This week, Dr Ali attended the Parliamentary Conference on Interfaith Dialogue held by the Inter-parliamentary Union, hosted by the Moroccan government in Marrakech.
In the panel session, ‘Promoting trust and mutual recognition: contributions of religious actors and parliamentarians to counter hate speech, incitement to violence and digital challenges to democracy’, Dr Ali spoke of the critical role parliamentarians have to engage religious leaders in order to build harmonious communities rooted in values of peace and coexistence.
“Give religious leaders a voice, engage them … there is an issue in our region related to hate and it’s very important we counter hate regardless of the source of the hate or the targeted audience. Hate is a crime regardless where it comes from,” he said.
He called on parliamentarians and religious leaders to work together: “Once you start engaging with religious leaders just give them the opportunity to listen to them. You’ll start building bridges of trust and respect with them. Later on it will be a shared responsibility to protect our communities so everyone in that community can enjoy acceptance.”
Community and religious leaders have the responsibility to ensure the shared values of acceptance and respect are offered, along with equal rights, across societies in the region. “We as parliamentarians and politicians can’t adopt inclusive citizenship without engaging religious leaders.”
