The Network for Religious and Traditional Peacemakers participated in the Second Interreligious Forum of the Americas (FIDELA) held in Los Angeles, CA between June 7-8, 2022.

This forum brought together religious leaders, representatives of faith-based organizations, government officials, and academics focused on the framework of “Building a Sustainable, Resilient, and Equitable Future” for the Western Hemisphere. Participants were given the intellectual space to collaborate and provide concrete practical recommendations to the heads of state and government who met at the Ninth Summit of the Americas, as well as the ability to contribute to better implementation and follow-up of their commitments.

Over the course of two days, the event featured a series of structured plenary sessions and concurrent panels (with English-Spanish interpretation) to address the engagement of religious leaders to strengthen inclusive democracies, protect human rights, and fight against corruption; interreligious approaches to address root causes of refugee and migration movements; religious perspectives on green growth and sustainable development in harmony with the environment; and the role of faith communities in peacebuilding in the Americas, among other topics.

The Network’s Membership Coordinator, Rachel Palermo participated in the concurrent session: “Interreligious cooperation to stabilize fragile democracies.” Palermo uplifted the work of various Network members to foster interreligious collaboration and therefore lay the foundations for a healthy democracy, including the Adyan Foundation’s Alwan program, which aims to foster inclusive and active citizenship by bringing together youth of diverse faiths to carry out community service projects together.

A full summary of the opening plenary can be found here: https://blog.g20interfaith.org/2022/06/18/opening-plenary-the-second-interreligious-forum-of-the-americas-fidela/