Baroness Warsi chairs
first meeting of Foreign Office group on Freedom of Religion or Belief to
discuss vision and strategy
The Foreign & Commonwealth
Office yesterday hosted the first meeting of a new Advisory Group on Freedom of
Religion or Belief, chaired by Senior Minister of State, Baroness Warsi. The
new group, which is a sub-group of the Foreign Secretary’s Human Rights
Advisory Group, is made up of experts in the field and is intended to advise
FCO Ministers and staff on how to build on the active approach they already
take to promoting and protecting the right to freedom of religion or belief
worldwide.
Commenting on the first meeting
of the new group, Baroness Warsi said:
Freedom of religion or belief is
a personal priority for me. Across the world, people are being singled out and
hounded out simply for the faith they follow or the beliefs they hold. The
persecution of people because of their faith or belief has, I believe, become a
global crisis. I want to make sure we have the best advice available. This is
why we have set up this new Advisory Group, made up of real experts in the
field, and of those who are working every day in practical ways to defend the
right to freedom of religion or belief. I look forward to working with them as
we seek to move towards a world where no-one is persecuted for what they
believe.
I am pleased to announce the
following members of the Foreign and Commonwealth Advisory Group on freedom of
religion
Kate Allen |
UK Director Amnesty
International |
Waqar Azmi |
Chairman Remembering
Srebrenica |
Mashood
Baderin |
School of Law SOAS, University
of London |
Shami
Chakrabarti |
Director
Liberty |
Andrew Copson |
Chief Executive British Humanist
Association |
Joel Edwards |
International Director Micah
Challenge |
Malcolm Evans |
Professor of Public
International Law University of Bristol |
Tom
Gallagher |
Professor of Ethnic Conflict
& Peace University of Bradford |
Ed Husain |
Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern
Studies Council on Foreign Relations |
Edward Kessler |
Executive Director Woolf
Institute |
David Mepham |
UK Director Human Rights
Watch |
Trevor Pears |
Executive Chairman Pears Family
Charitable Foundation |
Tariq Ramadan |
Professor of Contemporary
Islamic Studies University of Oxford |
Mervyn Thomas |
Chief Executive Christian
Solidarity Worldwide |
Further
information
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