Address by Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, Director-General of UNESCO, on the occasion of his meeting with Religious Leaders Moscow, 22 July 2009 Your Holiness, Distinguished religious leaders, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I am honoured to participate in today s reflection about building dialogue between religious communities and international organisations. It is the first such meeting convened under the leadership of Your Holiness, following your election as Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia in January 2009. Thank you very much for your kind invitation. I had the privilege of meeting you with your predecessor, His Holiness Patriarch Alexis II, on my visit to Moscow last year. We agreed on the importance of interreligious dialogue and I am pleased to see Your Holiness moving the process forward through the proposal to establish a consultative group of religious leaders under UNESCO s auspices. It is testimony to your role as a man of peace and dialogue. I was pleased to note the strong support President Medvedev expressed for the establishment of such a group during our meeting yesterday. I also deeply appreciate the efforts of the eminent religious leaders who have travelled so far to be here today, and your shared commitment to this dialogue. DG/2009/094 - Original: English
It was here in Moscow, three years ago, that the First World Summit of Religious Leaders appealed for dialogue between religious communities and international organizations. Today s meeting is an opportunity to decide how to develop it in the context of the reflexion on how to intensify and institutionalize dialogue between religious leaders and international organization with particular UNESCO. UNESCO s Constitution, alongside resolutions adopted by its Executive Board and General Conference over time, attaches utmost priority to the promotion of dialogue in the service of peace in education, in the sciences, and in the realms of culture and communication. Our precept is to build the defences of peace in the minds of men. Indeed, when the United Nations General Assembly unanimously proclaimed 2001 as the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, it assigned a special role to UNESCO with regard to the promotion of the concept of dialogue among civilizations. It was an opportunity to re-affirm the fundamental importance of dialogue based on the unity of mankind and commonly shared values, the recognition of cultural diversity and the equal dignity of each civilization and each culture. Inter-religious dialogue has to take its rightful place here and an International Congress in Tashkent on the eve of that International Year, highlighted the critical role of religious leaders in promoting peace and openness towards other cultures and traditions. Today s meeting is particularly timely. The Organization has been called upon, through a United Nations General Assembly Resolution concerning the promotion of interreligious and intercultural dialogue, of 16 December last, I quote, to play a leading role in the preparations for the celebration of the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, in 2010. I am convinced that religious leaders must play an active rule throughout the Year and of course beyond In its resolution, the General Assembly also called for a better integration of the various initiatives all around the world in favour of dialogue within the framework of this International Year. DG/2009/094 - Page 2
This call was echoed by UNESCO s Executive Board in April 2009, when it strongly underlined, I quote, UNESCO s global leadership role and constitutional responsibility with respect to intercultural dialogue. Today s meeting is a welcome contribution to that work. Distinguished Religious Leaders, The challenge before us today is how to prevent conflicts, including conflict between and among religions - sometimes violent conflict. Such conflict has occurred throughout history, and it is now at least as widespread as ever. The effects can be very terrible and very tragic, with many innocent victims. Such conflict can lead to wars within and between nations. Our role, among others, is to try to prevent such conflict as much as possible. Allow me to explain UNESCO s approach to this major challenge. As the preamble of UNESCO highlights, peace is not a certainty but is built every day in the minds of men and women. Our aim has been to promote understanding and mutual comprehension between peoples and religions, through the expansion of international cooperation in our fields of competence. While our approach has evolved in response to changing circumstances, our commitment to involving a wide range of stakeholders has remained constant. Among the stakeholders I include governments, religious and spiritual leaders, academics and the media. Our starting point is that all faiths convey a message of peace, justice and human solidarity and that religious and spiritual leaders have the responsibility to reinforce this message to their communities. UNESCO s programme on interreligious dialogue has therefore worked with stakeholders to develop mutual knowledge about religious traditions. The Organization has regularly brought together eminent religious figures to discuss religious issues and to counter misleading stereotypes. DG/2009/094 - Page 3
But dialogue is not just talking, and in response to the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001, I decided that we needed to deepen our engagement with the key actors. Beyond Member States, these included a broad range of stakeholders such as the Organization of the Islamic Conference, ALECSO, ISESCO and the Council of Europe and the Anna Lindh Euro Mediterranean Foundation for the Dialogue between Cultures. A series of high level meetings organized by UNESCO helped us to refine our approach. In Tirana, Albania, in December 2004, Heads of State and Government and other distinguished participants representing all countries of South- East Europe adopted the Tirana Declaration, which for the first time defined the contribution of inter-religious or inter-faith dialogue to the broader dialogue agenda and with a clear and concrete focus on UNESCO s domains of expertise. Critically, in a meeting in Rabat in 2005, UNESCO and its partners adopted a timebound action plan setting out how we would translate dialogue into concrete and sustainable action. Last year, in Copenhagen, we discussed progress since Rabat, and renewed our commitment. Education is one main vehicle. Well-deployed, education can help to eliminate cultural stereotypes, and build mutual understanding and respect. At a very broad level, in UNESCO we do this through our Education for All programmes which promotes inclusive, quality education. More specifically, we support the development of educational materials, and teaching approaches, which emphasize peace, tolerance, mutual understanding and multilingual education. For example, with UNICEF and the Arigato Foundation we have developed and published a tool kit for educators about how to teach respect for and understanding of different faiths and ethical beliefs. Furthermore, the mass media can serve as another potent means of building and bolstering dialogue. In this regard, UNESCO believes that freedom of expression and respect for religious beliefs are two complementary principles that cannot be compromised. We are also working with new actors. For example, at the beginning of 2008, I signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Alliance of Civilizations focusing on concrete projects to develop educational, cultural and scientific content; promote DG/2009/094 - Page 4
communication methods to fight stereotypes and prejudices; establish new multipartnerships; and increase exchanges between young people. Indeed, it is vital that we engage young people. They are often seen as the demographic group most capable of religious tolerance, but sadly, we also see evidence of youth involvement in extremist activity and interreligious confrontation. UNESCO is currently looking at tools to promote dialogue on religious issues and other spiritual traditions developed by or for young people. The results will be discussed by young people s representatives with the aim of defining best practices. This is a snapshot of what we in UNESCO have been doing, and I know that you in your respective domains have also been very active in promoting the kind of mutual understanding that reduces the risk of conflict. But there is much more to be done. Today, I am inviting you to work with us in UNESCO to face up to the very serious challenges that hinder progress to a socially cohesive, peaceful and sustainable future. As part of our preparations to mark the International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, 2010, I have launched a wide consultation to plan what we will do in that year. Our discussions today will contribute to that plan by demonstrating the joint commitment of religious leaders and UNESCO to dialogue, and through dialogue, the prevention of conflicts. Let us be courageous about what we can achieve. UNESCO stands ready, as always, to assist. Thank you for your attention. DG/2009/094 - Page 5