QNA
Doha
Qatar realised the importance of dialogue and decided to establish centres and launch initiatives to support dialogue in addition to playing a key role in promoting and supporting the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) since its early days in all possible means.
Qatar also established the Qatar Committee for Alliance of Civilizations (QCAC) to highlight the contribution of Arab and Islamic civilisation to other civilisations and human progress in general, to bring followers of religions closer and to encourage peaceful coexistence and acceptance of others regardless of their religion, culture or civilisational background.
Secretary-General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Deputy Chairman of Qatar Committee for the Alliance of Civilizations HE Dr Ahmed bin Hassan Al Hammadi said that Qatar’s accession to UNAOC - one of the United Nations’ most important platforms related to intercultural dialogue, civilisational understanding and cooperation comes in line and implementation of targeted goals of the Qatar National Vision 2030 in international cooperation.
According to him, the targeted goals stipulate intensifying and strengthening cultural exchange with Arab peoples in particular and other peoples in general, sponsoring and supporting dialogue among civilisations and coexistence between different religions and cultures, and contributing to achieving global security and peace through political initiatives, development and humanitarian aid.
He highlighted article 7 of the Permanent Constitution of Qatar which affirmed the principles of international peace and security, the right of peoples to self-determination, not to interfere in the domestic affairs of states, and cooperation with peace-loving nations, pointing out that Qatar was a pioneer in implementing many initiatives, programmes, and activities related to dialogue among civilizations before launching UNAOC in 2007.
Hammadi elaborated that according to Cabinet Decree No 8 of 2010, the QCAC seeks to promote the goals of the Alliance of Civilizations as a soft-power tool for preventive diplomacy through the cooperation between all actors at the regional and international levels.
The QCACs message emphasises strengthening the role of Qatar in highlighting the contribution of the Islamic civilisation as well as other civilisations to human progress, in addition to its role in promoting dialogue and resolving conflicts, emphasising the values of tolerance, solidarity and peace among peoples and in combating extremism and fanaticism.
"To achieve this, since 2010, Qatar has hosted the UNAOC Fellowship Programme, as part of efforts to deepen mutual understanding between youths in the western and Islamic worlds by allowing them to increase their awareness of cultural, political, religious and social differences, in addition to the role these youths can play to eliminate extremism and intolerance among both sides,” he added.
He pointed out that the QCAC publishes books and studies that highlight the role of Islamic civilisation in the development of humanity, for example, the study of the impact of the Muslim migration on the arts and culture of the Near East, and the book of civilisational dialogue, as well as other books and studies that cover all aspects of the dialogue among civilisations.
"Qatar has an influential role in the dialogue among civilisations, as well as a key role in promoting UNAOC by developing relevant plans and supporting it to achieve its goals. Based on its vision and belief that the Alliance of Civilizations represents a unique opportunity for all nations to transcend the traditional national framework, Qatar established the QCAC and hosted several events, conferences, forums and activities,” Hammadi said.
He summarised the major achievements of the plan in the launch of the Qatar Global Award for Dialogue Among Civilizations for the years 2018, 2019 and 2021 which received a wide response from researchers from all over the world, the launch of Qatar’s ‘Alliance of Civilization Award’ at the level of students and educational institutions within Qatar for the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, and cooperating with Qatar University and the Islamic World Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (ICESCO) in issuing the Encyclopedia of Occidentalism, the first-ever and largest intellectual project in the Arab and Islamic world that provides a comprehensive understanding of the western culture from an Islamic point of view.
He said QCAC is preparing a new plan for the next five years that goes in line with Qatar Third National Development Strategy (2023-2027), which is being prepared by the Planning and Statistics Authority.
On the relationship of the QCAC with civil society in Qatar, He said its work is not limited to achieving its vision on cooperation and partnership with government institutions and international organisations only, but it has also established partnerships with some civil society institutions in Qatar such as the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID), the Qatar Youth Hostels Association and Qatar Charity, where many events and activities included in Qatar’s plan for the Alliance of Civilizations (2018-2022) were implemented in the four areas of the alliance - education, youth, migration and media.
At the international level, the QCAC organised the Doha Pre-Forum 2011 with Civil Society Organizations (CSO) with the participation of more than 170 civil society leaders from around the world, stressing that this forum has achieved its goals of optimal utilization of the efforts of civil society institutions in promoting the values of the Alliance of Civilizations and spreading the culture of dialogue among different cultures.
In his response to the question of the main challenges facing dialogue among civilisations and intercultural dialogue in a world dominated today by conflict and hate speech, Dr Hammadi pointed out that the dialogue among civilisations is not only an official international invitation for a future initiative that can connect societies but rather a civilised process that has been going on since ancient times.
He added that the Islamophobia ‘anti-Islam and Muslims’ constitutes one of the main challenges facing dialogue among civilisations with the West in particular, especially with the influx of Arab and Muslim immigrants to western countries where the pace of hostilities against immigrants, refugees and even European citizens of Arab and Muslim origin is rising.
He stressed that in order to confront the challenges facing a true dialogue among civilisations and intercultural dialogue, especially among the Islamic and Western worlds that are facing several fights and conflicts, a self-critical dialogue is required within each civilisation to overcome contradictions and internal conflicts, until objective circumstances take shape for all parties and become effective in forming a multi-civilisational dialogue to build a global community where the values of brotherhood, peace, human solidarity and respect for all beliefs prevail and to reach global citizenship that eliminates hate speech as well as the religious and ethnic inferior view of the other.
On his part, Chairman of the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) Dr Ibrahim bin Saleh Al Nuaimi said that the first conference for interfaith dialogue in Qatar was launched in 2003 and was called upon by HH the Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, adding that since then, Qatar has continued to hold interfaith dialogue conferences, the last of which was held in May under the title of ‘Religions and Hate speech... Scriptures and Practice’.
He said the DICID is one of a few centres around the world that has a permanent specialised activity in the field of dialogue among followers of monotheistic religions; and is also known regionally and internationally for its call for coexistence, respect for the other’s opinion and tolerance, as well as its activities that spread all over the globe earning it a good reputation.
He stressed that the centre’s approach and objectives represent the objectives of Qatar in spreading peace, love and virtue that religious values call for and that wars and hostilities can never create development or achieve stability for societies.
"There is no doubt that this multi-dimensional and multi-level active dialogue movement reflects a deep belief in the value of dialogue as a civilised principle, with a keenness to achieve rapprochement between civilisations, religions followers and cultures, as well as reduce tensions, conflicts and clashes between them, through well-thought-out plans and programmes,” he said.