DEARBORN — Hundreds attended the United States-Iraqi Youth Institute’s (USIYI) peace conference on Thursday, June 4. 

The objective of the conference was to denounce the association of religion with terrorist organizations. The conference was held in the wake of the emergence and rise of ISIS in Iraq. 

USIYI is a non-profit organization consisting of more than 16,000 American and Iraqi students from six countries. The purpose of this organization is to reach out to communities to foster better political and cultural relations between Americans and Iraqis.

Speakers at the conference included Imam Sayid al-Qazwini; Kevin Hrit, district director of Rep. Debbie Dingell’s (D- Dearborn) Dearborn office; Rep.  John Conyers (D- Detroit); Chaldean community leader Sam Yono, Michael Silverman, an author, political analyst and retired Army officer; Alex Wroblewski, a photojournalist who has depicted front line battles against ISIS; Fay Beydoun, executive director of the Arab Chamber of Commerce and Ahmed Al Asadi, spokesman for the Popular Mobilization Unit in Iraq and members of the Iraqi government. 

People from other states and different countries, including Iraq, attended the event. Both Christian and Islamic prayers were recited at the conference 

Organizers of the conference pushed to encourage Iraqis of all religious sects to work together to fight ISIS terrorism.