History

Memorandum of Understanding
between
the United Nations Population Fund
and
the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace

July 12, 2017

After his nomination as the Chairman of the Constituent Council of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace, Al-Jarwan holds meetings at the United Nations Secretariat in New York, and signs the first agreements of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace with the United Nations Fund.

A memorandum of understanding was signed today between Mr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Jarwan, the Chairman of the Constituent Council of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace, and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), at the headquarters of the International Organization in New York, with the aim of cooperating and building international partnerships to instill values of tolerance and culture, reject extremism, promote preventive diplomacy, support regional and international youth initiatives, launch of a major international award, to contribute in the protection of international peace.

The Memorandum of Understanding indicates that the purpose of the signing is to provide a framework for cooperation, through which the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace and the United Nations Population Fund will consolidate and develop their cooperation in areas of mutual interest and work together to achieve common objectives, in order to support the establishment and development of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace, with special emphasis on strengthening its technical capacities and contributing to the design and implementation of strategic plans in the areas of tolerance and peace.

The convention also aims to develop and implement joint programs, events and conferences to promote tolerance, peace and security at all levels, especially youth, as well as joint launching and supervision of a major international prize for tolerance and peace.

Mr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Jarwan, who was named Chairman of the Constituent Assembly of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace during the first Constituent Assembly session held in New York on the sidelines of the United Nations’ meetings, stated that:

“Our future vision stems from the firm conviction that the achievement of international peace in our time depends on the ability of the international community and various governmental and non-governmental bodies to promote a culture of tolerance among people, as most of the conflicts that are taking place in our world today broke out due to religious,
ethnic and sectarian extremism.”

He clarified that “the activities of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace will be aimed at cooperating with the United Nations in strengthening the preventive diplomacy efforts through which the organization seeks to prevent conflicts before they erupt, by teaching the values and culture of tolerance to future generations in various languages of the world, which shall be included in schools and universities in different countries. We will try to achieve this through coordination and constant communication with the governments of countries, which we can call the peace planting program.”

Mr. Al-Jarwan added: “The forces of extremism and the enemies of peace have worked for years to plant malicious ideas in the minds of young people to provoke sedition and stir them up. We are facing a huge number of young people who have fallen victim to this malignant plant. It has become our duty to protect our children and instill in them the plant of tolerance so we can harvest the fruits of peace in the future. Our Council also aims to address the problems of declining values of tolerance among human beings and the outbreak of extremism and violence, and wants to make these issues the focus of a research center among university students and researchers of research centers around the world. We intend to achieve this through our constant contact with universities, research centers, and studies centers, in addition to organizing several international conferences for this specific purpose.”

The agreement was signed by Mr. Kwabena Osei-Danquah, Director of Governance and Multilateral Relations at the UNFPA headquarters in New York, who praised the role of Mr. Ahmed bin Mohammed Al-Jarwan, Chairman of the Constituent Council of the GlobalCouncil for Tolerance and Peace,stressing the United Nations support for the Council’s orientations and its effort to work with him to spread tolerance and peace.

The Constituent Council of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace, chaired by Al-Jarwan, held several preparatory meetings in the days prior to the signing of the Convention, and met Mr. Henk-Jan Brinkman, Head of Policy, Planning and Implementation of the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office Branch, and Ms. Cecile Mazzacurati, Head of the Secretariat – Progress Study on Youth, Peace and Securityat the UNFPA and the Peacebuilding Support Office.

Al-Jarwan discussed with Mr. Brinkman and Ms. Mazzacurati the importance of supporting and promoting the values of tolerance among peoples and between countries and governments, especially among young people, in order to achieve sustainable peace, stressing the importance of using soft power to spread the values of tolerance and peace around the world.

For their part, Mr. Brinkman and Mrs. Mazzacuratipraised the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace and its directions, hailing the Chairman of the Constituent Assembly, Mr. Ahmed Bin Mohammed Al-Jarwan and his hard work in the service of international peace. They also stressed the support of the United Nations for the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace, pointing out their aspiration to work together with the Council to achieve the goals of peace in the whole world.

The Constituent Council of the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace, chaired by Mr. Al-Jarwan, met Ms. Saskia Schellekens, Special Adviser to the Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth at United Nations. Al Jarwan reviewed with her the Council’s plan of action towards young people and the work to uphold their tolerance values, by spreading the values and principles of tolerance in the curricula, research and studies. For her part, Schellekens praised the role of Al- Jarwan and the Global Council for Tolerance and Peace, pointing to the United Nations support for the Council’s directives and stressing its aspiration to work together with the Council to promote tolerance and peace.