The recipients of the Doha International Award for Interfaith Dialogue 2022 were announced by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) during the event.

The 14th Doha Conference for Interfaith Dialogue, themed ‘Religions and Hate Speech: Between Scripture and Practice,’ began on Tuesday at the Sheraton Doha Hotel with more than 300 attendees from 70 nations. 

Religious scholars, former civil servants, academics, heads of institutions, students, charitable institutions, civil society organisations, and representatives from the countries most affected by hate speech are attending in the conference.

Sultan bin Saad Al Muraikhi, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, inaugurated the exhibition accompanying the 14th Doha Conference on Interfaith Dialogue with the topic ‘Religions and Hate Speech, Scriptures and Practice.’

Several ministries, research centres, and universities are showcasing issues linked to dialogue between religions, civilisations, and cultures, as well as other publications related to the conference’s theme. 

Yesterday, a variety of workshops were organised to address hate speech from various perspectives. Radical Religious Discussion and Hate-Speech Spreading, Controls and Abuse of Freedom of Expression, Targeted Media and Promoting Hate Speech and Inciting Violence are some of the subjects that were discussed.

At the conference, three themes are being discussed. The first examines the causes, motivations, and dangers of inciting hatred. The role of extremist religious discourse in the propagation of hate speech, the concept of hate speech and religious misunderstanding, and the promotion of moderate discourse.

This is in addition to the issue of some clerics’ and politicians’ extremist rhetoric and its impact on international peace.

The second topic, ‘Patterns and Forms of Hate Speech’ looks at the dangers of bigotry, offensive speech and incitement to violence and terrorism, political implications of hate speech, and the consequences of it on coexistence.

It will also discuss hate speech practises and their consequences, the rise of racism as a result of hate speech, the rise of hate speech directed towards migrants and religious minorities, and hate speech and discrimination directed at women.

The Minister of State for Foreign Affairs also toured the exhibition pavilions, where he got a full overview of its objectives and contents.

The recipients of the Doha International Award for Interfaith Dialogue 2022 were announced by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) in its fourth edition.

Three individuals and three institutions were named winners for their efforts to consolidate the principles and values of interfaith dialogue and for making groundbreaking contributions to spreading a culture of tolerance, rejecting hate speech, advocating moderation, and other efforts to combat racism.

During the inaugural session of the 14th Doha Conference on Interfaith Dialogue 2022, Minister of State for Foreign Affairs congratulated the winners.

Dr Mohammed Khalifa Hassan of Egypt, Dr Sabrina Lei of Italy, and Bishop Malkhaz Songulashvili of Georgia are the award’s winners, while the British Woolf Institute, the Spanish Islamic Culture Foundation (FUNCI), and the German Side-by-side institution are the award’s winners.

Mohammed Al Ghamdi, a member of the DICID Board of Directors, stated that the purpose of the award is to promote interfaith dialogue and coexistence, particularly within societies, and to highlight the outstanding success stories in this regard. He said that 40 people and ten organisations applied for the award in four categories. They were judged on their international and scholarly accomplishments, as well as their contributions to interfaith conversation and discourse.