A two-man delegation headed by the Director-General and Ambassador-at-Large of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Mr Paul A. S. Minah, is currently attending an international seminar on islamophobia in the Turkish city of Istanbul.

As a Member State of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) since 1972, Sierra Leone was invited to attend this year’s seminar at the level of Vice Minister or Director-General. Early in September, DG Mr Paul Minah was asked to represent the Ministry at this event.

The is the first time the Government of Sierra Leone is participating in such event. The theme for the seminar is “Islamophobia: a human rights violation and a contemporary manifesto of racism”.

Since the end of the civil war, Sierra Leone has been making gradual progress in nation building, fostering peaceful and coexistence between and among people of different faiths, beliefs and religions. Sierra Leone’s exemplary record of tolerance and peaceful coexistence was recently acknowledged when the country was assessed as the most peaceful in West Africa. Sierra Leone will therefore share its experience on religious and cultural tolerance with the delegates at this seminar.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation is the main government body responsible for coordinating Sierra Leone’s human rights reporting work to all international human rights treaty bodies. The IPHRC/OIC is one of three international treaty bodies to which Sierra Leone has human rights treaty obligations to report or engage with. The other two are the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the UN Human Rights Council.

Ambassador Paul Minah will deliver his intervention on 17 October 2018. Mr Minah is accompanied by the Director of Human Rights and Compliance from the Legal Affairs and International Conventions Division, Mr Patrick Hassan Morlai Koroma.