Summit Information 5 | The Precedent

Throughout recent conflicts in the Rwanda, Bosnia, and Kosovo, private efforts have been made to rally religious leadership for peace. In 1992, Pope John Paul II gathered Christian, Muslim, Jewish and other religious leaders in Assisi to pray for peace in the Balkans. In 1997, the World Conference on Religion and Peace acted as a facilitator within Bosnia to open a dialogue about leadership among the nation's Muslim, Orthodox, Roman Catholic, and Jewish communities. In 1997 the Interfaith Center and the Temple of Understanding organized the first annual Interfaith Service of Commitment to the Work of the United Nations. The Interfaith Service is held immediately preceding the opening of the General Assembly every year.

Such private efforts, often focused on a single conflict, have borne fruit in a single time and place. They have not Ð indeed cannot Ð rise to a more global level, and inspire sustained, interfaith advocacy for peace at the highest international levels.