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Filed Under: Featured, High Representative's Statements, High Representative's Updates

Remarks by the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations
H.E. Miguel Moratinos
at the Ministerial Meeting on Advancing Religious Freedom
Washington, D.C. – July 18, 2019

Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Allow me first to thank Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, Ambassador Brownback and Mr. Knox Thames for providing me with the opportunity to address this important gathering for the first time in my capacity as High-Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.

This morning, Secretary Pompeo said in his statement that he would like to see religious freedom a priority at the United Nations. He also announced the establishment of an International Alliance for Religious Freedom. These two issues are actually aligned with the goals of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.

I have also been following over the past couple of days the presentations made by the distinguished participants and it was heartening to listen to evangelicals advocating for Muslims and Muslims advocating for Christians and Jews advocating for Evangelicals,” This spirit of unity and solidarity should prevail to encompass all other faith denominations and beliefs.

At a time when people are is despair, uprooted from their homes or suffering injustice or destitution, faith has often been their anchor and the place they turn to for consolation. Indeed, faith is central to hope and resilience. That being said, faith-actors and religious leaders play an indispensable role in social mobilization and in fostering this spirit of tolerance, mutual respect and peaceful co-existence. At the same time, all our religions are tied to one another in a fundamental and indelible fashion. They complement each other and they promote the same humanistic values that we all share. It is the collective role of state and non-state actors to stress this undeniable truth. Once rooted in the community, there will be no reason to fear the other, or deny the other the universal right of practicing and observing their beliefs freely and publicly.

This brings me to the Plan of Action To Safeguard Religious Sites, the Plan I have been entrusted to elaborate by the UN Secretary General since last March. The attacks on Muslim worshipers at ChristChurch New Zealand, was an alarm bell to all of us. The violent and terrorist attacks that followed on Christian and Jewish worshippers in the US and Sri Lanka was a stark reminder of the urgency to act fast to prevent such acts of violence and intolerance based on religion or belief including against persons belonging to religious minorities around the world. Religious sites should be places for peace, not war.

One of the main building blocks of this Plan of Action is advancing religious pluralism cultural diversity, and instilling the values of mutual respect and citizenship rights. The plan offers a comprehensive counter-narrative to violent extremism conducive to terrorism that complements security measures and hard-core actions. It contains key issues and action-oriented recommendations for all relevant stakeholders related to prevention, preparedness and response, as well as some concrete proposals for its operationalization and way forward.

In this juncture, and once the Plan is approved by the Un Secretary General and launched to Member States, I intend to have a series of meetings to discuss the implementation phase. I would like to propose that one of those meetings would take place here in the US where all stake holders including state and non-state actors convene and discuss how we can collectively work together to prevent the recurrence of such violent and terrorist acts.

Concluding, let me assure you that the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations is ready work with the US and all stakeholders to protect and defend all religious minorities especially in the Middle East.

Let’s work together to win this existential challenge.