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Background |
 The Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) was established in 2005, at the initiative of the Governments of Spain and Turkey, under the auspices of the United Nations. The Alliance of Civilizations seeks to address tensions across cultural divides that threaten to inflame existing political conflicts or trigger new ones. Through preventive diplomacy initiatives, it works at grassroots level, promoting education, youth, media and migration projects aimed at building trust and respect among diverse communities.
The first phase of the Alliance started with the creation by the UN Secretary-General of a High-level Group of 20 eminent personalities mandated to produce a report exploring the roots of polarization between cultures and societies worldwide and proposing practical recommendations to address this growing trend. The High-level Group presented its Report to Secretary-General Kofi Annan in November 2006.
In April 2007, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Jorge Sampaio, former President of Portugal, as High Representative for the Alliance. This marked the beginning of the second phase of the Alliance of Civilizations, with the development of an action-oriented implementation plan focusing on initiatives and projects in the areas of youth, media, education and migration.
The Alliance benefits from the backing of a Group of Friends – a community of 98 countries and multilateral organizations – engaged in developing cross-cultural in support of Alliance of Civilizations actions and objectives. The Group of Friends meets twice a year at Ministerial level (once at the time of the UN General Assembly Meeting and once during the Alliance Forum). Meetings at Permanent Representatives level are also held twice a year.
First Alliance of Civilizations Forum
The Alliance’s focus on concrete initiatives was reinforced and consolidated at the First Alliance of Civilizations Forum, which was hosted by the Government of Spain on 15-16 January 2008. The Forum was a high-profile, action-oriented event which brought together a powerful network of political leaders, governments, international organizations, civil society groups, religious communities, as well as media and corporate leaders. In addition to a High-level Political Debate attended by Ministers and other senior representatives of the Alliance of Civilizations’ Group of Friends, the Forum featured announcements of major new initiatives and project-specific working sessions on a wide range of cross-cultural issues.
Key outcomes of the forum included:
Announcement of a Global Youth Employment Initiative, called Silatech, with an investment of $100 million from H.H. Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser‐el‐Missned of Qatar and partnerships with the World Bank, HSBC, Nike and other high-profile companies.
Announcement of a multi‐million dollar Alliance Media Fund that will work on media productions that include normalizing images of stereotyped communities and minoritiesin mass media through partnerships with major Hollywood production, distribution
and talent management companies.
Launch of the Alliance of Civilizations Rapid Response Media Mechanism providing balanced views and voices of moderation at times of intercultural tension and crises.
Announcement of a Youth Solidarity Fund that will provide small grants to outstanding youth projects in the area of intercultural and inter-religious dialogue.
Establishment of an Alliance network of good will ambassadors made up of prominent, high profile, internationally recognized figures drawn from the worlds of politics, culture, sport, business and entertainment.
The Second Alliance of Civilizations Forum will be held in Istanbul on 6-7 April 2009.
Place of the Alliance in the UN System
The Alliance of Civilizations is a political initiative under the auspices of the Secretary-General, who has assigned the responsibility for it to the High Representative, in the framework of the Terms of Reference for that position. The High Representative suggested to the Secretary-General to transmit the first Annual Report on the Alliance to the General Assembly.
The Alliance aims at developing partnerships and at reinforcing its interaction and coordination with the UN system. In this regard, there is a great potential to develop synergies and complementarities as the AoC continues to evolve as a tool of preventive diplomacy to be used in pre- and post-conflict situations of cultural nature.
In this context, the Office for ECOSOC Support and Coordination in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs has been assigned to fulfil a Focal Point function to coordinate such efforts with other offices in the UN Secretariat. The High Representative has recommended to the Secretary-General to encourage the Focal Point at ECOSOC to provide bureaucratic and logistical support to the Secretariat of the Alliance in order to increase its outreach within the UN system and to contribute to the Alliance’s developing role as an effective UN tool both of preventive diplomacy and of human security and peace building in a broad sense.
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