Remarks by Under-Secretary-General Miguel Ángel Moratinos,
High Representative for the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC)
at XI Global Baku Forum: “Fixing The Fractured World”
Baku, Azerbaijan
Your Excellency,
Mr. Ilham Aliyev,
President of the Republic of Azerbaijan,
Excellencies, dear friends,
Allow me first to congratulate Your Excellency for your re-election to a new term in office. I also wish to thank you for your warm welcome and our constructive meeting yesterday. I look forward to further strengthening the collaboration between Azerbaijan and the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations.
I extend my appreciation to the Nizami Gangavi International Center (NGIC) for providing the opportunity to participate in their 11th forum. The Global Baku Forum has become one of the most acknowledged global platforms bringing the best minds together, thanks to the leadership of the Co-Chairs, H.E. President Vaira Vike-Freiberga and Dr. Ismail Serag-El-Din, and the able management of NGIC Secretary General Mr. Rovshan Muradov and his young team.
Excellencies,
The theme of this year’s forum is “Fixing the Fractured World”.
I would go even further and say that the world order itself is broken due to weak governance and fraying institutions — the backbones of a robust world order.
There are many chronic symptoms of a fractured world such as the spread of impunity; and the absence of true leadership.
But I dare say that the absence of global peace continues to erode our world.
For many: Pursuing peace instead of war is considered a sign of weakness.
Choosing negotiations and mediation is seen as a signal of surrendering. The word and concept of “appeasement” are coming back. I want to reiterate here that negotiation does not mean appeasement.
In last year’s Forum, we were grappling with the war in Ukraine. The horrible attack of Hamas on the 7th of October of last year, and the disastrous situation in Gaza and its unspeakable humanitarian repercussions continue to rattle our world.
The failure to put an end to the appalling loss of lives in both conflicts is another testament of the broken global order and the death of our humanity.
Excellencies,
The advent of the new millennium ushered a new era of hope. Never has humankind reached such level of sophistication in scientific, technological advancement. Never have we advanced as much in biology, medicine, new technologies, let alone the controversial Artificial Intelligence.
Ironically, as much as we are interconnected today, this hope is challenged by wars, new and old unresolved conflicts, exclusion, discrimination and hate.
The huge leap in communication technologies accelerated the spread of xenophobia and racism based on religion, belief, ethnicity, culture and gender sowing divisions and fracturing social cohesion.
The truth is that confrontation, bipolarity, mistrust and the fight for hegemony are back on the global scene.
Multilateralism is fragmented and we have been “caged” within the narrow space of “multilateralism à la carte” where few issues could be addressed while the broader quest for peace and creating a better world for future generations remain far-to-reach goals , let alone missing in today’s debate.
The United Nations is the platform for re-inforcing multilateralism. We need to work for an efficient and sustainable one. We hope that the Summit of the Future will be able to adopt deep reform to make multilateral institutions and frameworks truly universal and inclusive and based on the rule of law.
At the same time, the United Nations is the sum of the collective will of Member States. The values and principles as reflected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, should be our guiding principles. We should reinforce them, not diminish them.
Peace is in the DNA of the Charter of the United Nations should be our guiding star.
Member States should honour the pledges and obligations they made under the UN Charter which reads in its preamble:
- to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war, which twice in our lifetime has brought untold sorrow to mankind, and
- to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small, and
- to establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained, and
- to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom.
The United Nations Alliance of Civilizations will mark this year its 20th Anniversary. I invite you all to celebrate with us at the 10th UNAOC Global Forum, which will be hosted in Lisbon, Portugal by the end of November 2024.
As we continue to lead as a global platform for dialogue, UNAOC is committed to developing a strategy of engagement and dialogue across diverse actors, cultures and religions and civilizations, inclusive of all.
UNAOC will continue to work on identifying the synergies and the convergences, but also to deconstruct the controversies and address them in a meaningful way.
At the microlevel, UNAOC will continue to promote its initiatives on prevention and mediation in identity-based conflicts and to address all forms of religious hatred particularly Islamophobia, antisemitism and prejudice against minority Christians.
We are moving forward in the right direction towards forging an alliance of peace.
I thank you and I look forward to engaging with you in the next the few days.