ALLIANCE OF CIVILIZATIONS PLAYS KEY ROLE IN PREVENTIVE DIPLOMACY BY ADDRESSING

CONDITIONS THAT FOSTER EXTREMISM, SECRETARY-GENERAL TELLS GROUP OF FRIENDS

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks to the Alliance of Civilizations Group of Friends Ministerial Meeting, in New York today, 24 September:

It is a great pleasure to be here.  I welcome the new members of the Group of Friends.

I am heartened by your growing engagement.  Over half of the members of this Group have focal points to carry out activities supporting the Alliance of Civilizations.

This is crucial in today’s world, where extremist violence in one place can have a ripple effect across many others.  Friction between communities spreads, causing mistrust, resentment and hatred to spill across borders.  Old myths about cultures and religions get new life on the Internet, driving an even bigger wedge between diverse groups.

Rising extremism, like everything else in our interdependent world, demands a global response.

This Group of Friends can forge common solutions to our shared problems by supporting the Alliance of Civilizations.

Through political, financial and strategic support for the Alliance, you can help overcome divisions and build trust.  You can provide a platform to discuss sensitive issues creatively and constructively.  You can cut through polarized positions.

You can tackle difficult questions from new angles, and encourage new ideas.

You can support concrete initiatives that build understanding.

We know that dialogue is essential.  Children who learn about other cultures and religious traditions grow up respecting them.  Opinion makers can break down barriers by speaking out in the press and on the airwaves.  Young people can build trust if we back their grassroots projects.

This is how the Alliance works -- through practical initiatives that deliver results.

We’ve seen many examples over the past year.  The Alliance of Civilizations Forum in January brought together not only a great diversity of religious faiths, but also an impressive array of different players: Governments, philanthropists, corporations, the media, activists, academics and more.

Beyond mobilizing these partners, the Forum launched a number of major initiatives.  Since then, there has been documented progress.  The Youth Solidarity Fund is promoting intercultural and interreligious dialogue.  The Global Expert Finder is a rich source of commentators that can shed light on potentially divisive issues.

Collectively, these projects are giving immeasurable boost to conflict prevention -- one of my core priorities as Secretary-General.  The Alliance is playing a fundamental role in preventive diplomacy.

By working within the UN and beyond the UN, the Alliance is addressing the conditions that allow extremism to fester and creating the foundations for peace.  It is planning for the next five years based on a clear, strategic vision for the future.

This approach is both thoughtful and practical.  In the same way, I hope your discussions here will be reflective and action-oriented, for the sake of the countless people living between the extremes and yearning for peace.

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For information media • not an official record