Director of RFI’s Middle East Action Team Visits Najaf and Baghdad to Promote Religious Freedom

Meeting with the President of the University of Kufa and faculty and administration members.

Jeremy Barker, Director of RFI’s Middle East Action Team, participated in a series of meetings with various Iraqi religious leaders, scholars, and NGO representatives between April 23-27. These meetings took place in Baghdad and Najaf in central and southern Iraq.

In Najaf, Barker met with the President of the University of Kufa, Yasser Lafta Hassoun, along with members of the university’s faculty, to explore collaboration with the university through the Kufa Studies Center and the UNESCO Chair for the Development of Interreligious Dialogue Studies in the Islamic World at the University of Kufa. The university expressed interest in participating in a program on religious freedom.

*Prof. Dr. Ahmad Sami al-Mamouri, Director of Research and Development, moderated the evening lecture at Al-Rafidain Center for Dialogue in Najaf, Iraq.*

Additionally, Barker presented a lecture on strengthening a culture of peace by promoting religious freedom to Iraqi intellectuals at the Al-Rafidain Center for Dialogue (RCD), a think tank also based in Najaf, which seeks to foster religious, ethnic, political, and economic dialogue within Iraq.

He also met personally with Dr. Hassan Latif Zubeidi, Director of RCD to discuss current challenges and the ongoing work that RCD and RFI are engaged in.

*Prof. Dr. Hasan Latif al-Zubaidi, Acting Director, Al-Rafidain Center for Dialogue, presented a letter of appreciation to Jeremy Barker, Director, Middle East Action Team, Religious Freedom Institute.*

During early March of this year, RFI staff participated in a webinar event hosted by RCD, a discussion that featured prominent Muslim religious leaders and scholars with a focus on the significance of Pope Francis’ visit to Iraq to promote peace in the region. The event also inaugurated a Cornerstone Forum series also examining the implications of the papal visit. As such, Barker’s latest lecture at RCD headquarters signifies a continuation of RFI’s robust collaboration with RCD. RFI and RCD will continue to explore ways to broaden this relationship and its fruitful exchange of scholarship, culture, and understanding of religious freedom.

*Salam Al-Rafidain presented a sneak peak of a forthcoming 3-D art installation that addresses challenging legal and social issues in Iraq.*

In Baghdad, Barker met with representatives of Salam Al-Rafidain, an NGO engaged in conflict resolution and the establishment of peace through various media (including art, theatre, and film), and an active participant of the Iraq Religious Freedom and Anti-Discrimination Roundtable. They discussed upcoming media projects that will engage core ideas of religious freedom and how it fosters the capacity of peoples of various religions, cultures, and backgrounds to live together in peace.

Lastly, Barker met with Protestant leaders in Baghdad and surrounding areas to hear about the realities that they face individually and as a community. Despite the challenges that they continue to face, they spoke about the opportunities that they have seen for increased engagement on a personal level and through media engagement to highlight the historic presence and current-day contributions of Christians and other minorities to Iraqi society.

It is through meetings like these with key figures on the ground in Iraq that the Middle East Action Team seeks to encourage and cultivate scholarship and government policies within Iraq that advance religious freedom as a good for all Iraqis.