King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz International Center for Dialogue between Religions and Cultures succeeded to convey its strong message to the world and to reveal its goals before the international community. Its hard working and distinguished team led by His Excellency Mr. Faisal bin Muammar, who is a great Arab intellectual and visionary contributed to its success.
The KAICIID international conference this week brought together 190 prominent religious leaders to discuss the challenges of combating hate speech. The issue is very vital and comes at a critical moment as the international community in many parts of the country is going through conflicts of a religious nature, divisions and even religious wars.
The two-day discussions, which I had the honor to participate in, revealed to me personally the magnitude of the humanitarian and enlightening role played by the Center, which requires extensive international support, the first of which is the Government of Austria that should support the Center against some racist parties that try to shut it down for its successful role and mediation, which it carried out in a number of conflicts, especially in Africa.
The choice of the subject of hate speech is a very successful one because this issue is the starting point for many conflicts and wars that are based on ethnic and religious foundations. The ability to bring so many religious leaders to one table is undoubtedly an achievement. A very lofty message about coexistence, acceptance of the other and diversity, which has been a role model to follow in the region and the world.
I had a first hand experience of the sincerity of those in charge of the conference under the chairmanship of the Secretary-General who have a desire for the success of the Center that is located in Austria, which is a symbol of freedom and religious tolerance.
The announcement that the center will allocate 1.5 million euros next year to fight hate speech is a courageous step in which money is being used for high humanitarian and social purposes. I am confident that this huge funding will succeed in achieving the noble goals and objectives, among which is the graduation of many Peace advocates from dozens of countries to prepare young clergy, intellectuals and civil society activists involved in the dialogue. I hope it will withstand and triumph over the wars of hatred and enemies of success.
