Approximately nine hundred government officials, advocates, persecuted communities, and emerging leaders recently convened for the IRF Summit 2022 at the Renaissance Hotel in DC. This is second annual Summit held for civil society to learn, strategize, and network for the cause of religious freedom around the world.
Elaine Alam, a Christian from Pakistan and religious freedom advocate that participated in previous training provided by 21Wilberforce, shared on the main Summit stage about 21Wilberforce’s vision for empowering emerging leaders. Elaine also represented 21Wilberforce in London at the global Ministerial of the Freedom of Religion or Belief Alliance. She spoke to an audience of representatives of governments from around the world
In addition to serving on the overall leadership Steering Committee of the International Religious Freedom Summit (June 27-30), the 21Wilberforce team was one of two co-sponsor host organizations for the Religious Prisoner of Conscience track. We worked with a team of emerging leaders and partner organizations from around the world to coordinate the following:
- 21 partner side events that trained advocates in prisoner of conscience advocacy and shared information about persecuted communities
- Three one-hour training sessions on the topics of Advocating for Women and Girls Persecuted for their Religion or Belief, Advocacy for the Protection of Victims of Religious Persecution, and Strategic Communications in Advocacy. You can view the recordings on our YouTube channel.
- A march on key country embassies in D.C. that represent countries with current religious prisoners
- Two pre-Summit congressional advocacy trainings for over 40 emerging leaders and advocates that they implemented in meetings during the week of the IRF Summit
During the Summit Civil Society Congress, 21Wilberforce staff also presented our IRF Congressional Scorecard and the Global Religious Freedom Data Spectrum projects as models of data-driven solutions to support the IRF movement’s work.
Productive meetings were also held throughout the week at the IRF Summit. Members of our team met with advocates from Nigeria, Burma, and Pakistan, and with a broad range of other non-profits and government officials working in the IRF movement.