On behalf of the Secretary General, I took part in the 3rd Ministerial Conference Freedom of Religion or Belief, hosted by the UK, following my attendance online of the 2nd FORB ministerial organised by Poland in 2020. The Conference in London provided an ample opportunity to network with other special envoys and discuss areas of cooperation, including with the United Kingdom Special Representative on FoRB, Ms. Fiona Bruce and with H.E. Miguel Ángel Moratinos, High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in charge of combating antisemitism.

H.E. Moratinos will attend an informal meeting of Ministers’ Deputies on 18 October on the subject of “Strategies to promote tolerance and combat hate”. The meeting is part of the Irish Presidency of the Committee of Ministers.

In my presentation, I highlighted the Committee of Ministers’ Recommendation on Holocaust Remembrance, ECRI’s General Policy Recommendations on fighting antisemitism and anti-Muslim racism and the work undertaken as part of my mandate, including the survey on the nature and scale of anti-Muslim hatred online.

Another key topic of the conference was freedom of religious practice. As regards the Jewish practice of religious slaughter, I indicated that existing UK legislation may serve as a reference for other countries considering regulation in this area.