Bonner Querschnitte 31/2023 Ausgabe 774 (eng)

(Bonn, 05.10.2023) The Secretary General of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), Bishop Thomas Paul Schirrmacher, met the Minister for South Asia, North Africa, the United Nations and the Commonwealth at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO), Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, in London.

Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon was first appointed as the Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict and as Minister of State for the Commonwealth and the United Nations on 13 June 2017. From 2018 to 2019 he was Prime Minister’s Special Envoy for Freedom of Religion or Belief, from 2016 to 2017 Minister for Aviation and Trade and Minister for Countering Extremism from 2015 to 2016. Bevor he was Transport Minister, Communities & Local Government Minister, Government Whip and Lord in Waiting, Vice-Chairman (national) of the Conservative Party, Councillor (Wimbledon Park) and Cabinet Member in the London Borough of Merto.

Lord Ahmad is a part of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and was a national vice-president of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Association's youth organisation from 2003. The Minister has met Schirrmacher several times, as the World Evangelical Alliance has been speaking up in favour of the Ahmaddiyyas as they are persecuted severely in Pakistan and other Muslim countries. Schirrmacher has spoken at large events and met the head of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community several times.

Schirrmacher was accompanied by Prof. Dr. Janet Epp-Buckingham, Director of Global Advocacy of WEA, and Roy Gaetan, WEA’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva.

Downloads and Links:

• Photo 1: Roy Gaetan, Janet Epp-Buckingham, Lord Ahmad and Thomas Schirrmacher © BQ/Martin Warnecke
• Photo 2: Roy Gaetan, Lord Ahmad and Thomas Schirrmacher © BQ/Martin Warnecke
• Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon on gov.uk:
  https://www.gov.uk/government/people/lord-ahmad-of-wimbledon
• Wikipedia entry on Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon:
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tariq_Ahmad%2C_Baron_Ahmad_of_Wimbledon