The G20 is a leading multilateral forum that addresses the world’s most critical issues. Since 2014, an interfaith forum has brought together different networks focused on global agendas, working with the annual G20 host country’s government and its religious communities. The G20 Interfaith Association, formally established in 2019, provides overall coordination through a diverse advisory network and successive partnerships shaped by each year’s event. The forum’s goal is to explore leading global agendas from the vantage point of religious communities and to provide robust guidance and recommendations to the G20 leaders at their annual summit. The host government agenda, within the context of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), is the focus for discussions. However, prominent world events reshape agendas, and in 2020 the COVID-19 crisis permeates every issue under consideration by G20 governments and by religious networks.

G20 Interfaith Forums are preceded by preparatory events and discussions, often focused on specific world regions. This North America regional event of the G20 Interfaith Forum will focus on three primary topics: 1) refugees and forced migration; 2) religious responses to COVID-19; and 3) anti-racism and religious responsibilities. Leaders from religious communities and networks focused on global policies will frame each topic and highlight relevant actions the G20 leaders and religious communities should consider at the G20 Interfaith Forum in October.

Please RSVP  here.

Monday, August 17 Schedule

12:00 p.m.–12:10 p.m. | Welcome, Expectations, Introductions
Faisal bin Muaammar, KAICIID
Shaun Casey, Georgetown University
Cole Durham, Brigham Young University

12:10 p.m.–12:25 p.m. | Keynote Address
Roméo Dallaire, Roméo Dallaire Child Soldiers Initiative

12:25 p.m.–12:45 p.m. | Conversation on Refugees and Forced Migration
Aden Batar, Catholic Community Services
Rev. David Hollenbach, S.J., Georgetown University

12:45 p.m.–1:05 p.m. | Conversation on Religious Responses to COVID-19
Ruth Messinger, American Jewish World Service
Olivia Wilkinson, Joint Learning Initiative on Faith and Local Communities

1:05 p.m.–1:25 p.m. | Conversation on Anti-Racism and Religious Responsibilities
Ganoune Diop, Seventh-day Adventist Church
Audrey Kitagawa, Parliament of the World’s Religions

1:25 p.m.–1:30 p.m. | Wrap-up
Katherine Marshall, Georgetown University

View the Friday August 21 schedule here.

View the Participants here.

This event is hosted by Georgetown University’s Berkley Center for Religion, Peace, and World Affairs and the World Faiths Development Dialogue (WFDD). The co-organizers of the 2020 G20 Interfaith Forum are the G20 Interfaith Forum Association, the International Dialogue Centre (KAICIID), the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC), and the National Committee for Interfaith and Intercultural Dialogue in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (NCIID).