Baku, 18 March 2013
Your Excellency Mr. Elmar Mammadyarov, The Foreign Minister of the Republic of Azerbaijan.
Your Excellency Mr. Yury Fedotov, The Executive Director of UNODC.
Your Excellency, Mr. Abdulaziz Othman Al-Twaijri, The Director General of ISESCO.
Excellencies, Ministers, Heads of Delegations,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to start by thanking the government of Azerbaijan for hosting this gathering under the auspices of H. E. Mr. Ilham Alieyve – President of the Republic of Azerbaijan, and for the generous hospitality. I also would like to commend the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) for co-organizing this important meeting.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to reaffirm the importance of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations and its multifaceted relations to maintaining international peace and security, in accordance with the UN Charter.
“Strengthening International Cooperation in Preventing Terrorism” is of utmost importance to maintaining international peace and security.
Hence, I can emphasize the close relationship between the role of the Alliance and the global efforts to counter terrorism.
The Alliance’s role and position in the international Counter Terrorism framework was recognized in the United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy.
The strategy UNGA resolution 60/288 stated in its annexed PoA that the international community needs to: “continue to arrange under the auspices of the United Nations initiatives and programs to promote dialogue, tolerance and understanding among civilizations, cultures, peoples and religions, and to promote mutual respect for and prevent the defamation of religions, religious values, beliefs and cultures. In this regard, we welcome the launching by the Secretary-General of the initiative on the Alliance of Civilizations.”
During my tenure as President of the 66th session of the UNGA, we conducted the third biennial review of the Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy in June 2012, during which the General Assembly unanimously adopted a resolution renewing its unwavering commitment to strengthening international cooperation to prevent and combat all forms of terrorism.
One of my six priorities for the new vision of the Alliance is “cooperation in the multilateral system, between the Alliance, Member States and other UN bodies”. These priorities were endorsed by Member States in the Vienna Declaration last month at the Vienna AoC Global Forum.
In this regard, I want to highlight the importance of greater cooperation among United Nations entities to ensure overall coordination and coherence in the counter-terrorism efforts. I’m looking forward for such cooperation and coordination between the Alliance and the UN system in the CT efforts and activities.
UNGA and Security Council are shaping the international requirements on countering terrorism. These 2 bodies along with UNDP, UNODC, CTITF, IOM, UNESCO and other UN components will always be partners to the Alliance under my leadership.
Another priority I have identified is to “increase UNAOC’s interaction with Media, Civil Society, Business Sector and Academia”.
The Alliance supports the Global Strategy’s encouragement of civil society, including non-governmental organizations, to engage in efforts to enhance the implementation of the Strategy, including through interaction with Member States and the United Nations system.
It is also worth mentioning that the Alliance supports the counter terrorism efforts of the CTITF, an active observer within the Group of Friends of the Alliance.
I am looking forward to increased interaction with CTITF during my mandate.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is useful to invest in the wealth of our diversity to enhance international peace and security for the sake of global development.
The scourge of terrorism threatens our efforts to reach our shared goals of human rights, peace and security and sustainable development.
This is why, more than ever before, we need to stress the importance of collaboration and coherence in combating all forms of terrorism.
This can’t be achieved with the power of war alone.
The power of the Alliance and mediation can serve our common purpose.
As said by the UN Secretary General “The Strategy recognizes that terrorism cannot be combated only through security-related or law-enforcement means. Effective counter-terrorism requires a combination of social, educational, economic and political tools”
In this context, the Alliance has been active in working in different and difficult parts of the world to implement pillar 1 of the UN Global Counter Terrorism Strategy: “combating conditions conducive to terrorism”.
How? By launching projects including, working with leaders of different religious groups, addressing radicalization, countering incendiary and potentially radicalizing narratives and conducting other related activities.
Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Let me now shed some light on more important factors that link the Alliance with the Global CT efforts.
The main Pillars of the Alliance adopted since its inception, are: Education, Youth, Media and Migration.
With donor countries and partners, the Alliance has been actively promoting educational projects in many parts of the world. We need to build educated generations that can understand the culture of peace, co-existence and the benefits of diversity.
The Alliance has also been targeting youth in different societies through fellowship programs, to implant an understanding of its message, by connecting young students, from different parts of the world. We help them to foster an understanding of each other’s religions and cultures.
On the Pillar of media and media activities. The use of media and other means of Information and Communication Technologies, such as the Internet, can be used as a means to promote terrorist activities, or on the other hand, can be used to combat terrorist groups and their plans of recruitment and spreading hate.
I believe that constructive media can serve in spreading the message of peace between nations, in accordance with International Law.
Finally, on migration: History proves that science, technology, philosophy and knowledge – all benefited greatly from the sharing of ideas among people of different cultures and backgrounds.
Yes, historical experience has shown that diversity of cultures leads to diversity of knowledge and ideas.
Therefore, migration should be perceived positively, as a mean of sharing knowledge and transferring useful information.
We see in some developing countries the middle class is engaged in improving the lives of rural migrants of different religious backgrounds. The reason we know these things is precisely because the Alliance has been supporting these projects.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I would like to conclude by mentioning an additional priority I have identified for the Alliance, during my mandate.
I will be “adding new complementary tools to the Alliance’s four pillars that I believe will help foster global understanding and stability”.
I can see the Alliance of Civilizations using mediation as a tool of preventive diplomacy.
Let me also call the attention of this meeting to the role of sports, arts, music and other forms of collective expression of human values.
These celebrations of humanity can foster a culture of peace, and the Alliance of Civilizations can make every effort to use them to that end.
In conclusion, I will count on your support and collaboration and I am looking forward to working with all of you.
I thank you.