Ústav mezinárodních vztahů

Informace

Intercultural and interfaith dialogues have become an integral part of political and diplomatic efforts as they offer means to enhance understanding among different communities, nations, and diverse religious or cultural groups. By their nature, they explore fundamental questions of identity and values, as well as other issues often overlooked by official diplomatic processes. They also foster respect for diversity, in particular with regard to the rights of minority communities. These dialogues also help mitigate misunderstandings, conflicts and extremism in general. While the broader goal of preventing radicalism and violent extremism has been on the agenda of international organizations, national governments, NGOs, and religious authorities, many key aspects require sustained attention and continuous discussion at both national and international levels.

This conference aspires to feed into the international debate with a perspective from Prague, at this point in time. It will do so by focusing i.a. on the following questions: What is the role of international organizations, national governments and other (civic or religious) authorities in creating an environment of tolerance and respect, and preventing violent extremism? How can religious authorities and community leaders be meaningfully and productively involved? What is the real role and contribution of dialogue between different groups? Which are the vulnerable groups that deserve specific attention and how should they be involved in the dialogue? How can the need for protection of such groups be determined and defined? Do we know enough about main drivers and forms of violent extremism? Can we observe similarities or differences among various cases of intolerance and extremism, as a basis for identifying transferable lessons?

The Prague conference aims to provide a platform for sharing specific national, institutional, and personal experience and expertise related to intercultural and interfaith dialogue, protection of human rights and freedoms, prevention of extremism, stereotypes, hatred and violence. It is explicitly welcoming and open to representatives of different religions and faiths and committed to freedom and plurality of opinion and belief. The event aims to bring together members and experts of diplomatic corps and international organizations as well as academics, think tanks, NGOs, and civic and religious authorities.

Being united in diversity, sharing the same human objectives, and demonstrating that we have common goals: that should be the right message for the conference to pass on.

You can find the registration form at the end of this page.

Recordings from the 2018 "Reaching Out to the Other: Overcoming Intercultural Conflicts" conference:

Opening Remarks

Chair:

• Ondřej Ditrych, Director of the Institute of International Relations Prague, Czech Republic

Speakers:   

• Lukas Kaucky, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
• Faisal A. bin Muaammar, Secretary General of the King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz Centre for Interreligious and Intercultural Dialogue in Austria
• Mohammed Said al-Mamari, advisor to the Ministry of Endowments and Religious Affairs of the United Arab Emirates
• Israr Hussain, Ambassador Extraordinary Plenipotentiary of Pakistan

First Panel – Transforming Conflict Through Mediation

Our guests share their unique views and perspectives on intercultural mediation and on the importance of various elements to conflict resolution. We learn of the importance of understanding one's own culture, of having mediation on all levels of a conflict, of women's important and increasing role in conflict mediation, and of various case studies in intercultural conflict mediation.

Chair:

• Tereza Jermanová, Assistant Professor at Charles University and Research Fellow at the Association for International Affairs, Czech Republic

Speakers:

• Jaroslav Franc, Professor at Palacky University, Olomouc, Czech Republic
• Lenka Aldorf, Diplomat at the United Nations Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
• Annette Weber, Senior Fellow at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Berlin, Germany

Second Panel – Perspectives From the Islamic World

This panel provides a unique perspective on intercultural dialogue and conflict prevention. Hearing the views of Islamic academics on this topic is important for a well-rounded understanding of intercultural dialogue. Topics explored include the challenges faced in the Islamic world, case studies in intercultural conflict prevention based on indigenous methods seen in certain Islamic countries, the history and teachings of tolerance in Islam, and the cross-section between culture and religion.

Chair:

• Anita Grmelová, Private Secretary to the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Czech Republic

Speakers:

• Talha Köse, Chair and Associate Professor of Political Science at Ibn Haldun University, Turkey
• Dadi Darmadi, Senior Lecturer at the Syarif Hidayatullah State Islamic University in Jakarta, Indonesia
• Masood Akhtar Hazarvi, Director of the Al-Hira Educational and Cultural Centre at Luton
• Afzal Chaudhary, Chairman of the Search Peace Foundation, United Kingdom

Third Panel – Conflict Resolution and Peacebuilding

The third panel focuses on strategies for peacebuilding after an intercultural conflict takes place. The panellists share their varied and diverse thoughts on this topic, forming a well-rounded and informative debate.

Chair:

• Oldřich Bureš, Professor at Metropolitan University Prague, Czech Republic

Speakers:

• Augustin Nicolescou, Head of Conflict Transformation at the Austrian Study Centre for Peace and Conflict Resolution
• George Emile Irani, Professor at the American University of Kuwait
• Rudi Sukandar, Senior Fellow at the Habibie Center and Senior Lecturer at the London School of Public Relations, Jakarta, Indonesia
• Karel Čada, Professor at Charles University, Prague, Czech Republic

Closing Remarks

The speakers touch on the importance of diversity, education, open-mindedness and dialogue in keeping peoples around the world together in peace. They praise the efforts of the Institute of International Relations and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic in organizing the conference and thank all those attending for listening to the ideas and thoughts conveyed. They address a message of gratitude to the 2018 OIC conference.

Speakers:

• Cecep Herawan, Director-General for Information and Public Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Indonesia
• Pavel Klucký, Director of the Middle Eastern Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic
• Jan Daniel, Senior Researcher at the Institute of International Relations Prague, Czech Republic

All the video recordings from the conference as well as additional short interviews with some of the guest speakers can be found here.

Registrace na akci

Prostřednictvím následujícího formuláře se můžete registrovat na tuto akci.
Registraci proveďte prosím nejpozději do 4.11.2019.