In his first trimester as a Zoroastrian representative to the international council of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF), Ruzbeh Hodiwala of London was unanimously selected to chair the Association’s Working Group on International Cooperation. Founded in 1900 in Boston, "IARF is one of the 139 organizations that have a general consultative status with the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the United Nations (UN). This status entitles IARF representatives at the UN in Geneva to regularly make interventions on behalf of religious minorities,” stated Hodiwala, a PhD candidate at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London.
He was elected for a four-year term in December 2023, having been nominated for the post by the World Zarathushti Cultural Foundation (WZCF) that is a member organization of IARF in South Asia. Hodiwala will be representing the South Asia region along with two other representatives from India. His association with IARF goes back to 2013 when he was coopted to the Gujarat chapter of IARF’s Religious Freedom Youth Network during a workshop on human rights at his alma mater, St Xavier’s College, Ahmedabad. Three years ago he was coopted as a committee member of IARF’s UK Chapter.
During his tenure Hodiwala is keen to cultivate the next generation of peace activists and put the youth at the forefront of IARF activities in South Asia. He would like to "build collaborations for IARF with civil society member groups with common goals and objectives and create transnational solidarity networks in the region,” he stated. Last September, Hodiwala represented Zoroastrianism at the 36th IARF World Congress held in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
Above: religious and denominational representatives with Ruzbeh Hodiwala (3rd from l and inset)
at the Cluj-Napoca Unitarian Church, Romania
Hodiwala has also been representing Zoroastrians at the Community of Sant’Egidio’s annual international meetings for the last two years. Sant’Egidio is a Catholic organization founded in 1968. Once it received recognition from the Roman Curia of the Holy See as an international association of the faithful in 1986, the Community of Sant’Egidio initiated inter-religious meets attended by nearly 400 representatives each year "with the aim of promoting mutual understanding and dialog among religions in a horizon of peace.”
At the 2023 meeting in Berlin that had for its theme "The Audacity of Peace,” Hodiwala presented a paper, jointly prepared with WZCF founder Dr Homi Dhalla who could not attend, at the session on "Facing the reality of climate change.” Dhalla referred to "two ecological disasters that occurred in India in 2023 due to poor planning.” Hodiwala cited the G20 declaration to emphasize that "the two forces that have been subjugated by our society the most are: nature and women, both life forces.” He reminded that "climate change is not gender neutral” since it has a disproportionate impact on women.
The prior year the theme of the Community of Sant’Egidio’s meeting in Rome had been "The Cry for Peace,” attended by the French and Italian Presidents during the opening and blessed by Pope Francis on the last day at the Colosseum in Rome. At the forum on "Religion, Dialogue and Peace,” Hodiwala had expressed his concerns about unfavorable developments in Iran and requested the attendees to observe a moment of silence for Mahsa Amini who was killed by the morality police in Tehran in September 2022.