Remarks by Under-Secretary-General Miguel Ángel Moratinos,
High Representative for UNAOC and
UN Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia
at the UNAOC High-level Group of Friends Meeting
26 September 2025, New York
Your Excellency, Mr. Levent Gumrukcu,
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Türkiye;
Your Excellency, Mr. Diego Martinez Belio,
State Secretary for Foreign and Global Affairs of Spain;
Your Excellency, Mr. Adel bin Ahmed Al-Jubeir,
Minister of State for Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia;
Special greetings to H.E. the President of Colombia,
Mr. Gustavo Petro Urrego who is joining our Group of Friends for the first time;
Excellencies and distinguished delegates,
I warmly thank you for joining the High-Level Meeting of UNAOC’s Group of Friends, especially during this High-Level Week which keeps us all fully engaged.
Excellencies,
In the spirit of leading by example, I will keep my remarks brief, mindful that we have a limited time for this meeting and 28 speakers.
Prior to this meeting, my office shared by email a summary report of UNAOC activities from January 2025 to date. On your desks, we have also distributed UNAOC’s annual report covering January to December 2024.
Allow me to highlight four key achievements in 2024 and so far in 2025:
November 2024: Together with the Government of Portugal, we delivered our 10th Global Forum in Cascais. The Forum was a great success attended by 1,200 participants, including 118 official delegations, headlined by the United Nations Secretary-General, the President of Portugal, His Majesty King Felipe VI of Spain, and the Foreign Minister of Türkiye. We now look forward to our 11th Global Forum, to be hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia this December.
January 2025: We launched the United Nations Action Plan to Enhance Monitoring and Response to Antisemitism. As a first practical step in its implementation, UNAOC and the Office of the Special Adviser on the Prevention of Genocide are developing a dedicated online learning module on antisemitism to be hosted by the UN System Staff College.
May 2025: The United Nations Secretary-General appointed me as the UN Envoy to Combat Islamophobia in accordance with General Assembly resolution 78/264 and the subsequent resolution 79/258 B approving the post. I am deeply honored to serve this dual role, with humility and determination.
In April 2025: I launched a new initiative titled “A Call for Peace, End of Wars, and Respect for International Law.” The first edition took place in the city of Gernika. The second will be held in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. This initiative aims to amplify the condemnation of war while fostering a message of peace and upholding respect for international law. Other chapters will follow in historically bombed cities across the world.
In a nutshell, I am delighted to present the 2024 annual report of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) which you see on your desks and the summary report which was distributed by email to your missions few days ago. The summary report covers the past nine months, outlining the initiatives and impact made by the UNAOC across policy, advocacy, and capacity-building areas.
It is my profound pride to lead a small but agile office whose staff demonstrate their resolve and dedication to promoting peace, mutual respect, and understanding across cultures and nations.
In conclusion, I wish to extend my profound gratitude to the co-sponsors of UNAOC, the Governments of Spain and Türkiye, for their consistent political and financial support over the past twenty years.
My deep appreciation also goes to all our partners and donors, who have provided substantive or in-kind support to UNAOC activities and contributed to the Voluntary Trust Fund. Through their unwavering commitment, we have been able to deliver on our mandate and contribute to the broader peace and security agenda.
Looking ahead, I remain optimistic. Strengthened by your support and commitment to UNAOC’s objectives, I am determined to steer UNAOC as a soft power tool for preventive diplomacy, and I will spare no effort in standing up against all forms of hatred and discrimination, promoting dialogue, fostering mutual respect, and upholding human rights and the dignity of all.
I thank you.