A delegation of 10 New Zealand interfaith representatives accompanied the Minister for Ethnic Affairs, Hon. Pansy Wong, to the fifth Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue held in Perth, Australia 28-30 October. The New Zealand delegation included Dr Manuka Henare, Reverend Fei Taule’ale’ausumai, Professor Paul Morris, Rehanna Ali, Richard Tankersley, Dr Anwar Ghani, Verpal Singh, See Shen Lee, Pritika Sharma and Tayyaba Khan. The delegation was supported by officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Office of Ethnic Affairs.
The theme for the Dialogue was Future Faith Leaders: Regional Challenges and Responses. New Zealand led a plenary session on the topic of Faith and the Media/internet. Hon Pansy Wong delivered a keynote address on the topic which was followed by presentations from Dr Anwar Ghani and Verpal Singh. All the New Zealand delegates had active roles in the Dialogue including through chairing working groups and leading intra-faith sessions. The other three main topics for the event were Building Relationships among Future Faith Leaders, Faith and Education, and Conflict Resolution and Peace-building. The event concluded with agreement on the Perth Declaration setting out recommendations for follow up action by faith communities and governments.
New Zealand is a co-sponsor of the Asia-Pacific Regional Interfaith Dialogue together with Australia, Indonesia and the Philippines. The objective of the Dialogue process is to bring together faith leaders from across the Asia-Pacific region to discuss and address tensions between communities. The Dialogue helps break down barriers between faith communities and provides support for religious moderates to speak out against extremism.
The Perth Declaration, issued at the end of the dialogue, focused on fostering interfaith projects, the development of future faith leaders, educational resources on religious diversity, involvement of faith community leaders in peace and conflict resolution, and religious diversity and the media. Key practical follow-up actions for New Zealand are identified as:
- the development of an interfaith environmental project - to be recommended to the national interfaith forum in February 2010
- a leadership development project for future interfaith faith leaders, to be discussed with the national youth interfaith forum in February 2010
- teachers’ workshops to promote and develop curriculum resources on religious diversity
- a workshop for faith leaders and media on religious diversity and the media in conjunction with the 2010 New Zealand Diversity Forum.
New Zealand will report back on the implementation of these recommendations at the Sixth Regional Interfaith Dialogue.