Building Bridges: UN Gathering Spotlights Interreligious Dialogue as Path to Peaceful Coexistence
As discrimination, hate speech, and identity-based violence continue to rise globally, a powerful gathering in New York demonstrated that dialogue—not division—offers the most promising path forward for humanity. Diplomats, UN officials, religious leaders, and civil society representatives convened to explore how interreligious dialogue, grounded in human rights, can strengthen peaceful coexistence and prevent violence.
Marking the first commemoration of the International Day of Peaceful Coexistence on January 28, 2026, the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) convened a historic roundtable hosted at the Permanent Mission of Austria to the United Nations. The gathering brought together multilateral, regional, and community-based perspectives on dialogue as a practical tool for building peace.
A Global Context Demanding Urgent Action
Opening the roundtable, H.E. Ambassador Gregor W. Koessler, Permanent Representative of Austria to the United Nations, situated the conversation within a challenging global context. Recent UN findings report unprecedented increases in religious hostility and violence against civilians, accompanied by growing strain on the shared values underpinning peaceful societies—values rooted in the UN Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Ambassador Koessler emphasized the critical need for interreligious, rights-based dialogue that reaches beyond conference rooms and into communities, where trust is built and tensions first emerge. His words underscored a fundamental truth: lasting peace is not crafted in diplomatic halls alone but in the daily interactions of people from different faiths choosing to understand rather than condemn one another.
From Global Policy to Local Practice
KAICIID’s Acting Secretary General, Ambassador António de Almeida Ribeiro, outlined the organization’s comprehensive vision for dialogue-based peacebuilding:
🌐 KAICIID’s Global Reach
“While crises and tensions persist, there is a growing global recognition of the essential role of dialogue in prevention, which aims to build resilient and peaceful societies. To realize this vision, KAICIID promotes interreligious and intercultural dialogue through its regional programmes and established platforms, networks, and communities of practice across Africa, the Arab region, Asia, Europe and increasingly in Latin America and the Caribbean.”
The roundtable focused specifically on how dialogue initiatives can connect UN policy frameworks with communities of practice, ensuring that prevention efforts are informed by lived realities rather than abstract theories. A keynote address by H.E. Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, emphasized the importance of multilateral cooperation with religious and civil society actors in addressing polarization and fostering inclusive societies.
Voices from the Ground: Faith Leaders Building Peace
The gathering featured powerful testimony from religious leaders actively engaged in peacebuilding work across conflict zones and divided societies. Their firsthand accounts revealed both the challenges and the transformative potential of sustained interreligious engagement.
Speaking from the heart of one of the world’s most devastating conflicts, Bishop Charbak described how dialogue initiatives restored hope, dignity, and social cohesion after years of war in Syria. He emphasized that religions are meant to heal, not divide, sharing concrete examples of IPDC-supported initiatives across the Arab region—from training journalists to counter hate speech, to empowering women and young people, and fostering interfaith cooperation.
“Peace is not only the absence of violence, but the presence of understanding, empathy and shared responsibility.”
From a European perspective, Imam Pallavicini highlighted how sustained Muslim-Jewish cooperation has helped counter antisemitism and anti-Muslim hatred while offering a new model of public diplomacy. Established with KAICIID’s support, the MJLC brings imams and rabbis together to engage policymakers on education, human rights, and social cohesion.
“Peaceful coexistence is inseparable from human dignity and religious pluralism.”
Rabbi Schudrich reiterated the importance of standing together despite differences as the embodiment of peaceful coexistence. His participation in the MJLC demonstrates that religious leaders from historically divided communities can find common ground and work together for the greater good.
Making Dialogue Effective: Lessons from the Field
Drawing on KAICIID’s extensive field experience, Ms. Vera Ferreira, Head of Programmes and Oversight, outlined the core elements that make interreligious platforms effective and replicable across different contexts:
🔑 Key Principles for Effective Dialogue
- Credibility and Legitimacy: Participants must be respected voices within their respective faith communities
- Context-Specific Processes: Dialogue approaches must be tailored to local conflict dynamics rather than imported wholesale
- Balanced Participation: Inclusive engagement ensures all voices are heard and valued equally
- Safe Spaces: Both physical and psychological safety are essential for honest, transformative dialogue
- Long-Term Commitment: Short-term initiatives rarely produce lasting change; sustained institutional support is crucial
- Integration with Existing Structures: Dialogue platforms must connect with educational, civic, and policy-making institutions
Ms. Ferreira stressed that short-term initiatives are rarely sufficient, noting the critical importance of long-term institutional support and the integration of dialogue platforms within existing educational, civic, and policy-making structures.
From Dialogue to Prevention: Practical Applications
Across the discussion, participants emphasized that values alone are not enough. Dialogue initiatives that lead to durable coexistence are those that are inclusive by design, reach beyond capital cities, and invest in capacity building for both religious actors and public officials.
🛡️ How Dialogue Prevents Violence
Practical examples shared during the roundtable illustrated how interreligious platforms:
- Reduce community tensions through sustained engagement and relationship-building
- Coordinate rapid responses to hate incidents before they escalate
- Provide early warning signals that allow authorities and communities to de-escalate risks before violence occurs
- Create trusted channels of communication between diverse communities and government officials
Several speakers pointed to concrete cooperation models that could be replicated globally, including ongoing mechanisms connecting Permanent Missions with faith leaders, training on conflict-sensitive communication, and joint social cohesion campaigns during periods of heightened tension.
No One-Size-Fits-All: Adapting Principles Across Contexts
While participants acknowledged that there is no universal template for successful dialogue, they identified core principles that can be adapted across different cultural and political contexts. Imam Pallavicini stressed that principles such as mutual respect, shared citizenship, and religious dignity provide a foundation that communities can build upon in ways that reflect their unique circumstances.
The Syrian experience, as described by Bishop Charbak, demonstrated how interreligious initiatives supported by KAICIID created rare spaces for encounter and trust even amid extreme hardship and ongoing conflict. These spaces became islands of hope where people from different faith backgrounds could reconnect with their shared humanity.
Strengthening Partnerships: KAICIID and the UN System
The side event formed part of a broader KAICIID mission to New York aimed at strengthening partnerships with Permanent Missions and UN entities while showcasing the Centre’s added value within the multilateral system.
🤝 Renewed Commitment to Prevention
Later the same day, KAICIID and the UN Office on the Prevention of Genocide renewed their Memorandum of Understanding, reinforcing cooperation on early warning, community engagement, and the prevention of identity-based violence.
This partnership demonstrates how faith-based dialogue initiatives can complement and strengthen official UN prevention mechanisms, creating a more comprehensive approach to protecting vulnerable populations.
Why This Matters for Religious Freedom
For people of faith and advocates of religious liberty, the KAICIID roundtable offers both inspiration and practical guidance. The gathering demonstrated that interreligious dialogue is not merely an aspirational ideal but a proven tool for protecting religious minorities, reducing sectarian violence, and creating the conditions in which all faith communities can flourish.
The participation of religious leaders from Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities—including those working in active conflict zones—provides powerful testimony to the possibility of peaceful coexistence even in the most challenging circumstances.
As hate speech and religious violence continue to rise globally, the model of sustained, structured dialogue presented at this UN gathering offers a roadmap for communities seeking to build bridges rather than walls. The emphasis on local ownership, long-term commitment, and integration with existing institutions makes this approach both practical and sustainable.
Supporting Interreligious Dialogue in Your Community
The principles shared at the UN roundtable can be adapted and applied in communities worldwide. Whether through local interfaith councils, educational initiatives, or collaborative social service projects, every community can take steps toward greater understanding and peaceful coexistence.
Explore More at FFNA Vision for the Future
The first International Day of Peaceful Coexistence marks not an ending but a beginning—a renewed commitment to the difficult but essential work of building understanding across religious and cultural divides. As the world faces unprecedented levels of polarization and identity-based violence, the message from this UN gathering is clear: dialogue works, but only when we commit to it for the long haul.
The religious leaders and diplomats gathered in New York demonstrated that people of different faiths need not agree on all theological questions to work together for peace, justice, and human dignity. Their example challenges us to move beyond tolerance—a passive acceptance of difference—toward active engagement that builds real relationships and lasting trust.
In a world increasingly divided along religious and ideological lines, the vision of peaceful coexistence presented at this gathering offers hope that another way is possible. But as H.E. Dr. Chaloka Beyani reminded participants, this vision only becomes reality through sustained commitment from individuals, communities, and institutions at every level of society.
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