_{On the 75th anniversary of the Refugee Convention and the UN International Day for Countering Hate Speech, the International Dialogue Centre - KAICIID convenes religious leaders, policymakers and refugees at the Council of Europe and the European Academy of Religion.}

As Europe marks a rare convergence of milestones in June 2026, including the UN International Day for Countering Hate Speech on 18 June and the 75th anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention, KAICIID is hosting two high-level events that place interreligious dialogue at the centre of Europe’s migration debate.

The events respond to a hardening public climate. According to the Peace Research Institute Oslo, 2025 saw more state-based conflicts than any year since 1945, with nearly 245,000 conflict-related deaths. In Europe, polarisation around migration is deepening, with xenophobic and “remigration” narratives increasingly normalised in public discourse.

“Human dignity has no passport and does not lose its value when crossing a border,” Pope Leo XIV recently reminded the world, in words that echo a conviction shared across religious traditions. KAICIID’s contribution is not to advocate specific migration policies, but to do what regulation alone cannot: build trust, shape narratives and strengthen the relationships that help communities hold together. This is the moral and social infrastructure that enables newcomers and host communities to develop a shared sense of belonging.

Strasbourg, 18 June: Council of Europe

Held during the Council of Europe’s No Hate Speech Week, the workshop “Belonging Matters: Countering Hate Speech Through Dialogue” is co-organised by KAICIID, with the contribution of the Council of Europe Intercultural Cities Programme. It brings together local authorities, religious leaders, civil society representatives and refugee voices to explore how dialogue can help counter hate speech and strengthen belonging.

The workshop will be opened by Ms Irene Kitsou-Milonas, Special Representative of the Council of Europe Secretary General on antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred and all forms of religious intolerance.

Speakers include Reza Sharifi, who arrived from Afghanistan as an unaccompanied minor and is now a refugee, artist and university student in Serbia. He will speak alongside Maja Negrojević of Jesuit Refugee Service Serbia, a member of the KAICIID-supported Network for Dialogue, who accompanied him as his foster mother.

Rome, 30 June: European Academy of Religion

At the European Academy of Religion, the panel “Interreligious Dialogue, Migration and Social Cohesion in the Western Balkans” will bring religious leaders from the region to the same table, including representatives of Muslim and Orthodox Christian communities, as the EU Migration and Asylum Pact reshapes the Western Balkans’ role in Europe’s migration architecture.

The discussion will draw on the work of KAICIID Fellows and introduce practical dialogue methods, including Scriptural Reasoning and interreligious active engagement. Through these approaches, leaders and communities of different faiths read their sacred texts together on exile, refuge and the stranger, and work together to build more cohesive and inclusive communities.