Tokyo: International Religious Freedom (IRF), based in the US, along with some international and regional co-organisers, organised the 2024 IRF Summit Asia to discuss and debate religious freedom in Asia at the New Otani Hotel conference hall in Tokyo on 22 July 2024.
Former Ambassador at large for the IRF Sam Brownback and Former Chair of the United States Commission on the IRF Katrina Lantos Swett presided over the one-day event. In his opening remarks, Ambassador Sam Brownback welcomed the speakers and participants from different countries and said that this is an important human rights movement that discusses and redresses the violation of religious freedom under authoritarian regimes in the regions.
“The CCP is committing three genocides right now,” he said. “Tibetan Buddhists have been marginalised and persecuted for decades in Tibet, the Uyghur dominantly Muslim population and Falun Gong practitioners are brutalised. They all have the right to practice their belief and faith. If we don’t stand and speak for them, next time, it will be our turn.”
The Summit has four panels and a keynote address by former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who spoke on the geopolitical importance of religious freedom in Asia. Taiwan President William Lai addressed the summit online. The four major panels are the impact of genocide in the region, religious pluralism, enshrining religious freedom in Asian democracies, and Freedom of belief under authoritarian governments.
Representative Dr Arya Tsewang Gyalpo of the Liaison Office of His Holiness, the Dalai Lama, attended as one of the panellists to address the impact of genocide in the region. Dr Arya briefed on the situation in Tibet and how the CCP regime continued to destroy Tibetan identity, culture, and religion for more than seventy years. He talked about the daylight destructions of the monastic complexes of Larungar and Yachengar, and also about the dismantling of 99-foot Buddha statue, 33-foot Maitreya statue, and 45-foot Guru Padmasambhava’s statue in Kham region of eastern Tibet. He talked about the Chinese interference in Tibetan religious matters, especially in the selection of the reincarnation of His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
Dr Arya took the opportunity to thank the US Congress and the government for the recent “Tibet Resolve Act” and urged other democratic nations for similar support.
Representatives of various religious communities from Asia spoke on the violation of religious freedom and repressions they are facing in their homeland and how the issue needs to be addressed internationally. The organizers spoke on the importance of religious freedom and how great civilisations grew and developed from religions.
The summit tickets were sold out, and the organizers and the participants expressed great satisfaction and learning experience. They also challenged the authoritative regimes to stop religious and human rights violations in the regions.
Here is the full YouTube online access link to the summit: IRF Asia 2024
-Report filed Office of Tibet, Japan
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Benedict Rogers of the Hong Kong Watch chairing the panel Freedom of Belief Under Authoritarian Government
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Former US Ambassador at Large for the IRF Honourable Sam Brownback welcoming the participants
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Former US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo addressing the audience
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Benedict Rogers of the Hong Kong Watch chairing the panel Freedom of Belief Under Authoritarian Government
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Representative Dr Arya with Sam Brownback and Dr Michael Jenkins of the Washington Times Foundation