King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz International Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue (KAICIID) will hold an international meeting, during 30-31/10/2019 in Vienna, with participation of more than 200 religious leaders, policymakers, state actors, civil society and human rights representatives, journalists, educators, and dialogue practitioners to discuss ways of recognizing and fighting the growing global phenomenon of hate speech. The meeting aims to activate cooperation and joint action against hate speech, which has become a real and tangible threat to the fabric and social cohesion in various regions of the world, leading many international organizations and governments around the world to develop specific initiatives and action plans to combat hate speech, inciting violence and promoting peaceful coexistence, in line with the Plan of Action for Religious Leaders and Actors to Prevent Incitement to Violence adopted in 2017 by the UN Office for Genocide Prevention and Responsibility to Protect, in collaboration with many partners across the world, KAICIID. Secretary General of KAICIID Faisal bin Abdulrahman bin Muaammar stressed the importance of this international meeting to introduce civilizational and historical legacies of the concepts of global peaceful coexistence, along with the dangers of hate and extremism and their devastating effects on peace, community security of states. He also said that the meeting aims at highlighting the role of laws and regulations to protect citizens from hate speech and intellectual extremism, the awareness of the importance of education as key pillar of the state-building process and shared identity, as well as their role in consolidating the concept of peaceful coexistence and common citizenship.
