“There was a powerful name for peace, placing an finish to violence and battle and requires range and preventing towards discrimination,” stated the UN Alliance’s Excessive Consultant Miguel Ángel Moratinos on the closing session.
The three-day discussion board drew contributors from greater than 150 international locations, Mr. Moratinos stated, additionally asserting that the eleventh World Discussion board will likely be held in Saudi Arabia.
Reflecting on some outcomes, he pointed to the worldwide gathering of younger folks at its Youth Forum and the adoption of the Cascais Declaration to chart a path ahead in direction of peace whereas tackling such myriad twenty first century challenges as synthetic intelligence (AI) and power spirals of battle.
“The Cascais Declaration is not only a doc. It’s the dedication of all of us,” the Excessive Consultant stated.
Learn our explainer on the Alliance of Civilizations and its World Discussion board here.
Greater than 1,800 folks from world wide attended the tenth World Discussion board.
What is going to the Cascais Declaration ship?
The Cascais Declaration, adopted unanimously on Tuesday, places ahead a set of progressive pledges to forge peace amid present turbulent occasions.
The 25-paragraph declaration famous, amongst different issues, the potential use of AI as a software to advance intercultural and inter-religious dialogue and pressured the significance of combatting disinformation, misinformation and hate speech whereas strengthening info integrity.
It additionally underscored the significance of intergenerational dialogue for peace, sustainable growth and human rights.
Study extra concerning the Cascais Declaration here.
Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia is the United Kingdom-based co-chair of the Peace Constitution for Forgiveness and Reconciliation.
‘Everyone listens to one another’
“Right here, everyone listens to one another,” Mr. Moratinos informed journalists at a press convention after the World Discussion board concluded, commending the big variety of panels, discussions and occasions that unfolded with a standard spirit of mutual respect.
For a lot of contributors, it was an opportunity to see that up shut. Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia, 85, co-chair of the Peace Constitution for Forgiveness and Reconciliation, primarily based in Birmingham, United Kingdom, stated it was the primary time he ever attended the World Discussion board. The UN Alliance of Civilizations was based to create peace, which is “what we’d like”, he said.
“Solely yesterday, I heard the information a couple of ceasefire [in Israel and Lebanon],” he informed UN Information. “Whenever you’re speaking about peace, vibrations can transfer out to different locations. I used to be completely satisfied. There’s a ceasefire. These killings must cease.”
Extra broadly, he puzzled what growth can happen in locations like Gaza with out peace, asking “who doesn’t need peace?”
“We reside in the identical world, we now have the identical aspirations, we now have the identical challenges wherever we go,” he stated, “and we now have to collaborate to have an effect.”
Fifteen-year-old Suri Jera is from the Guarani Indigenous Peoples neighborhood of Piaçagüera in Brazil.
From Cascais to the world
Many contributors stated they’re taking widespread messages and optimistic power shared all through the discussion board to their communities throughout the planet.
Suri Jera, 15, from the Guarani Indigenous Peoples of Piaçagüera in Brazil, was in Cascais to obtain recognition for showing within the documentary tackling xenophobia Mundos Cruzados (Crossing Worlds) on the discussion board’s PLURAL+ Youth Video Festival.
Certainly, racism, discrimination and what she described as an invisibility are each day experiences for her neighborhood, she informed UN Information.
“The United Nations has a voice for folks like us who’re struggling,” she stated. “They put collectively boards like this one, that are important to construct partnerships.”
‘First ray of hope for peace’, UN chief says
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, who opened the tenth World Discussion board, held a media stakeout on Wednesday afternoon with Portugal’s Prime Minister in Lisbon, the capital, explaining that “yesterday, I had an auspicious signal.”
“It was the primary ray of hope for peace that I acquired within the midst of the darkness of latest months, and I acquired it in Portugal: the ceasefire settlement in Lebanon,” he said.
Contributors from greater than 150 international locations attended the tenth World Discussion board in Cascais, Portugal.
What does a really perfect world seem like?
UN Information requested that query, and the solutions resonated the challenges going through communities world wide. Right here’s what they informed us:
“I dream of a greater world the place there isn’t any prejudice and there may be unity amongst all peoples to reside in a world with out genocide or killing. I wish to reside in a world the place there’s peace.” – Suri Jera, 15, from the Guarani Indigenous Peoples of Piaçagüera in Brazil
“A perfect world for me is to be included in all places as a result of we’re all the identical, so anyplace you go on Earth, you will be welcomed as an individual.” – New Yorker Roy Ahn, 18, a filmmaker who was on the PLURAL+ competition to obtain a recognition for his animated movie Just Talk, which tackles the rise in hate speech
Filmmaker Roy Ahn from New York.
“You possibly can all the time create a greater area for everybody. After we are capable of change mindsets of individuals, we’re capable of create a neighborhood that’s inclusive.” – Dativa Mahanyu, 24, a filmmaker from Tanzania who directed Fidi, about addressing discrimination towards autistic folks
“A perfect world is the place children can hand around in cities in secure areas, we are able to swim in our oceans which can be blue and clear and industries will not be stopping us from gaining access to nature that we’re blessed with and never worrying about if we may have meals on the desk or if a storm will destroy our houses, that the neighborhood is there to assist us navigate local weather change and that we will be resilient.” – Chaela Tordillo, 25, from the Philippines, who directed Old Times, a movie concerning the real-life influence of local weather change
Filmmaker Chaela Tordillo.
“A perfect world could be one the place all of us can really feel secure and cozy about who we’re, in public, in personal. We converse of shifting progressively from tolerance to respect to actual appreciation for distinction and variety. That’s what I hope we are going to in the future come to.” – Rabbi Andrew Baker, 75, the private consultant of the chair-in-office on combating antisemitism with the Group for Safety and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), director of worldwide Jewish affairs for the American Jewish Committee and a panelist within the World Discussion board’s session Upending hate: Turning the tide towards the worldwide surge in all types of spiritual intolerance, together with antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred and anti-Christian bigotry
“A peaceable world, one the place range is well known, the place everyone’s completely satisfied and we’re capable of share with one another. We could not have all the best issues, however we should always attempt for it.” – Bhai Sahib Mohinder Singh Ahluwalia, 85, co-chair of the Peace Constitution for Forgiveness and Reconciliation, primarily based in Birmingham, United Kingdom
