High-level European officials and experts attending an international conference in Vienna last week stated that European governments and the international community were failing to address religious discrimination and the persecution of Christians in Europe and worldwide.
In his opening keynote speech to the conference, EU Special Envoy for Religious Freedom, Ján Figel’, observed that even though tens of thousands of Christians worldwide are killed every year because of their faith, the media and the international community pay little attention.
Significantly, the conference, entitled “Embattled: Christians under Pressure in Europe and Beyond” was split into two parts, the first part dealing with persecution outside of Europe in countries such as Iraq, Nigeria, North Korea and Syria, and the second focused on growing governmental restrictions within European countries on conscience, freedom of association, freedom of speech and parental rights, as well as hate crimes against Christians.
Speaking on behalf of the Archbishop of Vienna at the start of the conference, Bishop Stephan Turnovszky said that although there is no organised or systematic persecution of Christians in Europe, there were frightening trends involving Christian marginalisation, as well as political and media reprisals against those with religious convictions. He also observed that violence against Christians is rarely reported in the media and cited examples.
Although the conference did not use the term “Christianophobia” in its report on Europe, it is significant that this term was first used in 2004 by Joseph Weiler, a Jewish professor at New York University’s Law school, to describe discrimination against Christians within Europe. Professor Weiler coined the term following the European Union’s refusal to accept Italy’s nomination of Rocco Buttiglione for the post of EU Justice Commissioner because of his Christian beliefs on sexual ethics.
Worryingly, similar instances of anti-Christian discrimination are increasingly the norm, despite being dramatically under-reported.
La journée internationale de la liberté de religion, célébrée tout récemment (le 27 octobre), nous rappelle que la liberté de religion ou de conviction n’est ni une réalité qui va de soi, ni, globalement, une tendance internationale qui a le vent en poupe.
Bien au contraire, la tendance est négative. Cette valeur humaine universelle, essentielle, est actuellement sérieusement limitée, voire battue en brèche, dans une majorité de pays et de territoires de la planète, représentant 74 % de la population totale (selon le rapport du Pew Study Center pour 2013).
La journée internationale rappelle aussi à tout un chacun combien la route a été difficile, longue, souvent sanglante, depuis l’époque du servage, celle où la société était divisée par de profonds fossés, où régnaient la haine sectaire et l’oppression violente, jusqu’à l’émergence de sociétés libres, pluralistes et tolérantes, respectant l’État de droit, les droits de l’homme et les valeurs universelles fondamentales. Aucune de ces sociétés n’est un modèle parfait, mais nous apprenons chemin faisant. De nombreux peuples, communautés, dirigeants et gouvernements, qu’ils se trouvent en Europe, en Asie, en Afrique, dans les Amériques, en Australie ou en Océanie, luttent pour accroître la qualité de la démocratie et améliorer l’acceptation et la préservation de ces principes et de ces valeurs. De nombreux dictateurs, régimes autocratiques et groupes violents luttent, eux, dans un but opposé: pour un État sans droit plutôt que pour l’État de droit, pour imposer leur loi au peuple plutôt que pour se mettre à son service…
Liberté de religion pour la dignité
Bien que plus de 84 % de la population mondiale puisse être qualifiée d’«affiliée à une religion» (ibid), la liberté de religion ou de conviction ne concerne pas qu’eux. C’est une liberté dont nous profitons tous, puisqu’elle couvre les athées, les agnostiques, tout le monde. Le droit à la liberté de pensée, de conscience et de religion ou de conviction est lié à la liberté d’expression, à la liberté de réunion et à d’autres droits civils et politiques importants. C’est un indicateur très parlant de l’état de tous les droits de l’homme. En effet, lorsque la liberté de religion fait défaut, d’autres libertés civiles sont également absentes. La culture de la dignité humaine est inconcevable sans la liberté de religion ou de conviction.
Dans ma patrie, la Slovaquie, alors appelée la Tchécoslovaquie, la lutte pour renverser le régime totalitaire communiste a atteint son apogée après le Grand vendredi de Bratislava en 1988, lorsque la manifestation pacifique sur fond de prières, organisée par des citoyens au centre de la capitale pour demander qu’on leur reconnaisse des droits civils et religieux, a été brutalement dispersée par les forces de l’ordre. À partir de ce moment-là, la vague qui a abouti à la révolution de velours et au bouleversement politique de 1989 est devenue impossible à arrêter.
L’engagement des chefs religieux pour la paix
La liberté a toujours un objectif et elle ne peut survivre sans une responsabilité partagée. C’est pourquoi, à mes yeux, les revendications pour une plus grande liberté religieuse sont implicitement liées à l’engagement actif des communautés et de leurs chefs religieux en faveur de la paix, de la justice, du vivre-ensemble et de la solidarité. Nous en avons bien besoin, en ce XXIe siècle. Depuis l’extermination systématique de 1,5 million d’Arméniens en 1915-16, le premier génocide reconnu du XXe siècle, l’humanité a connu d’autres horreurs similaires, pour des motifs religieux, raciaux, nationaux ou ethniques, dans bien des endroits du monde – dans les camps de concentration nazis ou soviétiques, les goulags et les fosses communes, au Cambodge, au Rwanda, en Bosnie… «Jamais plus !»: la promesse du Tribunal de Nuremberg en 1946 a été brisée à plusieurs reprises, encore et encore. Nous avons trop souvent abandonné, rompu notre engagement à prévenir les génocides et les traitements inhumains. En réalité, ce sont des gens dans le besoin que nous abandonnons, ceux qui sont persécutés à cause de leur religion, de leur conviction, de leur race, de leur appartenance ethnique – de leur identité humaine.
Humaniser ce siècle!
Meurtre, torture, esclavage, enlèvement, viol ou persécution: toutes ces atrocités que subissent actuellement, systématiquement, les minorités religieuses et ethniques dans les territoires dominés par Daech se résument finalement à un seul et même crime: un génocide. Telle est l’opinion vigoureusement défendue par les organes parlementaires du Conseil de l’Europe, de l’Union européenne, des États-Unis, du Royaume-Uni et d’Australie, ainsi que par d’autres institutions et organisations. Une question alarmante et particulièrement actuelle se pose alors: ce siècle de génocides doit-il prendre fin ou continuer? Après les chrétiens, les yézidis, les chiites, et quelques autres communautés en Irak et en Syrie, qui sera sur la sellette la prochaine fois, quel groupe, quel territoire ?
La réponse à cette question est cruciale et s’engager est essentiel. Comme bien d’autres, je suis convaincu qu’un siècle meilleur est possible. Nous avons l’obligation morale d’améliorer, d’humaniser ce siècle! Si nous voulons avancer de concert dans une ère meilleure, plus pacifique, nous devons enrayer cette tendance à la répétition, ces recrudescences d’inhumanité. En d’autres termes, nous devons mettre fin à la persécution des innocents, aider les victimes privées de parole et de moyens de défense et traduire les criminels en justice. L’ignorance, l’indifférence et la peur aident les fanatiques et les criminels: notre silence meurtrit les victimes.
Génocides et autres atrocités au nom de la religion
Hormis la persécution sous forme de génocide, il existe bien d’autres formes d’oppression religieuse: les lois anti-blasphème, les lois anti-conversion, la violence sectaire, les régimes totalitaires qui s’efforcent de supprimer les manifestations religieuses et la liberté de conscience et de conviction dans l’intérêt de leur idéologie et de l’uniformité. Marx et Lénine détestaient la religion, la considérant comme l’«opium de l’humanité». Et ils avaient créé leur propre «religion», une idéologie nouvelle, coercitive et militante. Les grands dictateurs des dernières décennies – Hitler, Staline, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot – ont aussi violemment réprimé la liberté de religion et de conviction.
Combattre l’ignorance
Nous ne pouvons pas comprendre ce qui se passe dans le monde sans comprendre les religions, y compris l’utilisation abusive qui en est faite (par les terroristes islamistes par exemple). Sans cela, nous ne pouvons pas non plus trouver de thérapie efficace.
Promouvoir la liberté de religion ou de conviction et l’éthique de la responsabilité, éduquer à vivre dans la diversité: telle est la meilleure manière de réagir au fondamentalisme religieux, à l’extrémisme violent et au terrorisme. Si nous arrachons sans relâche les racines de l’ignorance, de l’indifférence et de la peur, la culture de la dignité humaine pour tous et partout pourra croître et porter ses fruits, durant notre siècle.
This essential, universal human value is currently seriously restricted or attacked in the majority of the world’s countries and territories representing 74% of the total world population (Pew Study Center Report, 2013). The day also reminds people of the hard, long, often bloody road from serfdom, deep societal divisions, sectarian hatred, and violent oppression against efforts to form free, pluralist and tolerant societies respecting the rule of law, human rights and basic universal values. No society is the perfect role model in this, but we learn as we go. Many peoples, communities, leaders and governments in Europe, Asia, Africa, Americas, Australia and Oceania struggle to improve the quality of democracy, to embrace and care more about these principles and values. Many dictators, autocratic regimes and violent groups struggle in the opposite direction: they proclaim rule without law instead of the rule of law; the power over people instead of the service to people…
While more than 84% of people in the world can be described as “religiously affiliated” (ibid.), FoRB is more widely applied. It is a fundamental freedom relevant for all, as it also covers the rights of atheists, agnostics, and non-believers. The right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or conviction is linked to the freedom of expression, of assembly and other important civil and political rights. FoRB is a litmus test of all human rights, because when the religious freedom is missing then other civil freedoms are missing as well. More www.foref-europe.org
Restoring Religious Freedom Conference:Law, Religion, Equality, and DignityNovember 6, 2016Emory School of Law A Conversation between Ján Figel’, EU Special Envoy on Freedom of Religion or Belief, and W. Cole Durham, Founding Director of the International Center for Law and Religion Studies Moderator: Mark Goldfeder, Senior Lecturer, Emory University School of Law; Spruill Family Fellow in Law and Religion, Center for the Study of Law and Religion, Emory University; Director, Restoring Religious Freedom Project Sponsored by J. Reuben Clark Law Society, Religious Freedom Project
Article written by Ján Figeľ, Special Envoy for promotion of FoRB outside the EU
International Day of Religious Freedom (October 27) is a reminder that freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is neither self-evident reality, nor broadly winning international trend. Quite opposite, tendency is negative. This essential, universal human value is currently seriously restricted or attacked in majority of world countries and territories representing 74% total population (Pew Study Center Report, 2013). The Day also reminds people of the hard, long, often bloody road from serfdom, deep societal divisions, sectarian hatred and violent oppression to free, pluralist and tolerant societies respecting the rule of law, human rights and basic universal values. None of them is the perfect role model in this, but we learn as we go. Many peoples, communities, leaders and governments in Europe, Asia, Africa, Americas, Australia and Oceania struggle to improve quality of democracy, to embrace and care more about these principles and values. Many dictators, autocratic regimes and violent groups struggle in the opposite direction: the rule without law instead of the rule of law, the rule over people instead of the service to people…
While more than 84% of people in the world can be described as “religiously affiliated” (ibid), FoRB is not just related to them. It doesn’t only concern them. It is for all, as it covers atheists, agnostics, everybody. Right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or conviction is linked to freedom of expression, of assembly and other important civil and political rights. It is a litmus test of all human rights. Because when the religious freedom is missing then other civil freedoms are missing as well. Culture of human dignity is inconceivable without FoRB. In my homeland Slovakia, then Czechoslovakia, struggle to overcome totalitarian, communist regime peaked after Bratislava Great Friday 1988 when peaceful prayer manifestation of citizens in the center of the capital city with requests for religious and civil rights was brutally attacked by police forces. Since then a trend towards “Velvet revolution” and overall political change in 1989 became unstoppable.
Il rappresentante Ue per la libertà di religione dà riscontro alla petizione dell’Osservatorio sulla Cristianofobia.
Il 10 ottobre scorso l’Osservatorio sulla Cristianofobia ha portato all’attenzione di Jàn Figel la protesta dei 6.258 firmatari della petizione Liberiamo Asia Bibi e “oggi il Rappresentante speciale per la promozione della libertà di religione o di credo al di fuori dell’Unione Europea risponde loro e a tutti coloro che hanno a cuore la sorte della donna cristiana incarcerata ingiustamente con parole che non lasciano alcun dubbio”. Lo afferma Silvio Dalla Valle, Direttore dell’Osservatorio sulla Cristianofobia. “La libertà di religione e di credo in Pakistan è una delle mie priorità”, ha scritto Figel. “Abbiamo accolto con grande piacere la risposta del Dottor Figel”, prosegue Dalla Valle, “perché, oltre a riconoscere l’attenzione e l’apprensione di moltissime persone per la sorte di Asia Bibi e dei molti cristiani perseguitati, garantisce a tutti noi un impegno concreto per la risoluzione della piaga della Cristianofobia in Pakistan e nel mondo”.
“Sono molto soddisfatto – aggiunge il direttore – dell’impegno costante dei sostenitori dell’Osservatorio sulla Cristianofobia; è grazie a loro che l’attenzione sulla situazione dei cristiani nel mondo si sta facendo sempre più alta e le parole di Jàn Figèl ne sono la dimostrazione”. Le azioni dell’Osservatorio sulla Cristianofobia dell’Associazione Luci sull’Est proseguiranno senza tregua, rinnovando quotidianamente l’impegno ad informare e sollecitare coloro che sono deputati alla difesa della libertà religiosa e di credo in Italia e nel mondo.
Brussels, 27.10.2016 (FOREF) – The annual International Day of Religious Freedom on October 27 is a reminder that freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) is neither a self-evident reality, nor a broadly winning international trend. Quite the opposite is the case, since the actual tendency is negative.
This essential, universal human value is currently seriously restricted or attacked in the majority of the world’s countries and territories representing 74% of the total world population (Pew Study Center Report, 2013). The day also reminds people of the hard, long, often bloody road from serfdom, deep societal divisions, sectarian hatred, and violent oppression against efforts to form free, pluralist and tolerant societies respecting the rule of law, human rights and basic universal values. No society is the perfect role model in this, but we learn as we go. Many peoples, communities, leaders and governments in Europe, Asia, Africa, Americas, Australia and Oceania struggle to improve the quality of democracy, to embrace and care more about these principles and values. Many dictators, autocratic regimes and violent groups struggle in the opposite direction: they proclaim rule without law instead of the rule of law; the power over people instead of the service to people…
While more than 84% of people in the world can be described as “religiously affiliated” (ibid.), FoRB is more widely applied. It is a fundamental freedom relevant for all, as it also covers the rights of atheists, agnostics, and non-believers. The right to freedom of thought, conscience, religion or conviction is linked to the freedom of expression, of assembly and other important civil and political rights. FoRB is a litmus test of all human rights, because when the religious freedom is missing then other civil freedoms are missing as well.
A culture of human dignity is inconceivable without FoRB. In my homeland of Slovakia, then Czechoslovakia, the struggle to overcome the totalitarian, communist regime peaked after Bratislava Good Friday 1988, when a peaceful prayer manifestation of citizens in the center of the capital city with requests for religious and civil rights was brutally attacked by police forces. Afterwards, a trend towards “Velvet revolution” and overall political change in 1989 became unstoppable.
Freedom is not purposeless and cannot survive without shared responsibility. Therefore, claims for more religious liberty are in my mind implicitly linked to active engagement of religious leaders and communities for peace, justice, human togetherness and solidarity. This is very much needed in the 21st Century. Since 1915-16, the systematic extermination of 1.5 million Armenians, which constituted the first recognized genocide of the 20thCentury, mankind went through similar horrors on religious, racial, national or ethnic foundations in many parts of the globe – in Nazi and Soviet concentration camps, gulags and mass graves, in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, etc. Unfortunately, the “Never Again” promise from the Nuremberg Tribunal of 1946 was broken repeatedly, again and again. We abandoned commitment to prevent genocide or inhumane treatment too often. In reality, people in need have been abandoned as well as those who have been persecuted for their religion, conviction, race or ethnicity.
The current systematic murder, torture, enslavement, kidnapping, raping and persecution of religious and ethnic minorities on territories dominated by the “Islamic State” constitute the very same type of the greatest crime – genocide. This position was strongly expressed by parliamentary bodies of the Council of Europe, EU, USA, UK and Australia. Thus, a very timely and alarming question arises: “Shall the century of genocides end or continue?” After Christians, Yezidis, Shia-Muslims and some other communities in Iraq and Syria, who will follow next? The answer is crucially important and commitment is decisive. I am sure with many like-minded supporters, that a better century is possible. A more human century is our moral obligation! If we want to share more peaceful and better times, we have to prevent that repetitive tendency, prevent returns of inhumanity. This means to stop persecution of innocent people and to help voiceless and defenseless victims, and to finally bring perpetrators of crimes to justice. Ignorance, indifference or fear helps fanatics and perpetrators of crimes; our silence hurts the victims.
Besides genocidal persecution there are many other forms of religious oppression – blasphemy laws, anti-conversion laws, sectarian violence, totalitarian regimes which try to eliminate religious manifestations and freedom of conscience and conviction for the sake of their ideology and uniformity. Already Marx and Lenin despised religion as “the opium of the people”. And they have created their own political religion, a new coercive and militant ideology. The major dictators of the 20th century – Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong, Pol Pot – all have something in common: They fiercely suppressed FoRB.
Without understanding the aims, structure and effects of religions, including the abuse of religion, i. e. by Islamist terrorists, we cannot understand what is going on in our world. Subsequently we cannot find efficient solutions that help society to recover from inter-religious strife. The promotion of FoRB, an ethic of responsibility, and education for living in diversity is the principal way to tackle religious fundamentalism, violent extremism and terrorism.
When there is indifference, ignorance and fear become the allies of evil. But when we continuously cut the roots of indifference, ignorance and fear, a culture of human dignity for all and everywhere may grow and bear positive fruit in our century.
Ján Figeľ is the Special Envoy for promotion of FoRB outside the EU.
The article is available here: https://foref-europe.org/2016/10/29/a-contribution-in-commemoration-of-the-annual-international-day-of-religious-freedom/
And here: http://europeanpost.co/century-of-genocides-end-or-continuity/
Brussels, Belgium, Oct 27, 2016 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The genocide of Yazidis and Christians in the Middle East and the refugee crisis should be a priority for Europe, the EU special envoy for religious freedom has said.
Jan Figel told CNA that even though “there many other places where religious freedom is liquidated, discriminated and oppressed,” the Middle East is an unavoidable focus.
“It is evident that what it is going on the Middle East affects the rest of the world,” he said at a media symposium organized by Alliance Defending Freedom International in Brussels.
Figel, a Slovak who served as EU Commissioner for Education from 2004 to 2009, was chosen to be the union’s special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the European Union. The position is an observer role and has a one-year term.
“I deem that the religious persecutions against Yazidis and Christians can be labeled as genocide, and this is the reason why the Middle East is a priority: there is a crime committed in the geopolitical center of the world, where three continents meet and the most important religions live together,” he explained.
Figel stressed the need to aid countries at the frontlines of conflicts that involve religious persecution and mass refugee displacement.
“Europe should provide more cooperation and assistance, as there are countries, like Jordan, that cannot sustain the flow of refugees that is coming to their lands,” Figel said. “Jordan did not close its borders, it is open to refugees from Syria and Iraq, and needs and deserves more EU support and comprehensive cooperation.”
Figel has focused on the plight of Christians in the Middle East in his own work. For his first official overseas trip, he visited Jordan Oct. 18-19, meeting with representatives of government and religious and civil society leaders.
Brussels, Belgium, Oct 27, 2016 / 12:08 am (CNA/EWTN News).- The genocide of Yazidis and Christians in the Middle East and the refugee crisis should be a priority for Europe, the EU special envoy for religious freedom has said.
Jan Figel told CNA that even though “there many other places where religious freedom is liquidated, discriminated and oppressed,” the Middle East is an unavoidable focus.
“It is evident that what it is going on the Middle East affects the rest of the world,” he said at a media symposium organized by Alliance Defending Freedom International in Brussels.
Figel, a Slovak who served as EU Commissioner for Education from 2004 to 2009, was chosen to be the union’s special envoy for the promotion of freedom of religion or belief outside the European Union. The position is an observer role and has a one-year term.
“I deem that the religious persecutions against Yazidis and Christians can be labeled as genocide, and this is the reason why the Middle East is a priority: there is a crime committed in the geopolitical center of the world, where three continents meet and the most important religions live together,” he explained.
The hands of a Syrian woman living as a refugee in Jordan. Credit: Kevin Jones/CNA.
Figel stressed the need to aid countries at the frontlines of conflicts that involve religious persecution and mass refugee displacement. “Europe should provide more cooperation and assistance, as there are countries, like Jordan, that cannot sustain the flow of refugees that is coming to their lands,” Figel said. “Jordan did not close its borders, it is open to refugees from Syria and Iraq, and needs and deserves more EU support and comprehensive cooperation.”
Figel has focused on the plight of Christians in the Middle East in his own work. For his first official overseas trip, he visited Jordan Oct. 18-19, meeting with representatives of government and religious and civil society leaders. The EU envoy praised Jordanian Muslim leaders’ work against extremism.
Authorities in Jordan “are very much committed in dialogue and action against radicalization, violence and extremism,” Figel said.
This is despite “an increasing climate of tensions” following the assassination of Nahed Attam, a Christian writer killed Sept. 25 because he shared a cartoon on Islam deemed offensive. Figel praised the Jordanian commitment to fighting the Islamic State, known locally as Daesh.
“Jordan is a member of anti-Daesh coalition,” he said.
The country’s work is also cultural. It puts into action “significant initiatives to show that Islam is a moderate religion beyond any extremist interpretations.” The EU envoy praised Jordanian initiatives for dialogue like the Amman Message, which King Abdullah II of Jordan issued in 2004 as a call for tolerance and unity in the Muslim world.
The message recognized eight legal schools across various branches of Islam, rebuked sectarian attitudes like declaring other Muslims apostate, and set conditions to counter illegitimate edicts issued in the name of Islam; it drew support from 200 Islamic scholars from more than 50 countries.
Jordan also backed the 2009 letter “A Common Word Between Us and You,” a response to the controversy following Benedict XVI’s 2005 Regensburg speech that discussed Islam, religion and reason.
With Benedict XVI’s initiative, the letter grew into a forum that meets every three years. The endeavor aims to find common ground of dialogue between Catholicism and Islam. The initiative’s facilitator is Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad of Jordan, the king’s first cousin.
King Abdullah and Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad also launched the World Interfaith Harmony Week, marked in the first week of February.
The article can be found here: http://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/for-eus-religious-freedom-envoy-middle-east-is-key-arena-56109/
BRUXELLES , 26 ottobre, 2016 / 9:00 AM (ACI Stampa).
È tornato la scorsa settimana da una visita ufficiale in Giordania, dove ha potuto non solo parlare di cooperazione tra l’Europa e il piccolo Stato nel Medio Oriente, ma anche toccare con mano la situazione dei rifugiati cristiani. Jan Figel, inviato speciale dell’Unione Europea per la libertà religiosa, guarda con attenzione alla situazione del Medio Oriente, e cerca di implementare relazioni chiave con Paesi come la Giordania. Perché non si tratta solo di parlare del genocidio dei cristiani, ma anche di creare una nuova narrativa. Ne parla con ACI Stampa a margine di un simposio sulla libertà religiosa organizzato dalla rete internazionale di avvocati ADF International a Bruxelles dal 19 al 20 ottobre.
Come definirebbe quello che sta avvenendo in Medio Oriente?
È una priorità politica guardare a quello che sta avvenendo in Medio Oriente, ovvero la persecuzione dei cristiani e di altre minoranze religiose come gli yazidi e musulmani. Credo che la situazione possa essere etichettato come genocidio. Si tratta di un crimine che avviene nel centro geopolitico del mondo, dove tre continenti si incontrano e le religioni più importanti e con più seguito vivono insieme. È evidente che quello che accade in Medio Oriente ricasca anche su altri continenti, anche se non dobbiamo trascurare il fatto che ci sono molti altri posti in cui la libertà religiosa è liquidata, discriminata e oppressa.
Come va affrontata questa situazione?
Servono strumenti e politiche da mettere in atto in maniera efficace.
Quali sono state le sue impressioni dopo il viaggio in Giordania?
È stata una visita politica ufficiale, nella quale ho incontrato rappresentanti del governo giordano, ma anche leader religiosi e della società civile. Sebbene sperimenti un clima di crescente tensione – complice anche l’assassinio dello scrittore cristiano Nahed Hattar per aver condiviso una vignetta sull’imam – le autorità sono molto impegnate nel dialogo e nelle azioni contro la radicalizzazione, la violenza e l’estremismo. Non solo. La Giordania è membro della coalizione anti-Isis, e promuove iniziative significative perché l’Islam venga interpretato in maniera moderata al di là dell’interpretazione radicale. Tra queste iniziative, ricordo il “messaggio di Amman”, la lettera “Una parola comune”, e la Settimana dell’Armonia Religiosa. Sono iniziative che lodo, perché c’è bisogno di un dialogo positivo.
Da primo inviato dell’Unione Europea sulla libertà religiosa, cosa ci si aspetta dall’Unione Europea?
Ci deve essere più cooperazione. La Giordania non ha chiuso i confini, ha raddoppiato quasi la sua popolazione accogliendo i rifugiati ed è praticamente impossibile per loro sostenere questa situazione.
