A Civil Society Dialogue on Securing Religious Freedom in the Indo-Pacific Region

IL News 009/2019

On March 11-12, 2019, Matius Ho, Leimena Institute’s executive director, participated in “A Civil Society Dialogue on Securing Religious Freedom in the Indo-Pacific Region” in Taipei, Taiwan, that was co-hosted by the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy and the American Institute in Taiwan. The event was also sponsored by Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United States State Department. Government officials, religious and civil society leaders from the Indo-Pacific region discussed together how to strengthen democracy and freedom of religions and beliefs. Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen and US Ambassador for International Religious Freedom, Samuel Brownback, opened the event. The dialogue was a response to the US Secretary of State Michael Pompeo’s initiative last year to raise the international attention to religious freedom through his first “Ministerial to Advance Religious Freedom” in Washington, DC, in which the Leimena Institute also participated.