Library of Alexandria, Egypt“In the modern discourse on security, national security—protecting a nation from physical threats from the outside, usually by military force—is still the predominant understanding of security… (But) threats today are most often results of internal strife rather than external threats, and most of the time conflicts are not between states but between non-state actors. This has led to …a discussion about the relationship between security and the rights of people.  …. As a result of globalisation, the concept of common security for all has become the next level of thinking. It is in this context that the concept of Shared Security also emerged.”
—Final report, Helsinki Process Roundtable, Alexandria, Egypt

The concept of Shared Security was first developed at the Religions for Peace Eighth World Assembly in Kyoto, August 2006.  The Helsinki Process—in partnership with Religions for Peace—is now working to further develop this important concept.  Importantly, the Helsinki Process—a major multi-stakeholder initiative led by the governments of Finland and Tanzania—is also focusing on the unique action steps that multi-religious cooperation can make to achieve Shared Security. 

Religions for Peace Honorary President, Dr. Ismail Serageldin, hosted our meeting at the historic Library of Alexandra in Egypt.  Dr. Serageldin is the visionary Executive Director of the Library.  More than twenty women and men—from religious organizations, governments, academia, and development agencies—worked together in the Roundtable.   

The group further developed the notion of Shared Security, identified related challenges for multi-religious cooperation and focused on the need for the further equipping for action of our Religions for Peace affiliates.   

The Roundtable agreed that the concept of Shared Security goes beyond the concept of human security in five important ways: 

1) Shared Security takes seriously the globalization of the world: no nation can truly be secure until all nations are secure; the security of one is dependent on the security of the other. 

2) Shared Security shifts the focus of security to the most vulnerable—those who cannot secure themselves.

3) Shared Security is an interdependent state and achieving it is thus linked to the ability to cooperate. 

4) Common responsibility for solving problems needs to be recognised.  Today, there is a moral imperative to cooperate on Shared Security.
5) Multi-stakeholder mechanisms are needed to advance cooperative approaches to Shared Security.  

Using the notion of Shared Security as a common base, the members of the Helsinki Process then identified the following as the areas to which religious cooperation could make important concrete contributions. 
 
• Violence, extremism, and militaristic forms of religious expression. Tackling extremism—where religions are abused as identity markers for political purposes—requires the contribution of multi-religious cooperation.  This is all the more so as extremist ideologies have been promoted through religious groups that have also provided important goods, such as social services, in times of suffering.  Multi-religious efforts to alleviate suffering need to be strengthened.  Multi-religious cooperation affirms different religious identities, but undercuts their miss use.

• Cultural-religious alienation between Islam and West. The oversimplification of a “clash of civilizations between a monolithic West and a monolithic Islamic world” should be challenged and genuine dialogue on its underlying reasons should be constructively promoted.

• Issues regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Inter-religious cooperation can address real problems related to the conflict.  The religiously-based promotion of non-violent resistance in Palestine and Israel is to be promoted.  The development of inter-religious youth camps is to be encouraged.  The importance of Religions for Peace’s cooperation with partners such as the Helsinki Process and the Alliance of Civilizations was noted.
 
The Roundtable focused on the need to equip religious leaders for multi-faith cooperation for peace. It was noted that religious communities are organized in different ways and that “trickle down” modalities do not always work.  Thus, religious leaders need to be supported in their strategies for the broad mobilization of their respective grassroots for peace.  Concretely, religious leaders need to be better equipped to supply their respective mosques, churches and women’s and youth groups with relevant training and materials.  Cooperation from other sectors could be helpful in meeting this need.  A particular emphasis was placed on the involvement of women at all levels of multi-religious cooperation.

The Roundtable was another important step in advancing the agenda of Shared Security that over 800 religious leaders from 100 countries initiated in the Religions for Peace World Assembly in Kyoto in August 2006.