Deusto participates in new meeting of Bilbao City Council’s Religious Diversity Forum

On 16 May, Bilbao’s Mayor, Juan Mari Aburto, chaired a new meeting of the Religious Diversity Participation Forum. The forum brings together fifteen communities representing nine different religions, holding sessions aimed at reflecting on and developing initiatives to promote freedom of conscience and religion within a framework of peaceful civic coexistence. The Technical Secretariat includes the Pedro Arrupe Human Rights Institute of the University of Deusto and the Ellacuría Foundation.

At the meeting, Mayor Juan Mari Aburto reaffirmed "our commitment to the positive management of this diversity, which is reflected in our policies, planning and actions. But we cannot walk this path alone; we need your help, contributions, and guidance to continue moving forward together,” he said.

The meeting began with the presentation of the Report on Religious Diversity and Minority Faiths in Bilbao, developed in collaboration with the Deusto Human Rights Institute. This was followed by a review of the measures included in the Action Plan of the Charter for the Management of Religious Diversity, with updates on some of the measures currently being implemented.

The Religious Diversity Participation Forum is one of the measures set out in the 3rd Municipal Plan 'Bilbao, Intercultural City'. It aims to promote the positive management of diversity—whether in origin, ethnicity, culture, language or religion—in order to foster social cohesion and intercultural coexistence in the city.

Thanks to the establishment of this forum, the Bilbao City Council is developing policies related to the public management of religious diversity at the municipal level. The aim is twofold: first, to gain a better understanding of the social and religious landscape of the city, and second, to foster recognition—that is, to create a structured relationship between the public administration and the various religious communities and perspectives.

The Religious Diversity Participation Forum includes, in addition to representatives from the Deusto Human Rights Institute and the Ellacuría Foundation, representatives from the Catholic Church, the Evangelical Council of the Basque Country, the Evangelical Church of Philadelphia, the Spanish Evangelical Church, the Seventh-day Adventist Church, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Assalam Mosque, the Bader Mosque, the Al Furkan Mosque, the Rekalde Mosque, the Mouride Brotherhood, the Bahá’í Community, the Hindu, Taoist, and Buddhist Communities.