I mentioned a lot the elements without saying the word “religion”, but I agree with you. I think it is a big factor, and this has a lot to do with identity.
In every place we work, we have to address it in a negative form, and we also work with it in a positive way. For example, in Egypt, we did an amazing piece of work with Muslims, Christians, Coptics and other religious groups. They all ran a joint campaign—the first in Egypt's history—to stop violence against children, particularly female genital mutilation. This was an amazing campaign for days in Egypt in the pulpits and in the mosques. People all gave the same message. They gave press conferences on social media—millions of people. So, that's a positive example. We do that in many countries, particularly in these campaigns that have to do with changing ideas and beliefs, because as you rightly say, this is a very powerful part of people's ideas and beliefs. A big part of our work is on violence against children. There are many forms of violence. It's not just FGM and abuse, but also other forms of violence against children. We harness the power of religion on that.
But in places where it's working in a much more negative way, we have to navigate it and try to mitigate it. For example, in Myanmar, there's a government, but there are also some very.... I need to be careful in my use of words because we have staff on the ground and security.... There are some religious groups on the Buddhist side who are very aggressive in what they're doing. We sit down with those groups privately and behind the scenes, as does the UN, and we talk to them about the impact they're having. We try to change their behaviours. The United Nations involves them in all of the different discussions, and there are big staff security risks in doing that. That's just one example.
In more difficult places, such as the Middle East, it's not just the tensions between Sunni and Shia. As an impartial actor that only puts children first, we have an ability to talk to the different militias and religious groups. It all gets mixed up in politics.
I think what we try to do is navigate and change behaviours in practice on the ground, while at the same time harnessing religion in positive ways.
Now I think the question is whether that can be done on a even bigger scale. I think this is a good challenge for the United Nations, which has the power to convene. There are moves to bring together the top religious leaders to have a bigger impact on some of these situations. For example, the current pope is interested in doing that. On his visit to Egypt, he reached out to some of the leading Islamic leaders as part of this. There are some behind-the-scenes initiatives on this front.
So, I completely agree with your analysis. I think quite a lot is happening on this on the ground, but I think the implication of your question is whether more could be done. I would agree that more could be done on this front. We can't hide from it. I mean, it's definitely a big cause of a lot of suffering that goes on.