Statement by the Permanent Mission of Singapore during Agenda Item 9 of the 34th Session of the Human Rights Council on 20 March 2017

Mr President,

     Singapore hosted the 6^th Istanbul Process meeting from 20-21 July 2016.

     This was the first Istanbul Process meeting to be held in Southeast Asia, with a practitioner-centric focus.

     Singapore hosted the meeting because maintaining religious harmony is a national priority and an existential issue for multi-racial and multi-religious Singapore.

     More than 100 practitioners, religious leaders, community leaders, civil society, government officials and academics from over 20 countries took part in the meeting.

     They exchanged best practices and practical policies and lessons learnt in the promotion of religious tolerance and strengthening resilience in the spirit of HRC resolution 16/18.

     The meeting agreed on the importance of effective preventive measures to promote religious harmony and prevent stigmatisation.

     It also recognised that at times governments had to take active measures and intervene to promote religious tolerance, which did not always develop organically.

     Political leaders also had to speak out against religious intolerance.

     There was a broad consensus that practitioners should continue to be involved in the Istanbul process and that a forward-looking approach to tackling emerging and new challenges is needed instead of engaging in circular and static debates on HRC resolution 16/18.

     Some participants also welcomed the formation of communities of practice to build on discussions at the Singapore meeting and to continue the sharing of best practices and experiences.

     My delegation looks forward to working with other delegations to build on the discussions in Singapore as well as here in the HRC on how best to promote religious tolerance and strengthen resilience.

     Thank you Mr President.

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