Azza Karam

"...power of solidarity comes a moment of intense healing like no other."

"There is no space for gender-based violence ever to be acceptable or accepted, or indeed for it be condoned through our silences. The more faith communities remain silent, the more we are culpable."

"I want to be able to serve that sense of unity of purpose around an issue of deep pain in the great hope that this is also a source of relief and healing for so many even as we stand together while many are still suffering on a minute-by-minute basis around the world. We stand together emanating a sense of responsibility to try and ensure that our respective positions where we stand can be committed to the healing that is absolutely needed especially as the world has just become much more complicated with the pandemic."

"I believe in the power of pebbles, and I believe what we are trying to do is collect the pebbles, one by one, and as many as we can, to slowly make those transformations."

"The transformation begins within ourselves, in our own families, in our own relationships, in our communities, in our voice and in the power of our voice to carry the messages of healing."

"I see hope and change in attitudes and practices through the voice of women and men of faith as they stand in solidarity with one another."

"The UN Interagency Task Force on Religion was founded to inform and support UN system actors as to the ‘why’, ‘how’, ‘who’, and ‘what’ of religion, and engagement with religious actors, around the UN’s main areas of work: peace and security, human rights, and sustainable development."

"Since 2000, religious engagement (in diverse forms) has become the ‘normal’ for many inside the UN system. But the question is—or should always be—are we wise about the how and why of this?"

"Working with religious actors on all aspects of human rights carries both challenges and opportunities."

"...gender equality and women’s empowerment are the most stubborn litmus test of religious’ buy-in to all human rights, these are also the areas in which seeing faith-based partners advance can be the most awe-inspiring."

"No partnership anywhere in the world does not carry at least a seed of suspicion in it. The point is not to cover or pretend it is not there and that we are all lovey dovey"

"Yet the realms of religion dwarf all of us. At the same time, we are living in times where power brokers communicate in soundbites (if not tweets), and this only complicates how we understand."

"we have to be committed to questioning what we think we know, and few of us have that bandwidth (some call it a luxury). But how can we inspire and transform if we are always in a hurry to work only with the like-minded?"

"Goal 17 of the SDGs notes that a successful sustainable development agenda requires partnerships between governments, the private sector, and civil society."

"...the Kofi Annan Briefings are a space carved out inside the UN infrastructure to give voice to the faith-based and faith-inspired actors to communicate, in their own words, with the governments, with the secular civil society, and with the UN system. And it’s a space for all to hold one another accountable through witnessing one another’s work"

"Religions for Peace is essentially the United Nations for religious institutions. It’s not about the government, as the UN is – it’s about religious institutions and faith communities from around the world and their leaders who have been selected to represent them. When I saw the chance to serve this expansive community, I seized the opportunity."