"Human rights in culturally different societies: challenges and prospects": this is the theme of the international conference promoted by the Council of Europe at The Hague (Netherlands) on November 12th and 13th. The meeting will be focussed on the contents of the CoE White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue, published in May 2008, and is one of the initiatives of the Year of Intercultural Dialogue, to which the Strasbourg-based institution has also added a character of dialogue and cohabitation of different religious faiths. Many guests will be at The Hague, including Guusje ter Horst, Dutch Minister of the Interior, and Maud de Boer-Buquicchio, deputy secretary general of the CoE. "The purpose of these discussions explains a note from the CoE is to help develop approaches to human rights policies, for a better management of cultural diversity". Then, the Council of Europe will present two works, "one about hatred" and one about the "display of religious symbols in public places", two subjects that the CoE believes "have been the source of heated controversies in Europe over the last few years".
