QNA
New York
Qatar reaffirmed support to all serious initiatives aimed at building bridges between different cultures and societies, which will have positive effects to enhance values of human solidarity, democracy, development
and peace in all parts of the world.
This came in Qatar’s statement delivered by the state’s permanent representative to the United Nations and other organisations in Geneva, Faisal bin Abdullah al-Henzab, before the Ministerial Meeting of the UN Alliance of Civilisations Group of Friends held in New York on the sidelines of the 70th session of the UN General Assembly.
He said that the meeting was of great importance in light of the circumstances the world was witnessing, “which requires to exert more efforts to promote peace, security and stability in the world, and to ensure co-existence for our future generations”.
He said that the world was experiencing divisions, tensions, instability, violations and abuses of human rights, threatening peace and embodying the importance of the role that could be played by the Alliance of Civilisations through its creative activities aimed at defusing tensions, bridging the gap between the cultural and religious identities, improving and developing understanding and co-operation among nations to achieve peace.
“The State of Qatar pays attention to the Alliance of Civilisations as a complement to the political and security efforts undertaken by the United Nations and the international community for the prevention of conflicts and the creation of appropriate post-conflict environments,” Henzab said.
He said that despite the UN General Assembly’s proclamation of 2001 as the United Nations Year of Dialogue, the world was witnessing many ongoing crises, “which undermine the idea of dialogue and threaten the international security and peace”.
He also noted that the world was witnessing widespread abuse of the international humanitarian law by authoritarian regimes and terrorist groups alike.
Henzab stressed that the Alliance of Civilisations would spare no effort in supporting the international community to stop such violations, face the increasing international challenges, build bridges of understanding among civilisations, promote dialogue frameworks among cultures and religions and enhance respect for cultural and religious pluralism.