The Outcome Declaration was adopted at the World Conference on Religions, Creeds and Value Systems: Joining Forces to Enhance Equal Citizenship Rights held by the Geneva Centre in June 2018. It represents the starting point of a global process aiming at harnessing the joint energy of all major religions, creeds and value systems to assist in progressing of creative commons for all humanity, regardless of ethnic, linguistic, national, religious or cultural specificities. It is high time that we all join hands to initiate a global effort to ensure that our shared humanity is reflected in equal citizenship rights and to find appropriate ways to eliminate impediments to the realization of this aspiration in all societies worldwide.
The World Conference Outcome Declaration is composed of three main sections: a) a preamble; b) a Ten-Point Strategic Plan; and c) Follow-up Actions. The Outcome Declaration aims at promoting equal citizenship rights through the following of a Ten-Point Strategic Global Plan:
1. Joint action of all religious and community leaders to reject the instrumentalization of religions, promote their authentic meanings and shared universal values and to advocate openness and pluralism approaches;
2. Enhancement of harmonious integration of all segments of the population in resilient and inclusive societies;
3. Enforcement of all rights and duties of people on the basis of their entitlement to civil, political, social, cultural and economic rights;
4. Preservation by both transit and host countries of their diverse ethnic, cultural and religious heritage, and offering of opportunities for integration to migrants, refugees and Internally displaced persons;
5. Enhancement of both vertical and horizontal interaction between the State and society, and within civil society to implement equal citizenship rights;
6. Integration of a gender perspective, whereby the equality of women and men, girls and boys, is respected at all ages and throughout life;
7. Promotion of education about, through and for equal citizenship rights by promoting adjustments in national policies, by reviewing school and continuous education development plans, and reforming teaching methodologies;
8. Engagement of spiritual leaders by political and civil authorities in promoting mutual religious literacy and applying ethical principles to the local and regional context;
9. Respect for freedom of religion within and between countries, whether there is a separation between State and faiths or not;
10. Effective enjoyment of equal citizenship rights as a gateway to global citizenship and to the realization of global peace.
The World Conference outcome declaration can be downloaded below:
List of co-signatories as of July 2019:
Year of publication: 25 June 2018