Peace, People, and Planet: Interfaith Commitments from the G20 Interfaith Forum

The G20 Interfaith Forum (IF20) advocates for global solutions by collaborating with religious thought leaders and political representatives. From June 7th through June 9th, the 2019 G20 Interfaith Forum was hosted in Tokyo, Japan.
The G20 Interfaith Forum offers an annual platform where a network of religiously linked institutions and initiatives engage on global agendas (primarily and including the Sustainable Development Goals or SDGs). The annual G20 Summits are a critical time and place where priority global issues are considered.
Marking its sixth global convening, the G20 Interfaith Forum in Japan was organized by the Worldwide Support for Development (WSD), the G20 Interfaith Forum Association, the International Center for Law and Religion Studies of Brigham Young University Law School and the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD). The Parliament was represented at the Forum by Parliament Chair, Audrey Kitagawa, and Trustee of the Board, Dr. Mohamed Elsanousi.
The Forum brought together over 200 leaders from across the world  on the theme “Peace, People, Planet: Pathways Forward” and featured keynotes from David Cameron, Former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, messages from Pope Francis and His All-Holiness Bartholomew, and special presentations from past Parliament keynotes including Azza Karam, Father Joshtrom Kureethadam, Bani Dugal, Sadhvi Bhagawati Saraswati, and PL de Silva.
Out of the forum, emerged key policy recommendations and “A Moral Call to Action” to the members of the G20 and global partners.
1. Commit to working for peace in collaboration with faith actors, with a new framing of religious roles in conflict and polarization.
2. Focus sharply and explicitly on the needs of children and commit to resources vital to address those needs.
3. Put resources behind promises to protect the planet, focusing in particular on rainforest in partnerships with religious, indigenous, and local actors.
4. Bolster action to strengthen the rule of law and protection of human rights, with particular emphasis on freedom of religion or belief and action to fight against corruption.
5. Initiate and commit to global and national measures to combat trafficking and modern slavery as part of a long-term G20 priority.
This “top five” list is just the beginning of recommendations emerging from the G20 Interfaith Forum but they are incredibly striking in their similarities to the five directives that make up the Parliament’s signature document, Towards A Global Ethic. The five directives are echoed by the call to action from the G20 Interfaith Forum and the Parliament joins the religious leaders from different traditions, political leaders and former heads of state, civil society leaders, faith-inspired organizations working on peace and development, scholars, social activists, and the young people who developed the recommendations in the moral call to action and reaffirms our continued commitments to:
1. a culture of non-violence and respect for life,
2. a culture of solidarity and a just economic order,
3. a culture of tolerance and a life of truthfulness,
4. a culture of equal rights and partnership between men and women, and
5. a culture of sustainability and care for the environment
Learn more about the recommendations from the G20 Interfaith Forum at www.g20interfaith.org