"The session focused on discussing the role of religion in hate speech and the role of clerics and religious institutions in combating hate speech and extremism," Liloz Mohammed, coordinator of Ezdina Organization, told North-Press.
About 40 journalists and human rights activists from Arabs, Kurds, and Syriacs from inside and outside the country participated in an introductory seminar on the Yazidi religion at the beginning of last August via Zoom program.
The project aims to raise awareness of the Yazidi identity in the local community and to promote rapprochement between religious and national components in northeastern Syria by respecting pluralism and rejecting hate speech.
Mohammed" added that the session took place with the participation of clerics and representatives of Yazidi, Islamic and Christian institutions, at the end of the "Hope" project, which was launched about three months ago.
And at the beginning of this month, dozens of writers and activists in Raqqa participated in the seminar “I am a Yazidi, I invite you to get to know me”, to discuss controversial points and clarify misconceptions about the Yazidi religion.
Abdul Rahman Badrakhan, a member of the Forum of Religions in Al-Jazeerah, said that the dialogue session dealt with the effects of hate speech on the local community and the role of clerics, community leaders and the media in opposing it.
Badrakhan added that the Syrian society has become in urgent need of spreading awareness of hate speech after ten years of the crisis that the country went through, and that led to the emergence of hate speech among the components.
Badrkhan also indicated the importance of shedding light on the culture of tolerance among the components of a society that includes multiple sects, religions, ethnicities and nationalities, on the part of civil and religious institutions and the media.
It is worthy to mention that Ezdina is a civil human rights media organization concerned with the affairs of Yazidis in Syria and in the diaspora, and it transmits news of violations in their areas of spread in northern Syria.
Source: North Press Agency
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