Remarks by Mr. Miguel Ángel Moratinos,
Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for UNAOC,
at the UNAOC Group of Friends High-Level Meeting
27 September 2024, Conference Room 1, United Nations headquarters, New York
Your Excellency, Mr. Jose Manuel Albares, Minister of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Spain,
Your Excellency, Mr. Hakan Fidan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Türkiye,
Your Excellency, Mr. Paulo Rangel , Minister of State and Foreign Affairs of the Portuguese Republic,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
I warmly welcome you all to UNAOC Group of Friends High-Level Meeting an I thank you for making time in your hectic schedules to participate in this meeting.
It goes without saying that the Group of Friends of UNAOC has been the driving force behind the effective improvement and progress of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations over the years. The UNAOC Group of Friends continues to grow steadily. As of today, it includes 160 Members of which are 130 UN Member States, 1 non-member state, and 29 international organizations. In addition, UNAOC continued to expand its geographical presence and visibility and opened its liaison office in Geneva at the Palais des Nations.
Today, the role of UNAOC is increasingly being recognized as an essential soft power political tool for preventive diplomacy, which works to support the conflict prevention and conflict resolution agenda of the United Nations. During the past two decades, UNAOC has pioneered a range of approaches and activities across its priority areas namely, youth, education, media, migration and women as peace mediators. The impact of its grassroots projects and initiatives has been significant, particularly those implemented for and with civil society organizations and youth.
This role is needed more than ever before at a particularly demanding time marked by multiple global challenges and a very complex geopolitical landscape.
I am very encouraged that the Pact for the Future includes several references that are aligned with UNAOC mandate and objectives under action 11, 13, 18, and 35 pertinent to sustaining peace, building inclusive and just societies, addressing the root causes of conflicts, combating racism, racial discrimination, religious intolerance and promoting intercultural and interreligious dialogue.
As such, I also recognize the responsibility that falls on us with other UN entities with relevant mandates.
Excellencies,
Yesterday, my office circulated UNAOC Action Plan 2024-2026 to all the Group of Friends.
I was planning to give a power point presentation of the Action Plan but for the sake of time and being mindful of several high level meetings overlapping with our meeting which requires your presence, I will just say few words about the new plan :
The proposed Action Plan builds on existing UNAOC programming activities and suggests several additional focus areas that correspond to the evolving global landscape and aim to enhance the ability of UNAOC to carry out its mandate.
I have identified 5 priorities of which 2 are new :
The 2 new Priority area are :
- Promotion of interreligious and intercultural dialogue, including dialogue among civilizations for our shared humanity; and
- Addressing religious intolerance , bigotry and other forms of discrimination under which 3 action points are proposed: a dialogue series intended to have tailored discussions on all major religions and faiths.
My statement will be posted on our website.
I thank again all members of the Group of Friends for their continued support and valuable recommendations.