The ministerial conference of the Alliance of Civilizations, to be held in Cordoba on 3 and 4 May as part of the Spanish EU presidency, will address the impact of the crisis provoked by the Swiss decision to ban the construction of minarets in mosques.

The meeting will take the title Religious freedom in democratic societies and with the participation of some 300 people, including ministers, religious scholars and leaders of EU countries, as reported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs with responsibility for organizing the event.

Among the guests will have a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Switzerland, who will present the impact it is having the measure in his country on the minarets in the Muslim worship centers.

Most Swiss citizens approved the ban on building minarets in a referendum held on 29 November.

The Swiss Government has been saying that this decision should not be interpreted as an attack against Islam or its adherents, although it has caused great unrest in Muslim countries and has encouraged far-right parties in other European countries to go in the same direction.

A meeting of delegates will attend Córdoba candidate countries for accession to the EU, the EU institutions and the Council of Europe.

Also invited to the bishops of the eight cities of Andalusia and the representatives of the major religious communities.

The conference will feature several panels, which will discuss issues such as pluralism of faiths, the role of religious leaders and combating radicalization and religious extremism.

It is not yet confirmed attendance of Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos s deputy for Córdoba.

Moratinos organized in the capital of Córdoba in October 2007 a meeting to discuss a religious intolerance and discrimination against Muslims in Western countries. It was held on that occasion by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE).

The Alliance of Civilizations was initiated by Spain and Turkey in 2004 to help foster understanding between religions and cultures.

The group of friends of the Alliance, integrated into United Nations, has around one hundred countries.

Why religious freedom is not analysed in un-democratic societies, for example, in Islamic societies? Why always democratic countries should under the microscope, while huge Human Rights violations are taking place in other parts of the world, without anyone caring about them because the place they are happening are not democratic countries?

Really fed up of hypocrisy...