Recognized Global Leaders to be Featured at Upcoming Interparliamentary Conference at Matteo Ricci Conference Center in Rome

November 23, 2006

Washington, D.C.: The Secretariat of the Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom announced today that Israel Singer, Chairman, World Jewish Congress Policy Council, and Chairman, International Jewish Committee for Interreligious Consultations, will join Sigma Huda, UN Special Rapporteur for Human Trafficking; The Honorable Ahmed Abbadi, Director of Islamic Affairs, Kingdom of Morocco; His Excellency, Francis Campbell, Her Majesty’s Ambassador to the Holy See; Reverend Vsevolod Chaplin, Deputy Chairman of the Department for External Church Relations, Moscow Patriarchate; His Eminence, Renato Cardinal Martino, President, Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace; Doug Brooks, President, International Peace Operations Association; and Kathryn Cameron Porter, President, Leadership Council for Human Rights as speakers at the upcoming Fourth Session of the Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and Religious Freedom, November 28-30, 2006, at the Matteo Ricci Conference Center in Rome.

The Interparliamentary Conference on Human Rights and religious Freedom is a body of parliamentarians from around the globe organized to engage, address, and dialogue on fundamental rights issues with common background and perspective as legislators.

The IPC is a project of The Institute on Religion and Public Policy, an international, inter-religious non-profit organization dedicated to ensuring freedom of religion as the foundation for security, stability, and democracy.

The Fourth Session of the Interparliamentary Conference will focus on AIDS: How Faith and Politics Respond to the Global Crisis; Freedom of Religion vs. Freedom of Expression: Balancing Rights in the Exchange of Ideas – After the Cartoons; Religion, Security, and International Stability; and Religion and Legislature Combating Trafficking: Persons, Drugs, and Small Arms.

Members of Parliament scheduled to speak as panelists include Ousseni Tamboura, MP from Burkina Faso; Valdo Spini, MP from Italy; and Arthur Baghdasaryan, MP from Armenia.

To review the full agenda or to register for the session, visit www.interparliamentary.org, or contact Eleonora Karamyants at Karamyants@religionandpolicy.org, by phone at 202-835-8760, or by fax at 202-835-8764.