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The Central Asia Project
Project group: Dag Nygaard - The Council of Religious and Life Stance Communities in Norway, Tore Lindholm - UiO og Babs Sivertsen, Oslo Coalition.
The Oslo Coalition projects in the former Soviet Union republics in Central Asia have the following aims:
- To strengthen networks of NGOs and academia working for a healthy pluralistic society through the dissemination of knowledge, and through network building activities.
- To challenge religious leaders from various religious communities to develop an internal acceptance in justifying the universal human rights in general, freedom of religion or belief specifically, with reference to their own religious traditions.
- To hold discussions on the constitution of the country and the laws concerning religious faith with reference to existing International Conventions. The proper implementation of these laws on a national and local level is of special concern.
- In recognition that the answers are not entirely legal-security driven, to support actors on the ground in their efforts to develop in their constituencies a mind set that embraces pluralism.
In 2008:
FORB and the promotion of pluralism, cooperative project with the Foundation for Tolerance International: research project followed by an international conference in November.In 2007:
At the Central Asian Regional Conference on Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue in Almaty June 2007, a conference organised by UNESCO with Oslo Coalition's support and participation of the OC Teaching for Tolerance working group, a clear need emerged for further discussion between the Central Asian academic institutes and NGOs on the specific problems relating to FORB. The conference was seen to be so central in the UNESCO regional cooperation that it now has it's own conference website. See also the Oslo Coalition presentations at and report on the conference here.
The Oslo Coalition then sponsored the Central Asian delagates at the corresponding Conference for the whole Russian Federation and CIS region in Moscow “Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue for Peace and Sustainable Development” in September, to ensure their participation. However, this far from met the needs of the Central Asian participants.
In response, the Oslo Coalition together with Foundation for Tolerance International, invited NGO leaders, academics and religious leaders, ensuring representation from all five Central Asian Countries, together with a few key "Westerners", to a 2 day strategy session in Oslo in December. See report here.
Earlier projects:
By participating and supporting several conferences on "Religion, tolerance and Human Rights" at Russian Academy of State Service, Moscow, The Oslo Coalition has built a network of contacts and co-operating partners in the former Soviet Union. The most important is the Euro-Asian Chapter of the International Religious Liberty Association (IRLA).
