The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean (PAM), H.E. Pedro Roque (Portugal), addressed the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) Group of Friends Ministerial Meeting, dedicated to Youth Engagement: The Nexus to Building Inclusive Societies and Sustaining Peace, held in New York on 22 September 2017.
PAM’s participation at the meeting reflects the strong commitment to the goals and ideals of the Alliance, and marks the continuation of the strong and lasting cooperation between the two organisations.
In his address, Hon. Roque recalled that PAM shares with UNAOC the conviction that young people can and must contribute in building inclusive societies and in sustaining peace. “Indeed, new generations have the potential to prevent conflicts and extremism, but it is our responsibility to educate them to the fundamental and universal values of democracy, human rights and mutual respect”, the PAM President added.
As constantly underlined at PAM meetings, the promotion of interreligious and intercultural understanding in the field of youth education is crucial for countering xenophobia and achieving peaceful coexistence. Educational institutions should be actively and strongly involved in the efforts for fighting violent extremism and radicalization.
For this reason, in 2014, our Assembly established its Academic Platform in order to facilitate interaction among MPs, universities and students.
PAM is committed to work with international institutions and its member national parliaments in order to find the best possible legislative measures to facilitate the participation and engagement of young people in shaping the future agenda.
“We have the moral and social duty to be an example for people that diversity is not a threat, but an added value, and that terrorist crimes are not specifically linked to a particular religious or ethnic group”, Hon. Roque concluded.