The International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID) today convened the first meeting of its Advisory Forum: a consultative body that can convene up to 100 members from world religions, religious organizations, and cultural institutions.

KAICIID is the world’s only intergovernmental organization governed by a multireligious Board of Directors. The Advisory Forum’s establishment expands and deepens the geographic, religious and cultural inclusivity of KAICIID’s work to promote social cohesion through interreligious dialogue.

During the inaugural meeting in Vienna, the newly appointed Advisory Forum members met with KAICIID’s Board, experts and advisers, as well as Austrian stakeholders and members of the international community, to discuss the challenges of countering and preventing violent extremism, an issue very relevant to the work KAICIID and its partners are doing in places like the Central African Republic and Iraq and Syria.

“We want the Advisory Forum to serve not only KAICIID, but also the global community. The members come from all parts of the world, and have spent years, if not decades, studying and working in the field of interreligious dialogue in their communities. We are confident that they will deeply enrich our own work, and form a valuable resource for the field,” said Faisal Bin Muaammar, KAICIID Secretary General.

The Advisory Forum consists of leading figures from the religious, non-governmental and intergovernmental fields from over 20 countries, including:

Bishop Matthew Kukah, Catholic Bishop of Sokoto, Roman Catholic Diocese of Sokoto (Nigeria), Ela Gandhi, founder of the Gandhi Development Trust and granddaughter of Mahatma Gandhi (South Africa), Muhammad Hidayat Nur Wahid, Vice Chairman, People’s Consultative Assembly of the Republic of Indonesia, Suhair Al-Qurashi, President, Dar Al-Hekma University (Saudi Arabia), Claudio Epelman, Executive Director of the Latin American Jewish Congress (Argentina), Dr. Hussein Ghazi Hussein al-Samerrai, Chairman of Iraq Scholars Council in Samarra (Iraq) and many others.

A full list of the Advisory Forum, searchable by expertise, location, organization and affiliation is available.