HWPL 2021 Middle East Webinar: Overcoming Human Rights Violence during the Pandemic

In June, HWPL held an online forum to further address the human rights violence in dealing with COVID-19 in the Middle East.

Online PR News – 12-July-2021 – Sydney, NSW – On 26th June, Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light (HWPL) organized “2021 Middle East Webinar: Overcoming Human Rights Violence during the Pandemic” to exchange ideas to ease social tensions and examine human rights issues during the COVID-19 crisis.

HWPL has been working on human rights initiatives through a series of webinars with personnel from civil society, dealing with various human rights issues. After the webinar with Egypt in April, HWPL held an online discussion to further address the human rights violence in dealing with COVID-19 in the Middle East.

The coronavirus pandemic has intensified existing discrimination and violence towards social and religious minority groups. The webinar aimed at addressing deep-rooted issues and sharing the perspectives from in-depth analyses by Human Resources (HR) experts, who presented on a wide range of topics, from practical measures for human rights, to the various forms of discrimination present in the Middle East.

The president of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights, Hon. Essam Shiha, called for the cooperation of the society, stating, “Multilateralism is indispensable in that these key players coordinate and collaborate to promote and integrate core values of human rights in all dimensions of sustainable development (economic, social and environmental).”

Mr. Asrawan Ibrahim Zrary, a leader in Zoroastrianism from Iraqi Kurdistan, stressed the necessity of respecting common grounds shared by each religion, “We must look for common points between religions for the purpose of increasing love and spreading peace. And tolerance, although there are some verses in a particular religion that are called abrogating and abrogated, and hatred must be renounced and the other accepted as he is and not as I want.”

Ms. Iman El Damarany, who also participated in the last webinar, addressed the importance of ensuring human rights and the safety of media to uncover the truth, “Journalists suffer from problems in the right to free speech in many countries of the region, and there must be international legislation and binding laws imposed by the United Nations to protect journalists from any harassment.”

Currently, HWPL is continuing its webinar series to comprehensively tackle the social justice and human rights issues worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic. As an upcoming event, HWPL will hold a Youth Empowerment Peace Workshop (YEPW) online on 27th June in its commitment for the youth. HWPL peace education teachers' training will also take place in Iraq starting from this month.