Lejla Hasandedic-Dapo
United Religions Initiative (URI) Europe Liaison Officer, board member of European Interfaith Youth Network (EIYN), Religions for Peace
Prof. Dr. Azza Karam
Prof. Dr. Azza Karam serves as the Secretary General of Religions for Peace – the largest multi-religious leadership platform with 90 national and 6 regional Interreligious Councils. She also holds a Professorship of Religion and Development at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, in The Netherlands – of which she is a citizen.
She served as a Senior Advisor on Culture, at the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA); and as Coordinator/Chair of the United Nations Inter-Agency Task Force on Religion and Development; where she coordinated engagement with members of a Global Interfaith Network for Population and Development with over 600 faith-based organizations from all regions of the world, representing all religions and interreligious affiliation. She is the Lead Facilitator for the United Nations’ Strategic Learning Exchanges on Religion, Development and Diplomacy, building on a legacy of serving as a trainer cum facilitator of inter-cultural leadership and management in the Arab region as well as Europe and Central Asia.
Professor Karam has served in different positions in the United Nations since 2004, as well as other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations since the early 1990s, such as International IDEA, and Religions for Peace. Simultaneously, she lectured in various academic institutions in Europe, in North America (including the United States Military Academy/West Point), Africa and the Middle East.
Her Ph.D. in 1996, focused on Political Islam, and became her first book in Arabic (her mother tongue) and in English. She has since published widely, and in several languages, on international political dynamics, including democratization, human rights, peace and security, gender, religious engagement, and sustainable development. She was born in Egypt, and now lives in the United States.
Professor Karam has served in different positions in the United Nations since 2004, as well as other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations since the early 1990s, such as International IDEA, and Religions for Peace. Simultaneously, she lectured in various academic institutions in Europe, in North America (including the United States Military Academy/West Point), Africa and the Middle East.
Speakers
Maria Cristina Kaveri Cantoni
Member executive board, Religions for Peace Italy
Chairperson, RfP European Women of Faith Network
Ms. Ana Maria Daou
Community Engagement Senior Coordinator, Adyan Foundation
Deputy Coordinator, International Youth Committee
Ms. Fatima Hallal
Junior Researcher, Hartford Seminary-Interreligious Relations
Member, International Youth Committee
H.E. John Cardinal Onaiyekan
Archbishop of Abuja, Archdiocese of Abuja
Honorary President, Religions for Peace
Mirian Akuaba De-Souza
Youth Representative, Ghana Conference of Religions for Peace
Member, International Youth Committee
Prof. Evelin Lindner
Founding Director and President, Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies, Germany
Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati
President, Divine Shakti Foundation
Secretary-General, Global Interfaith WASH Alliance
Prof. Dr. Riem Spielhaus
Professor of Islamic Studies and Education, George-August University Göttingen
Dr. Salim M. AlMalik
Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO)
Irmgard Maria Fellner
Director for Cultural Relations Policy and Deputy Head of the Directorate-General for Culture and Communication at the Federal Foreign Office
Nihal Saad
Chief of Cabinet and Spokesperson to the High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilization (UNAOC)
Renz C. Argao
Director, Argao Center for Psychological Services
Coordinator, Religions for Peace International Youth Committee
Grandmother Marie-Josée Rankin-Tardif
President, Kina8at Together
Elder from the Anicinape (Algonquin) tradition
H.E. Metropolitan Emmanuel Adamakis
Metropolitan of France, Ecumenical Patriarchate Religions for Peace
Prof. Takaaki David Ito
Professor of Spiritual Care at the Graduate School of Applied Religious Studies
Annette Schavan
Chairmanship of the Foundation Peace Dialogue of the World Religions and Civil Society
Laura Vargas
Inter-Religious Council of Peru – Religions for Peace, Interfaith Rainforest Initiative
Bishop Munib Younan
Bishop Emeritus President of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Jordan and the Holy Land
Honorary President, Religions for Peace
Prof. Anantanand Rambachan
Professor of Religion, St. Olaf College
Co-President, Religions for Peace
Karima Bennoune
UN Special Rapporteur on Cultural Rights
Homer G. Angelo & Ann Berryhill Endowed Chair & Martin Luther King Jr. Professor of Law at UC Davis
School of Law
Rabbi David Rosen, KSG, CBE
International Director, Department of Interreligious Affairs in the American Jewish Committee
Co-President, Religions for Peace
Dr. Suphatmet Yunyasit
Representative of Thailand to the ASEAN Women of Peace Registry; Human Rights and Peace Studies, Faculty, Mahidol University; Secretary-General, Religions for Peace Interreligious Council of Thailand; Member, RfP International Women’s Coordinating Committee
Düzen Tekkal
Journalist, Filmmaker, War Reporter, Human Rights Activist,
Founder, Hawar Help and German Dream
Rev. Dr. Antje Jackelen
Lutheran Archbishop of Uppsala Primate of the Church of Sweden
Co-Presiden, Religions for Peace
Bishop Margot Käßmann
Former Chairperson, Evangelical Church of Germany
Co-President, Religions for Peace
Rev. Sr. Agatha Ogochukwu Chikelue
Nun of the Daughters of Mother Mary of Mercy; Co-Chair Nigerian & African Women of Faith Network
Executive Director Cardinal Onaiyekan Foundation for Peace (COFP)
Chair, Religions for Peace International Women’s Coordinating Committee
H.E. Ib Petersen
Assistant Secretary-General, Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
H.E. Gillian Triggs
Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant High Commissioner for Protection
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
H.E. Michelle Müntefering
Minister of State for International Cultural Policy at the Foreign Office, Germany
Rev. Kosho Niwano
President-Designate, Rissho Kosei-Kai, Co-Moderator, Religions for Peace, Buddhist, Japan