Religions for Peace and United Religions Initiative sign a memorandum of understanding

PRESS RELEASE:

January 28, 2022

Leading global organizations Religions for Peace International (RfP) and United Religions Initiative (URI) to collaborate on vital peacebuilding action around the world.

Religions for Peace and United Religions Initiative signed a Memorandum of Understanding on December 22, 2021. This partnership will address the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals related to the COVID-19 pandemic and climate change by combining organizational efforts and globally implementing multireligious and interfaith collaboration.

This agreement is the culmination of years of silo efforts leading to collaboration between the two organizations. Even though both organizations address peacebuilding, each approaches multireligious or interfaith cooperation from its unique perspective.

Religions for Peace is a multireligious leadership-based organization with international women and youth networks alongside over 90 Interreligious Councils around the world. URI is a network of self-organizing, interfaith grassroots organizations (Cooperation Circles) serving 1100 communities in over 110 countries. The partnership of these two organizations brings together thousands of multifaith leaders and interfaith communities to collaborate on advancing dialogue and peace around the world – impacting millions of people.

This agreement aims to enhance each other’s efforts to secure genuine and sustainable multireligious and interfaith collaboration, including but not limited to the following:

• Facilitating joint planning for select annual efforts between URI, its regional offices and Cooperation Circles and Religions for Peace’s Interreligious Councils, to promote collaboration and partnerships based on the shared vision and mission of the two organizations, including organizing knowledge building and advocacy initiatives celebrating United Nations commemorative days; and
• Promoting joint advocacy initiatives which further peaceful coexistence and interfaith harmony, particularly around nurturing a sustainable environment, reconciliation, hate speech and violent extremism, and nuclear disarmament.

The agreement was signed by Prof. Azza Karam, Secretary-General of Religions for Peace and Mr. Biff Barnard, Acting Executive Director of URI.

Religions for Peace and URI are both non-profit and non-governmental international interfaith peacebuilding organizations with consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).

More information on both organizations can be found at both www.rfp.org, or by emailing Ms. Sohaa Khan at skhan@rfp.org and at www.uri.org, or by emailing Ambassador Mussie Hailu at mhailu@uri.org.