Opening Remarks by H.E Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser
High Representative, United Nations Alliance of Civilizations
Excellencies,
Eminent Thinkers,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Welcome to New York, welcome to the United Nations, right across the street!
It is a great pleasure and honor to see all of you, coming from all regions of the globe, many of you travelling long distances to be here. We are so happy to see you.
The total sum of knowledge and wisdom in this room could feed the United Nations policy and decision-making machinery with beneficial insights for many decades to come.
It is both gratifying and humbling to be in the company of so many outstanding minds.
As High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, one of the co-sponsors of this event, I am proud of my institution’s association with the conference.
I still recall the fervor with which Prof. Constantin von Barloewen advocated the project to me two years ago, on the recommendation of my good friend, Boutros Boutros-Ghali, former United Nations Secretary-General.
I immediately perceived the relevance of Prof. von Barloewen’s project to the mission of the Alliance of Civilizations and indeed to the work of the United Nations as a whole.
I am happy to note that with admirable perseverance, Prof. von Barloewen and his co-academic director, my senior advisor, Prof. Mustapha Tlili, relentlessly persisted in their efforts to bring this unique project to fruition.
I decided to lend our support to the project for two reasons. First, I felt that as diplomats, trained and often compelled to act by events beyond our control, we do not always pay enough attention to the underlying roots of the situations we seek to change.
Consider the agenda of the United Nations General Assembly – we can fairly say that all of its items are in one way or another related to the complex notion of progress.
Likewise, the notion of cultural diversity is at the heart of many of the international community’s programs, whether in the political, economic, or social spheres.
Isn’t it important then to listen to what paleontology, anthropology, sociology, philosophy, comparative literature, poetry, political philosophy, history of ideas, economics, political science and other disciplines represented here by some of their most eminent voices, have to say about “The Notion of Progress in the Diversity of World Cultures”?
I said two reasons led me to lend our support to this conference. The second reason is more specific to the institution that I am privileged to lead.
Let me here briefly recall for you the genesis of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. The UNAOC was born at a critical juncture, when the world faced a potential cultural confrontation, the result of the criminal fanaticism of a band of terrorists who, before hijacking commercial flights and turning them into weapons of mass destruction, planned to hijack a faith of peace – Islam, my faith.
Faced with this new fanaticism that risked to pit the West against the Muslim World and lead to the “clash of civilizations” predicted a decade earlier by Samuel Huntington, the international community heeded the urgent call of two European powers, Spain and Turkey – one Christian, the other Muslim — for the establishment of a new UN organization with the objective of countering the tide of intolerance and misunderstanding unleashed by the September 11 tragedy.
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations was established in response to the recommendations of a High Level Group composed of eminent persons widely acknowledged for their wisdom and their vision.
Enrique Iglesias, a member of that outstanding group and who at the end could not be with us today, for almost two years worked hard with his colleagues to lay the foundations for the organization that I am proud to serve as High Representative.
The new institution was intended to equip the United Nations with a new tool of preventive diplomacy to apply to situations of cultural and identity tensions in a world both blessed and damned by the new paradigm of globalization.
The daunting challenge was and remains how to manage diversity to make it work to the benefit of all, instead of becoming a source of tensions and conflicts. Seen from this perspective, the UNAOC can be considered as one of our best hopes to counter polarization across and within societies.
This is why the unique conversation in which you will engage over the next two days is so relevant to our mission.
We all root for progress – but what kind of progress? A uniform “one size fits all” progress, without regard for the diversity that is our human condition? Or progress differentiated to suit our particular identities, belief systems, histories and other specificities?
And progress at what price, considering the planet’s finite resources? Sustainable development has become an urgent requirement in both international and national affairs, thanks to the pioneering work of some of your disciplines, and for this we are forever grateful.
We also need to deepen our understanding of diversity, to make sure that the notion does not become the cover for human rights transgressions, as tragically still occurs.
All of this is to say how important your insights will be for us. We look forward to your debates and to fortifying our decision-making with your knowledge and wisdom.
Thank you.