Lisbon, Portugal—The president of the Portuguese Religious Freedom Commission joined representatives of various faith groups in a colloquium organized by UPF of Portugal.
The event, held on November 20, 2018, also celebrated the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 40th anniversary of Portugal's accession to the European Convention on Human Rights.
The meeting was attended by the president of the Portuguese Religious Freedom Commission. Various religious and faith groups based in Portugal were represented, including the Family Federation for World Peace and Unification (FFWPU), an organization that is affiliated with UPF.
Present were Sérgio Neto, the leader of FFWPU-Portugal; Dr. Avelino Rodrigues, the former leader of FFWPU and the head of the Interreligious Federation in Portugal; and Sérgio Vieira, head of UPF in Portugal.
In the first session, the president of the Portuguese Religious Freedom Commission, his Spanish equivalent, and a specialist in education from the University of Coimbra were the speakers.
The second session was reserved for a separate meeting of the president of the Religious Freedom Commission with representatives of religious denominations, in order to understand their main legal and social issues and concerns with regard to religious freedom in Portugal.
Representatives of FFWPU brought with them copies of the autobiography of Rev. Dr. Sun Myung Moon, which they gave to the president of the Religious Freedom Commission and some of the speakers. The president also was given a UPF brochure about the inauguration in Portugal of the International Association of Parliamentarians for Peace (IAPP), a UPF initiative, as well as other materials on the Unification movement, including the new organization Interreligious Association for Peace and Development (IAPD).