Qatar Committed to Ensuring Freedom of Religion or Belief of Non-Muslims

Qatar Committed to Ensuring Freedom of Religion or Belief of Non-Muslims

Geneva/ Information Office/ 10 March 2015/ The State of Qatar has confirmed its guarantee of freedom of religion or belief of non-Muslims by establishing buildings for worship such as the Religious Complex, widely known as "Church City" It also confirmed that it had strengthened the constitutional protection of freedom of religion or belief through adopting several related legislations and the establishment of many institutions at both government and non-governmental level, including Doha International Center for interfaith dialogue which was set up in 2008, with the aim of promoting and spreading the culture of dialogue, acceptance of others and peaceful coexistence of different religions. This came in a speech delivered here today by HE Director of the human rights Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Sheikh Khalid bin Jassim Al -Thani, at the 28th session of the Human Rights Council item/3/interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on religion or belief in Geneva. He added that the State of Qatar had continued hosting international conferences and forums on human rights issues and the promotion of a culture of peace, where the State hosts the annual Conference on interfaith dialogue ". The previous conferences had discussed topics such as the role of religions in human civilization ", " the role of religion in building the human and spiritual values and world peace ", " religious values between pacifism and respect for life, "and" human solidarity ", as well as " the role of religions in the upbringing of generations ", and" social media and interfaith dialogue ", and" successful experiences in interfaith dialogue ", and" the role of youth in promoting the values of dialogue, He noted He also said that Qatar annually hosts the the U.S.-Islamic World Forum. It also hosted the Fourth United Nations Forum of Alliance of civilizations" in 2011. It also hosted in march last year the Executive Meeting of the Istanbul Initiative 16/18 entitled "promoting religious freedom through cooperation among religions", he added.