Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser. Credit: UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

By Roger Hamilton-Martin
UNITED NATIONS, Nov 10 2014 (IPS)

Ambassador Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser currently heads the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations. Between 2011-2012 he was president of the General Assembly, setting the agenda for debate in the assembly during the Arab Spring.

His new book, “A year at the helm of the General Assembly” has just been published by NYU Press.You don’t want to enlarge the Security Council for the sake of representation only. No, (you must enlarge) for the commitment, the contribution.

IPS correspondent Roger Hamilton-Martin interviewed the ambassador on issues central to the book– mediation and U.N. reform. Excerpts from the interview follow.

Q: How can we reform the General Assembly to ensure that practical steps are taken to improve implementation of resolutions by member states?

A: I look at the problem from (the perspective of) the mandate of the president of the General Assembly. One year. How can you achieve good results in one year? I was lucky because I was elected in February 2011 and I was still the ambassador of Qatar to the U.N., so it gave me enough time to prepare and organise.

I was ready from June, you know. June 2011. I took over in September. For someone who doesn’t know the system very well, he doesn’t know many people in the U.N… by the time he takes over, half of the year is gone. By the time he wants to discuss and reach agreement or create consensus, the other half is gone.

We need at least two years for the president. At least, if not more. One of the former PGAs tried to, with many countries, to try to come up with an agreement and a draft resolution to amend the charter. They faced great difficulties.

Q: On the Security Council, some say that certain countries are less relevant to global security currently than they were – Britain and France, for example. Should these countries stay as permanent members?

A: It is not up to me to say, “This country is better than that country.” This is a negotiation that must be had amongst the P5. We are looking at this to increase the permanent members not to decrease the current (P5) – they will be there.

We need more, you see many emerging powers around the world and they can also contribute to peace and security. You don’t need them for prestige; you need them for their involvement, for their support, for their role in the regions.

That’s where I am talking about how to reform, not to change the structure. We need a very effective council. How to achieve that? You have to look at what was the problem in the last 60, 70 years and how you can change based on that. I served there, I represented Qatar. If you don’t have consensus, and solidarity on issues, it’s a big problem.

The agreement among the 15 is very important. First among the P5, and then among the 15. So you don’t want to enlarge the council for the sake of representation only. No, (you must enlarge) for the commitment, the contribution.

Q: Is there a reluctance to amend the charter?

A: The P5 will not allow it. The United Nations always been accused by many people, NGOs, governments, but they don’t know, it’s not the fault of the U.N.

The U.N. is a state-driven – if there is consensus, there is agreement, and there is achievement. If there is no achievement, there is nothing. I want here to add a commend to Secretary General Ban Ki-moon – he in his two terms did a lot, but still needs the support of member states.

If there is support you will see a different U.N.  I’m sure in the constitutions of many countries from time to time there is an amendment to deal with issues that weren’t there 100 or 200 years ago. It’s very essential and very important.

Q: In the history of the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA), there have only been three female presidents. What could be done to heighten participation?

A: We would love to see UNGA female presidents. Women who have assumed senior positions at the U.N. in general as under secretary-generals or assistant secretary generals have done remarkable jobs. I am sure they will do great as presidents of the General Assembly as well.

We need to encourage member states who nominate their candidates for this top position to support women candidates.  I am all for women leadership and gender balance.

Q: With the current situation in Iraq and Syria, what role does mediation have to play when it comes to ISIS? Is there a place for sitting down at the table with a militant organisation?

A: Today we always accuse governments that they are not doing enough. But politics and political decisions are not enough.  There is a responsibility on the religious leaders, there is responsibility on civil society, there is a responsibility on academia and university, there is responsibility even on the private sector.

So I think we should work together – religious leaders today can get involved in what’s going on with ISIS. You know young people – lack of education, negative environment, they an easy target for those people (ISIS).

Edited by Kitty Stapp

His Excellency Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar, U.N. High Representative for the Alliance of Civilisations, stands with youth from City Kids, a local non-profit organisation in New York. Credit: Joan Erakit/IPS

By Joan Erakit
NEW YORK, Apr 13 2013 (IPS)

Today’s youth are hardly passive consumers of content – they create it, endlessly updating via social media and spreading information faster than one can say “go”.

This weekend at New York’s Columbia University, the United Nations Alliance of Civilisations (UNAOC) teamed up with Columbia’s Teachers College for a symposium titled “Conversations Across Cultures: Youth Media Visions“, exploring how young people from around the globe view diversity, migration and social inclusion, via video production.

Inaugurating the symposium, His Excellency Mr. Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar, a former president of the U.N. General Assembly and U.N. High Representative for the Alliance of Civilisations, emphasised the deep investment of the UNAOC in the development of young people.

“The UNAOC is committed to facilitating the participation of youth with their visions and opinions of the political process. Several of the UNAOC initiatives channel this commitment,” he said.

“The UNAOC is also committed to supporting the distribution of outreach of new media, and of media messages where youth represent themselves.”

Representation for Change

And that seems to be the precise reason for giving young people a mic, a video camera and access to the Internet. Though mainstream media may not always be keen to allow the voices of the young for fear of unorthodox opinions, Youth Media Visions pushes young people to the frontline, facilitating all aspects of education and production under the guidance of experienced media professionals.

“It’s very appropriate to welcome a programme that’s of enormous impact because this is a way that youth can speak and make a difference, and communicate across cultures and help people understand each other.” Dr. Susan Furhman, president of Teachers College, told a packed room at the Macy’s Gallery.

The symposium, which features various digital aspects including film, workshops and video production, is an avenue of dialog that brings educators and youth together to discuss mediums of change.

How do you get young people to voice their opinions on the matters that truly concern them? Well, you start by giving them a video camera.

In 46 short films made by youth all over the world, subjects such as migration, education, bullying, unemployment and poverty are covered with such unflinching clarity and honesty, it’s almost difficult to watch.

In a short video entitled “Living in Limbo: Youth Out of Work and Out of School”, a group of teenagers shoot a day in the life of a young New York mother as she struggles to navigate the perils of job hunting whilst dealing with two young children and bouts of depression. The film works to shed light on the United States’ disconnected youth, a phenomenon that has left many out of school.

Build it and they will come

Regardless of where a child grows up and what resources are available to them, technology – once introduced – becomes a learning tool unlike any other.

“Technology promotes this sort of playfulness, you get to know things through a sort of game,” Laia Sole, an artist and arts educator who curated the project, told IPS.

Youth Media Visions embraces this aspect by engaging its participants in the conversations surrounding the introduction of media and technology to remote villages and cultural settings usually isolated from technology.

“Children every day act in a very similar manner. The introduction of media and technology into a classroom is something that we can see all over the world. It’s changed the way we approach technology and how we build it. It is something that promotes interaction and it’s more based on the senses; it’s more tactile and visual and it’s something that humans, particularly children, relate to,” Sole told IPS.

The symposium, which runs Apr. 12- 14, also features eight non-profit organisations from all over the world whose main goal is to empower young people by using media.

CHINH, Global Action Project, Cinema en Curs, One Minutes Jr., Educational Video Center, Plural +, Fundacion Kine and Wapikono Mobile are all organisations that will participate in the three-day event which encourages visitors to take active digital roles in the discussion of formal and informal education.

“One of the things that became relevant to me while working on this project was learning from these organisations that we have here,” Sole added. “They are mobile, they are flexible, they can work whether in formal or informal settings, which means that they can reach communities which otherwise could not be reached.

“My main goal would be that we see how these different organisations operate, in order to see what are the advantages of working with media in any educational setting whether it’s formal or informal,” she concluded.

Youth Media Visions will be on display at the Macy Gallery Apr. 12 through 19.

Border guards in Bangladesh refuse entry to Rohingya refugees from Myanmar. Migration is one factor that can contribute to polarising communities. Credit: Anurup Titu/IPS

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 25 2013 (IPS)

Amidst the rising tide of racial and religious intolerance worldwide – including xenophobia, anti-Semitism and Islamophobia – the U.N. Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) will meet in the Austrian capital of Vienna later this week to strengthen cross-cultural relations in a world it describes as “alarmingly out of balance”.

In our inter-connected information age, says Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, “we may not be able to prevent every merchant of hate in every corner of the world.

“But we can build bridges that are strong enough to withstand those forces,” he adds.The television cameras focus on the fringe. The extremists gain easy publicity with their bonfires of bigotry.

And the task of constructing those bridges is one of the primary responsibilities of UNAOC, which holds its Fifth Global Forum aimed at “Promoting Responsible Leadership in Diversity and Dialogue.”

The last four Forums were held in Madrid, Spain (2008), Istanbul, Turkey (2009), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2010) and Doha, Qatar (2011).

The Vienna Forum, scheduled to take place Feb. 27-28, will be the first to be headed by the new High Representative of UNAOC Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser of Qatar, a former president of the U.N. General Assembly and chairman of the Board of Directors of Inter Press Service (IPS) news agency.

Asked about the most effective way of remedying the growing malaise, UNAOC Director Matthew Hodes told IPS intolerance and discrimination have been a sad, unacceptable part of the human experience, and may never be completely eradicated.

“What the international community can do, what U.N. bodies have and will continue to do is maintain the fight against these scourges,” he said.

Whether it is by setting standards through international instruments, vigilant reporting of abuses of those standards, or proactive efforts at reconciliation, “We all have a role to play in that fight,” he added.

Meanwhile the spread of hate crimes has also been attributed to sensational coverage by the international news media.

When the United Nations commemorated International Day of Peace last September, the celebrations were marred by news of widespread rage in the Islamic world, a continued bloody civil war in Syria, suicide bombings in Iraq and Afghanistan and violent demonstrations in Pakistan, Indonesia and Bangladesh against a video caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad.

In his address, the secretary-general warned that the world was facing global protests and violence in response to another ugly attempt to sow bigotry and bloodshed.

But he also directed his jabs at the media. In today’s world, he said, the loudest voices tend to get the microphone.

“The television cameras focus on the fringe. The extremists gain easy publicity with their bonfires of bigotry,” he said.

Navi Pillay, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, was equally unhappy with the news coverage when she said the best way to deal with provocations, including religious intolerance, was to ignore them. But the news-conscious media doesn’t.

Asked whether the press is a contributory factor to the current state of hate crimes through sensationalism in news reporting, Hodes told IPS, “The societies in the world that are the most free are also those with the most unfettered media.”

He pointed out that those who work in the media are subject to professional standards set in each country: standards that when followed tend to ensure responsible reporting.

“And let’s be clear: when I speak about vigilant reporting of abuses I am speaking not only of international civil servants but the media as well,” he added.

Hodes said the media has a central role to play in increasing the public understanding of sensitive issues, including religious intolerance, migration and diversity.

All of these factors can contribute to polarising communities.

“The UNAOC tries to address this challenge by regularly convening editors, media owners and experts to establish a platform for dialogue leading to concrete recommendations,” said Hodes. “And we aim to organise a meeting around religion and religious intolerance in the year to come.”

Asked about a proposal for an international convention against Islamophobia, one of the most widespread of religious intolerances, he said: “While I would not comment on any particular proposed convention it is apparent that an agenda of fear has taken root in certain parts of the world”.

But that cannot justify the vilification of an entire religion or its adherents, he added.

“Islamophobia is a real phenomenon in certain places and must be addressed,” Hodes said.

A concept paper jointly prepared by the UNAOC Secretariat and the Austrian Federal Ministry for European and International Affairs, which will be discussed at the Vienna Forum, will focus on how responsible leadership can make a difference in the following three major issues:

First, promotion, protection and full enjoyment of the right to religious freedom in a context of religious pluralism which consists not only of greater diversity, but also of perceptions of that diversity and new patterns of interaction among religious groups;

Second, media pluralism and diversity of media content and their contribution to fostering public debate, democracy and awareness of diverse opinions;

Third, shaping a new narrative for migration, integration and mobility in the global economy.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week  designated Nassir Abdulaziz al-Nasser, President of the 66^th session of the United Nations General Assembly, as High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, replacing Jorge Sampaio.

During his tenure as President of the General Assembly,  Al-Nasser exerted efforts to mainstream the importance of the Alliance of Civilizations as a tool for building peace and stability across all nations, Ban said.  As High Representative, he will provide the vision and leadership required to strengthen the work of the Alliance and enhance dialogue with stakeholders to exert their influence in progressing the objectives of the Alliance.

Ban also expressed his gratitude to Sampaio, former President of Portugal, for his commitment to advancing understanding across cultures, religions, and communities.  He said he was  particularly appreciative of  Sampaio’s visionary stewardship of the Alliance over five years since its early days.

For the past 13 years, from 1998 to 2011,  Al-Nasser served as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Qatar to the United Nations.  He represented his country on the U.N.  Security Council during the two-year term of Qatar as a non-permanent member (2006 to 2007).  He also presided over three of the subsidiary bodies of the Council, according to a statement released here.

During his term as Ambassador to the United Nations,  Al-Nasser also served as a Vice-President of the fifty-seventh session of the  General Assembly (2002 to 2003).  At the same time, he served as non-resident Ambassador to a number of countries in the Americas, including Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay and Uruguay.

Earlier,  Al-Nasser was appointed as his country’s resident Ambassador to Jordan (1993 to 1998), before which he was first posted to the Permanent Mission of Qatar to the United Nations, New York, as Minister Plenipotentiary (1986 to 1993).

The recipient of numerous decorations and awards,  Al-Nasser was made an honorary fellow of the Foreign Policy Association in New York in 2009.  He also holds three honorary doctorates:  in international affairs from the Government of China through Chongqing University; from the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in recognition of his efforts to foster cross-cultural understanding and strengthen the work of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations initiative; and an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from Fordham University in the United States.

A wide range of countries have conferred on him their national awards, including the Medal of Independence of the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan; Grand Officer, Order of Merit (Italy); Medal of Grand Commander of the Order of Makarios III (Cyprus); National Order of Doctor José Matias Delgado (El Salvador); and Commander of the National Order of the Republic (Côte d’Ivoire).