We, the
participants in the Cebu Dialogue on Regional
Interfaith Cooperation for Peace, Development
and Human Dignity from Australia, Brunei
Darussalam, Cambodia, Fiji, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Papua New
Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand,
Timor-Leste and Vietnam, gathered in Cebu,
Philippines on 14-16 March 2006.
We acknowledge
- the
importance of interfaith dialogue and
cooperation in the promotion of
regional
peace and security.
- the
contribution of interfaith dialogue and
cooperation in the promotion of
regional
social and economic development and in upholding
the principle
of the
inviolability of human dignity.
- the
crucial role of education in promoting
interfaith understanding and
cooperation.
- the
influence of the media on interfaith and
intercultural understanding,
We welcome the
statement made by Philippine President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo on the importance of interfaith
dialogue and cooperation for regional peace and
development and supporting the President's view
that faith is a primordial need in the human
condition offering hope, confidence, courage,
and the commitment to lead a good life on which
the family, society, and civilization are based,
We welcome the
commitment to the regional interfaith dialogue
process expressed by the Rt. Hon. Helen Clark,
Prime Minister of New Zealand, Philippine
Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo,
Philippine Presidential Adviser on the Peace
Process Jesus G. Dureza, Hon. Andrew Robb, MP,
Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for
Immigration and Multicultural Affairs,
Australia, and Indonesian Foreign Minister Dr.
N. Hassan Wirajuda, represented by Director
General for Information and Public Diplomacy of
the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Hon. Mangasi
Sihombing,
We support
their statements reflecting the great potential
and power of faith to bring together peoples of
different races, cultures and creeds in our
shared pursuit of lasting peace in the region,
We express our
appreciation to the Governments of Australia,
Indonesia, New Zealand and the Philippines as
the co-sponsors of the dialogue process, and
particularly to the Philippines as the host of
this Cebu Dialogue,
We welcome the
offer by the Government of New Zealand to host
the third regional dialogue on interfaith
cooperation,
We were
encouraged by the national reports on interfaith
initiatives undertaken following the commitments
made during the Yogyakarta Dialogue on
Interfaith Cooperation on 6-7, December 2004,
and building upon them, including the report on
the progress of the Jogja Centre,
We believe that
interfaith dialogue builds understanding,
goodwill, and relationships across religions and
among peoples,
We acknowledge
that interfaith cooperation plays a central role
in the fostering of peace and security in our
region and that interfaith dialogue and
cooperation are now an integral part of the
national and international political landscape,
We recognize
that believers, communities, and institutions
exercise a distinct and vital role in the
promotion of peace, development, and human
dignity in this region,
We appreciate
that interfaith dialogue and cooperation are
essential in de-linking religions from all forms
of terror,
We affirm that
the key societal values that underpin successful
interfaith understanding and cooperation include
shared values of peace, harmony, tolerance,
ethical standards and human rights,
We recognize
the impact of the media on public opinion and
their critical relationship to peace and
harmony. Interfaith and intercultural
understanding, nation building, social cohesion
and social responsibility,
We affirm that
faith communities need to engage with the media,
build relationships, provide them with news and
information and enter into dialogue with them,
We believe that
human beings have moral, spiritual and
intellectual capacities which could be best
developed towards the attainment of human
dignity,
We believe that
education at all levels and in various contexts
can playa significant role in promoting
interfaith understanding and cooperation,
We recognize
the shared contribution of women and men towards
interfaith education and the promotion of human
dignity,
We recognize
that to make interfaith education effective, the
driving forces behind interfaith conflict need
to be addressed.
We hereby
declare that:
-
We will hold
local, national, and regional forums to build
knowledge, respect,
and
understanding and to provide opportunities for
dialogue, thereby deepening
relationships
and friendships among faith communities and
enhancing capacity
for interfaith
cooperation.
- We
call on governments to uphold freedom of
religion and belief in ways that will
encourage interfaith dialogue.
- We
call for increased interaction and partnership
between governments and
religious
communities in addressing violence and all forms
of terror and in
working for
peace, development, and human dignity.
-
We call on
religious groups to recognize pluralism,
multiculturalism, and peace
education and
develop openness, and respect for other faiths,
traditions, and
cultures; to
develop internal mechanisms and resources for
responding to
violence and
intolerance against other ethnic and religious
communities; and to
be sensitive to
the complexities of proselytization, respect
all
belief systems,
and discourage
proselytization through
inducements.
- We
will undertake cooperative efforts to assist one
another in times of natural
disasters.
- We
encourage future interfaith dialogues to focus
on programs of practical
action, with
due respect to those previous interfaith
dialogues which focused
more on the
philosophical aspects of religions, and which
have been able to
minimize the
stereotypical misunderstanding among various
groups.
- We
will promote interfaith dialogue at the
grassroots level to serve as an
instrument to
promote sustainable livelihoods and community
cohesiveness or
unity, thus,
becoming the basis of civil society to promote
the democratization
process.
- We
encourage governments involved in interfaith
dialogues to establish a
mechanism for
institutional policies and all relevant enabling
guidelines to
promote
and protect human life, dignity, social justice,
and the integrity of all
creation and
call on participants to acknowledge and support
the goals and
objectives of
the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and
the United
Nations
Millennium Development Goals.
- We
call on participants of the Yogyakarta Dialogue
on Interfaith Cooperation
held on 6-7
December 2004 and the Cebu Dialogue on Regional
Interfaith
Cooperation for Peace, Development, and Human
Dignity held on 1416
March 2006 to
support the development of the Yogyakarta
International.
Center for
Religious and Cultural Cooperation and the other
initiatives included in the Cebu Declaration.
-
We will work for the inclusion of values-based
interfaith education in the
curriculum at
all levels, including post-graduate studies, the
appropriate
training and
preparation of teaching professionals, the use
of experiential and
holistic
teaching-learning methods, and the provision of
quality resources,
towards the
goal of interfaith understanding and
cooperation.
- We
will undertake non-formal educational activities
that will bring together
youth and
adults from diverse faith and cultural
backgrounds.
- We
support practical initiatives at the regional
and national levels by
governments,
faith communities, and the media to enable and
encourage
the media to
increase their contribution in the achievement
of interfaith and
intercultural
understanding and cooperation for peace,
development and
human dignity.
- We
call for the development and provision of
training for media managers,
journalists and
journalism students on religious and cultural
diversity, in
partnership with interfaith experts and national
and international media
organizations;
and encourage the development and review of
codes of
conduct
and standards for the exercise of media freedom
with responsibility;
and support the
establishment and strengthening of processes of
dialogue
among
media executives, journalism trainers and
religious and interfaith
leaders.
The
participants and sponsors in the Cebu Dialogue,
characterized by many languages, cultures and
religions, share a conviction that Interfaith
Cooperation plays an essential role in the
promotion of peace, development, and human
dignity and that the Cebu Dialogue, exemplified
by the spirit of cooperation, understanding and
friendship provided a robust platform for our
collective future.
Cebu, Philippines
16 March 2006
