EndrTimes: Who is Dr. Gianfranco Rossi?

L to R: Prof. Abdelfattah Amor, Mrs C. Rossi, Dr. Gianfranco Rossi

(Photo)http://un.adventist.org/news/archive/2002/july02.html

After reading and re-posting this article - IRLA Announces New United Nations Representative on this blog; I was confused by the many names that were mentioned in the article (Dr. Gianfranco Rossi and other leading IRLA figures have been engaged at the UN ever since.); I then became curious about who was Dr. Gianfranco Rossi. So, I decided to research on the web for any information on Dr. G. Rossi, and this is what I was been able to gather:

Church Reaffirms Commitment to Peace and Justice at Commission on Human Rights

April 8, 2003

Dr. Gianfranco Rossi, Geneva UN representative for the Church.
Geneva, Switzerland... Representatives of the Seventh-day Adventist Church reaffirmed commitment to the principles of peace and justice during the 59th Session of the Commission on Human Rights meeting at the United Nations in Geneva.

In a prepared statement read to the Commission on April 3, Dr. Gianfranco Rossi, Geneva UN representative for the Church, affirmed that it was "madness to use religion as an instrument of terror and death," and that "the true spirit of religion supports justice, brotherhood, peace and life." Quoting twice from the Bible, the statement reminded the Commission of the concept of peacemaking: "they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more," and "the work of justice shall be peace." (Isaiah 2:4; Isaiah 32:17).

Source: http://parl.gc.adventist.org/news/archive/2003/apr03.html

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Adventist Religious Freedom Campaigner Honored at Hungarian Conference

30 Jul 2002,

Longtime religious freedom campaigner Dr. Gianfranco Rossi has received an award for "outstanding achievements" in the field of international human rights. United Nation's special rapporteur Professor Abdelfattah Amor presented the Albert Schweitzer award to Rossi last week at a ceremony held during the world congress of the International Association for Religious Freedom (IARF) in Budapest. The honor marked another highlight in what Amor called "Dr. Rossi's long and distinguished service dedicated to the cause of religious liberty."

Rossi, a Seventh-day Adventist leader for many years, stressed in his acceptance speech three "leading principles which have guided me in my activities for religious freedom."

He spoke bluntly about the principle of equality, saying that "no individuals or groups can claim the right to establish or to maintain a political regime which does not respect the rights and freedoms of all human beings."

Rossi also argued for the principle of "difference," saying that today's pluralistic society has to respect not only the similarities, but also the differences between human beings. "Differences between human beings must not simply be tolerated," he said. "They must be admitted, encouraged, cultivated with a full awareness of the inestimable riches which they bring."

Rossi concluded with an appeal to all religions "to purify themselves of every form of intolerance and extremism," noting that "it is impossible to build a pluralistic society without respect and cooperation."

The Albert Schweitzer award is a special tribute given by the IARF, a non-governmental organization working with groups from different beliefs and communities suffering from religious persecution or discrimination. The IARF (http://www.iarf.net/) promotes freedom from oppressive interference or discrimination by the state, government or society's institutions.
Budapest Hungary,
Jonathan Gallagher/ANN
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Source: Adventist News Network