The Swiss Bishops Conference (Ces) and the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches will send a joint delegation to Lebanon to express solidarity with the local Christian communities for their efforts in support of religious freedom and human rights. The delegation of the Churches will be led by the president of Swiss Bishops, monsignor Markus Büchel, and by the president of the Federation of Swiss Protestant Churches, pastor Gottfried Locher. From 23^rd to 27^th November, the Swiss delegation will meet the leaders of many Christian communities and will visit the projects funded by Switzerland to help the refugees. Another purpose of the journey – as stated in a release posted today – is to make a joint appeal from the Bishops Conference and the Protestant Federation to ask to put an end to civil war and persecution in the Middle East, and to respect the religious freedom of all communities. Lasting peace and the future of a multicultural society are not possible without respecting religious freedom”.