Addressing the opening session of fifth Global Forum of the UN Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC) in Vienna, HH the Emir said the severe divisions, tensions and conflicts sweeping the world gave the forum “great significance”. He underlined the need to spread the values of understanding and coexistence to eliminate political and ideological divisions.
“There is no doubt that dispute and conflict are signs of power politics and domination throughout history, and will remain so, but the question faced by the international community is about the possibility of introducing dialogue and negotiation as a basis for conflict resolution, and the quest for commonalities that constitute concerns and challenges for the whole humanity, as well as in coping with those who dress up conflicts and disputes in the mantle of civilisations, as if we were encountering a clash of civilisations,” the Emir noted.
He referred to the necessity to set up “a global human society based on commonality and (that) respects the peculiarities and nature of cultures and religions”, adding that in such a society, international law would prevail over everyone and double standards and selectivity would be absent.
“It is a must to strive towards finding just solutions to global problems through genuine respect for the values, norms and principles instilled into the hearts and minds of humanity and which promote constructive co-operation, and achieve security, peace, prosperity and sustainable and equitable development for all nations and people.”
The Emir regretted that violence still prevailed in many parts of the world although the ultimate goal of everyone was to achieve peace. “The acts of violence and gross violations of human rights occurring to the people of both Syria and Palestine constitute a disgrace to humanity, and the international community should bear its responsibilities by standing up to address these violations and to back the Syrian and Palestinian people to attain their legitimate rights.”
Elaborating, the Emir said, “Still there are major powers in the world that adopt an unfair attitude preventing the resolution of the last colonial issue in history, the Palestinian cause, which is exacerbating and constituting a constant source of tension in our region, and it also constitutes a source for people to believe that racism is still prevalent in the international community, and to make them sceptical about the fairness in implementing the international law.”
He said: “Recently we have also witnessed a supportive attitude by central countries of the genocide committed by a regime that lacks legitimacy in Syria, while other countries only condemning that verbally.”
The Emir pointed to recent “manifestations of misunderstanding about Islam and the Islamic civilisation”, noting that Muslims in several parts of the globe were suffering from marginalisation, discrimination and hatred.
“These manifestations and others emphasise the urgent need for the Alliance of Civilisations initiative to build prospects of co-operation between various nations and people, and address tensions and conflicts and eliminate everything that might further widen the gap between the nations.”
He noted that the myth of a clash of civilisations was anchored down by “the complexities of striking a balance between the freedom of expression and respect and protection of the rights, sanctities, beliefs and feelings of others, and the failure to criminalise racist practices”, which resulted in the rooting down of hate language and the sparking of conflicts.
He stressed that understanding and respecting other cultures and beliefs and the abandonment of extremism and hatred was the only way to put an end to racism- and extremism-based violence and terrorism.
He said that even under the restrictions of market laws, the media’s mission should go beyond excitement and securing high viewership rates, warning that writers and journalists might be carrying preconceived notions as a result of their own upbringing and nurture.
“Freedom of expression is vital but not enough, and must be coupled with responsibility. I am talking here about the ethical and humanitarian responsibility, and not the political,” the Emir said.
“Therefore, we underline the importance of consolidating the effort to correct fallacies and address all destructive trends that promote the spread of hatred, extremism and violence and block the prospects of dialogue and alliance among civilisations.”
HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser attended the session, along with members of the official delegation accompanying the Emir.
Attending the session too were Austrian President Heinz Fischer, Romanian President Traian Basescu, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyib Erdogan and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.
