Next Doha Interfaith Conference to Focus on Role of Youth in Interfaith Dialogue

31 Dec Next Doha Interfaith Conference to Focus on Role of Youth in Interfaith Dialogue

The Chairman of Board of Directors in Doha International Centre for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) Prof Ibrahim Saleh Al-Naimi has said that the next edition of DICID conference to be held from March 25 to 27 next year will focus on youth and have adequate representation from the community.

Prof. Al-Naimi said,”Youths were not adequately represented in our previous conferences. Therefore, we decided to involve them more in our forthcoming interfaith dialogues as we are talking about future and they are an integral part of it”.

Exploring the objective of DICID ˜s 11th conference, entitled ˜Youth and enhancing the value of dialogue’, he added,”Interfaith dialogue is about making difference and real changes in the community and youths are the ones responsible to achieve this task.”

He said that youths would be welcome to speak out their opinions and thoughts and present their interfaith dialogue projects, the best among which will receive a $100,000 award at the conference.

The 2014 conference aims to provide a platform for the youth from different nationalities, religions and cultural backgrounds including young scholars from Cuba, Brazil, Bulgaria, Philippines and Malaysia to share their views, Naimi pointed out.

Speaking about the centre’s upcoming activities, Al-Naimi said that on March 24 next year, DICID will hold a meeting to discuss religious minorities’ issues in collaboration with The United Nations, in the presence of representatives of Islamic organisations such as Organisation of Islamic Cooperation.

DICID envisions a community of coexistence, understanding and cohesion amid different religious and ethnic groups, a duty which the Centre believes goes in line with Qatar National Vision 2030 (QNV) and serves the Qatari community.

Al-Naimi said,”We seek to build an international community based on understanding. Qatar already has different communities residing here harmoniously. However, as Qatar prepares itself to host World Cup 2022, it becomes our duty to strengthen the culture of integration and coexistence in the country.”

“Furthermore, the Centre will hold an annual meeting in March or April jointly to which all the civil society institutions regardless of their religions and ethnicities in Qatar as well as other national organisations are invited to exchange ideas and views with them. During our last meeting, we discussed the role that the local media play in supporting the community activities in Qatar,” Naimi remarked.

Additionally, DICID engages schools in its activities, which entail organising interfaith dialogue training sessions for teachers and competitions between students to provide the best project to enhance interfaith dialogue.

Earlier this year, the centre promoted ˜Kick Islamophobia’, an event that brought projects to address the problem of Islamphobia from 12 different European countries.

Elaborating on the event which took place in Germany, Al-Naimi said ,”Islamophobia is an existing social problem in Europe, and part of our mission is to support initiatives in order to create peaceful religious coexistence there, so we sponsored the event and we participated in some of its activities.”

Shedding light on DICID’s ultimate objective, Al-Naimi, aid,”One of the major problems that face our societies is the lack of communication between people or religions, although there are many similarities between heavenly religions. Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars have to sit with each other and negotiate about how to overcome challenges, assist each other during disasters and prevent wars.”