In response to escalating global conflicts and humanitarian crises, Religions for Peace International and Religions for Peace Japan, in collaboration with the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), will convene the Third Tokyo Peace Roundtable from July 1 to July 3, 2025. This important gathering will bring together religious leaders from Buddhist, Christian, Hindu, Jewish, and Muslim traditions, alongside policymakers and peacebuilding experts, to foster dialogue and promote sustainable reconciliation efforts.
Amid the alarming increase in global violence—including conflicts in Ukraine and Russia, Israel and Palestine, and Myanmar—the roundtable seeks to build upon the successes of its predecessors, strengthening international cooperation and deepening multi-religious partnerships for peace. The gathering will host several distinguished senior religious leaders.
The Third Tokyo Peace Roundtable will address key peacebuilding strategies, aiming to:
- Deepen trust and mutual understanding among religious leaders to support reconciliation efforts and identify challenges in meeting them.
- Facilitate meaningful interfaith dialogue, rooted in the core principles of each tradition, to advance shared commitments to peace.
- Promote multi-religious collaboration with political leaders to drive grassroots-level peace initiatives, focusing on conflict prevention and humanitarian response.
- Strengthen alliances with policymakers, intergovernmental entities, and civil society to enhance global peacebuilding efforts.
The roundtable aims to institutionalize the Tokyo Peace Process, ensuring sustained dialogue and action to combat political violence and humanitarian suffering worldwide.
“The escalating conflicts in regions like Ukraine, Russia, Myanmar, and the Middle East underscore the urgent need for innovative and sustained peacebuilding efforts,” stated Dr. Francis Kuria, Secretary General of Religions for Peace International.
“In these times of protracted wars and rising uncertainty, the Tokyo Peace Roundtable brings together diverse religious voices to build bridges, heal divisions, and illuminate a path toward peace. Religious leaders and faith actors have long stood as pillars of social cohesion, and today, their role is more vital than ever in guiding their communities toward unity, compassion, dialogue, and mutual respect,” declared Under-Secretary-General Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative for UNAOC.
The Third Tokyo Peace Roundtable provides a crucial space for interfaith dialogue and multi-religious collaboration with political leaders to address these crises at every stage of the conflict cycle, from peace-making to long-term reconciliation,” added Rev. Dr. Yoshinori Shinohara, Secretary General Asian Conference of Religions for Peace.
Supported by Religions for Peace Asia, the Japanese International Trustee Group, and the International Initiatives of Change Association of Japan, this event underscores the power of faith-based diplomacy in addressing today’s most pressing conflicts.
About Religions for Peace
Religions for Peace (RfP) is the world’s largest and most representative multi-religious organization, advancing common action among the world’s religious communities for peace. RfP operates multi-religious structures at local, national, and regional level in over 100 countries, together with Women of Faiths and Yout Networks, mobilizing religious leaders to address global challenges.
About the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) is a United Nations entity that builds bridges between societies, promotes dialogue and understanding, and seeks to forge the collective political will required to accomplish these tasks. UNAOC works as a convener and facilitator to bring all sectors of society together to strengthen intercultural and interreligious dialogue to diminish hostility, and promote mutual respect and harmony among the people and cultures of the world.