UN High Representative heads to Melbourne for Australia's first forum on social inclusion

President Jorge Sampaio, the United Nation's High Representative for the Alliance of Civilisations, will hear for himself about the grassroots efforts to create an inclusive Australian society at Australia's first UN Forum on Social Inclusion (Friday 7 October).

President Sampaio will deliver an opening speech at the forum and join Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Senator Kate Lundy, the Victorian Minister for Multicultural Affairs and Citizenship, Nicholas Kotsiras, the Chair of the Ethnic Communities Council of Victoria, Mr Sam Afra and the Vice-Chancellor of Deakin University Professor Jane den Hollander in a panel presentation shortly after.

The forum has been brought to Melbourne by Deakin University's Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation, the Ethnic Community Council of Victoria (ECCV), theDepartment of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), theDepartment of Immigration and Citizenship (DIAC), theAustralian Multicultural Foundation of Australia (AMF), theVictorian Multicultural Commission (VMC), the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV), Darebin City Council and many other State and Commonwealth agencies.

Forum convenor, and Deakin University's Director, Centre for Citizenship and Globalisation, Professor Fethi Mansouri said Friday's forum would be about practice, the doing and living of diversity and demonstrating what policies are currently being pursued towards building inclusive societies.

"When I was in Doha earlier this year some of the most powerful ideas and recommendations came from grassroots practitioners with first-hand experience of what it means to operate in culturally pluralist societies where resources and information are not always easily accessible.

"The Melbourne forum will be just as powerful.

"Cultural recognition and social inclusion in Melbourne and in Australia and the strength of what is termed multiculturalism is derived from the people who carry it and practice it in their every day lives.

"It will be this vibrancy and energy that President Sampaio will be exposed to."

The forum will then host two panels, one looking at what organisations such as the Federation of Ethnic Communities' Councils, the Department of Immigration and Citizenship and Universities were doing to promote inclusion, while the other panel would examine the role of religion and the challenges of interfaith dialogue and social inclusion in a society comprised of people from numerous different cultural and ethnic backgrounds.

"Our conversation on inclusion needs to start with the next generation of Australians, our youth and educational institutions it is for this reason the later sessions on Friday will specifically focus on the work being done in education, at local government level, in youth organisations and within the media," Professor Mansouri said.

Professor Mansouri said the Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Multicultural Affairs Senator Kate Lundy and President Sampaio would launch the Building Inclusive Societies (IBIS) website later that afternoon.

The website developed jointly by the UNAOC and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), gathers a worldwide community of policy makers, practitioners and civil society activists who work together to improve relations among migrants and host communities.

The site features ideas and innovative projects from around the world - highlighting successful models and inspiring new initiatives- and is a tool for sharing resources.

It also illustrates the positive impact of migration and the benefits it can bring to host societies, as migrants contribute to the economic, cultural and social life of their new country.

Further information - Forum program