The 2022 International Ministerial Fringe Conferences on Freedom of Religion or Belief were held 3-6 July across the United Kingdom. The conferences, which focused on women and youth, provided groups of young adults with important responsibilities to serve but also significant calls to action. The Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief (FoRB), Fiona Bruce MP, opened the Manchester Conference calling on the Rising Generation to meet and come up with ideas to aid FoRB issues and to build bridges across cultures.
When first approached about helping to organise the conferences, many young adults hadn’t yet developed an appreciation for how important the topic of FoRB was. Jared Stewart, 22, expressed that “before the conference I knew nothing about FoRB…but after the conference I have come to understand some ways in which I can simply and practically get involved in this cause.”
Inspired by the week’s events and Fiona Bruce MP’s call to action, Olivia Marshall, 21, wants to “respect and show kindness towards others and to be more vocal via social media...by presenting and raising these issues to my followers, for them to learn about Freedom of Religion or Belief.”
A group of young adults were given the responsibility to guide women and youth delegates from Bosnia, Iraq, Nigeria, Central African Republic and elsewhere on buses and in hotels as they spoke at Ministerial events about their respective peacebuilding initiatives. One of these young adults, Esther Schwartz, spoke of spending the week with a mother from Jerusalem as being, “eye-opening as we discovered so many commonalities between our religions and the way we live our lives. It was refreshing to find someone that understands me so well despite being from different countries and cultures.”
As the 2022 International Ministerial Fringe Conferences came to a close, the inspired words of the visiting delegates and speakers have impacted all in attendance – to increase their efforts to learn of different faiths in their community as well as global FoRB issues.
