ICC NOTE: The first Asian-Pacific Religious Freedom Forum will begin Thursday in Taiwan who will host foreign dignitaries and non-governmental organizations from 26 different nations. It is the hope of the forum establish the importance of religious freedom and hopefully to use Taiwan and other western nations as an example of how it can be accomplished. 28 different religions call Taiwan home where they all currently live in tolerance and little strife. However, there are some dignitaries who continue to work tirelessly to gain their visas in order to attend the event including Bangladesh, Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, Pakistan and Nepal’s representatives. This could be a strong first step towards mending the wounds of religious intolerance in the Asia-Pacific region.

2/17/2016 Taiwan (Taipei Times) – Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) yesterday lauded Taiwan’s religious diversity and tolerance as the nation prepared to host an international cross-religious forum on religious freedom in the Asia-Pacific region later this week.

The first Asia-Pacific Religious Freedom Forum, which Lu is chairing, is to run from tomorrow through Sunday in Taoyuan’s Yangmei District (楊梅).

The forum is jointly hosted by several groups in the US and Taiwan, including US-based Christian human rights organization China Aid, US-based watchdog Freedom House, the Democratic Pacific Union — a non-governmental organization founded by Lu to promote democracy, peace and prosperity — and the Taiwan Association for China Human Rights.

With the stated aims of promoting religious freedom and facilitating cooperation among world leaders on human rights issues, the forum is to bring together a total of 99 parliamentarians, government representatives and religious leaders from 26 nations.

Among the invited guests are US Commission on International Religious Freedom Chair Katrina Lantos Swett, Member of the European Parliament Bastiaan Belder, Pakistani National Assembly Member Asiya Nasir, Freedom House president Mark Lagon, World Evangelical Alliance secretary-general Efraim Tendero and International Campaign for Tibet president Matteo Mecacci.

At a news conference at the legislature yesterday afternoon, Lu expressed her gratitude to the US for choosing Taiwan as the location for the significant forum and regarding the nation, which is home to 28 different religions, as a beacon of religious freedom.

“Religion is often the cause of conflicts or even wars in many countries. The world’s worst nightmare at the moment is terrorism, which in essence revolves around the longstanding conflict between Islam and Christianity,” Lu said.

Lu said many religions in Taiwan have joined together in support of the forum, ranging from Taoism and Christianity, to I-Kuan Tao and the nation’s newest religion, Weixinism, which she said demonstrates harmony and solidarity among the nation’s various religions.

In addition to the forum itself, Lu said participants are also due to jointly present the Taiwan Declaration for Religious Freedom to the world on Friday, pledging that Taiwan would continue to play an active and meaningful role on the international stage, particularly in promoting religious freedom.

However, the upcoming forum has been overshadowed by difficulties by some invitees in securing a visa to Taiwan.

China Aid vice president Kody Kness said that as of yesterday, nine attendees from nations including Bangladesh, Vietnam, Burma, Cambodia, Pakistan and Nepal are still waiting for approval of their visa applications, including former Pakistani National Assembly member Johnson Michael.

(Full Article)