Wide Participation at the 14th Doha Conference on Interfaith Dialogue

Under the patronage of His Excellency Sheikh Khalid bin Khalifa bin Abdulaziz Al Thani, Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, the work of the 14th Doha Conference on Interfaith Dialogue was launched in Doha on Tuesday 24 May, under the title: "Religions and Hate Speech between Practice and Texts", with the participation of about 300 from Scholars, religious leaders, researchers, academics, media professionals and stakeholders from 70 countries around the world, in addition to participants from the State of Qatar.

At the opening of the conference, HE Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Sultan bin Saad al-Muraikhi said that the State of Qatar believes that nation-building begins with building a human being through cooperation with fellow human beings to build a society based on mutual respect and coexistence in harmony, regardless of different religions, cultures, and ethnicities.

His Excellency explained that this conference comes as a continuation of a series of previous conferences to emphasize this principle and this policy that aims to promote a culture of dialogue, the most important of which is interfaith dialogue.

He stressed that the State of Qatar believes that there is no way for coexistence and cooperation between individuals, groups, and states except through constructive dialogue based on recognition of the other and respect for his culture, beliefs, and sanctifies.

The conference, organized by the Doha International Center on Interfaith Dialogue, will discuss three main axes. The first relates to hate speech in terms of its concept, causes, and motives. In this axis, the focus will be on discussing extremist religious discourse, its role in the spread of hate speech, the misunderstanding of religion, and ways to promote moderate discourse. In addition to the issue of the escalation and spread of extremist rhetoric by some clerics and political leaders, and its impact on achieving world peace.

In the second axis, entitled (patterns and forms of hate speech), the participants discuss the danger of the spread of images of hate speech, incitement to violence and terrorism, the political use of hate speech and the repercussions of the spread of this speech on peaceful coexistence, its role in the spread of racism, and its impact specifically on refugees and religious minorities and on the woman.

The third axis relates to ways to confront hate speech, as participants address (the role of religious and media leaders and institutions in combating hate speech), (the responsibility of religious scholars and places of worship in raising awareness of the need to respect religions), (the influence of the media in reducing hate speech), and (values Religious and moral roles and their role in confronting hate speech), and (a culture of peace, coexistence, and respect for cultural and religious diversity).

Within the third axis, the participants will also discuss the issue of international laws and conventions criminalizing hate speech, where the limits of the application of freedom of expression and the areas of protection in international humanitarian law will be clarified, in addition to the role of educational institutions as well as culture and the arts in addressing this discourse.