Eye Contact

12 September 2010
a man is shaking hands with an adult women

Associació UNESCO per al Diàleg Interreligiós CC  | Europe Region

In Badalona, a large suburb of Barcelona, the Associació UNESCO per al Diàleg Interreligiós Cooperation Circle (UNESCO Center of Catalonia) defused a simmering conflict between two groups of Gypsies in a poor and highly diverse neighborhood that threatened to destabilize relations with other religious groups as well. It organized meetings among religious, local government and civil society leaders in the community; worked with a local school to hold workshops on religious diversity; and created a permanent interfaith dialogue forum. When the dialogues began, participants would not even look one another in the eye. Today, they talk openly.