Building bridges to redress differences

It is about time the world invested in peace more than it invests in wars. The United Nations-backed First Forum of Alliance of Civilisations held in Madrid last week, and the 12 projects approved to address differences between cultures, is the right way to even out differences amongst nations and religions - through means of understanding. We should have learnt by now that wars have never solved a problem and peace is the primary requirement for prosperity.

Preventing wars seems to be a very difficult task, at least while the world is led by people who prefer muscle power over brain power. But, it is the responsibility of the wise to redress problems before they reach the threshold of war.

The UN, which was formed to prevent wars and promote peace and prosperity some 63 years ago, has become witness to more devastating conflicts than the world faced centuries ago. In my opinion, the failure of the UN to implement its charter and to achieve the goals of the 192 member-states is embedded in the way it has gone about trying to end conflicts and stop wars.

The alliance of civilisation forum, the brainchild of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, was an answer to the "clash of civilisation" theory which gained increased acceptance in the the United States after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. It is worth remembering that Zapatero proposed the idea of the alliance in September 2004 at the UN General Assembly in New York, six months after the Madrid train bombings that killed nearly 200. The sorrow at the lives lost in Spain did not provoke the leader of the European nation into launching wars against others. Instead, Zapatero utilised the moment to think about the roots of mistrust among nations, which fuels the growth of global terrorism.

Zapatero's proposal was welcomed in the Islamic world. Professor Ekmel Al Deen Ihsanoglu, Secretary-General of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), responded swiftly to Spain's call and facilitated a series of meetings in Madrid and Istanbul in order to translate the initiative into a concrete international project.

The outcome was the birth of 12 major projects endorsed at the first forum that aimed at enhancing understanding, not only between Muslim and Christian nations, but also throughout the world. Starting this week, the project has become an international property and responsibility, and the UN must help in ensuring that member states enforce it fully.

The initiatives varied from the educational to the cultural, and all focused on tolerance. Amongst them was the establishment of a $100 million (Dh367 million) fund to finance film productions that promote cross-cultural understanding and counter stereotypes.

But, along with promoting tolerance the world should strive to deliver justice to every human being. In the global village we live in, where incidents in any part can impact the stability in the rest of globe, there are no more internal or national issues. Tyranny, oppression and depriving people of their basic human rights, whether in Palestine or in Iraq and whether by an occupier like Israel or by a dictator like Saddam Hussain, should not be tolerated.

Furthermore, the world should not leave the affected parties to resolve their conflicts on their own by claiming that their issues are an internal affair. The world must know that outrage at injustice will spill over to destabilise the rest of the world.

Neither an occupier like Israel nor a dictator like Saddam should be allowed to claim that no one has the right to interfere in resolving their national issues. Injustice is not an internal issue.

On the other hand, the way the world resolves these kinds of conflicts must be free of violence as far as possible. Force should only be used after exhausting all diplomatic means.

In the meantime, the international community should avoid selective implementation of justice. It must tell occupiers and tyrannical regimes clearly that it is not an internal issue. In Kosovo and Chechnya or in Palestine and Kurdistan the issue is the same, people and internal groups should have the freedom to reject tyranny and stand up against it. If governments fail to represent the interests of all segments of their populations, no one should force these segments of the population to live under the national umbrella.

The international community should support the wise women and men who came together in Madrid to promote tolerance, instead of listening those who beat the drums of war.