16 November 2011 Marrakesh, Morocco

The Marrakesh Declaration and Commitments to Action: Engaging Historic Faiths to Advance the Common Good in the Middle East and North Africa Region

Wereligious leaders from across the Middle EastNorth Africa (MENA) regionhave gathered together in Marrakesh, Morocco, 15-16 November 2011, as partners in advancing the common good in our region. We gather during a time of momentous change. We urge all to eschew violence. In particular, we are concerned that misunderstanding among our communities can all too easily be exploited to provoke intolerance or hostility in the name of religion. We deplore and condemn this misuse of our religions. Our religions are for peace. Each of us is convinced that principled multi-religious dialogue and cooperation for the common good can provide an irreplaceable key for the flourishing of the peoples in our region and beyond. Our respective religions have profoundly shaped the cultures and peoples of our region. They must help shape its common future. We are grateful to our Moroccan hosts. We acknowledge with appreciation the Moroccan heritage of amicable, respectful and fraternal relations among the Muslim, Christian and Jewish religious communities. It is a heritage with deep roots across our region that is of incalculable importance today. Moreover, the shared commitment to the common good that lies at the heart of these historic fraternal relations should today be extended to all persons. Doing so, we believe, is a way to honor our common heritage and to faithfully live our respective religious commitments today. We are also grateful to those who sent messages of encouragement to us including the President of the United Nations General Assembly, the Secretary General of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the High Representative of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and the Director General of the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The President of the United Nations General Assembly, H. E. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser, made a point common to all when he noted that it is important for religious groups to unite on the basis of shared values to help build flourishing communities committed to a just peace across the region. We concur with and are encouraged by the important and noble sentiments expressed. We acknowledge with gratitude the leadership of His Majesty King Abdullah for establishing the King Abdullah Center for International Inter-religious and Inter-cultural Dialogue. We look forward to its important work and to working in partnership with it. We applaud the resolution by the UN General Assembly that dedicates the first week of February as World Interfaith Harmony Week. We gather united in our religious convictions that the Divine and Holy One understood in each of our religious traditions own waysis the true and ultimate source of human dignity and of all the rights and duties that flow from it. We also respect our religious differences. Our commitment to principled collaborative action is based on our shared moral obligations to advance and protect the human dignity of all.

We are united in acknowledging that there should be fraternal goodwill among our religious communities that both respect the differences of our traditions and also acknowledge our common heritages. In our meeting, we received a profound and far-reaching call for the Muslim and Christian communities of the region to develop a contract of mutual care in which each community identifies the religious grounds for respecting and protecting the well-being of the other community as a solemn obligation that is linked with the practice of faith. Such agreements need to be developed in various ways among all three Abrahamic religious communities: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. We pledge ourselves to help support our respective religious communities to develop fraternal agreements that make clear their religious duties to honor and stand in solidarity with one another. Furthermore, on the most basic level, we also recognize that each of our respective traditions acknowledges the inviolable God-given dignity of all people, including those who are not part of the Abrahamic family of religions. We pledge ourselves to work together to promote and protect the fundamental dignity of all, including their related rights and duties. We are committed to advancing respect for religious differences and the protection of freedom of religion across our region. We are also committed in a most special way to stand together in solidarity with all vulnerable religious communities and to advocate for their protection. With regard to these commitments, we note with appreciation the United Nations Human Rights Council Resolution 16/18 adopted in April of this year. This resolution helpfully calls on all states to take action to foster an environment of religious tolerance, peace and respect. It urges them to address and combat advocacy of religious hatred against individuals. It affirms all of the rights related to religious freedom. It recognizes that the incitement to imminent violence based on religion or belief should be criminalized. And, it calls upon states to foster religious freedom and pluralism by promoting the ability of members of all religious communities to manifest their religion, and contribute openly and on an equal footing in society. This far-reaching resolution advanced by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and supported by its member states deserves the backing of all states. We urge the adoption of a new resolution based on it in the United Nations General Assembly and also urge all governments to implement it. We also recognize that by working together religious communities can help to create the needed positive environment of religious tolerance, peace and respect, and we commit to doing so. We are united in our conviction that all citizens have basic rights and freedoms and deserve protection. We also believe that diverse communities must be respected and protected. We will lead our religious believers in dialogues aimed at building understanding and good will among our respective communities. We will work together to resist any manipulation of religion for nonreligious purposes. We will also work to educate our believers about their solemn responsibility to stand in solidarity with all the vulnerable religious communities. In addition to our moral obligation to stand in solidarity with each other, there is also the practical imperative to do so, for every community is a majority in one place and a minority in another. We must all stand together for the protection of the rights of each community, and we are committed to doing so together. Across our region there are different ways to relate religion to the state, and these differences should be respected. In every case, however, we are united in the conviction that religious communities should actively help to ensure that governments fulfill their principal mandate of honoring and protecting the fundamental dignity, safety and well-being of all of their citizens, including their related religious and other rights. As religious leaders, we call on all religious believers to become a united moral force to help ensure that governments honor the full rights, protect and serve all of their citizens without exceptions. This must be especially true in Jerusalem, a city holy to the three

Abrahamic religions. We call on all governments and international institutions to achieve a just peace in Jerusalem, and the Holy Land. We pledge our support. We believe that all human institutionsgovernments, businesses, and civil society organizations have a role in advancing human flourishing across the MENA region. Each has its distinct identity and mandate. Each must be encouraged to serve the common good. All must be measured by how well they play their part in building up the common good and advancing the human dignity of every person including their related rights and duties. We are convinced that there must be principled partnerships among all stakeholders in the MENA region for the common good. We reaffirm the important role of our youth and women, who must be included in the great task of advancing the region. We recognize that they must take their due places in multi-religious dialogues and we commit to facilitating their participation. We acknowledge with appreciation the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations framework for action in the MENA region, in particular it regional strategy. We are pleased to cooperate in preparing and implementing joint actions. We also call for expanded opportunities for principled partnerships for all stakeholders, as we pledge ourselves as the Religions for Peace MENA Council to serve as a partner with all stakeholders in efforts to advance the common good. Finally, religion, for us, can never simply be reduced to a theme, a topic or a social sector. It is a total way of life concerned with every dimension of human existence. We believe our religious communities will make positive contributions to all dimensions of personal and social existence essential for the flourishing of our MENA region. Respectful of our religious differences, we each believe that it is faith in God that calls us to cooperate with each other and all men and women of good will to build Peace.