Abdur Rob Khan North South University

1. Shared Responsibility of State and Non-state Actors including Civil Society Organizations(CSOs) Towards the Alliance of Civilizations : Bangladesh Perspectives Abdur Rob Khan North South University

2. Objectives of the Presentation Keeping the Third Forum of AoC to be held in Rio de Janeiro on 27-29 May, 2010 in perspectives, the purpose of the presentation will be to : • Provide a profile of the AoC, ongoing projects and their implementation status; • In particular, the presentation aims at outlining what perspectives can Bangladesh carry to the Third Forum at Rio • In the process, make preliminary outlines of a national and regional strategy with respect to AoC in Bangladesh perspectives.

3. What is Alliance of Civilizations? • 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 is a platform that seeks to address tensions across cultural divides that threaten to inflame existing political conflicts or trigger new ones. • UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon highlighted the possible conflict prevention role of the platform: “All too often, the United Nations must deal with fires after they break out. Through the UNAOC, we can stamp out the sparks before they catch”

4. Brief Profile of AoC • The Alliance of Civilizations (AoC) aims at countering the so-called clash of civilizations thesis. • It works at grassroots level, promoting education, youth, media and migration projects aimed at building trust and respect among diverse communities. • The number of members of AoC that includes member governments and international organizations has come to 100, with the United States being the 100th country.

5. AoC Projects • AoC concentrates on four areas: migration, media, youth and education • Some of the on-going major projects: (a) multi-million dollar Alliance Media Fund that includes Rapid Response Media –based ; (b) Global Youth Employment Initiatives Fund of $100 million sponsored by Qatar, WB, Nike and some other high profile companies; (c) International Students Exchange Programmes

6. AoC Projects contd… • National Strategy for AoC: member governments and organizations prepare and submit national strategies on AoC to obtain support from AoC Secretariat as well as multilateral donor agencies. • As of 2009, 27 member governments have submitted their national strategy to High Level Representative for AoC • Countries like Romania, Bulgaria have already chalked out their national strategy built around the four key areas of AoC – migration, youth, education and media. Multilateral donors like UNDP are playing role in this.

7. AoC projects contd… • South East European countries have approved their regional strategy with support from AoC – attended by Albania, Austria, Hungary, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Slovenia, Greece, Spain, Turkey • The third meeting of UN AoC focal points was held in November 2009 with a view to enhance capacity of the focal points to advance the agenda of the Alliance by sharing national and regional experiences of inter-cultural dialogues and discuss current projects managed by AoC.

8. Bangladesh and AoC • Bangladesh has been an active participant in the AoC since its inception in 2005; • Bangladesh is one of the 86 AoC Group of Friends which is vital to the AoC’s implementation process. • Bangladesh has participated in the previous two Forums including the Second AoC Forum in Istambul in April 2009 where the Hon’ble Foreign Minister Dr. DipuMoni represented Bangladesh. • We have also co-sponsored the Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace Resolution and have remained associated with all the declarations adopted so far.

9. What Fresh Perspectives May Bangladesh Carry to Rio de Janeiro? • Bangladesh has a vibrant civil society organizations including a big contingent of NGOs including the largest NGO in the world, e.g. BRAC. We may highlight already GoB-NGO partnership in our domestic development, poverty alleviation, social empowerment and inclusion of marginal groups in the development process

10. Fresh Perspectives to Rio contd… • Bangladesh not only participates in UN sponsored international peace keeping operations in several missions, it has also set an example in South Asia by signing a peace accord with the insurgent groups within its own territory and brought a 20-year old insurgency to an end. • Bangladesh’s democratic performance, especially strive for and return to democratic path despite occasional setbacks, remains a central tendency of this nation.

11. Bangladesh perspectives to Rio • Promotion of mother languages serves not only to encourage linguistic diversity and multilingual education but also to better awareness about linguistic and cultural traditions throughout the world. This in turn, inspires understanding, tolerance and cross-cultural dialogue and contributes to a culture of peace. It is out of this conviction that Bangladesh intends to capitalize on the International Mother Languages Day and International Mother Language Institute to contribute to attaining the goals of AoC. Bangladesh can show case this aspect.

12. Suggested Elements of a National Strategy • Very little public awareness about AoC. State and CSO partnership may carry out a number of awareness campaign not only in Dhaka but also other parts of the country. The launch of the National Strategy may involve a number of partners like the Parliament, MOFA, MOI, and of course, NGOs • Most of the projects from PRSP2 and MDG projects may be repackaged and included in National Strategy for AoC.

13. National Strategy for AoCcontd.. • The ongoing UNDP confidence building programme in the CHT may be replicated throughout the country for other ethnic and religious groups and this may be a successful project of AoC • As I have already mentioned, the International Mother Language Institute may be activated and made instrumental in promoting, developing, and in some cases, rediscovering language and culture and traditions of different ethnic groups not only in Bangladesh but also in neighbouring countries of South Asia

14. Regional Strategy for South Asia • The Rabat meeting of the AoC Focal Groups urged the Secretariat to write formally to different regional groupings including SAARC about AoC activities so as to bring synergies. • Along this line, some of the regional projects may be included in AoC regional projects for South Asia; • Given the strategic nature of water security in the region, a project involving countries like India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and China, so this potentially conflictual area could be converted into an area of cooperation.