Two-day visit by KAICIID delegation as part of Syria-Iraq Follow-Up Plans

KAICIID Secretary General, Faisal bin Muaammar, today concluded a successful two-day trip to Geneva, home to many of the world’s largest international organizations. 

During his time in Switzerland’s second largest city, Mr. bin Muaammar, accompanied by Special Adviser, Ambassador Alvaro Albacete, met with Mr. Michael Møller, Acting Director-General of the United Nations Office; Dr. Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary of the World Council of Churches; Mr. Balthasar Staehlin and Mr. Ronald Ofteringer, Deputy Director-General and Adviser for Global Affairs for the International Committee of the Red Cross and Mr. Rashid Kahlikov, Director of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), as well as other high-ranking officials from the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Council of Religious Communities, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and members of the local diplomatic community. 

The series of meetings is part of KAICIID’s moves to follow up on the United Against Violence in the Name of Religion: Supporting Religious and Cultural Diversity in Iraq and Syria Conference held in late November 2014, as the Centre looks to intensify its peacebuilding and training initiatives with partners in the UN and other key international actors. 

“There is no doubt that this is a very important time for dialogue,” said Mr. Bin Muaammar. “The events we have witnessed in recent weeks, misattributed to religion, remind us of the critical need for solutions that reject violence. We have also seen that as much as crisis can come about as a result of the very worst of human attributes, it can also unite. KAICIID aims to intensify its efforts to facilitate peace in conflict areas, by working with the partners we have held such fruitful discussions with here in Geneva.”