OSCE ready for ‘Alliance of institutions’ in combating intolerance and violent extremism, says Secretary General Zannier in Barcelona

“It is our responsibility to protect what binds us together and to present a united front against forces that want to reverse these positive trends by exploiting what still divides us,” said OSCE Secretary General Lamberto Zannier at the High Level Meeting on Intercultural and Interreligious Dialogue held on 22 and 23 July 2015 in Barcelona.

Zannier highlighted readiness for an ‘Alliance of Institutions’, in addition to the UN-mandated Alliance of Civilizations to wage a common campaign against today’s nihilistic ideologies. “We need to further articulate the added value of our respective organizations according to their specific vocations and mandates, while building synergies among us wherever possible.”

“When looking at the Euro-Mediterranean region today, we see to contradictory trends – on the one hand, globalization has been a powerful force towards increasing cultural and human bonds between our societies, people embracing similar values, and on the other the region is experiencing renewed and heightened tensions with terrorist groups waging a frontal attack on civilization as we know,” said Zannier.

He said that the first urgent task should be to forge a common, powerful counter-narrative to the divisive messages which are being spread by groups and movements who reject dialogue, tolerance and peaceful coexistence.

Zannier underlined the importance of partnering with civil society institutions. “It should be an Alliance of Institutions with a small i, that is one including international organizations as well as civil society actors such as religious leaders, women and youth organizations, and the media. We need to build bridges between governments and peoples by leveraging all the good work that is done at the civil society level.”

The OSCE, in co-operation with Serbian OSCE Chairmanship, recently launched an OSCE-wide campaign OSCE United in Countering Violent Extremism  to send a unified message against violent extremism. “This is an important part of our counter-narrative,” said Zannier. 

The meeting, which gathered together some 80 representatives from institutions for intercultural dialogue and cooperation, interfaith organisations, religious authorities and prominent public figures was held on the initiative of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean, KAICIID Dialogue Center, together with the Anna Lindh Foundation for Euro-Mediterranean Cross-Cultural Dialogue , the UN Alliance of Civilizations and the European Union.