Lt. General HH Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Interior, will be attending the global interfaith Summit set to commence on November 14 in the Vatican under the theme Promoting Digital Child Dignity from Concept to Action (2017-2019). The conference is organized under the patronage of His highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, with presence of His Holiness Pope Francis, Head of the Catholic Church and His Eminence Dr. Ahmad el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al Azhar Al Sharif.


His Highness will speak in Vatican with a large international presence, including the Swedish Queen Silvia, to reaffirm the UAE's commitment and support for its wise leadership to the good international efforts in promoting human brotherhood and global solidarity and spreading the principles of peace and brotherhood in the world, and the pivotal role of the UAE in promoting peaceful dialogue. Through its pioneering model of consolidating the values of moderation and peaceful coexistence among the peoples of the world.

Pope Francis will also address the two communities, urging the international community to support human fraternity and holding such forums and conferences aimed at enhancing the protection of communities in all categories, in addition to the guest of honor, Sheikh Al-Azhar, Grand Imam Dr. Ahmad Al-Tayeb, during the two-day summit held at Headquarters.

The UAE, which hosted the first conference of the Interfaith Alliance in 2018, as the most important international supporters of these good efforts and was the first global countries that were keen to host and strengthen the role of influential religious leaders in supporting efforts to strengthen security and stability of the community and fight crimes, and continue to support international efforts to protect society and the family By building and strengthening common human values of noble values and principles, and supporting the efforts of religious leaders around the world to consolidate community cohesion and build positive values, especially in the fight against exploitation and extortion that may be compromised. Her children through the World Wide Web and to enhance their dignity through the digital world.

The summit, which is attended by more than eighty international personalities, is a continuation of the global work in the fields of strengthening international efforts and unifying and benefiting from cross-border cooperation, including the document of "human brotherhood" signed by His Holiness Pope Francis Pope Catholic Church, and His Eminence Grand Imam Dr. Ahmed Tayeb Sheikh Al Azhar Al Sharif, in Abu Dhabi during February 2019 and announced to the world from the UAE capital Abu Dhabi.

Pope Francis has been part of a global effort to protect the dignity of the child in the digital world several times, including his recent visit to Abu Dhabi, when he referred to the Abu Dhabi Declaration in his speeches, and the importance of the human brotherhood document for world peace and living signed by His Holiness Pope Francis with virtue Grand Imam Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb Sheikh Al-Azhar Al-Sharif February 2019.

The Summit is also keen to implement common global perspectives to develop and implement initiatives for tolerance and religious rapprochement and to strengthen the role of religious leaders such as the Religions for Safer Communities: Child Online Dignity Conference, held in Abu Dhabi in 2018. The Abu Dhabi Declaration, and the outcome of the 2017 World Digital Child Dignity meeting, which ended with the Rome Declaration.

The Pontifical Academy of Sciences has the aim of promoting the study and progress of the sciences, ensuring that it works to advance of the human and moral dimension of man, promoting justice, development, peace, as well as encouraging dialogue between science and spiritual, cultural, philosophical and religious values.

The Child Dignity Alliance, established following the October 2017 World Congress on Child Dignity in the Digital World , which brought together global experts and policy makers to discuss the risks and challenges of the digital age and its impact on the dignity of children, aims to achieve the goals of the Declaration of Rome, signed by the Holy Father at the end of the Rome Congress, spreading knowledge and awareness on child sexual exploitation and abuse through interfaith collaboration and research.
The Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences and the Child Dignity Alliance will convene this new international meeting on the protection of children in the digital world at the Casina Pio IV in the Vatican, headquarters of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences, on 14-15 November, inviting important religious leaders from different communities, experts, academics, policy makers, and technology industry leaders.

The meeting is a follow-up of the process that began with a joint commitment for the protection of children during the Child Dignity in the Digital World meeting in 2017, which ended with the approval of the Declaration of Rome, and the Interreligious conference of the Interfaith Alliance for Safer Communities: Child Dignity Online, held in Abu Dhabi in 2018, which ended with the approval of the Declaration of Abu Dhabi. It is also a follow up of the first interreligious declaration of Pope Francis’ Pontificate, signed at the Casina Pio IV in December 2014, which stated that In the eyes of God modern slavery, in terms of human trafficking, forced labour and prostitution, and organ trafficking is a crime against humanity .

Pope Francis has clearly encouraged these efforts for the protection of child dignity in the digital world many times, for instance during his trip to Abu Dhabi, when he referred to the Abu Dhabi Declaration in his speeches. Moreover, we must not forget the Document on Human Fraternity for World Peace and Living Together which Pope Francis signed with Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, Grand Imam of Al-Azhar.

Moreover, the Sustainable Development Goals, unanimously approved after Pope Francis’s speech to the United Nations in September 2015, in particular Goals 8.7 and 16.2, insist on this new moral imperative, which derives from a religious and civil need.

Pope Francis is eager for this commitment to continue and – in this respect – he will address the participants at the end of the meeting.