Baku Declaration

The Participants of the II Baku Summit of World Religious Leaders, held on November 14-15, 2019 in Baku, the capital of the Republic of Azerbaijan, with the attendance of the religious leaders, heads of

various countries and international   organizations, lay

leaders,academicians   and    religious representatives:

emphasizing that the State of Azerbaijan attaches great importance to the improvement of the international cooperation, shaping of the religion-state relations, strengthening of  the inter-civilizational and  interfaith relations, protection of diverse ethno-cultural values and traditions of multiculturalism; highly  appreciating the decisions of  the President of  the Republic of Azerbaijan Mr. llhamAiiyev, to hold the II Baku Summit of the World Religious Leaders, and to celebrate of the 70th birthday of Sheikh-ul-lslam A  Pashazadeh and the 4oth anniversary of his activity as the Sheikh-ul­ lslam; as well as Mr. President's participation and profound speech in the II Baku Summit;

emphasizing the significance     of the "Baku     Process",

initiated    and implemented at the initiative of the Head of State of

Azerbaijan, and the international events organized within the  years of  Multiculturalism and Islamic Solidarity, including "I Baku Summit of World Religious Leaders", and the contribution of "Baku International Center for lnter-Civilizational and Interfaith Cooperaton" (BCIC) to  the improvement of the relations among

different cultures   and religions  and  to the   creation  of  the environment of mutual trust;

 expressing gratitude  to  the  Organizing  Committee  for  the high-level organization of the II Baku Summit of World Religious Leaders, and for setting up of the grounds for discussions and exchange of views of representatives of various cultures and religions, state, public and scientific figures;

emphasizing the contribution of His Holiness the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia, Cyril, to lnter-civilizational and interfaith co-operation, and His important role in maintaining peace and security, as well as in creation of the environment of mutual trust in the regional and international scales; highly appreciating  the importance attached in Azerbaijan to the inter­ civilizational and interfaith dialogue during the apostolic visit of His Holiness Pope Francis to Azerbaijan on November 2, 2016, and welcoming the Joint "Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together" Document signed by His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence Sheikh Ahmad AI-Tayyib on February 4, 2019, in Abu Dhabi;

emphasizing the exceptional contribution of His Holiness the Catholicos­ Patriarch of all Georgia Ilia II to the preservation of ancient ethnic and religious traditions of Caucasus region, keeping of peace and interfaith understanding in the Region;

noting the contributions  of  the Religious  Leaders  of the Caucasus and other Countries in the neighboring Central Asian region to the improvement of the inter-religious and inter-sectarian cooperation, and the preservation of the moral values;

emphasizing proclamation   of   common   position   of   the   Leaders

  of Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism and other religions and creeds from different regions of the World, on the challenges of the Modern World, as well as the importance of proceeding  of such events on the regular basis to demonstrate the significance of interfaith and inter­ civilizational solidarity to the entire World; welcoming the initiative proposed by the Azerbaijani side at the II

Baku Summit  of  World   Religious   Leaders   related  to   the

holding   of  the international conference on theme "Joint Activities

of Religious Leaders and Politicians in countering Hate Speechin Mass-Media, Social Networks and other means", in cooperation with the UN, KAICIID and Baku International Center for Inter-Religious and lnter-Civilizational Cooperation (BCIC), in Baku;

 noting the importance of cooperation of World religious leaders with those state and public institutions, international and regional organizations, which serve the ideas of peace, security and humanism;

welcoming the   Declaration   on   "Moving   Towards   Greater

Spiritual Convergence Worldwide in Support of Equal Citizenship Rights" adopted on 25 June 2018 at the World Conference held at the United Nations Office in Geneva and which received the endorsement of the UN Secretary­ General;

 emphasizing the  promotion  of  cultural  diversity, inter-civilizational  and interfaith cooperation in an atmosphere of mutual trust and understanding as an essential milestone for peace, security and human solidarity, and noting the importance of increase efforts in this direction;

 expressing their  deep  concern  with regard  to  the  sustained worldwide prevalence of terrorism and the rise of discrimination, xenophobia, racism,

as well as the growth of intolerance on the religious and ethnic grounds, exploitation of religion by terrorist and violent extremist groups, destruction of  cultural,  religious  and  historical heritage  and  the  massive  flow  of refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants reaching the scale of humanitarian disaster and the lack of peace, global dialogue and human solidarity to that end;

expressing deep concern with regard to the armed conflicts, acts of terrorism, violence on religious and ethnic grounds resulting along with human victims, by devastation and destruction of cultural and religious heritage, therein, destruction of the cultural and religious monuments pertaining to  the World cultural and religious heritage, including those in the occupied territories of Azerbaijan;

particularly   emphasizing that   religious   creeds   and   value

systems encompassing shared human values significantly contribute to world civilization, cultural and spiritual heritage, enhance humanism, peace and justice;expressing necessity    to     strengthen the     efforts of the

international community concerted towards the resolution of ongoing armed conflicts, as well as addressing aggressive propaganda and instigation of the conflicts on the ethnic and religious grounds that constitute the major obstacle to sustainable progress, stability and security;

  call upon all states, the United Nations, international, regional, civil society organizations, as well as religious and lay leaders

• to continue to  promote  and  enhance  inter-cultural  and interfaith understanding and cooperation;
• to take effective measures to prevent terrorism and crimes against humanity, committed in the name of religion, as well as racist discrimination, offensive xenophobia, lslamophobia, anti-Semitism and Christianophobiya;
• to consider any act of terror in the name of a religion an act of terror against all religions;
• to prevent any  attempt  by terrorists  to  use  the  sacred values  of religions for realization of their malign aspirations;
• to increase cooperation   in   preventing   the   spread   of

harmful ideologies  and  propaganda  that  promotes  violence  on

racial, religious       and    ethnic    grounds through    Internet

 and    other communication  and  information  channels,  and  to encourage  the education of youth in this area as well as in common citizenship;

• to enhance the global dialogue and increase collective efforts on the prevention of threats and challenges to international stability and security through the central coordinating role of the United Nations;
• to recognize that armed conflict, persecution and violence, including terrorism, are among the factors, which give rise to large refugee movements, and address the root causes of such crisis situations in order to prevent or resolve conflict by peaceful means;
• to make practical efforts to prevent provocations and violence in the sacred temples of all religions, including Jerusalem,the Holy Place of the Abrahamic religions;

 .to  uphold the respect to the Charter of the United Nations and the universally recognized principles and norms of international law, in particular  the  respect  for  the  principles  of  sovereign equality, territorial integrity and inviolability of borders, to contribute to a fair peaceful settlement of ongoing conflicts around the world, including those in the Middle East, as well as Armenia-Azerbaijan Nagorno­ Karabakh conflict in full conformity with the above-mentioned principles;

.to work together to promote the culture of acceptance and respect to religious, cultural and ethnic differences in accordance with the UNESCO Chart;

• to respect The Universal  Declaration of Human  Rights, the United

Nations                Convention   on   the   Rights  of   Child

and   encourage cooperation    of   religious,  lay,  scientific   and

  public  figures   in promotion and protection of human rights, as

well as the rights of women and children.

 Baku, November 15, 2019