Remarks by
H.E. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser
The High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations
at Media Dinner – BMW
RISTORANTE BERTON, Viale della Liberazione, 13, Milan
25 May 2014, 8:00 PM
Good evening,
I am really pleased to back in Milan and let me start by thanking BMW Group for hosting this dinner and supporting the Fourth Bicocca Intercultural Day that will take place tomorrow.
Since the last time I was in Milan for the Intercultural day, just a couple of years ago, our world has experienced a rise in the wave of acts of violent extremism, radicalization and terrorists attacks. Often these acts are led by intolerant ideologies that seek to divide humanity based on false interpretations of religious, cultural and social values. Terrorists aim to create a climate of fear and hysteria. They run contrary to the principles and values enshrined in the UN Charter and Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Now more than ever, we need to stand united and work towards preventing the reach of extremist ideologies within our societies. You as media experts and practitioners have a role as well particularly when we see how the conventional and social media platforms have been used and abused by these extremist groups to spread their messages of incitement and hatred. Efforts should be re-doubled to protect pluralism and diversity , also in the media. But Journalists too have a responsibility of conveying objective and moderate messages.
Our work at the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations aim at providing the necessary structures to prevent women and men, and particularly youth, fall victims of narrow ideologies and pervert views.
But we don’t do this alone.
We do it in partnership with civil society, religious leaders and of course the corporate sector.
Allow me here to talk briefly about the corporate sector:
The private sector and the United Nations might seem to have different goals with the private sector traditionally focusing on growth and profitability and the United Nations on peace and security, poverty reduction, and human rights. However, many of our objectives are the same (For instance, supporting resilient economies or providing opportunities for people to pursue a livelihood) and to pursue these goals business and the UN need each other and must work together. Business cannot survive or thrive if societies fail or if people feel that their security is threatened.
Our partnership with BMW is a case in point. Since 2011, BMW Group has been an extraordinary and reliable partner and together we established “The Intercultural Innovation Award” whose objective is to support innovative initiatives that promote intercultural dialogue, understanding and cooperation.
During these years, UNAOC and BMW Group have invested resources and respective expertise to empower grassroots initiatives with high potential of replication and growth. The results and impact have been remarkable: by the end of 2015 the countries impacted by the awarded organizations were 98, across all continent, representing an increase of over 150% from 2011. Furthermore, over 1 million people have been impacted by the supporting projects, and all this in just less than 5 years.
Coming from all over the world, the awarded initiatives provide outstanding examples fostering innovation with the aim of bridging divides, promoting dialogue and intercultural understanding and making contributions to prosperity and peace.
Let me take the opportunity to commend the leadership shown by BMW Group and thank Mr. McAndrews, Vice President of BMW Group, for his vision and constant support to this initiative.
Thank you.