UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will open a seminar on “Islamophobia” at UN headquarters on December 7.
The seminar entitled ‘Confronting Islamophobia: education for tolerance and understanding’ will be the second in a series entitled ‘Unlearning Intolerance,’ organised by the United Nations Department of Public Information (DPI).
According to an announcement, the series aims to examine different manifestations of intolerance and explores ways to promote respect and understanding among peoples and to discuss how intolerance, wherever it exists and for whatever reason, can be “unlearned” through education, inclusion and example.
Prof Seyyed Hossein Nasr of George Washington University will deliver the keynote address, followed by panel discussions on Islamophobia today, the role of education in fostering tolerance and understanding and ideas for confronting Islamophobia more effectively. Panelists will include writers, scholars, theologians and experts on Islamophobia and other issues relating to tolerance and education. This discussion session will be chaired by Shashi Tharoor, Under Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information. The first seminar in the series was held in June this year and dealt with ways of confronting anti-Semitism.