Third Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions

Mr. President
Mr. Chairman of the Parliament
Distinguished religious leaders
Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen:

It is a distinct privilege for me to be with you for this Third Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. Let me, first of all, thank our generous hosts – President Nazarbayev and the Government of Kazakhstan – for their extraordinary hospitality and for the continued commitment to interfaith dialogue and cooperation.

The Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, attaches great importance to the engagement across confessions, and it is with pleasure that I deliver his message to you on this occasion. The message goes as follows:

“It gives me pleasure to greet all the participants in the Third Congress of Leaders of World and Traditional Religions. I thank President Nazarbayev and the Government of Kazakhstan for bringing together religious leaders from across the world in much-needed dialogue.

The universal values of tolerance, respect, mutual understanding and the equal worth of every human being are found in all great faiths and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. People of all religions carry the same aspiration to live in peace and dignity. As a single human family, we face common challenges that can be confronted only if we draw on the contributions of people of all beliefs.

Multiple crises and economic uncertainty challenge the cohesion of our societies. Extremists continue to entrench divisions and turn communities against each other. The need for mutual support and solidarity is greater than ever.

As religious leaders, you have an important role. You can set an example of moderation. You can dispel myths and misunderstanding, and open minds to what we can learn from each other. As spiritual guides, you can ensure that elements of your faiths are not distorted, taken out of context or used as vehicles for hatred and violence. And as unifying symbols, you can help to address feelings of frustration and alienation among your followers that could be exploited by extremists.

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations provides a forum where religious leaders can build bridges with other stakeholders. I hope your discussions will feed into that initiative, which seeks to break down prejudice and overcome polarization. Let us not be defined or constrained by our differences. Let us instead focus on what unites us, regardless of individual beliefs. I urge you to spread a powerful message of peace and of the virtue of diversity. Please accept my best wishes for a successful Congress.”

That was the end of the Secretary-General’s message.

Mr. President
Excellencies:

Your discussions here today – bringing together distinguished religious figures representing a multitude of backgrounds and faiths – provide an important additional platform for dialogue across faiths. This unique venue and the track-record of the Government and people of Kazakhstan in creating an inclusive, multi-faith society offer a very appropriate and auspicious frame for our discussions. Kazakhstan’s many and varied contributions to multilateral cooperation, within the United Nations and other international organizations, are recognized by the entire international community. The forthcoming Chairmanship of the OSCE is also an important acknowledgement of these contributions.

While our dialogue is critical in nurturing tolerance and trust, it cannot become an end in itself. Our dialogue must provide a common context and roadmap for concerted action on our shared challenges. In addressing many of these challenges before the United Nations, religious leaders can play particularly valuable roles in raising awareness, advocating for change and – most importantly – galvanizing action in support of our efforts across the three pillars of our work: security, development and human rights. In helping the United Nations, you help your communities.

As we meet here in this magnificent hall, modelled on the Security Council chamber of the United Nations, we cannot but reflect on the role of religious leaders as both messengers and builders of peace.

Unfortunately, in today’s world, political disagreements continue to fuel violent conflicts across the globe, leading to mistrust and tension between followers of different religions. Religious beliefs are used as a pretext, an easy explanation or even as incitement. We must not allow our confessions to be misused for political purposes.

Across the globe, we have seen examples of how religious leaders not only preach peace, but can – and do – actively build peace and mutual respect. This invaluable work needs to be reinforced. Through their networks and congregations, religious leaders can foster and sustain engagement and confidence-building between different groups – and even warring factions – in a practical, direct way, at the grassroots level. They can dispel myths about their faiths and ensure that their beliefs are not used to generate or perpetuate discord and division. They can – and should – act as facilitators in reconciliation processes.

When the United Nations General Assembly adopted the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Strategy in 2006, our Member States agreed that we must take on the conditions that can be conducive to the spread of terrorism. In these efforts to defeat terrorism, religious leaders have a particular responsibility to ensure that individual beliefs are not stereotyped as violent or favourable to violence. And they have in important role in preventing their confessions from being used to glorify – or even justify – terrorist acts.

The world now spends over 1,4 trillion dollars on arms. Even as we celebrate 20 years since the end of the Cold War, we face the threat of nuclear weapons. But, there is now a window of opportunity to take forward disarmament – on a bilateral and a multilateral basis – with the US and the Russian Federation in negotiations to cut their nuclear arsenals, as well as certain progress in the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva and in the Preparatory Committee of the 2010 Review Conference of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. The entry into force in March of this year of the Treaty on a Nuclear-Weapons-Free Zone in Central Asia marked another positive step. It is the first nuclear-weapon-free zone that has been established in the northern hemisphere and encompasses – for the first time – an area where nuclear weapons previously existed. The United Nations looks to all stakeholders – including religious leaders as preachers of peace – to sustain this momentum.

All religions teach us that we are bound together as a human family and that we are mutually responsible for our collective future. Yet, across the world, over 1 billion fellow human beings live in abject poverty, with no prospects. The Millennium Development Goals are our common blueprint for progress for them. But, we are not advancing as fast or as far as we should in realizing them. And the multiple crises we face threaten to undermine progress already made. As history has taught us, extremes of privilege and poverty, of inclusion and exclusion, can lead to social breakdown, which is why we must be vigilant. Men and women of faith have a significant contribution to make, rallying people behind the Goals, holding political leaders to their pledges and mobilizing for implementation at local level.

Studies and experience show that climate change will have the greatest impact on the most vulnerable – and compound difficulties in reaching development objectives. Religious leaders can be catalysts for redirecting our collective focus towards concrete action by each and every one of us. Addressing climate is not only about targets and carbon off-sets at the global level; it is also about changing our mindsets and our habits at local and individual levels.

The dignity and worth of each individual human being is a core tenet of all belief systems. This is given global expression in universal human rights norms. Without protection and promotion of human rights, there can be no dialogue of any kind – and there will be no peace or development. Inter-confessional dialogue is at once an expression and exercise of our human rights – and a way of strengthening their implementation for all.

Excellencies
Ladies and Gentlemen:

Education connects all these efforts. We need to reach young people and others who may have lost faith in themselves and in a viable future, and who could be vulnerable to extremist rhetoric. The need to strengthen educational activities, to teach respect for the history, culture and religions of others, takes on added urgency in an economic crisis that can deepen feelings of alienation and animosity. I am therefore encouraged by the focus, throughout these discussions, on solidarity in times of crisis.

The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations has made education a major focus of its work, to counter stereotypes and fight discrimination where it is learnt and where it can be unlearnt – namely, in classrooms and in the media. The support of faith community leaders to these initiatives is especially important at this juncture.

The United Nations is itself an embodiment of an ongoing dialogue across cultures and religions. Our Organization was founded on the clear conviction that our diversity enriches us when we meet each other in true mutual respect. In your activities, you give meaning to these principles and life to these aspirations.

Let us work together – at all levels – to preach and practice peace, to drive forward development and to promote the dignity of all fellow human beings. Let us work together to fulfil the promise and potential of the United Nations – for the benefit of people of all faiths. In this spirit, I wish you a most successful conference.

Thank you very much.