The following statement was issued by the Secretary General of the AIDLR, Dr Liviu Olteanu, after the conversation he had together with religious leaders, scholars and civil cociety international NGOs at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 14 July 2017 in the context of the Launch by the UN Secretary-General, ANTONIO GUTERRES’, Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent Incitement to Violence that Could Lead to Atrocity Crimes. Dr. Olteanu met and talked separately with the following Religious Leaders: REV. KYOICHI SUGINO, Deputy Secretary General of Religious for Peace from New York; BANI DUGAL Principal Representative of Bahá’i International Community from New York; SADHVI BHAGAWATI SARASWATI, President Parmarth Niketan Ashram from Rishikesh in India; RABBI BURTON L. VISOTZKY Appleman Professor of Midrash and Interreligious Studies at The Jewish Theological Seminary, New York; YAHYA SERGIO YAHE PALLAVICINI, Vice-President, ISESCO Ambassador for Dialogue among Civilizations from Rome; REV. NURUDDEEN LEMU, Director of Research and Training at the Da’wah Institute of Nigeria; ARCHIMANDRITE EMANUEL YOUKHANA, Executive Director, CAPNI Christian Aid Program Nohadra-Iraq; PETER PROVE, Director, Commission of the Churches on International Affairs at World Council of Churches, Geneva Switzerland; Dr. MOHAMED ELSANOUSI, Director in the Washington DC Office of The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers; MONICA FELTZ, Executive Director at International Justice Project; H.Y. HANSON, President at Zaytuna College, Berkeley California; Dr. IQTIDAR KARAMAT CHEEMA FCMI, Institute for Leadership and Community Development, Birmingham UK; Dr. Liviu Olteanu and religious leaders, scholars and NGOs Representatives evaluated together the perspective of the UN Plan of Action to Prevent Incitement to Violence and the necessity to foster the defense of freedom of religion or belief internationally by vigilance, education and training.
