ADFA attends the IRF Summit in Casablanca

24 July 2026

We have just concluded several intense days in Casablanca, where we represented ADFA at the IRF Summit North Africa.

Nuri Kino joined a panel on how stories of persecuted people can move from social media to established newsrooms and then reach governments and parliaments.

Our representatives Susan Korah, who flew from Canada, and Nuri, who arrived directly from Lebanon, had a productive conversation with IRF Summit co-chair Sam Brownback about religious persecution and how to continue this work. Brownback is a former U.S. congressman, senator and governor of Kansas who later served as U.S. ambassador at large for international religious freedom.

We also met Lord David Alton of Liverpool, one of Britain’s most prominent human rights advocates. A former member of the House of Commons and now an independent member of the House of Lords, he chairs Parliament’s Joint Committee on Human Rights. For decades, he has worked against genocide, religious persecution, modern slavery and the oppression of minorities. We discussed the genocide of Christians in the Ottoman Empire, persecution today and the work ahead. We agreed to meet again in London later this fall.

We also spoke with Christian leaders from Nigeria who had traveled to Casablanca without receiving a place in the official program. They told us about massacres that had taken the lives of their relatives. In a nearly empty church, we met a Moroccan Christian who described how the country’s own Christians are more or less expected to remain invisible, even as foreign Christians are treated well.

We established new contacts with United States Commission on International Religious Freedom, the U.S. Department of State, diplomats, journalists, researchers, lawyers and relief organizations. We were also invited to the Czech Republic and Armenia to share ADFA’s experience.

When there are so few forums like this, we must use every opportunity to build relationships and connect others. We do not have to agree with everyone in the room. But we must listen, exchange knowledge and learn from one another.

A conversation can become a report. A report can reach a diplomat. A handshake can begin work that changes something.

Now we continue. See less