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Welcome and thanks

It gives me great pleasure to welcome you all to the 5th Euro-Arab Forum. And can I offer a special welcome to Dr Samy Al-Majaly, President of the Higher Council for Youth of Jordan.

This is the first Forum to be held on Council of Europe grounds and a chance – I hope – to deepen our ties and establish ways that we can work even more closely for the good of the societies we serve.

I’d like to thank our partners: the League of Arab States and the European Youth Forum, as well as the representatives of the Joint Council on Youth and, especially, the Advisory Council on Youth.

Let me also welcome our local participants and representatives from the city of Strasbourg, as well as the many other organisations whose commitment brings this Forum to life.

Democratic security and citizenship

For those of you who have not been here before, the Council of Europe was set up after the defeat of fascism in the middle of the 20th Century. Our Organisation emerged from the rubble of war as Europe’s leaders sought to build peace on new foundations: freedom, co-operation and international law.

It should therefore come as no surprise that one idea drives us above all others: the concept of democratic security. The belief that, in today’s world, military power cannot, alone, bring stability. If you want to create strong and secure states, you must create tolerant societies, where the rule of law reigns supreme, where human rights are safeguarded, and where power and corruption are kept in check.

Today’s theme – learning and practicing citizenship – is central to this idea of democratic security. Because citizenship, ultimately, is about living together peacefully. It is not about being the same. Unlike petty nationalism or extreme ideology, citizenship does not insist that we must each hold identical beliefs. Instead it teaches us to respect each other’s differences while upholding fundamental and universal human rights. Democratic citizenship is the bedrock of plural societies, at ease with our growing diversity.

However, in many of our countries – members of the Council of Europe and of the League – inclusivity, tolerance and mutual understanding are now under threat.

We are in the midst of a desperate refugee crisis, where thousands are risking their lives every day to cross the Mediterranean, fleeing violence and poverty. And yet instead of being met with generosity and solidarity, which we have seen from some individual countries, for example Turkey, the collective European response so far has been one of political posturing, finger pointing and blame. The Council of Europe is clear: European states must fairly share the burden of this crisis and all asylum seekers and migrants travelling to Europe should be treated as individual human beings with the same basic rights as everyone else, as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.

Elsewhere xenophobia and populism are on the march. Anti-Semitism and islamophobia are on the rise. More and more, it seems, people – and especially young people – are being asked to abandon democratic ideals; to pick a side and reject all else.  And in both Europe and the Arab world we are grappling with radicalisation leading to terrorism.

I believe that our shared mission is countering these forces of division. You will be discussing how to do, in the context of citizenship, that over the coming days and I would like to briefly highlight three fronts where I am convinced we can do more together.

Fight against hate speech

First, in the fight against hate speech.

Hate speech has terrible consequences for our societies. Every armed conflict is nourished by it. Every social fault line is deepened by it. And the Internet has given perpetrators of hate speech a vast new platform in which they can too often act with impunity.

So the Council of Europe has, in partnership with young people across Europe, their governments and many NGOs, created our No Hate Speech Movement: a Campaign of Young people for Human Rights Online.

Led by young volunteers, the campaign exposes examples of hate speech, rallies against them, and, crucially, has them removed. It is a fine example of active citizenship by young people. Not only is it carried out on the Internet but also in schools, youth camps and everywhere where young people gather.

Its success has derived from the energy of the young men and women who are involved and also from the vocal support of ministers and parliamentarians.

Indeed, it has proved so valuable that, although the Campaign was due to finish this year, our Secretary General has decided to extend it, in length. We would now also like to see it broadened out, geographically, and I strongly invite all of you – and especially the League of Arab States - to join. Our partnership on this issue will, I believe, send a very powerful message.

Intercultural Dialogue 

Second, it is imperative that we now look for ways to work together to promote greater intercultural dialogue.

Citizenship is not just about our formal relationships with state institutions.  It’s about how we relate to one and other and the degree to which we can accept the differing sides of each other’s identities – religion, faith, creed. It is about understanding the way in which those differences co-exist with our common humanity and shared values.

Our White Paper on Intercultural Dialogue defines it as: “a process that comprises an open and respectful exchange of views between individuals and groups with different ethnic, cultural, religious and linguistic backgrounds and heritage, on the basis of mutual understanding and respect.”  This applies also to the forum and to the participants: an open dialogue leading the way for co-operation.

But clearly there are still vast chasms in our understanding – and they are routinely exploited by those who wish to stoke anger and violence. How can we overcome those? What are the barriers? Which stereotypes are most pervasive? Who should facilitate this dialogue how can we translate the conversations held in rooms like this to meaningful change on the ground?

We need concrete, practical initiatives and I set this as a challenge for you today.

Participation in political life

Finally, I want to flag the importance of participation in political life. Because citizenship is not academic. It is lived and learned, or else it is forgotten.

Participation is central to the Council’s youth policy. We have developed European standards on youth participation such as our Revised European Charter on the Participation of Young People in Local and Regional Life. The charter stresses that “to participate means having influence on and responsibility for decisions and actions that affect the lives of young people or are simply important to them.”

Clearly that will mean different things in different places. There are many young people, in both Europe and the Arab world who, for different reasons, do not feel engaged in this way. Some do, but many still don’t, and our job is to learn from each other’s insights and experiences to identify ways in which we can correct this imbalance.

Young people ought to be able to have opportunities to learn and recreate participation and citizenship according to their wishes and needs. And you should be treated as full citizens, not junior citizens. We have undertaken some common capacity-building activities for youth participation, but clearly those have not been enough. We can do more and we can do better. In this respect I am very pleased to announce that today the translation into Arabic of our manual for Human rights education is completed. I am confident that this is a tool that will also contribute to unite youth leaders across the Mediterranean and I hope that the League will help us to disseminate it.

I hope that this forum will also represent a real opportunity for us to learn and speak about youth policies and what kind of youth participation they support. In this respect I would like also to salute and welcome the members of the Youth Technical Committee of the League of Arab States.

On that note, I would like to hand over to the chair. I have flagged the issues that I think are most pressing, for the sake of tolerance, inclusivity and democratic security in these difficult times. You will, I’m sure, have more to say on these points and many others to raise. I’m sure. I wish you all the best in your discussions and I very much look forward to hearing what they produce.