19 November, 2013- Vienna
Ministers,
Your Eminences,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honor for me to be here among you today at this extraordinary event. I am particularly grateful to His Majesty King Abdullah, Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques for his vision in establishing KAICIID, and to the government of Saudi Arabia for its responsible leadership and vital role in the Middle East and around the world.
My thanks also go to the governments of Spain and Austria for their role in establishing this centre. I am also grateful to His Excellency Mr. Faisal bin Muaammar for inviting me, and for his leadership as Secretary-General of KAICIID.
Since its inauguration only a year ago, the centre has established an impressive track record with events and consultations with religious and thought leaders in South Asia, Africa, and South America. But this is not all.
The centre is engaged in cutting edge work with faith communities on the ground. As an example, let me bring your attention to the centre’s rollout of the Multi-religious Collaboration for the Common Good Program in Uganda, where inter-religious dialogue is being used to make progress on public health goals for young children and families. These are major feats, all within the span of just twelve months!
In this impressive range of the center’s activities, I see a growing awareness of one of the central challenges of our times: that of living and working together well in diversity, in an increasingly interconnected world, where the overlap of cultures is a daily experience.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Of all things, whether they are books, words, or objects, nothing is more sacred than human beings. Indeed, the purpose of much of the UN’s work, and certainly the Alliance of Civilizations’ work, is to remind us of our shared dignity, and from that, our responsibility to the world around us.
To me, this is not a mere sentiment. It is a view that has deep and practical consequences in how we carry and conduct ourselves in the world.
The world we have inherited, and even more the world our children will inherit, faces multiple challenges and crises: from water scarcity and environmental degradation to natural disasters like Typhoon Haiyan; from growing income disparities between regions to high youth unemployment and forced migration from war or the absence of opportunity.
To address these and other major global challenges, as this center reminds us, we must work together. Religious leaders and religious communities, in particular, have a vital role to play.
This is because all of the world’s major religions bear shared commitments to building peace and emphasizing the oneness of humanity, to standing on the side of the marginalized, and to working to resolve conflicts. This is the true purpose of religion.
Yet, we see that in many parts of the world, the politics of division rule the day. Faith is misused for ulterior motives. I suspect the global economic crisis sadly worsened this trend, as many in positions of leadership—religious or otherwise—took advantage of people’s pain to strengthen their own positions.
The theme of this conference, the “Image of the other”, is powerful. It reminds us that some religious leaders unfortunately stress the exclusivity of their paths, and isolate those who choose another path.
The reason the Alliance was created and the reason I agreed to lead it is that it remains one of our best hopes to counter polarization across and within societies. I find that sometimes what we fear most we ascribe to those so-called “others”, as a way of legitimizing our fears.
This perception then becomes the basis of our divisions. The key is to not see others simply through our own fears, but for who they really are, as we try to see ourselves. When we do that, we become open to seeing something that runs deeply in all of us, something that we share. We become more attuned to taking responsibility for aiding others and fixing the injustices they face.
As an example, in the Alliance’s work, this is the approach we take when we help young people through small grants and train them to resolve sectarian tensions in places like the Middle East, the Horn of Africa, Mindanao, or Pakistan.
When it comes to the media, the loudest voices tend to get the microphone. Cameras focus on the fringe. In many ways, extremists have an easier time gaining publicity, which leads some to believe that they represent the majority. One of our biggest challenges as a global community is to change this mis-conception.
UNAOC is part of that change. This is why we are here to talk about the image of the other. As an example, at UNAOC we are trying to enhance the level of public debate on identity-based conflicts through skill building training with journalists around the world in partnership with Google and the World Bank.
Not just in the area of youth and media, but in all areas of UNAOC’s programming, our ability to deliver on our goals is based on meaningful partnerships on the ground. Here, the sum of my diplomatic experience has shown me time after time that religious leaders and communities have a critical role to play.
This is why, for instance, I have asked my staff to coordinate very closely with the relevant UN departments to find ways to bring the voices of religious leaders and communities in our institution’s activities around resolving conflicts and defusing tensions.
Again, when it comes to development and the post 2015 sustainable development agenda, I have spoken on the need to ensure that we look at the place of identity, faith, and culture.
Let me say again that we cannot address the shared challenges our societies without working across those lines.
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
With the challenges that are now in front of us, it is my firm conviction that the greatest gift we can give to our next generation is to leave them with a different set of stories.
A different way of looking at the world. A way that honors and enhances the fact that we are all connected, and if you allow me to speak from a deeper place, a way that acknowledges that there is something special about every human being.
Doing that requires that we begin to act together now to preserve and enhance all that we cherish in our shared humanity.
I thank you for listening.