the theme of human security.              

CO-MODERATORS:

  • Rev. Dr. Liberato C. Bautista (Assistant General Secretary for United Nations and International Affairs, General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church and Chair, 2023 Symposium Planning Team)
  • Ms. Nika Saeedi (PVE Team Leader, Crisis Bureau, UNDP; Global focal point on Religion, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, and Hate Speech for UNDP)

SPEAKERS:

  • H.E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Ecuador and former President of the UN General Assembly)
  • H. E. Archbishop  Gabriele Giordano Caccia (Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer, Permanent Observer  Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations)
  • Ms. Ulrika Modéer (UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy, UNDP)
  • Ambassador (ret.) Sergio Duarte (Former United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs)
  • Bishop Dr. Heinrich Bedford-Strohm (Moderator, Central Committee of the World Council of Churches and Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria)
  • Priestess Beatriz Schulthess (Founder and President of Indigenous Peoples Ancestral Spiritual Council and Member of Qulla/Kolla Nation and Honorary President, Religions for Peace)

9:25      FRAMING HUMAN SECURITY AS SHARED SECURITY FOR PEOPLE AND THE PLANET

Conceptual and practical convergences on the topic of human security abound between faith communities and the UN System. These convergences also illustrate the complexity of what security, in its multiple dimensions, entails.

MODERATOR:

  • Prof. Dr. Azza Karam (Secretary General, Religions for Peace)

SPEAKERS:

  • Mr. Samuel Rizk (Head, Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding and Responsible Institutions (CPPRI) Team, Crisis Bureau, UNDP)
  • Mr. Anwar Khan (President, Islamic Relief USA)
  • Mr. Garry Jacobs (President and CEO of World Academy of Art and Science and Chairman and CEO the World University Consortium)
  • Ms. Sophia Farion (Senior Program Officer for Eastern Europe, South Caucasus, and Central Asia, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders {GNWP})
  • Dr. Anne Mette Fisker-Nielsen (Associate Professor, Soka University)

10:45       BREAK

Cultural intermission: Cello piece by Michael Fitzpatrick

90-second video on human security

11:00       SEEING AND DOING HUMAN SECURITY

This session will highlight actual activities and initiatives that are focused on and promote human security. It will demonstrate how faith based actors, UN entities and Member States see and work for human security.

MODERATOR:

  • Mr. Rudelmar Bueno de Faria (General Secretary of ACT Alliance)

SPEAKERS:

  • Ambassador Amanda Ellis (Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations in Geneva and Professor, Arizona State University)
  • Ms. Mehrnaz Mostafavi (Chief of the Human Security Unit {HSU} and the UN Trust Fund for Human Security {UNTFHS})
  • Dr. Jerry White (Executive Director, United Religions Initiative {URI})
  • Ms. Nadia Alawamleh (Team Leader for Social Cohesion Programme, UNDP Iraq)
  • Mr. Asif Ali Sherazi (Country Director for Pakistan, Islamic Relief Worldwide)
  • Atty. Salma Pir Rasul (Programs Director, Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy and Director, Islamic Law Studies, University of the Philippines Law Center {UPLC})
  • Mr. Nelson Ngalle (National Programme Officer, Presbyterian Church in Cameroon {PCC} Peace Work Department)RESPONDENT:
  • Peter Schlosser (Vice President and Vice Provost of Global Futures, Arizona State University)

12:20       KEY LEARNINGS

This session will highlight key learnings that relate to work for human security and the roles different actors can play. It  will address in concrete ways the development of “unity, solidarity, international cooperation and global coordinated action” necessary to make human security real. 

MODERATOR:

  • Ms. Audrey Kitagawa, JD (President/Founder, International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation and President, Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family)

SPEAKERS:

  • Prof. Dr. PL de Silva (Adjunct Professor, UN Studies, Seton Hall University)
  • Dr. Elizabeta Kitanovic (Executive Secretary, Human Rights, Council of European Churches {CEC|KEK})
  • Ms. DWI Rubiyanti Kholifah (Secretary General of The Asian Muslim Action Network {AMAN}, Country representative of AMAN Indonesia)

12:50       CONCLUDING SESSION

This concluding session will provide key ideas about what needs to be done next, and is envisioned to inspire action and impart a strong call for collaboration and partnership on the key learnings from the symposium.

CO-MODERATORS:

  • Rev. Dr. Liberato C. Bautista (Assistant General for United Nations and International Affairs, General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church and Chair, 2023 Symposium Planning Team)
  • Ms. Nika Saeedi (PVE Team Leader, Crisis Bureau, UNDP; Global focal point on Religion, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, and Hate Speech for UNDP)

SPEAKERS:

  • Mr. Jonathan Granoff (Senior Advisor and Representative to the United Nations of the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates)
  • Dr. Ganoune Diop (Director, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty, Seventh-day Adventist Church)

1:30         CLOSE

____________________

CO-ORGANIZERS AND PARTNER OF THE 2023 SYMPOSIUM

Religious and Faith Based Organizations: ACT Alliance | General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church | Islamic Relief | Religions for Peace | Seventh-Day Adventist Church | Soka Gakkai International | United Religions Initiative | World Council of Churches

United Nations: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) acting on behalf of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development (currently chaired by UNFPA, United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, and the UN Alliance of Civilizations and includes 27 entities within the UN System. See IATF-Religion and SDGs).

Partner: The  Human Security for All (HS4A) campaign led by the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security and the World Academy of Art and Science.

ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM

The Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs was initiated by the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the World Council of Churches. Today, the symposium co-organizing entities and partners have grown to include denominational, ecumenical, multireligious and faith-based groups including long-time co-organizers ACT Alliance, Religions for Peace, Islamic Relief-USA, and the United Religions Initiative. From the third year (2017) of the symposium, the Interfaith Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development – currently representing 27 entities within the UN System – cooperated as a co-organizer. The Symposium was conceived as a space to focus on how religious and partner faith-based organizations could reinforce engagement around shared concerns of human dignity, human rights and sustainable development, in particular as regards UN the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)/Agenda 2030. The Symposium is organized as an annual event for conversation to identify and deepen the multifaceted, multi-layered, multidimensional, and multidisciplinary aspects of the permanent general theme on human rights and human dignity and follow that with an annual thematic focus that would enjoin the organizers to build upon previous conversations and continue to heighten intellectual engagement, create practical forms of action, and develop mechanisms for collaboration among symposium organizers, partners and participants. The Symposium is held annually on a date in January close to the birthday (January 15) of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

 

CONCEPT NOTE

NINTH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE ROLE OF RELIGION

AND FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

8:30 AM to 1:30 PM

Virtual Event | Interpretation in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese and Spanish

I.   HISTORY OF THE SYMPOSIUM:

The 2023 Symposium will be the ninth in a series of symposiums held annually since 2015.

Nine years ago (2015), faith-based partners came together to launch an annual symposium around the intersections of religion and international affairs, intentionally including the participation of UN member states and UN System entities. From the second symposium (2016), partnership with the UN Interagency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development was instituted with the intention of organizing an annual policy dialogue between the UN System, member states, faith actors and wider civil society on critical issues of the day. Over the years, the sponsorship of the Symposium has included an increasing range of religious and faith traditions.

The Symposia series features a theme each year that both relates to current policy debates and intersects with the concerns and contributions of faith-based actors working in international affairs. The first Symposium in 2015 established the framework for all future symposia with a focus on human rights and human dignity. Such focus will undergird all symposiums in the series.

The second Symposium focused on the prevention of atrocity crimes and violent extremism (2016), the third focused on just, inclusive and sustainable peace (2017), the fourth focused on migration and displacement (2018) and the fifth (2019) covered the intersections of these four themes with key aspects of economic justice and financing for sustainable development, positing an economy of life. The sixth (2020) was intended to reflect on the planned processes to review progress 25 years after the Beijing Platform for Action and the state of multilateralism at the 75th anniversary of the UN, but was postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. Given the crucial importance of the theme, a smaller but well-resourced workshop for faith-based organizations was organized in its stead.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the seventh symposium was convened  as a virtual symposium (2021) and focused on accelerating gender equality, equity and justice. The succeeding 2022 symposium was also held virtually on a theme focused on “mobilizing moral influence and governance to end the systemic injustices of racism, the legacy of colonialism and slavery.

The Symposiums have been timed to be held in January of every year in close proximity to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday to help commemorate the values and legacy he bequeathed to the world. The Symposium is also a contribution to the global observance of the World Interfaith Harmony Week that is celebrated annually in the first week of February of each year.

The symposium in 2023 is co-organized by the following groups and their representatives compose the planning team. They are, from the faith-based side, the ACT Alliance, General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, Islamic Relief USA, Religions for Peace, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Soka Gakkai International, United Religions Initiative, World Council of Churches, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on behalf of  the  Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Development. The  Human Security for All (HS4A) campaign led by the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security and the  World Academy of Art and Science is  a partner.

II.   2023 THEME: SECURING PEOPLES’ WELLBEING AND PLANETARY SUSTAINABILITY

A.   HIGH-LEVEL WELCOME

The 9th symposium will be opening with a high-level panel that represents the three major organizing components of the annual symposium–UN official, faith-based representative and member state. The moderator will introduce the theme of the symposium, both in the context of the history of the symposium and the urgency and saliency of the current theme.

B.   FRAMING HUMAN SECURITY AS SHARED SECURITY FOR PEOPLE AND THE PLANET

Conceptual and practical convergences on the topic of human security abound between faith communities and the UN System. The convergences—in discourse and practice—also illustrate the complexity of what security entails—be it national security, human security, or people’s security. Add to that complexity the urgency of conceiving security beyond human needs into planetary security that speaks to the intricate relation between people and the planet and their survival and sustainability in a common ecosystem. The UN Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030), in particular the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), refers both to the wellbeing of peoples and the ecological integrity of the planet. In Agenda 2030, sustainable development is people-centered and planetary in scope. The attainment of sustainable development is co-constitutive with the attainment of peace and prosperity. This symposium intends to scale up support for the achievement of the SDGs by faith-based groups.

Faith based organizations have rich and diverse histories of discourse and practice demonstrating the nexus of human development, humanitarian work, and peace and human rights advocacy. Such discourses  and practices affirm a people-centered, community-focused and human rights-based approach to peace and human security. The religious, ecumenical and interfaith character of the symposium will ensure presentation of the diversity of both discourse (theological, ethical, moral) and practice (advocacy, campaigns, projects) on human security. The unique contribution of this and previous symposiums in this series is the intentional exploration of faith-based understandings and their complementarity with UN normative frameworks and standards, like the Agenda 2030, the UNDP reports,  and UN debates and reports of the UN Secretary-General on human security (see Part V. Readings).

The symposium is structured in such a way that faith-based organizations, UN System entities, including member states contribute to the development of “unity, solidarity, international cooperation and global coordinated action” on the thematic focus on human security, bearing in mind the overarching themes of all symposia in this series which is human dignity and human rights. The symposium will be a venue to illustrate how both conceptual and practical convergences around human security are exhibited in actual projects, programs, advocacies and campaigns by the participating entities, including the intersections of human security with sustainable development, durable peace, and gender justice.

Any discussion about human security necessarily implicates human development. Put in another way, human security and human development must be pursued simultaneously. The symposium will contribute to the bridging of the disconnect between human development and human security. It will demonstrate human security as shared security.

The inequalities unraveled by the Covid-19 pandemic and the varied forms of human induced activities, especially climate change, illustrate the urgency of revisiting the nexus between people’s needs, wellbeing, physical integrity and human dignity and the planet’s sustainability and ecological integrity. Such discussion necessarily implicates a variety of existential threats to human and planetary security that must be laid bare and addressed by the symposium.

In fact, UNDP’s 2021-2022 Human Development Report, “Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World”, argues that layers of uncertainty are stacking up and interacting to unsettle life in unprecedented ways. The last two years have had a devastating impact for billions of people around the world, when crises like COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine hit back-to-back, and interacted with sweeping social and economic shifts, dangerous planetary changes, and massive increases in polarization. Human development has fallen back to its 2016 levels, reversing much of the progress towards the SDGs. There are many reasons for these devastating trends, including how insecurity and polarization are feeding off each other today to prevent the solidarity and collective action we need to tackle crises at all levels.

This symposium will explore how to better address these threats and more through the discourse and practice of faith-based organizations and partners in the UN System, including member-states, civil society actors, and other international and regional organizations committed to human and people’s security. The symposium will present  grassroots perspectives, experiences and voices from the ground that will give evidence to what makes them secure or insecure and therefore what needs to be done.

C.   SESSION ON SEEING AND DOING HUMAN SECURITY

This session will highlight activities, events, programs, campaigns and the like that demonstrate how human security works and is operationalized in a variety of settings by a variety of actors. Panelists will come from the three categories representing the tripartite character of the symposium’s collaborators.

  1. How do faith-based organizations see and do human security?

Much is needed in understanding human security.  But much more is required to realize it in the day to day lives of peoples and their communities. The UN General Assembly Resolution 66/290 speaks of human security as “an approach to assist Member States in identifying and addressing widespread challenges to the survival, livelihood and dignity of their people” and thus calls for “people-centered, comprehensive, context-specific and prevention-oriented response that strengthen the protection and empowerment of all people.” (UN Trust Fund for Human Security).

The role of religion in realizing human security is not alien to the work of faith-based organizations. The symposium will take a look at how religious, theological, ecumenical and interfaith groups have translated the theme into actual advocacy on the ground. Themes predicated by concern for human security abound in religious discussion and work, including food security, water security, economic security, climate security, health security, common security, digital and information security, and more. These themes, not exhaustive in this list, demonstrate the complexity of both theory and practice of human security. The symposium planners are all too aware of such complexity even as they are focused on specific themes for this symposium. This segment will spotlight how lives of peoples and communities are affected and changed by what faith groups do.

  1. How do U.N. partners and member states see and do human security?

The themes identified with work by faith-based organizations are not alien to UN partners. The active collaboration by faith-based organizations, UN partners and Member-States underscores the concern for joint and concerted action and transformative solidarity among all actors. This and eight previous symposiums prove both the importance of FBO and UN partnership and collaboration.

The 2022 Special Report of the UNDP, called “New Threats to Human Security on the Anthropocene: Demanding Greater Solidarity” is timely for the purposes of the symposium. The Special Report reminds us that when introduced in 1994, the “human security approach refocused the security debate from territorial security to people’s security”, emphasizing “the importance of everyone’s right to freedom from fear, freedom from want and freedom from indignity”, and highlighting “the close connection among security, development and the protection and empowerment of individuals and communities.” New data and analysis in the Special Report shows that people’s sense of safety and security is at a low in almost every country, including the richest countries, despite years of upwards development success.

Today, accelerating planetary and social changes have given birth to a new generation of threats, which span borders and foster insecurity in fragile settings and beyond. In this context, the Special Report offers a new framework for action, adding “solidarity” to the existing pillars “protection” and “empowerment”. Threats to human and planetary security abound, and the symposium will look into them, including but not limited to what the Special Report calls the “four threats to human security superimposed on the Anthropocene context: “the downsides of digital technology, violent conflict, horizontal inequalities, and evolving challenges to healthcare systems.” (Overview, 2022 UNDP Special Report on Human Security)

D.   KEY LEARNINGS

Identifying the normative corpus of international law dealing with security and doing the same in the body of available religious, ecumenical and interfaith teachings on human security will be critical in the symposium’s aim to contribute to the reorientation of  both discourse and practice from territorial security (state constructs of national security, for example) into viable human security (securing the needs and wellbeing of peoples and the integrity of the planet and the whole ecosystem).

The symposium will give time to the demonstration by FBOs and UN partners of ongoing discourses and practices of human security that prove  the viability and necessity of human security as a pivotal and overarching principle for “peace and prosperity for people and the planet”.

III.   STRUCTURE, FORMAT AND LEADERSHIP OF THE SYMPOSIUM

A.   High Level Welcome:

The formal welcome session will feature a high level representative from three entities—faith-based and IATF-nominated speakers from the UN System and UN member state. It will focus on reaffirming the importance of the symposium in general and the urgency and relevance of the current theme.

B.   Framing Session:

The framing session will be held in a conversational format involving a moderator and speakers representing faith-based leaders, officials from the UN System, Member-States, and other experts in the human security field. (Part II.A)

C.   Session on Seeing and Doing Human Security:

This session will highlight activities, events, programs, campaigns and the like that demonstrate and are focused on human security. Panelists will come from the three categories representing the tripartite character of the symposium’s collaborators. The session will address the following questions:

  1. How do faith-based organizations see and do human security? Panelists will come from religious, ecumenical and interfaith organizations. (Part II.B)
  2. How do UN partners see and do human security? Panelists will come from UN entities and member-states. (Part II.C)
  1. How do Member States see and do human security? Panelists will come from UN partners and member-states. (Part II.C)

D.   Session on Key Learnings: (practical experiences from different levels–grassroots, national, regional, multiregional, international) 

This session serves as the learning and hearing section of the symposium. The chair and panelists will attempt to retell what they heard are key learnings from the symposium and relate that to the roles played by religious and multilateral processes and entities—both intergovernmental and religious/ecumenical/interfaith. The session will address in concrete ways the development of “unity, solidarity, international cooperation and global coordinated action” necessary to make human security real. (Part II.D)

This panel session will be interactive. Panelists will be asked to speak about actual, practical, and good and beneficial practices of UN and FBOs  working together collaboratively. Emphasis will be given to distinguishing as well as moving from national security to human security into shared security for people and the planet. Session chair will draw wisdom from the participants by eliciting examples of  ways of seeing and doing human security different from already identified ones in the previous sessions above.

E.   Concluding Session: This concluding session will feature speakers  from all of the symposium entities–faith-based groups, UN system, governments– who will provide key ideas about what needs to be done next. This session is envisioned to inspire action and impart a strong call for collaboration and partnership on the key learnings from the symposium.

IV.   PARTICIPATION

A.   Invitations will be sent to various constituencies and networks of the collaborating symposium partners. This includes FBOs, civil society organizations, member states and their permanent missions, and UN agencies through the Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development.

B.   The event will be virtual and all participants will be required to register electronically. Direct participation in the symposium via Zoom is limited to the first 500 registrants. Registrants beyond this number will be directed to a livestream via the WCC YouTube channel:www.youtube.com/WCCworld. Questions and comments by participants in Zoom and YouTube will be monitored.

C.   Interactive modes of communication will be employed. There will be language interpretation in English, Arabic, French and Spanish.

V.   DOCUMENTATION 

Following in the tradition of previous symposiums, a symposium packet will be produced electronically and distributed in advance. It will include this concept note, a short bibliography of reference materials to prepare participants for discussion, and a list of biographies of panel moderators and speakers. A weblink to the event will contain the symposium packet as well as post-event documentation of presentations and statements. As a hybrid event, various social media platforms will be used to simulcast and broadcast the symposium.

VI.   READINGS

U.N. RESOURCES

  1. UNDP Special Report: New Threats to Human Security in the Anthropocene: Demanding Greater Solidarity (2022) (https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210014007/read; https://www.undp.org/somalia/publications/new-threats-human-security-anthropocene-demanding-greater-solidarity)
  2. UNDP Human Development Report 2021-2022: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2021-22
  3. UNDP Human Development Report: New Dimensions of Human Security (1994)https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents//hdr1994encompletenostatspdf.pdf
  4. What is Human Security (UN Trust Fund for Human Security) https://www.un.org/humansecurity/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/What-is-Human-Security.pdf
  5. UN General Assembly Resolutions and Debates, and Reports of the Secretary-General on Human Security https://www.un.org/humansecurity/reports-resolutions/
  6. GA Resolution 66/290 on Human Security https://www.un.org/humansecurity/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/N1147622.pdf
  7. Human Security Approach from Principles to Practice, especially the first two modules https://www.un.org/humansecurity/human-security-e-course/

RELIGIOUS, ECUMENICAL AND INTERFAITH RESOURCES

  1. Peace and Human Security, Excerpts from a lecture given by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda at the East-West Center, Hawai’i (1995)
  2. Vulnerability and Security: Current challenges in security policy from an ethical and theological perspective. Prepared by the Commission on International Affairs in Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations (2015)
  3.  Vulnerability and Security: A Paradox Based on a Theology of Incarnation (Wanda Deifelt, 2005)
  4. Religion and Human Security: A Global Perspective. Edited by James K. Wellman Jr. and Clark B. Lombardi (Oxford University Press, 2012)
  5. Human Security as Shared Security: Towards Sustaining Peace and Human Wellness with Justice and Human Rights (Liberato Bautista, 2013)
  6. The Letter: A Message for our Earth (Movie): The Letter tells the story of a journey to Rome of frontline leaders to discuss the encyclical letter Laudato Si’ with Pope Francis. The exclusive dialogue with the Pope, included in the film, offers a revealing insight into the personal history of Pope Francis and stories never seen since he became the Bishop of Rome.

Ninth International Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-Based Organizations in International Affairs 

NINTH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE ROLE OF RELIGION AND FAITH BASED ORGANIZATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Theme: Securing People’s Wellbeing and Planetary Sustainability

24 January 2023 | 8:30 AM – 1:30 PM EST 

Virtual Event | Interpretation in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese and Spanish

REGISTER: bit.ly/2023_symposium

READ SPEAKER AND MODERATOR BIOGRAPHIES HERE.

PROGRAM

8:15     Zoom opens for participants to join 

8:30     WELCOME

            Video Introduction to the Ninth Symposium 

8:45     HIGH-LEVEL OPENING SESSION

The moderator will introduce the theme of the symposium, and the 9th Symposium will open with representatives of the three major organizing components of the annual symposium–UN official, faith-based representative and member state providing their perspectives on the theme of human security.              

CO-MODERATORS:

  • Rev. Dr. Liberato C. Bautista (Assistant General Secretary for United Nations and International Affairs, General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church and Chair, 2023 Symposium Planning Team)
  • Ms. Nika Saeedi (PVE Team Leader, Crisis Bureau, UNDP; Global focal point on Religion, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, and Hate Speech for UNDP)

SPEAKERS:

  • H.E. María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés (Former Minister of Foreign Affairs and Defense of Ecuador and former President of the UN General Assembly)
  • H. E. Archbishop  Gabriele Giordano Caccia (Apostolic Nuncio and Permanent Observer, Permanent Observer  Mission of the Holy See to the United Nations)
  • Ms. Ulrika Modéer (UN Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy, UNDP)
  • Ambassador (ret.) Sergio Duarte (Former United Nations High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and President of Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs)
  • Bishop Dr. Heinrich Bedford-Strohm (Moderator, Central Committee of the World Council of Churches and Bishop, Evangelical Lutheran Church in Bavaria)
  • Priestess Beatriz Schulthess (Founder and President of Indigenous Peoples Ancestral Spiritual Council and Member of Qulla/Kolla Nation and Honorary President, Religions for Peace)

9:25      FRAMING HUMAN SECURITY AS SHARED SECURITY FOR PEOPLE AND THE PLANET

Conceptual and practical convergences on the topic of human security abound between faith communities and the UN System. These convergences also illustrate the complexity of what security, in its multiple dimensions, entails.

MODERATOR:

  • Prof. Dr. Azza Karam (Secretary General, Religions for Peace)

SPEAKERS:

  • Mr. Samuel Rizk (Head, Conflict Prevention, Peacebuilding and Responsible Institutions (CPPRI) Team, Crisis Bureau, UNDP)
  • Mr. Anwar Khan (President, Islamic Relief USA)
  • Mr. Garry Jacobs (President and CEO of World Academy of Art and Science and Chairman and CEO the World University Consortium)
  • Ms. Sophia Farion (Senior Program Officer for Eastern Europe, South Caucasus, and Central Asia, Global Network of Women Peacebuilders {GNWP})
  • Dr. Anne Mette Fisker-Nielsen (Associate Professor, Soka University)

10:45       BREAK

Cultural intermission: Cello piece by Michael Fitzpatrick

90-second video on human security

11:00       SEEING AND DOING HUMAN SECURITY

This session will highlight actual activities and initiatives that are focused on and promote human security. It will demonstrate how faith based actors, UN entities and Member States see and work for human security.

MODERATOR:

  • Mr. Rudelmar Bueno de Faria (General Secretary of ACT Alliance)

SPEAKERS:

  • Ambassador Amanda Ellis (Former Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations in Geneva and Professor, Arizona State University)
  • Ms. Mehrnaz Mostafavi (Chief of the Human Security Unit {HSU} and the UN Trust Fund for Human Security {UNTFHS})
  • Dr. Jerry White (Executive Director, United Religions Initiative {URI})
  • Ms. Nadia Alawamleh (Team Leader for Social Cohesion Programme, UNDP Iraq)
  • Mr. Asif Ali Sherazi (Country Director for Pakistan, Islamic Relief Worldwide)
  • Atty. Salma Pir Rasul (Programs Director, Philippine Center for Islam and Democracy and Director, Islamic Law Studies, University of the Philippines Law Center {UPLC})
  • Mr. Nelson Ngalle (National Programme Officer, Presbyterian Church in Cameroon {PCC} Peace Work Department)RESPONDENT:
  • Peter Schlosser (Vice President and Vice Provost of Global Futures, Arizona State University)

12:20       KEY LEARNINGS

This session will highlight key learnings that relate to work for human security and the roles different actors can play. It  will address in concrete ways the development of “unity, solidarity, international cooperation and global coordinated action” necessary to make human security real. 

MODERATOR:

  • Ms. Audrey Kitagawa, JD (President/Founder, International Academy for Multicultural Cooperation and President, Light of Awareness International Spiritual Family)

SPEAKERS:

  • Prof. Dr. PL de Silva (Adjunct Professor, UN Studies, Seton Hall University)
  • Dr. Elizabeta Kitanovic (Executive Secretary, Human Rights, Council of European Churches {CEC|KEK})
  • Ms. DWI Rubiyanti Kholifah (Secretary General of The Asian Muslim Action Network {AMAN}, Country representative of AMAN Indonesia)

12:50       CONCLUDING SESSION

This concluding session will provide key ideas about what needs to be done next, and is envisioned to inspire action and impart a strong call for collaboration and partnership on the key learnings from the symposium.

CO-MODERATORS:

  • Rev. Dr. Liberato C. Bautista (Assistant General for United Nations and International Affairs, General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church and Chair, 2023 Symposium Planning Team)
  • Ms. Nika Saeedi (PVE Team Leader, Crisis Bureau, UNDP; Global focal point on Religion, Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, and Hate Speech for UNDP)

SPEAKERS:

  • Mr. Jonathan Granoff (Senior Advisor and Representative to the United Nations of the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates)
  • Dr. Ganoune Diop (Director, Public Affairs and Religious Liberty, Seventh-day Adventist Church)

1:30         CLOSE

____________________

CO-ORGANIZERS AND PARTNER OF THE 2023 SYMPOSIUM

Religious and Faith Based Organizations: ACT Alliance | General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church | Islamic Relief | Religions for Peace | Seventh-Day Adventist Church | Soka Gakkai International | United Religions Initiative | World Council of Churches

United Nations: United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) acting on behalf of the UN Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development (currently chaired by UNFPA, United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect, and the UN Alliance of Civilizations and includes 27 entities within the UN System. See IATF-Religion and SDGs).

Partner: The  Human Security for All (HS4A) campaign led by the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security and the World Academy of Art and Science.

ABOUT THE SYMPOSIUM

The Annual Symposium on the Role of Religion and Faith-based Organizations in International Affairs was initiated by the General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church and the World Council of Churches. Today, the symposium co-organizing entities and partners have grown to include denominational, ecumenical, multireligious and faith-based groups including long-time co-organizers ACT Alliance, Religions for Peace, Islamic Relief-USA, and the United Religions Initiative. From the third year (2017) of the symposium, the Interfaith Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development – currently representing 27 entities within the UN System – cooperated as a co-organizer. The Symposium was conceived as a space to focus on how religious and partner faith-based organizations could reinforce engagement around shared concerns of human dignity, human rights and sustainable development, in particular as regards UN the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)/Agenda 2030. The Symposium is organized as an annual event for conversation to identify and deepen the multifaceted, multi-layered, multidimensional, and multidisciplinary aspects of the permanent general theme on human rights and human dignity and follow that with an annual thematic focus that would enjoin the organizers to build upon previous conversations and continue to heighten intellectual engagement, create practical forms of action, and develop mechanisms for collaboration among symposium organizers, partners and participants. The Symposium is held annually on a date in January close to the birthday (January 15) of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. 

 

CONCEPT NOTE

NINTH ANNUAL SYMPOSIUM ON THE ROLE OF RELIGION

AND FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS IN INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS

Tuesday, January 24, 2023

8:30 AM to 1:30 PM

Virtual Event | Interpretation in English, Arabic, French, Portuguese and Spanish

I.   HISTORY OF THE SYMPOSIUM:

The 2023 Symposium will be the ninth in a series of symposiums held annually since 2015.

Nine years ago (2015), faith-based partners came together to launch an annual symposium around the intersections of religion and international affairs, intentionally including the participation of UN member states and UN System entities. From the second symposium (2016), partnership with the UN Interagency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development was instituted with the intention of organizing an annual policy dialogue between the UN System, member states, faith actors and wider civil society on critical issues of the day. Over the years, the sponsorship of the Symposium has included an increasing range of religious and faith traditions.

The Symposia series features a theme each year that both relates to current policy debates and intersects with the concerns and contributions of faith-based actors working in international affairs. The first Symposium in 2015 established the framework for all future symposia with a focus on human rights and human dignity. Such focus will undergird all symposiums in the series.

The second Symposium focused on the prevention of atrocity crimes and violent extremism (2016), the third focused on just, inclusive and sustainable peace (2017), the fourth focused on migration and displacement (2018) and the fifth (2019) covered the intersections of these four themes with key aspects of economic justice and financing for sustainable development, positing an economy of life. The sixth (2020) was intended to reflect on the planned processes to review progress 25 years after the Beijing Platform for Action and the state of multilateralism at the 75th anniversary of the UN, but was postponed due to unforeseen circumstances. Given the crucial importance of the theme, a smaller but well-resourced workshop for faith-based organizations was organized in its stead.

Due to Covid-19 restrictions, the seventh symposium was convened  as a virtual symposium (2021) and focused on accelerating gender equality, equity and justice. The succeeding 2022 symposium was also held virtually on a theme focused on “mobilizing moral influence and governance to end the systemic injustices of racism, the legacy of colonialism and slavery.

The Symposiums have been timed to be held in January of every year in close proximity to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s birthday to help commemorate the values and legacy he bequeathed to the world. The Symposium is also a contribution to the global observance of the World Interfaith Harmony Week that is celebrated annually in the first week of February of each year.

The symposium in 2023 is co-organized by the following groups and their representatives compose the planning team. They are, from the faith-based side, the ACT Alliance, General Board of Church and Society of The United Methodist Church, Islamic Relief USA, Religions for Peace, Seventh-day Adventist Church, Soka Gakkai International, United Religions Initiative, World Council of Churches, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on behalf of  the  Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Development. The  Human Security for All (HS4A) campaign led by the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security and the  World Academy of Art and Science is  a partner.

II.   2023 THEME: SECURING PEOPLES’ WELLBEING AND PLANETARY SUSTAINABILITY

A.   HIGH-LEVEL WELCOME

The 9th symposium will be opening with a high-level panel that represents the three major organizing components of the annual symposium–UN official, faith-based representative and member state. The moderator will introduce the theme of the symposium, both in the context of the history of the symposium and the urgency and saliency of the current theme.

B.   FRAMING HUMAN SECURITY AS SHARED SECURITY FOR PEOPLE AND THE PLANET

Conceptual and practical convergences on the topic of human security abound between faith communities and the UN System. The convergences—in discourse and practice—also illustrate the complexity of what security entails—be it national security, human security, or people’s security. Add to that complexity the urgency of conceiving security beyond human needs into planetary security that speaks to the intricate relation between people and the planet and their survival and sustainability in a common ecosystem. The UN Agenda for Sustainable Development (Agenda 2030), in particular the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), refers both to the wellbeing of peoples and the ecological integrity of the planet. In Agenda 2030, sustainable development is people-centered and planetary in scope. The attainment of sustainable development is co-constitutive with the attainment of peace and prosperity. This symposium intends to scale up support for the achievement of the SDGs by faith-based groups.

Faith based organizations have rich and diverse histories of discourse and practice demonstrating the nexus of human development, humanitarian work, and peace and human rights advocacy. Such discourses  and practices affirm a people-centered, community-focused and human rights-based approach to peace and human security. The religious, ecumenical and interfaith character of the symposium will ensure presentation of the diversity of both discourse (theological, ethical, moral) and practice (advocacy, campaigns, projects) on human security. The unique contribution of this and previous symposiums in this series is the intentional exploration of faith-based understandings and their complementarity with UN normative frameworks and standards, like the Agenda 2030, the UNDP reports,  and UN debates and reports of the UN Secretary-General on human security (see Part V. Readings).

The symposium is structured in such a way that faith-based organizations, UN System entities, including member states contribute to the development of “unity, solidarity, international cooperation and global coordinated action” on the thematic focus on human security, bearing in mind the overarching themes of all symposia in this series which is human dignity and human rights. The symposium will be a venue to illustrate how both conceptual and practical convergences around human security are exhibited in actual projects, programs, advocacies and campaigns by the participating entities, including the intersections of human security with sustainable development, durable peace, and gender justice.

Any discussion about human security necessarily implicates human development. Put in another way, human security and human development must be pursued simultaneously. The symposium will contribute to the bridging of the disconnect between human development and human security. It will demonstrate human security as shared security.

The inequalities unraveled by the Covid-19 pandemic and the varied forms of human induced activities, especially climate change, illustrate the urgency of revisiting the nexus between people’s needs, wellbeing, physical integrity and human dignity and the planet’s sustainability and ecological integrity. Such discussion necessarily implicates a variety of existential threats to human and planetary security that must be laid bare and addressed by the symposium.

In fact, UNDP’s 2021-2022 Human Development Report, “Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World”, argues that layers of uncertainty are stacking up and interacting to unsettle life in unprecedented ways. The last two years have had a devastating impact for billions of people around the world, when crises like COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine hit back-to-back, and interacted with sweeping social and economic shifts, dangerous planetary changes, and massive increases in polarization. Human development has fallen back to its 2016 levels, reversing much of the progress towards the SDGs. There are many reasons for these devastating trends, including how insecurity and polarization are feeding off each other today to prevent the solidarity and collective action we need to tackle crises at all levels.

This symposium will explore how to better address these threats and more through the discourse and practice of faith-based organizations and partners in the UN System, including member-states, civil society actors, and other international and regional organizations committed to human and people’s security. The symposium will present  grassroots perspectives, experiences and voices from the ground that will give evidence to what makes them secure or insecure and therefore what needs to be done.

C.   SESSION ON SEEING AND DOING HUMAN SECURITY

This session will highlight activities, events, programs, campaigns and the like that demonstrate how human security works and is operationalized in a variety of settings by a variety of actors. Panelists will come from the three categories representing the tripartite character of the symposium’s collaborators.

  1. How do faith-based organizations see and do human security?

Much is needed in understanding human security.  But much more is required to realize it in the day to day lives of peoples and their communities. The UN General Assembly Resolution 66/290 speaks of human security as “an approach to assist Member States in identifying and addressing widespread challenges to the survival, livelihood and dignity of their people” and thus calls for “people-centered, comprehensive, context-specific and prevention-oriented response that strengthen the protection and empowerment of all people.” (UN Trust Fund for Human Security).

The role of religion in realizing human security is not alien to the work of faith-based organizations. The symposium will take a look at how religious, theological, ecumenical and interfaith groups have translated the theme into actual advocacy on the ground. Themes predicated by concern for human security abound in religious discussion and work, including food security, water security, economic security, climate security, health security, common security, digital and information security, and more. These themes, not exhaustive in this list, demonstrate the complexity of both theory and practice of human security. The symposium planners are all too aware of such complexity even as they are focused on specific themes for this symposium. This segment will spotlight how lives of peoples and communities are affected and changed by what faith groups do.

  1. How do U.N. partners and member states see and do human security?

The themes identified with work by faith-based organizations are not alien to UN partners. The active collaboration by faith-based organizations, UN partners and Member-States underscores the concern for joint and concerted action and transformative solidarity among all actors. This and eight previous symposiums prove both the importance of FBO and UN partnership and collaboration.

The 2022 Special Report of the UNDP, called “New Threats to Human Security on the Anthropocene: Demanding Greater Solidarity” is timely for the purposes of the symposium. The Special Report reminds us that when introduced in 1994, the “human security approach refocused the security debate from territorial security to people’s security”, emphasizing “the importance of everyone’s right to freedom from fear, freedom from want and freedom from indignity”, and highlighting “the close connection among security, development and the protection and empowerment of individuals and communities.” New data and analysis in the Special Report shows that people’s sense of safety and security is at a low in almost every country, including the richest countries, despite years of upwards development success.

Today, accelerating planetary and social changes have given birth to a new generation of threats, which span borders and foster insecurity in fragile settings and beyond. In this context, the Special Report offers a new framework for action, adding “solidarity” to the existing pillars “protection” and “empowerment”. Threats to human and planetary security abound, and the symposium will look into them, including but not limited to what the Special Report calls the “four threats to human security superimposed on the Anthropocene context: “the downsides of digital technology, violent conflict, horizontal inequalities, and evolving challenges to healthcare systems.” (Overview, 2022 UNDP Special Report on Human Security)

D.   KEY LEARNINGS

Identifying the normative corpus of international law dealing with security and doing the same in the body of available religious, ecumenical and interfaith teachings on human security will be critical in the symposium’s aim to contribute to the reorientation of  both discourse and practice from territorial security (state constructs of national security, for example) into viable human security (securing the needs and wellbeing of peoples and the integrity of the planet and the whole ecosystem).

The symposium will give time to the demonstration by FBOs and UN partners of ongoing discourses and practices of human security that prove  the viability and necessity of human security as a pivotal and overarching principle for “peace and prosperity for people and the planet”.

III.   STRUCTURE, FORMAT AND LEADERSHIP OF THE SYMPOSIUM

A.   High Level Welcome:

The formal welcome session will feature a high level representative from three entities—faith-based and IATF-nominated speakers from the UN System and UN member state. It will focus on reaffirming the importance of the symposium in general and the urgency and relevance of the current theme.

B.   Framing Session:

The framing session will be held in a conversational format involving a moderator and speakers representing faith-based leaders, officials from the UN System, Member-States, and other experts in the human security field. (Part II.A)

C.   Session on Seeing and Doing Human Security:

This session will highlight activities, events, programs, campaigns and the like that demonstrate and are focused on human security. Panelists will come from the three categories representing the tripartite character of the symposium’s collaborators. The session will address the following questions:

  1. How do faith-based organizations see and do human security? Panelists will come from religious, ecumenical and interfaith organizations. (Part II.B)
  2. How do UN partners see and do human security? Panelists will come from UN entities and member-states. (Part II.C)
  1. How do Member States see and do human security? Panelists will come from UN partners and member-states. (Part II.C)

D.   Session on Key Learnings: (practical experiences from different levels–grassroots, national, regional, multiregional, international) 

This session serves as the learning and hearing section of the symposium. The chair and panelists will attempt to retell what they heard are key learnings from the symposium and relate that to the roles played by religious and multilateral processes and entities—both intergovernmental and religious/ecumenical/interfaith. The session will address in concrete ways the development of “unity, solidarity, international cooperation and global coordinated action” necessary to make human security real. (Part II.D)

This panel session will be interactive. Panelists will be asked to speak about actual, practical, and good and beneficial practices of UN and FBOs  working together collaboratively. Emphasis will be given to distinguishing as well as moving from national security to human security into shared security for people and the planet. Session chair will draw wisdom from the participants by eliciting examples of  ways of seeing and doing human security different from already identified ones in the previous sessions above.

E.   Concluding Session: This concluding session will feature speakers  from all of the symposium entities–faith-based groups, UN system, governments– who will provide key ideas about what needs to be done next. This session is envisioned to inspire action and impart a strong call for collaboration and partnership on the key learnings from the symposium.

IV.   PARTICIPATION

A.   Invitations will be sent to various constituencies and networks of the collaborating symposium partners. This includes FBOs, civil society organizations, member states and their permanent missions, and UN agencies through the Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Sustainable Development.

B.   The event will be virtual and all participants will be required to register electronically. Direct participation in the symposium via Zoom is limited to the first 500 registrants. Registrants beyond this number will be directed to a livestream via the WCC YouTube channel:www.youtube.com/WCCworld. Questions and comments by participants in Zoom and YouTube will be monitored.

C.   Interactive modes of communication will be employed. There will be language interpretation in English, Arabic, French and Spanish.

V.   DOCUMENTATION 

Following in the tradition of previous symposiums, a symposium packet will be produced electronically and distributed in advance. It will include this concept note, a short bibliography of reference materials to prepare participants for discussion, and a list of biographies of panel moderators and speakers. A weblink to the event will contain the symposium packet as well as post-event documentation of presentations and statements. As a hybrid event, various social media platforms will be used to simulcast and broadcast the symposium.

VI.   READINGS

U.N. RESOURCES

  1. UNDP Special Report: New Threats to Human Security in the Anthropocene: Demanding Greater Solidarity (2022) (https://www.un-ilibrary.org/content/books/9789210014007/read; https://www.undp.org/somalia/publications/new-threats-human-security-anthropocene-demanding-greater-solidarity)
  2. UNDP Human Development Report 2021-2022: Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping our Future in a Transforming World https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2021-22
  3. UNDP Human Development Report: New Dimensions of Human Security (1994)https://hdr.undp.org/system/files/documents//hdr1994encompletenostatspdf.pdf
  4. What is Human Security (UN Trust Fund for Human Security) https://www.un.org/humansecurity/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/What-is-Human-Security.pdf
  5. UN General Assembly Resolutions and Debates, and Reports of the Secretary-General on Human Security https://www.un.org/humansecurity/reports-resolutions/
  6. GA Resolution 66/290 on Human Security https://www.un.org/humansecurity/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/N1147622.pdf
  7. Human Security Approach from Principles to Practice, especially the first two modules https://www.un.org/humansecurity/human-security-e-course/

RELIGIOUS, ECUMENICAL AND INTERFAITH RESOURCES

  1. Peace and Human Security, Excerpts from a lecture given by SGI President Daisaku Ikeda at the East-West Center, Hawai’i (1995)
  2. Vulnerability and Security: Current challenges in security policy from an ethical and theological perspective. Prepared by the Commission on International Affairs in Church of Norway Council on Ecumenical and International Relations (2015)
  3.  Vulnerability and Security: A Paradox Based on a Theology of Incarnation (Wanda Deifelt, 2005)
  4. Religion and Human Security: A Global Perspective. Edited by James K. Wellman Jr. and Clark B. Lombardi (Oxford University Press, 2012)
  5. Human Security as Shared Security: Towards Sustaining Peace and Human Wellness with Justice and Human Rights (Liberato Bautista, 2013)
  6. The Letter: A Message for our Earth (Movie): The Letter tells the story of a journey to Rome of frontline leaders to discuss the encyclical letter Laudato Si’ with Pope Francis. The exclusive dialogue with the Pope, included in the film, offers a revealing insight into the personal history of Pope Francis and stories never seen since he became the Bishop of Rome.