For the third time, the Salève Adventist Campus had the privilege of hosting the Faith for Rights program, held by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR).
The expert meeting brought together more than thirty participants from Europe, North America, and the Middle East— representing non-governmental organizations, universities and international institutions. The event, held on October 2 and 3, in Collonges, gave the participants the opportunity to delve into the Faith for Rights (F4R) program. Among them were two UN Special Rapporteurs, Ibrahim Salama and Michael Wiener, who chaired the program as experts from the OHCHR. Other organizations that participated in the notable event included the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists—represented by Ganoune Diop, Director of Public Affairs and Religious Liberty, and his associate, Nelu Burcea. CILRAP (International Center for Religious Freedom and Public Affairs), headed by John Graz, has also been associated with this UN program since 2017.
Ibrahim Salama, who initiated the program, explained: "Faith for Rights aims to promote and defend religious freedom for all, and to strengthen the role and responsibility of faith actors in human rights."
The purpose of this collective learning approach is to develop relationships between religious leaders, diplomats, academics, civil institutions, and international organizations. ‘Faith for Rights’ follows the 2012 Rabat Declaration that highlighted the links between hate speech and freedom of religion and conscience (FoRB). In 2017, during the Beirut Declaration on Faith for Rights, Ibrahim Salama said that "we will give the Declaration a global dimension looking at the intersectionality between the right to religious freedom and all human rights."
A few weeks before the Beirut meeting, Salama attended the 1st Human Rights Weekend organized by CILRAP in Collonges. Also an invitee to the meeting, Dr. John Graz, director of CILRAP, became one of the signatories of the Declaration.
From the Beirut Declaration to Collonges III
The Beirut Declaration contains 18 commitments that link freedom of religion and belief to all human rights. Once the document was drafted, the next step was to develop a practical program for implementation. This was accomplished through the production of a training manual (Faith4Rights toolkit) during the first two expert meetings of 2018 and 2019. Interestingly, for the cover of the manual, the editors chose a photo of the campus chapel and the Salève River. In addition, the statement on page 4 is called The Collonges Declaration of 18-19 December 2019. Better yet, the meetings have been named Collonges 1, Collonges 2, Collonges 3.
In 2017, when CILRAP began its activities, one of its goals was to build links with the United Nations. 2021 seemed a reasonable year to consider a joint action. By the grace of God, everything went much faster than anticipated, and it took only a few months for a relationship to be established. It also took the openness and conviction of Ibrahim Salama, the Director of Human Rights Treaties, and Michael Wiener to achieve an exemplary cooperation, which would also not have been possible without the support of the director of the Adventist Campus of Salève, JP Lehmann. This cooperation will continue on December 10 and 11, 2022, during the Human Rights Weekend. With a theme entitled “Jean Weidner: The price for human rights”, the December program will feature worship, a symposium, a large concert and a march for ‘Faith for Rights’, departing from Geneva and arriving at the Jean Weidner Center.
