Lejla Hasandedic-Dapo
United Religions Initiative (URI) Europe Liaison Officer, board member of European Interfaith Youth Network (EIYN), Religions for Peace
H.E. António Guterres
António Guterres, the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations, took office on 1st January 2017. Having witnessed the suffering of the most vulnerable people on earth, in refugee camps and in war zones, the Secretary-General is determined to make human dignity the core of his work, and to serve as a peace broker, a bridge-builder and a promoter of reform and innovation.
Prior to his appointment as Secretary-General, Mr. Guterres served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015, heading one of the world’s foremost humanitarian organizations during some of the most serious displacement crises in decades. The conflicts in Syria and Iraq, and the crises in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Yemen, led to a huge rise in UNHCR’s activities as the number of people displaced by conflict and persecution rose from 38 million in 2005 to over 60 million in 2015.
Before joining UNHCR, Mr. Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He served as prime minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002, during which time he was heavily involved in the international effort to resolve the crisis in East Timor. As president of the European Council in early 2000, he led the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda for growth and jobs and co-chaired the first European Union-Africa summit. He was a member of the Portuguese Council of State from 1991 to 2002.
Mr. Guterres was elected to the Portuguese Parliament in 1976 where he served as a member for 17 years. During that time, he chaired the Parliamentary Committee for Economy, Finance and Planning, and later the Parliamentary Committee for Territorial Administration, Municipalities and Environment. He was also leader of his party’s parliamentary group. From 1981 to 1983, Mr. Guterres was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, where he chaired the Committee on Demography, Migration and Refugees.
For many years Mr. Guterres was active in the Socialist International, a worldwide organization of social democratic political parties. He was the group’s vice-president from 1992 to 1999, co-chairing the African Committee and later the Development Committee. He served as President from 1999 until mid-2005. In addition, he founded the Portuguese Refugee Council as well as the Portuguese Consumers Association DECO, and served as president of the Centro de Acção Social Universitário, an association carrying out social development projects in poor neighborhoods of Lisbon, in the early 1970s.
Mr. Guterres is a member of the Club of Madrid, a leadership alliance of democratic former presidents and prime ministers from around the world. Mr. Guterres was born in Lisbon in 1949 and graduated from the Instituto Superior Técnico with a degree in engineering. He is fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish. He is married to Catarina de Almeida Vaz Pinto, Deputy Mayor for Culture of Lisbon, and has two children, a stepson and three grandchildren.
Day 1: Opening Ceremony of 1. Assembly on Women, Faith & Diplomacy 2020
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