Following the success of conferences in Ghana (2013), South Africa (2014), Namibia (2015) and Ethiopia (2016), the Fifth Annual Law and Religion Conference or the African Consortium for Law and Religion Studies (ACLARS) is underway in Rabat, Morocco. Lasting from 14 to 17 May 2017, the conference is a collaboration of ACLARS with the International University of Rabat, and the International Center for Law and Religion Studies of the Brigham Young University Law School, USA. 

The subject of the conference is Religion, Law, and Security, with particular focus on religious extremism, blasphemy, violence, terrorism, and human and sustainable security. Themes for the conference include: 

• The interrelationship between freedom of expression, freedom or religion and other fundamental rights in Africa
• Legal foundations for the promotion of sustainable peace and religious tolerance in Africa
• The role of inter-faith and intra-faith dialogue in countering extremism in Africa
• Blasphemy and defamation of religion in the light of the Rabat Plan of Action (December 2014)
• The evaluation of national and regional laws in Africa designed to combat extremism and to promote freedom of religion
• The future of the Marrakesh Declaration on the Rights of Religious Minorities in Predominantly Muslim Majority Communities (January 2016)
• Aspects of religion and human security, including the protection of vulnerable African communities, with particular reference to women, children, the elderly and the disabled
• Conflicts between state and religious concepts of the nature of marriage in Africa
• Witchcraft accusations in colonial and contemporary Africa
• The value of religion or belief in challenging the ideologies that drive violent extremism
• Religion, law and security in international relations, particularly within Africa following the Arab Spring

Please watch here for more information.

Prof Pieter Coertzen, President, ACLARS
Dr T Jeremy Gunn, Professor of Law and Political Science, International University of Rabat
W. Cole Durham, Jr., Founding Director, International Center for Law and Religion Studies