Second point, communicative outreach. I have had two very moving experiences this year. One was in
the Sierra Leone, possibly one of the poorest states, economically. A state that has just overcome a
brutal civil war. Maybe it is economically poor, but I was really amazed by the cultural of interreligious
communication, and also, intrareligious communication. In which Muslims who are the majority,
Christians were together, Sunnis, Shias, (…), Evangelicals, Orthodox, Catholic, Christians, I mean a
culture of communication that helps to reshape a nation (…) civil war, and affected by various serious
problems. But it is amazing what people can do when communicate. And the other very moving
experience has already been told yesterday. Cyprus, a country also (…) by a protective conflict. And
now, due to the efforts of people working on the ground, like (…) yesterday it was reported about
some successes, it was possible to build trust. I mean, it was an enormous investment, building trust, it
means that you also have to address difficult, maybe traumatic histories, it is not easy, and it requires
ample efforts. But some breakthrough was achieved in Cyprus, and I think that again, testifies to the
meaningful (…) communicative outreach possible possibilities.
Third, second last point. Responding very clearly to incitement to hatred, incitement to in particular acts
of hatred, not only hate speech. Acts of hatred. And now we have the (…) earlier this year, which also
points to the risk of responsibilities of different actors, states but also religious leaders, their
responsibilities, but also their potential to make a difference by speaking out very clearly. I mean,
entrepreneur of hatred, very typically, pretend to speak in the name of the silent majority, here the
majorities also, the majorities need it, it is important that the majority does not remain silent. Speaks out
against those propagating the nasty, spinful messages of fear, paranoia, and contempt. So, speaking out
actively is very important.
Final point, legitimacy. And here is important to see that minority rights are no privileges. There is still a
misunderstanding, it is one of the most typical misunderstanding that it is means singling out some
groups, privileging some groups. No! The idea is, minority rights are human rights, they are based on the
idea of all human rights because they are human rights of all human beings. But this has never prevented
us from paying additionally attention to the specific vulnerabilities, to the increasing vulnerabilities of
certain people who are, for instance, exposed to increasing risks of assimilation, therefore, giving
additional attention is not privileging minorities, its working on behalf of everyone, it is part of the
universe of human rights agenda.
Thank you very much.