SHARED VALUES IN A WORLD OF CULTURAL PLURALISM
Muscat, Sultanate of Oman, 23-25 November 2014
At first, as High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations, I would like to thank The Sultanate of Oman for hosting this important meeting while celebrating the 43rd year of its National Day. I wish this country, under the leadership of His Majesty Sultan Qaboos, the best health, prosperity and development for its people.
I’m not stranger to this country since I come from Qatar, another GCC state that looks highly and with admiration at the Omani pluralism, as an example for how diversity can prove its relevance to advancement and welfare.
I am also grateful for the invitation of my dear friend Professor. Candido Mendes, to speak at this very important 28th Conference of the Academy of the Latinity. Professor. Mendes is an international treasure. His commitment to exploring and promoting the best of our collective values is remarkable, not only as member of the UNAOC High Level Group, but also through his constant engagement with the Alliance.
While I’m entrusted to lead the UNAOC, the UN entity charged with critical responsibility at this juncture of Human History, it is my mandate to seek out the best ways forward to promote dialogue between and among civilizations, to build bridges between identity groups, frequently in conflict or facing tensions, and by doing so, have the Alliance serving as a soft power tool of the United Nations Secretary-General in the field of conflict prevention.
Mindful of the challenges we are facing, I will attempt to address the major topics of this conference around its theme “SHARED VALUES IN A WORLD OF CULTURAL PLURALISM”.
Let me begin by discussing the challenge of confronting the scourge of terrorism. The United Nations recognizes the significance of the threat and has adopted its own strategy to deal with the issue. Much of the worst terrorist attacks of recent years have been the work of religious extremists. While I also agree that terrorism can take other shapes and can be perpetrated by other ideological groups, states and other entities and individuals.
Religious terrorists have the ability to hijack sacred faiths, such as Islam. They recruit their young followers, through a mixture of attractive methods, and using brainwash methodologies to steel the representation of religions. This, I fear, is particularly prevalent among those groups claiming to represent Islam, my own faith of peace and pluralism.
The first pillar of the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism strategy is focused on tackling the environmental elements conducive to the spread of terrorism. These include “combating violent extremism”. Many of the activities that have been undertaken to further this goal have been focused on building a counter-narrative to the version promoted by extremists, who selectively and wickedly quote holy books to justify the unjustifiable.
We have seen girls in Nigeria, kidnapped by men who claim that they are not entitled to what they see as “western” education, men who claim to act in the name of God. We have seen schools burned in Pakistan because they taught secular topics, again by men who claimed to act in the name of God. And, in the same time we have seen minorities facing horrific deaths in Myanmar, because they are denied integration in the local society.
Of course, we have also seen the horrific acts of the death monsters called ISIS, who claimed superior knowledge of God and intimidated the residents of Iraq and Syria through the most horrific forms of violence. And because they have among their membership some people who are literate with the newest tools of social networking, they are able to reach a large audience of young people who visit those sites and among those most dis-possessed, most lonely, most disconnected from society, they are able to recruit new converts to help them pursue their awful agenda.
The United Nations is committed to fighting back against such groups. And against all groups that look at the others as a problem, either because they are different or because they are weak, desperately living under suppression, or occupation as the vulnerable party to the equation of power.
I’m sure that the UN and all of the participants in this room can say that we are all committed to winning the war of ideas that is at the core of this issue. One version of global society is one that is based on the shared humanistic values reflected in the most ambitious human rights documents, including the Universal Declaration and the Covenants for Social and Political Rights and Economic and Social Rights. The other is a vision for society where only one version of one sect of one religion, and the values that singular vision insists upon, dominates the lives of all. The Alliance of Civilizations exists to change the latter, to promote the highest level of inclusion within and between groups. Indeed, the very issue of social inclusion is essential when we look into the issue of multiculturalism.
Societies today, particularly those who have only recently started to face the challenges of absorbing new immigrant groups into their countries, are struggling to address the deep meaning of pluralism. I know that the pressures created by population movements, directly impact on the peacefulness and prosperity of modern societies. But I also know that responsibilities exist on both, the receiving countries need to accommodate and the immigrants themselves need to accept some adaptation.
At the Alliance of Civilizations, we focus our programming around four pillars – Youth, Education, Media and Migration. Our objective is to promote equal opportunities for youth, to see no children deprived from their right to education, to see balanced relation between migrants and their receiving countries and to see the media playing constructive role to bring people together rather than inciting and exacerbating.
We also struggle to open the eyes and hearts on some new human expressions that bring people together, such as music, entertainment, art and the values of sport that work like magical bridge between nations.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
As you all know too well, the peaceful and prosperous co-existence of people and nations is the cornerstone of the United Nations mission. We are bound together as the international community in the belief that despite different cultures, languages and religions, there are fundamental shared values and principles that underpin our humanity. This, in my opinion, is an important principle to believe in, if we are to look rightly at what we want from Globalization and how we can utilize it for the good of all human beings.
In fact, Globalization started thousands of years ago through migration.
The Alliance, which supports the United Nations in its efforts to achieve the sustainable development goals, encourages the development of ethical practices, thus promoting inclusive development involving governments, NGOs and the private sector. Lets not forget that, to build a world of peace, it needs to be centered on universal spiritual and moral values along with principles of good governance.
I hope that this meeting will explore the ways in which governments, NGOs and the private sector can collaborate productively toward the achievement of sustainable development in the context of globalization. Special emphasis needs to be given to consideration of the ways in which the private sector and civil society can support the mission of the United Nations and the post-2015 sustainable development goals.
I hereby suggest that the Alliance, through the recommendations of this important conference, get the support of all of you, to convene a UNAOC summit at the UN General Assembly, to discuss the worrying state of the Global Harmony that we are all facing. It will be imperative to stress on the need to promote reconciliation and forgiveness among all nations and between parties at conflicts. This is what I aim for from my endeavors to convene such summit at the most universal United Nations body.
My team and I, are already in touch with the President of the UN General Assembly and his team, to discuss the appropriate modalities for the summit and suitable time to convene it at the highest possible level.
I would like to share with you that I’m starting very soon, the necessary communications with political and religious leaders around the world, to establish an Advisory Council of Religious and Political Leaders under the platform of the Alliance. I look forward to discussing with the Omani Authorities, their nomination of an Omani candidate to take part in this Council.
And Dr. Candido; You are also very much invited to join this Council.
Let me conclude by stressing on the need to have a holistic approach, when we discuss the issues on our agenda today, in order to sincerely discover, the shared values we have, and to understand how can they serve our cultural pluralism, to build environment conducive to development and human advancement.
I thank you and look forward to engaging with all of you in a fruitful discussion, and wish us all good results.