INTERCULTURAL & RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE ACTIVITY REPORT 2019 INTERCULTURAL & RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE Activity Report 2019 INTERCULTURAL & RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE ACTIVITY REPORT 2019 3 INTERCULTURAL & RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE INTERCULTURAL & RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE Activity Report 2019 Activity Report 2019 Intercultural and Religious Dialogue Unit II. 2019 EVENTS OVERVIEW I. INTRODUCTION DATE TIME AND PLACE ACTIVITY 8.00 - 9.30 Working Breakfast “Global Syriac Centre” 1 10 JANUARY The EPP Group Intercultural and Religious Dialogue activities aim to promote mutual understanding ASP MEP SALON (MEP Mandl) and an active sense of European citizenship for a peaceful living together. Decision makers are called 13.00 - 14.00 Working lunch to provide answers to the complex crisis with political, economic, religious and cultural implications 2 23 JANUARY ASP MEP with Andrew Bennett, Religious Freedom in Europe. RESTAURANT Institute, Washington 'Intercultural and Religious Dialogue’ does not mean theological discussions in the European Film screening (premiere) of the movie Parliament. It is about listening to people from the sphere of religion and exchanging views with 18.30 - 20.00 "White Right: Meeting the Enemy" with the 29 JANUARY representatives of academia, governments, European Institutions on issues of common interest or 3 ASP 3E2 cooperation of the Chapel for Europe and the concern and in connection to religion and intercultural relations. European Jewish Community Centre (EJCC) The EPP Group organises a wide range of events on a regular basis: Working Breakfast 8.30 - 9.30 “The situation of Christian communities 12 FEBRUARY • EPP Group Annual Dialogue with Religions and Cultures; 4 LOW MEP SALON worldwide: The Christian Persecution World • Monthly Working Group meetings; Watch List 2018” (Open Doors) • Visits of religious leaders from the Middle East, Africa and Asia; Working Breakfast • Conferences on current affairs related to religion (Religious radicalisation, Persecution of 8.30 - 9.30 with Gabriela FREY, , Representative of the 12 MARCH religious minorities, etc...); 5 LOW MEP SALON European Buddhist Union (EBU) to the EU • Seminars on relevant topics with the participation of experts from EU and non-EU countries. and Council of Europe Working Breakfast with Mgr. Paolo RUDELLI, Special Envoy 8.30 - 9.30 26 MARCH and Permanent Observer of the Holy See to 6 LOW MEP SALON the Council of Europe as a follow up to the December 2018 Rome visit Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina MOSTAR, 28-31 MARCH “On the way of reconciliation and life in a 7 MEĐUGORJE multi-ethnic society” Conference “The next day in Syria” 16.30 - 18.30 03 APRIL In collaboration with COMECE, CEC and 8 JAN 6Q1 CROCEU 08.30-09.30 4 APRIL Meeting with Media 9 MEP SALON Working Breakfast with Ambassador Irakli Giviashvili, Per- 8.30 - 9.30 16 APRIL manent Representative of Georgia to the 10 LOW MEP SALON Council of Europe as a follow up of the June 2018 visit in Tbilisi 4 5 INTERCULTURAL & RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE INTERCULTURAL & RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE Activity Report 2019 Activity Report 2019 A SELECTION OF ILLUSTRATIONS DETAILING THE EPP GROUP WORKING GROUP (WG) ON DATE TIME AND PLACE ACTIVITY INTERCULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE IN 2019 08.00 - 09.00 LOW Working Group Meeting on ‘Legislative work 19 SEPTEMBER 11 MEP SALON opportunities: *dreams & realities* XIX. International Krakow Conference 11 - 12 OCTOBER KRAKOW, POLAND 12 “Challenges for a new Europe” Meeting with His Holiness Pope Tawadros II, 12.30 - 14.00 15 OCTOBER Pope of Alexandria & Patriarch of the Coptic 13 ASP MEP SALON Orthodox Church 08.30 - 09.30 LOW Working Group Meeting on “Philosophy, Inter- 23 OCTOBER 14 MEP SALON cultural and Interreligious Dialogue” Seminar on “The role of churches and reli- gious communities in the process of peace 08.30-11.00 19 NOVEMBER building and conflict prevention “ with repre- 15 ASP 5H1 sentatives of Georgian Orthodox Church and other religious communities from Georgia “Remembering 30 years of Religious Free- 14.00-16.00 26 NOVEMBER dom in Central and Eastern Europe” 16 N.4.3 (In cooperation with MEPs Sojdrová & Štefanec) 8.00 - 9.00 Working Group Meeting with Rev. Barrios 28 NOVEMBER 17 LOW MEP SALON Prieto appointed new SG of COMECE LEBANESE MARO- XXII. Annual Interreligious Dialogue on “Hu- NITE MONASTERY man Fraternity for World Peace 18 12 DECEMBER SAINT CHARBEL and Living Together” (NEAR WATERLOO), (February 2019 Abu Dhabi Declaration) BELGIUM Working Group Meeting: presentation 08.00 - 09.00 LOW 19 DECEMBER of the Annual ‘Aid to the Church in Need’ 19 MEP SALON (ACN) Report 6 7 INTERCULTURAL & RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE INTERCULTURAL & RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE Activity Report 2019 Activity Report 2019 1. EPP Group Working Group (WG) on Intercultural and > MEETING WITH REVEREND ANDREW BENNETT, RELIGIOUS FREEDOM INSTITUTE IN WASHINGTON Religious Dialogue: meetings Reverend Bennet presented the project about the International Religious Freedom Policy (IRFP) Landscape Report. In 2019, the EPP Group Working Group (WG) on Intercultural and Religious Dialogue developed Rev. Bennett is a Senior Fellow at the Religious Freedom Institute (RFI) in Washington, DC., where and defended concrete political actions, which served to strengthen links with political and religious he is leading a project about the International Religious Freedom Policy (IRFP) Landscape Report. representatives, with civil society and other relevant personalities from the cultural, economic and academic fields. The Institute is surveying foreign ministries and multilateral organizations to determine the extent of their religious freedom advocacy, policy, and programming activities. This is the first time that such a comprehensive survey of IRFP activities has ever been undertaken. The goal is to provide a clear > MEETING WITH REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SALZBURG SYRIAC INSTITUTE picture of what is currently being done through foreign policy activity to advance religious freedom internationally. The meeting focused on the significance of the Syriac heritage. The conduct of the event was to raise awareness of the situation as well as a follow up to what has been done. It is statistical that 1 With the support of the US State Department's Office of International Religious Freedom and Global in 10 Christians is being persecuted today, and that in 2/3 of the countries of the world, Christians Affairs Canada, who currently co-chair the International Contact Group on Freedom of Religion are experiencing harassment. The main point is to address these topics, to protect individuals, or Belief (ICG), the RFI sent out a survey to the desks responsible for religious freedom policy and help them on a legal ground and not only prevent some parts of a problem, but solve the whole programming in ICG member foreign ministries. This survey, which is available online, is a principal problematic issue. means of gathering the essential data required for completing the report. The need to take more action to change the situation and to give more concrete help is essential, as the Middle East is the cradle of Christianity and continuity needs to be ensured. Reverend Andrew Bennett with the EPP Group Working Group on Intercultural and Religious Dialogue Co-Chairs and members of the EPP Group secretariat Jan Olbrycht and György Hölvényi MEPs, Co-Chairmen of the EPP Group Working Group on Intercultural and Religious Dialogue; Prof. Erhard Busek, former Vice-Chancellor of Austria; Lukas Mandl MEP; Prof. Aho Shemunkasho; Prof. Peter Bruck; Andreas Thonhauser 8 9 INTERCULTURAL & RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE INTERCULTURAL & RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE Activity Report 2019 Activity Report 2019 > FILM SCREENING (PREMIERE) OF THE MOVIE "WHITE RIGHT: MEETING THE ENEMY" > CONFERENCE “THE NEXT DAY IN SYRIA” IN COLLABORATION WITH THE COOPERATION OF THE CHAPEL FOR EUROPE AND THE EUROPEAN WITH COMECE, CEC AND CROCEU JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTRE (EJCC) EPP GROUP INTERCULTURAL AND RELIGIOUS DIALOGUE Short description of the movie: CONFERENCE THE NEXT DAY IN SYRIA: “When Deeyah Khan was six, her father took her to her first anti-racism rally. A Pakistani immigrant to Norway, he promised her that things would get better and that the skinhead gangs that terrorised “A PATH TOWARDS THE RESILIENCE OF SYRIAN PEOPLE” their family and families like them would soon find themselves relics of past prejudices that bigotry WEDNESDAY, 3 APRIL 2019 belonged in history, that tomorrow would be a more tolerant time. 16:30 – 18:30 HRS. ROOM JAN 6Q1, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT, BRUSSELS Following the lauded jihad – in which she spoke to radicalised British Muslims who had fought in PROGRAMME the name of jihad on the battlefields of Afghanistan, Iraq, Bosnia and Chechnya and now found themselves full of regret – Deeyah joins the frontline of the race wars in America. She sits face-to-face 16:30-16:40 WELCOMING ADDRESS with fascists, racists and the proponents of the “alt-right” ideologies. Deeyah’s need to find the deeper human causes of horrific social forces opens a different possibility for connection and solutions. > Mairead McGuinness, First Vice-President of the European Parliament Rather than dismiss these men as monsters, she is determined to discover the men behind the masks”. > György Hölvényi MEP, Co-Chairman of the Working Group on Intercultural and Religious Dialogue > MEETING WITH THE NGO ‘’OPEN DOORS’’ ON “THE SITUATION OF CHRISTIAN > Metropolitan Athanasios of Achaia, Director of the Representative Office of the Orthodox COMMUNITIES WORLDWIDE: THE CHRISTIAN PERSECUTION WORLD WATCH LIST 2019” Church of Greece to the European Union on behalf of CROCEU, COMECE and CEC The director of Open Doors Mr Michael Varton presented the 2019 annual report. 16:40-17:30 SESSION I “HUMANITARIAN AID FOR ALL” The World Watch List combines Open Doors’ field experience and on-the-ground intelligence with the year-round analysis of its research unit, providing insights into the trends, scale and dynamics of Chair: Marijana Petir MEP the persecution of Christians around the world. The list presents the 50 countries where it is most dangerous to live as a Christian. However, this year an unprecedented trend has begun to reveal itself.