Conference in Goa Promotes Interreligious Council at the UN

In his Inaugural Address before a standing-room-only crowd at The Goa International Centre, on April 23, the Governor of Goa, Shri S.C. Jamir, emphasized that it was "the duty of every nation and its people to cooperate, support, and strengthen ... to the maximum extent possible" the efforts to create an interreligious council at the United Nations.

Governor Jamir called on religious leaders, scholars, academicians, politicians and people from all walks of life to launch a "Tsunami of compassion" in order to address the root cause of our social ills—human greed, religious intolerance and racial injustice.

The Governor of Goa noted that, "The world is at a crossroads of history and needs a new spiritual agenda." He supported the creation of an interreligious council at the world body, saying it could "play a major role in asserting Asian and Indian leadership for global peace and harmony."

The conference discussed the new security concerns in a post-cold war situation which called for new approaches in order to ensure sustainable peace and comprehensive development on the part of the United Nations, member states, as well as civil society. The role of spiritual leadership in achieving these objectives was examined in all its aspects.

In regard to strengthening the UN, various resolutions have been passed at the UN General Assembly over the past few years, each calling for a more meaningful role for the world's religions in advancing dialogue among civilizations and creating a culture of peace.

The latest resolution, its strongest, was passed on the December 14, 2006. It called for the creation of an office, a focal point in the UN Secretariat, under the auspices of the Secretary-General, which would coordinate the "interreligious, intercultural and intercivilizational matters within the United Nations system."

The organizing committee chairman for the seminar and co-chair of UPF-India, Hon. Eduardo Faleiro, explained that a series of seminars would be held throughout India to act as a sounding board to gain momentum and support for this initiative.

Four board members of UPF-India attended the conference, with the conviction that India can and must play a pro-active role in strengthening the prospects for global peace and security by drawing on its rich tradition of spirituality and religious harmony.

The Universal Peace Federation of India, The Goa International Centre, and the Institute Menezes Braganza teamed up together for the first two-day seminar to explore the possibilities for creating a suitable mechanism for integrating religious and spiritual voices at the UN, with supporting institutions at national and local levels throughout the world, and the unique role India should play in this urgent and timely task.