Plan of Action


proposed by the Conference on Freedom of Belief

held in

Jalal-Abad, Kyrgyzstan

15-16 February 2002



The Conference calls upon the OSCE to support dialogue between religions and beliefs and Governments, as well as inter-confessional dialogue by:

  1. Encouraging the creation, or continuation, of an inter-religious forum for dialogue in each Central Asian OSCE participating State, and, where possible, between participating States. It will further encourage these fora to meet regularly to increase tolerance and awareness of other religions and to identify and discuss concerns. The Conference recommends the inclusion of experts in the fora.

  2. Facilitating dialogue between governments and religions and beliefs, the OSCE Centres in Almaty, Ashgabad, Bishkek and Tashkent and the Mission to Tajikistan, respectively, are encouraged to host a meeting, together with the State Committee of Religious Affairs or equivalent state body. These meetings should take place with the participation of representatives of the diverse religions and beliefs in the respective country to discuss concerns and increase tolerance. The OSCE ODIHR should provide expertise where required.

The first such meeting should take place in advance of, and report to, an OSCE seminar on tolerance, dialogue and religion, to be held in Baku in October 2002, to which it is planned to invite each participating State in the region.