Professor Cole Durham spoke at the conference “Religious Freedom in Russia: The Misuse of the Law on Extremism against Religious Minorities,” hosted by MEP Dennis de Jong & co-organized with Human Rights without Frontiers and held at the European Parliament, Brussels, on 15 November 2010. Other speakers were Alexander Verkhovsky (Director, SOVA Centre, Moscow); Elizabeth Prodromou (Vice-Chair, US Commission on International Religious Freedom, Washington); Michel de Guillenchmidt (Attorney, Strasbourg); Joseph Grieboski (President, Institute on Religion and Public Policy, Washington) and Willy Fautré (Director, Human Rights Without Frontiers, Brussels). 

During the same trip Professor Durham spoke at the International Archon Religious Freedom Conference, “Religious Freedom: Turkey’s Bridge To The European Union,” also held at the European Parliament, on 16-17 November.

Professor Durham then traveled to the United Kingdom to present a paper entitled “Emerging Challenges for Religious Freedom in the 21st Century” at Brunel University near London on 18 November. He made a similar presentation on the 19th to a meeting of the Oxford Society of Law and Religion at Balliol College, Oxford.

On 20 November, Professor Durham participated in the INFORM Seminar XLV: “State Reactions to New Religions,” held at Clement House, London School of Economics. Other speakers at this seminar were Eileen Barker (Professor Emeritus, LSE; Chair & Honorary Director, INFORM); Ziya Meral (Joseph Crapa Fellow at the US Commission on International Religious Freedom); Hervé Machi (Magistrat, Secretary General of MIVILUDES: Interministerial Mission for Monitoring and Combating Sectarian Deviations); Mike Kropveld (Executive Director, Info-Secte, Canada); Lori Beaman (Canada Research Chair in the Contextualization of Religion in a Diverse Canada, University of Ottawa); Ian Reader (Professor of Japanese Studies at the University of Manchester); Ringo Ringvee (Ministry of the Interior, Estonia); and Jamie Bartlett (Senior Researcher with Demos).