Concept Note EVENT: World Interfaith Harmony Week Observance at the UN 3 Feb 2022 TITLE: “The Pivotal Role of Faith Leaders to Promote Solidarity, Human Rights, and a Culture of Peace to Combat Stigma and Conflict during the Pandemic Recovery” Objective In accordance with United Nations General Assembly Resolution (A/RES/65/5) which declared the first week of February each year as World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW), the sponsoring partners are once again convening an interfaith dialogue to be held at the United Nations in continuing commitment to advance the cause of developing the culture of peace and harmony by bringing together leaders of all faiths to motivate people of the world. This year is significant, to commemorate the 10th anniversary of our participation. Overview On December 31, 2019, China announced to the world that it was dealing with an outbreak of a mysterious illness which was killing people with severe cases of pneumonia. Scientists quickly identified a type of new CoronaVirus as the cause, which came to be known worldwide as COVID-19. By two years later, this disease had infected over 300 million people and claimed over 5.5 million lives across the globe, sparing no one regardless of race, creed, gender, or social status. This worst pandemic in living memory, rivaling the influenza pandemic of 1918-1919, gripped humanity in a widespread common tragedy of lost lives and livelihoods, and shared fears and anxieties underscoring shared vulnerabilities and a common destiny, therefore requiring a common multilateral and multi stakeholder response. The COVID-19 pandemic, and its subsequent variants, have upended all assumptions of life on earth, causing challenges the likes of which have never been encountered before, including escalating rates of death, poverty, and hunger, straining health services in both developed and developing states, shifting public health strategies, devastating businesses, and fracturing interpersonal relationships under mandates of physical distancing and sheltering in place. Progress towards achievement of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and Universal Health Coverage, have been drastically haltered and even set back. The scourge of Covid-19 also reminded us that a disease outbreak anywhere is a threat everywhere, and that “we are not safe until everyone is safe.” Fortunately, vaccines have been made available to stop the spread. Yet, health disparities and inequities have emerged in availability and affordability of vaccines which contributes to tragic prolongation of the pandemic. Vaccine justice, shortage as well as distribution to the African continent with over 1 Billion people continues to be a serious global problem with only 13.7% percent of the population vaccinated at least once ( World Covid Vaccination Tracker NY Times 12/24/21), while affluent countries are literally begging their population to get their third or even 4th vaccination. COVAX, a multi-organizational cooperative effort working for equitable access was to have delivered 2 billion vaccines to Africa by 2021. The target has become a mirage. Manufacturing vaccine on the African continent by unleashing full potential of African scientists through multilateral partnerships and perhaps relaxing the patent laws to meet this global emergency may address the issue of accessibility Referring to these inequities, Pope Francis said, “This is not a matter of convenience or courtesy but of justice” (NY Times 12/18/21). A silver lining of this dark cloud of Covid-19 is that the worldwide outbreak highlighted the essential goodness inherent in people, including neighbors checked on neighbors, and health professionals, first responders and essential workers all rising to the occasion with selfless sacrifice to help their fellow humans. This service lives up to a creed of World Interfaith Harmony of “Love of the Good, Love of the Neighbor”. At the same time as the pandemic, conflicts have persisted in parts of the world, heightening the insecurity of peoples and transgressing their human rights. Some of the conflicts have revealed intolerance of faiths, and pitted communities against one another. Thus, the role of faith leaders to bridge these divides, and to bring people together, is that much more urgent. Faith leaders will bring their moral and spiritual authority to bear on the need for solidarity and cooperation among nations of the world, to control this scourge with the tools and resources available and shared equitably. For all these reasons, It is appropriate that this year’s theme of the WIHW interfaith dialogue be “The Pivotal Role of Faith Leaders to Promote Solidarity, Human Rights, and a Culture of Peace to Combat Stigma and Conflict during the Pandemic Recovery” Background Several civil society partners, namely the United African Congress, Give Them a Hand Foundation, Nusantara Foundation, Buddha Light International Association and the International Association of Applied Psychology, have been regularly observing World Interfaith Harmony Week (WIHW) at the United Nations since 2012 by hosting an interfaith dialogue. Speakers have included prominent leaders of the Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Hindu and Buddhist faiths as well as leaders of the indigenous African and Native American traditional beliefs and spirituality. These events have been held annually, except for interruptions a few years when urgent issues occupied the organizing partners, such as in 2015 when they were involved in raising awareness about the Ebola epidemic raging in the West African states of Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone. In response, the partners hosted several events, including a concert at the United Nations General Assembly Hall, calling for a global effort to mobilize resources to address the public health emergency in West Africa. In attendance were then-United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon as well as several Ambassadors of UN Missions, celebrities, and performance artists. Reports about these events are on the United Nations website about WIHW. See https://www.un.org/en/observances/interfaith-harmony-week Also, see a video of WIHW events by the partners at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IwJzAWGWOk Themes covered in past WIHW events include: 2012: “The Diaspora: A Force for Positive Change” highlighted the ability of immigrants of diverse backgrounds to live side by side in harmony in the United States. 2013: “Interfaith Prayer, Healing, and Community Services in the Cause of Peace” cited the example of the participating faith leaders who mobilized volunteers from their respective communities to help New Yorkers in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. 2014: “Tolerance, Reconciliation and Forgiveness” honored the late Nelson Mandela in homage to his relentless pursuit of peace among the races in South Africa leading the country from Apartheid to a thriving democratic state. 2016: “Building Bridges across Boundaries” became the theme of our collective initiative and also of the specific WIHW event, highlighting the need for cooperation across national boundaries in meeting global challenges such as the Ebola epidemic in West Africa. 2019: “The Pathway to Sustainable Development through Interfaith Harmony” underscored the interconnectedness of the quest for peace and harmony and the UN goals for sustainable development. 2020: “The State of the World Today from a Religious and Spiritual Perspective” was held when the COVID-19 pandemic was overwhelming the health systems of advanced nations in Asia, Europe and the US yet Africa at the time was spared the full fury of the virus. The WIHW event “sounded the alarm” to bring attention to the fact that many African and other low-income countries would be severely impacted if a global effort was not made to enable these countries with fragile health systems to invest heavily in preventive measures to control the spread. Subsequently, the group shared these concerns with the AU and in newspaper articles and even a television interview on Chinese TV.