At 7 PM on Saturday, 7 February 2015, the windows of the KAICIID Dialogue Centre headquarters on Schottenring 21 in Vienna, Austria, were aglow with candles to mark the organisation’s support for the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week.

KAICIID is responding to a call by the “Interreligious Team” from Austria, a part of the global United Religions Initiative.

Lighting the Candle of Forgiveness is one of the activities organised around the UN-endorsed World Interfaith Harmony Week, commemorated annually in the first week of February.

The URI Cooperation Circle in Austria invited organisations, religious communities and individuals to light a candle to “pray for victims of religious violence, in their own family history, or anywhere in the world, either in the present or in the past”. The candle signals caution for those who seek to profit, from such tragedies. The light of the candle is also a sign of hope for a future that enjoys harmony between religions and more justice.

KAICIID Secretary General Faisal Bin Muaammar said: “KAICIID stands with all those who promote mutual understanding and interreligious dialogue as a path to peace. We stand with all people who have suffered through violence of any description. We stand with all the people and organisations around the world who have make it their life’s work to promote interreligious dialogue, to halt violence, and to promote a more just and equal world for all. Our work is dedicated to strengthening these voices of peace, wherever they may be.”

A delegation from KAICIID will also attend on Sunday, 8 February 2015, a “Peace Brunch” organised by the Abbey of Melk in Lower Austria, the Embassy of Jordan in Austria and the “Dialog zwischen den Kulturen” (Dialogue Among Cultures), with the support of the Foreign Ministry of Austria. The Peace Brunch, which is also organised under the banner of the World Interfaith Harmony Week, is an "important signal against all forms of radicalism and fundamentalism in all religions."

Participants at the Peace Brunch will include representatives of the Buddhist religious community, the Catholic Church in Austria, the Evangelical Lutheran, and Apostolic Churches, the Islamic Community, and the Jewish community, , among many others.

World Interfaith Harmony Week was proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly in a resolution adopted on 20 October 2010. Recognizing the imperative need for dialogue among different faiths and religions to enhance mutual understanding, harmony and cooperation among people, the General Assembly encouraged all States to support during that week the spread of the message of interfaith harmony and goodwill in the world’s churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other places of worship, on a voluntary basis and according to their own religious traditions or convictions.