Religious communities to compete in Azerbaijan
By Jamila Babayeva
The State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations on December 10 announced a competition dubbed "Join us in the name of respect" for religious communities in Azerbaijan.
The competition will be jointly organized by the National Tolerance Center established by the State Committee for Work with Religious Organizations, the UN office in Azerbaijan, and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO).
The State Committee announced the competition at the conference "Human Rights and the Relations between state and religion in Azerbaijan", concurrent with the 65th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General Assembly.
Three religious communities, which belong to different faiths, have to propose a joint social project to participate in the program. The sum of 5,000 manats is planned to be allocated for each project.
The projects that will be implemented by registered religious communities should be directed to education of teenagers with disabilities, integration of former prisoners into society and preservation of family values
The National Tolerance Center, initiated by Vice President of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation Leyla Aliyeva was established in May 2013. The main aim of the Center is to support and promote tolerance and to promote mutual respect.
Currently 574 religious communities are registered in Azerbaijan, 21 of them non-Islamic communities.