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Thank you Mr President and Panellists.
In New Zealand we strongly believe that tensions between cultures and communities can be overcome by dialogue, by education, and a willingness to learn from, to respect and to be tolerant of others. We have a multi-cultural, multi-faith society. We believe in celebrating rather than fearing diversity.
With this in mind, New Zealand hosted the 3rd Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue last year, which brought together representatives of the major faith and community groups of 15 countries in the Southeast Asian and Pacific regions. Co-sponsored by Australia, Indonesia, Philippines and New Zealand, the aim of the Dialogue was to promote cooperation through effective communication amongst religious communities.
Participants in the Dialogue come from across the region’s faith spectrum and include Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Sikh, Baha’i and Confucian representatives.
The Interfaith Dialogue focused our attention on the need for inclusion and respect for each other within our own diverse communities, so that no faith community feels marginalised or excluded. It is a basic tenet of all participants in our regional Dialogue that no religion should be used as a basis or justification for terrorist activity.
The major outcome of the Dialogue was the Waitangi Action Plan, which sets out a range of proposals for practical action reflecting the broad themes that have been established for the Dialogue – education, media, security and inter-community relations.
New Zealand also hosted a Symposium on the Alliance of Civilisations last year, convened by Prime Minister Helen Clark. It involved a broad cross-section of prominent leaders, thinkers, faith leaders and experts from our region and beyond, including three members of the Alliance of Civilisations High-Level Group. The symposium discussed how to give effect to the report’s practical actions, including raising awareness and understanding amongst journalists of intercultural issues, the need for accuracy in reporting on such issues and for education in media studies and critical interpretation in school learning.
We would be interested to hear further comment from the panellists about the contribution such regional interfaith dialogues and intercultural symposiums can make to the implementation of human rights standards. And in this context, we would also welcome comment on the benefits a human rights perspective can contribute to regional interfaith and intercultural dialogues, such as with respect to media or education programmes.
Thank you Mr President.
