Alliance of Civilizations

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
logo
Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva with Erdogan and Jorge Sampaio at the 2010 meeting

The Alliance of Civilizations , English Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) , is a UN initiative under Ban Ki-moon by Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero with the aim of merging common approaches across different societies and cultures in order to create extremism combat and overcome cultural, religious and social barriers, mainly between the Western and the predominantly Muslim world. The Secretary General of the Alliance of Civilizations has been Jorge Sampaio since April 2007 .

history

On September 21, 2004, José Luis Zapatero and Recep Erdoğan , the then Prime Ministers of Spain and Turkey, presented the then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan with the idea of ​​an initiative for an “Alliance of Civilizations”. The proposal was taken up by the Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Ángel Moratinos , in his address to the Arab League in December 2004 and in a speech given with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on March 9, 2005, in Madrid shortly before the anniversary of the attacks of Madrid . Kofi Annan supported the idea and proclaimed it on July 14, 2005 as a UN initiative.

High level group

To develop a concrete action plan and formulate ideas that would form the basis of this alliance, a high-level 18-person group was formed. By the end of 2006, she should conceive the philosophy of this project and a concrete action program that shows how extremist tendencies can be countered and mutual understanding between cultures and civilizations can be created. On September 3, 2005, Kofi Annan named the Advisory Board ("High Level Group") for the Alliance of Civilizations. These are people who represent three categories of representatives of diverse cultures:

The first group includes former top politicians and statesmen. These include the former Iranian President Mohammed Chatami , the former UNESCO Director General Federico Mayor Zaragoza , the former French Foreign Minister Hubert Védrine , Senegal's ex-Prime Minister Moustapha Niasse , Spain's Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos and the former Spanish Prime Minister Felipe González .

The second category is freelance intellectuals who have not held high administrative positions: the well-known British author Karen Armstrong , who writes on religion. She has authored numerous books on the subject, including Islam. The American researcher on Islam, John L. Esposito , who heads a center for understanding between Christians and Muslims at Georgetown University and is editor-in-chief of the Oxford Encyclopedia on the Islamic World.

The third category consists of respected clergy: Archbishop Desmond Tutu from South Africa and the American rabbi Arthur Schneier . Former Iranian President Khatami also falls into this category.

Tasks of the group

After consultations with Spain and Turkey, Kofi Annan identified three main tasks for the group:

  • To give an assessment of the situation in the world, in particular for the security problems and for the threats posed by the extremist forces.
  • To conceive joint actions at the official level and at the level of civil society.
  • To recommend a real program of action for states, international organizations and civil society, aimed at promoting the creation of harmonious relationships between different societies.

The prepared action program (the "report") was presented to the UN Secretary General on November 13th in Istanbul.

The action program (the "report")

The report is divided into two parts: Part 1 contains an analysis of the global context and the current state of relations between Muslim and Western societies. He concludes with a set of recommendations to politicians. Part 2 reflects the view of the High Level Group that tensions between cultures have now reached the hearts and minds of the population groups. To counteract this trend, the group drafts recommendations for four areas: education, youth, migration and the media. The report concludes with suggestions on how to implement these recommendations.

Implementation plan 2007–2009

After his appointment as Secretary General of the Alliance of Civilizations, Jorge Sampaio presented in May 2007 his plan for the implementation of the 2007-2009 action program. A media fund is planned to promote projects for cooperation between cultures and religions and a youth exchange program. There is also talk of a "media reaction force" which is supposed to intervene in a crisis with constructive debates. A database with prime examples of successful cooperation projects is to be set up.

In order to promote intercultural and interreligious exchange, a so-called "Group of Friends", namely a network of over 60 countries.

The 1st Allianz Forum in Madrid

The first forum in Madrid, Spain, on March 15-16. January 2008 was dedicated to the youth. Politicians, representatives of foundations and religious organizations, youth organizations and the media met here to come up with sub-initiatives and projects. A fund is also set up to finance this.

ambassador

To follow the implementation plan, the names of ambassadors ("14 sages") for the Alliance of Civilizations will be announced in Madrid to make the idea more popular.

The Alliance of Civilizations and Other Organizations

The OSCE decided to support the alliance back in December 2005. NATO pledged its support in November 2006 at the Riga meeting. The European Union divides them into the framework of the cooperation in the Mediterranean of the so-called. "Barcelona Process", or sees it as part of the European Neighborhood Policy (ENP), there are connections to the Anna Lindth Foundation and to the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue 2008.

Ideological background

The Alliance of Civilizations sees its task in responding adequately to every form of religious extremism, so it is expressly not limited to dealing with political Islamism. Fundamentalist movements within other religions are also viewed critically. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon describes Jalal ad-Din ar-Rumi as a model for tolerance and spiritual enlightenment, for example, and emphasizes that his teachings describe the goals of the alliance.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ United Nations - Alliance of Civilizations - HLG Report
  2. ↑ http://www.unaoc.org/repository/implementation_plan.pdf
  3. ↑ I FORO DE LA ALIANZA DE CIVILIZACIONES madridaocforum.org ( Memento of February 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ http://www.osce.si/mc-docs/mc_10_05.pdf
  5. ↑ NATO Backs Turkey's Alliance of Civilizations Initiative ( Memento from October 22, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ Inner City Press - Investigative Journalism from the United Nations