Sep 09 2020
Past event

Launch – Istanbul Process report and istanbulprocess1618.info website

On 18-19 November 2019, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands with the support of the Universal Rights Group (URG) hosted the seventh meeting of the Istanbul Process. The meeting was entitled, ‘Combatting religious intolerance: building inclusive and resilient societies, and pushing back against incitement to hatred and violence.’

This was the first meeting to be held after a hiatus of three years and reinvigorated the Istanbul Process. This came at a pivotal time – a rise in discrimination and violence in recent years has brought into sharp relief the imperative to tackle the root causes of intolerance on the basis of religion or belief.

The seventh meeting was one of the most inclusive and participatory meetings yet, including integrating a gender perspective into the agenda, and signalled a renewal of political will in the process. It sought to continue the practitioner-centric approach established at the sixth meeting (Singapore) and also introduced new features, including a marketplace, to ensure dynamic and interactive dialogue on key issues. As such, The Hague meeting provided a platform for practitioners from a cross-regional group of States, as well as other relevant stakeholders, to share practical policy experiences, good practices and lessons learnt in the promotion of religious tolerance and strengthened resilience, in the spirit of the action plan set down in Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18.

On 9 September, the report of the seventh meeting was launched. The report provides a brief overview of the discussions and case studies presented at the meeting, as well as key takeaways and recommendations for the further implementation of the 16/18 action plan. At the same time, a new website – istanbulprocess1618.info – was launched, which functions as a repository for information related the Istanbul Process and its constituting resolutions 16/18 and 66/167.

The event was hosted on Zoom and was supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, the Universal Rights Group and ARTICLE 19.

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  • Sep 9th 2020
  • 16:00 - 17:15
  • Public event