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Global Programme of Action
on
Dialogue among Civilizations
Issued by the Islamic Intergovernmental Experts Committee
(Jeddah, 23-25 September 2000)
Reaffirming
faith in the unity of mankind, and the common moral
responsibility to improve life on earth and promote justice
and peace across the globe,
Guided by the principles and provisions of the Global Agenda
on Dialogue among Civilizations, and Emphasizing that the
value of those principles and provisions is contingent upon
their translation into a well-defined program of action,
Underlying the imperative of cooperation among all peoples,
governments, international organizations and civil society
institutions as the real guaranteed for promoting the spirit
of interaction and understanding and paradigm of dialogue
and tolerance as the only alternative for the paradigm of
confrontation and exclusion,
Cognizant of the extreme utility of dialogue in exchange of
information and expertise among various cultures and
civilizations in dealing with common problems and thus
avoiding duplication of errors,
Recognizing the radical changes affecting relations among
peoples and notions emanating from globalization and the
collapse of barriers on global trade and economy and
international markets for exchange of commodities and
services along with its profound impact on local and global
governance, and on contemporary cultures and their human
values, while equally cognizant that some of these
implications are positive and conducive to the promotion of
justice, peace and equality, whereas other consequences are
negative and require caution and collective management,
The Organization of the Islamic Conference decides to
endorse this program of action and invites all peoples,
governments and organizations to take necessary steps for
its implementation as the embodiment of a global consensus
and determination to establish peace, justice and to promote
the spirit of cooperation and exchange of knowledge and
experience among members of different cultures and
civilizations.
First : The Political Field
1. Organizing meetings and conferences among specialists
from governments and civil society institutions belonging to
various cultures to investigate and articulate practical
ways and means of achieving the following objectives coupled
with the establishment of effective mechanisms to follow up
on the implementation of their recommendations :
. Promotion of genuine belief in diversity and political
pluralism instead of imposition and exclusion in the
international arena as a true reflection of human diversity
and equal rights of all individuals and peoples;
. Ensuring participation in local and international
decision-making as the practical means of fostering a sense
of belonging and readiness to defend collective interest and
common security;
. Ensuring justice in domestic and international relations,
as the necessary prerequisite for political and social
stability;
2. Organizing workshops of specialist belonging to different
cultures to revisit the present status of international
legal and political structure embodied in the United Nations
in order to make it more equitable, representative and
effective in responding to the legitimate aspiration of all
peoples to participate on equal footing in the management of
the future world order;
3. Holding meetings among experts of various civilizations
to investigate the ways and means of enabling the United
Nations to respond in a timely, effective and rule-based
fashion to humanitarian crises, and to articulate precise
criteria governing United Nation’s responses;
4. Exchange of information and local and regional
experiences on the effective means of promoting and
protecting human rights and putting an end to their
violation across the globe;
5. Consultation and exchange of expertise on issues relating
to governance and the means of ensuring the basic
universally recognized principles in this field, in
particular the principles of transparency, accountability
and submission to the rule of law;
6. Convening a meeting of governmental experts and
representatives of civil society institutions in order to
envisage and articulate a new global security arrangement,
ensuring security for all through inter alia eradication of
all weapons of mass destruction and institution of
confidence-building measures in other areas of armaments and
security;
Second : Comprehensive and Sustainable Development
1. Convening seminars and conferences to introduce the new
concept of comprehensive and sustainable development that
goes beyond economic development in the traditional sense
and expands to all aspects of human life aiming at achieving
welfare of the individual and cohesion and stability of the
society;
2. Consolidating the collective efforts of governments,
international organizations and civil society institutions
in the field of eradication of poverty which has taken grave
and unprecedented dimensions;
3. Focused consultation among governments, experts and
representatives of civil society to establish a new world
economic order based on the removal of barriers impeding the
movement of individuals, commodities and services, while
accommodating the interests of developing countries and
peoples whose economic institutions need a transitional
period of adaptation to cope with the requirements of
joining the global open market;
4. Close cooperation with international economic and
financial institutions to develop a long-term program to
bridge the widening gap between the rich and poor, which
endangers global peace, security and stability and excludes
poor nations from any effective participation in the
management of an equitable economic order;
5. Holding joint meeting with international economic and
financial institutions with a view to redefining their role
and priorities in a manner that responds to the developments
during the last fifty years;
6. Articulating practical ways and means to bridge the
digital divide and enable developing countries to utilize
the modern developments in information technology in a
manner conductive to their integration in the world economy;
7. Promoting comparative economic studies in the curricula
of universities and colleges together with new legal
instruments that respond to the needs of the new economic
life;
8. Consolidating efforts to ensure more cooperation in the
field of protecting intellectual property rights in light of
the expanded role of cross-cultural intellectual innovation
in the fields of advanced technology;
9. Articulation of innovative approaches under the auspices
of the United Nations and with participation of the
international financial institutions, relevant regional
organizations and representatives of the private sector in
order to alleviate the debt burden of developing countries
to enable them to develop the infrastructure required for
sustainable economic development;
Third : Culture and Education
1. Promotion of cultural tourism and holding of conferences
and seminars to promote cultural exchange and allow first
hand contact with culture of others and introduction of
one’s own culture;
2. Promotion of mutual visits and meetings of experts of
different cultures aimed at discovering commonalities among
various contemporary cultures and civilizations,
facilitating cooperation and exchange among cultures without
eroding cultural identities of various peoples;
3. Encouraging governmental and private cultural
institutions to fulfil their role in promoting the culture
of dialogue and tolerance based on recognition of cultural
diversity;
4; Incorporating the culture of dialogue and understanding
in school curricula and textbooks;
5. Exchange of visits among peoples of arts and cultures and
organization of cultural festivals through which masses in
different countries will have a chance of getting acquainted
with other cultures thereby fostering closer relationship
between peoples of arts and cultures across civilizations;
6. Holding sports competitions, Olympiads and scientific
competitions at national, regional and international levels;
7. Designating a week in each year to promote the culture of
dialogue among civilizations at the local and international
levels;
8. Utilizing the phenomenon of cross-cultural immigration in
bridging the gap of understanding between cultures;
9. Consultation to articulate effective mechanisms to
protect the rights of cultural minorities to maintain their
cultural identity and to facilitate their integration into
their new social environment without forcing them to
assimilate culturally;
10. Cooperation among governments and non-governmental
actors to fight illiteracy and to expand participation in
the cultural life from the elites to the masses, as a
fundamental human right and as an additional guarantee
for participation of all in public life;
11. Facilitating and promoting teaching of various foreign
languages, including those in particular that have been
marginalized, in order to break one of the most serious
barriers among cultures and provide a prerequisite for the
exercise of dialogue;
12. Reinvigorating and encouraging translation of basic
manuscripts and books and studies representing different
cultures and civilizations;
13. Promoting the practice of close collaboration
(fraternity) between universities and colleges and their
counterparts in other cultures, which facilitates the
exchange of expertise and strengthens human and scientific
relations across cultures.
Fourth : Information
1. Concluding a code of conduct in the field of
dissemination of information to be drafted by experts and
specialists from the field representing various culture,
which should include in particular :
.
Utilizing the immense power of information media in
promoting the culture of dialogue and understanding through
the presentation of information material that give living
example of such dialogue by intellectuals and experts
belonging to different cultures;
. Strict adherence to the requirements of objectivity and
impartiality in presentation of the “other” and refraining
from distorting, tarnishing the image and discrediting
“others”;
2. Encouraging the exchange of pertinent information
material, particularly those introducing other peoples;
their cultures and their ways of life; which helps in
discovering the commonalities among various cultures;
3. Mutual visits by academicians, practitioners and
governmental and non-governmental experts in the field of
communication and information representing various cultures
and civilizations;
4. Establishment of a multi-lingual site on the internet
dedicated to promotion of dialogue among civilizations and
follow up the implementation of the provisions of this
program of action, and responding to questions and queries
of the general public in this area;
Fifth: Protection of the Environment
1. Utilizing Dialogue Among Civilizations to exchange
expertise and experience in the field of the environment,
and the great dangers posed to current and future
generations of developed and developing countries alike
emanating from environmental degradation;
2. Utilization of the mass media, and cultural institutions
in creating the necessary awareness of the dangers as well
as sources of environmental contamination and degradation;
3. Exchange of information and expertise in the field of
early prediction and warning, as well as in the area of
nuclear and industrial waste in a manner conductive to the
effective protection of human generations as well as air and
water resources;
4. Utilizing the mass media to encourage public and private
sector to reconcile the needs for industrialization and the
consideration of protecting the environment;
5. Convening meetings of experts from various cultures and
civilizations in order to derive and categorize the
theoretical basis and articulate a draft universal code of
the obligations of human societies toward the natural
environment and its protection;
Sixth : The Social Field
1. Initiating intensive dialogue on the issues of social
justice in order to preserve the cohesion of the social
fibber and protect human beings from deprivation and unfair
treatment, and to preclude such feelings from being
generated in human societies and prevent their consequences
for peace and stability;
2. Managing an intensive information and cultural campaign
to protect and strengthen the family from disintegration and
collapse as a result of radical changes in family relations
brought about by economic pressures accompanied by changes
in the traditional roles played within the family;
3. Cooperation through bilateral and multilateral meetings
of experts, politicians, and sociologists to identify the
changes on the codes of ethics prevailing in contemporary
societies in an effort to promote and support the following
categories of values;
.
Values preserving the unity and cohesion of society,
bridging the generation gap and encouraging moral principles
of honesty and credibility as well as attachment to the
family and promotion of understanding and cooperation in the
home environment;
. Values promoting progress and development through
knowledge, work ethics, punctuality and proper time
management, and those promoting organization and proper
management;
4. Cooperation through the exchange of expertise to give
more attention to the needs of children and youth in facing
great pressures placed upon them particularly in developing
countries;
5. Drawing upon the ethos and values of different cultures
and civilizations in the articulation and drafting of a
universal code of ethics and morality;
6. Utilizing moral values of different civilizations to
fight social ills, particularly violence. |
