The OAR organises the dialogue spaces ‘Why do we have to defend the right to religious freedom?’

The Office for Religious Affairs (OAR), in conjunction with the Human Rights Resources Centre of the Barcelona City Council, is organising a dialogue space on the defence of the right to freedom of religion and belief. The activity, entitled ‘Why do we have to defend the right to religious freedom?’, will be held on 28 February starting at 4 pm in the auditorium of Casa Golferichs and will consist of two discussion sessions: a dialogue based on the experiences of people and organisations from a range of different religious traditions, and an academic, informative panel discussion.

..
13/02/2024 - 13:11 h - Interculturality OAR

Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights recognises the freedom of religion or belief as a fundamental right. The city of Barcelona applies this perspective of upholding the right to religious freedom in the city. To this end, the 2021-2030 Barcelona Interculturality Plan includes the plurality of beliefs and beliefs as part of Barcelona’s cultural diversity, which it considers intrinsic and cross-cutting. However, this issue continues to prompt resistance in the city, and both institutions and city residents continue to ask the question ‘Why do we have to defend the right to religious freedom?’.

This is precisely the title of a new activity organised by the Office for Religious Affairs (OAR). In conjunction with the Human Rights Resources Centre of the Barcelona City Council, where we will attempt to answer this question by offering a basic, informative introduction to the right to religious freedom, bearing in mind its origin and application in Barcelona; the different formulations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; the importance and reasons for defending it; and the role played by public administrations and other institutions in guaranteeing this freedom. It will also address the keys and differences in concepts like secularism, secularisation and interculturality and their role in a plural setting like the city of Barcelona.

The commissioner of Citizen Relations and Cultural and Religious Diversity of the Barcelona City Council, Sara Belbeida Bedoui, will be opening this monographic activity that will be held on February 28 in the auditorium of the Civic Center Casa Golferichs from 4.00 pm. It will consist of two spaces of dialogue that will address the reality and theory of the exercise of religious freedom. The first one, from 4 to 5:30 pm, will meet in a roundtable of experiences with different activists and representatives of some of the city’s religious communities, who will reflect on the right to religious freedom and share their impressions and experiences about defending it in their day-to-day lives. The conversation will be moderated by Khalid Ghali Bada, coordinator of the Religious Affairs Office, and the participants will be Rafael Fajardo, an officer in the Transforma’t service of the Sant Andreu district and an evangelical pastor at the Filadèlfia mission; Dharam Paul Singh Ackoo, a member of the Gurdwara Guru Darshan Sahib of Barcelona; Maria Gassiot, general manager of the women’s area in Catalonia of the Sokka Gakkai Spain; Hatim Azahri, member of Joves Units Poblesec; and Alicia Guidonet, anthropologist and head of the Interreligious Space of the Migra Studium Foundation.

The second part will be held from 5:45 to 7:30 pm, and it will consist of a panel discussion which will provide an academic discussion of conceptions related to freedom of religion and belief in relation to anti-racism and interculturality. Moderated by Esther Pardo Herrero, coordinator of the Human Rights Resources Centre, the participants will be Francisca Pérez-Madrid, professor at the Universitat de Barcelona specialising in Church Law and principal researcher of the Project “Igualdad de género y creencias en el marco de la Agenda 2030”; Rosa Martínez-Cuadros, Juan de la Cierva postdoctoral researcher at the Universitat de Barcelona and member of ISOR (Research in the Sociology of Religion) and GENI (Research Group on Gender, Identity and Diversity); Manuel Delgado Ruiz, professor of Social Anthropology at the Universitat de Barcelona specialising in religious and ritual violence and director of the GRECS (Research Group on Social Exclusion and Control); and Oumaya Amghar Ait Moussa, political scientist and management officer at the IMed (European Institute of the Mediterranean).

WHY DO WE HAVE TO DEFEND THE RIGHT TO RELIGIOUS FREEDOM?

If you have any accessibility requirements, please let us know when you register (by emailing activitatsoar@bcn.cat before 23 February 2024.