Dr. Nitin Shah Presents at United Nations “Faith for Rights” Forum
CST board member Dr. Nitin Shah recently presented at the United Nations’ forum “Faith for Rights” in Cambodia and Thailand. Dr. Shah spoke about the Jain faith in a presentation titled “Seeking Truth Across Traditions” on behalf of JAINA (Federation of Jain Associations in North America).
The 6th Annual “Faith for Rights” Global Forum was organized by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and took place across five days in October 2025. Thought leaders and scholars from across the world joined together to discuss opportunities for religious traditions to promote peace and human rights. This marked the first time that Dharmic traditions like Hinduism, Sikhism, Buddhism, and Jainism were invited to be represented in the forum.
“I feel honored to have this extremely rare and a very unique opportunity to represent the Jain Faith in this Global forum of the United Nations,” Dr. Shah reflected. “Furthermore, I am very excited to learn that a Memorandum of Understanding was passed to include the ‘Dharmic Traditions’…in the Faith for Rights meetings in the future. This I consider a huge achievement,” he continued. Looking ahead, Dr. Shah noted that “Dharmic traditions have a lot to offer in the way of living for policies that the United Nations will make going forward!”
JAINA released a statement noting that Dr. Shah “delivered a presentation on the last day of the conference at the UN Conference Center in Bangkok, offering the Jain perspective on non-violence, truth, and compassion as foundations for global harmony.” They went on to note that “JAINA was the sole representative of the Jain community among 31 international delegates. The invitation was facilitated by Dharma Alliance, a Geneva-based interfaith platform led by Prashant Sharma and Juan Diaz.”