UNAOC awards its label: United Nations Chair for the Alliance of Civilizations

Meeting of the Euromed University of Fes with the members of the United Nations Advisory Council on the Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) 

As part of the meeting of the UNAOC Advisory Council held on April 20 in Marrakech, the President of EUROMED University of Fes Prof. Mostapha Bousmina, and the President of the Alliance of Civilizations Chair Prof. Abdelhak Azzouzi presented to the leaders of UNAOC the activities of the Chair, unanimously praised by the members of this UN body. It is a Unique Chair in the world carried by the values of UNAOC and Euromed University of Fes. 

Among the personalities present at the meeting were: H.E. Miguel Angel Moratinos, High Representative of UNAOC; H.E. Amre Moussa, President of the UNAOC High-Level Advisory Council, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Arab Republic of Egypt and former Secretary-General of the League of Arab States; H.E. Kolinda Grabar-Kitarović, former President of the Republic of Croatia, as well as other eminent figures. 

In view of its proven achievements and following the meeting, UNAOC decided to label the Alliance of Civilizations Chair established within Euromed University of Fes and give it the name: "the United Nations Chair for the Alliance of Civilizations". 

This is a major act both in its meaning and in its symbolism, and it consecrates the Chair as an important academic actor for training and research in the field of the Alliance of Civilizations, which is also coessential to Morocco’s history and the values it upholds. 

In order to give it the full effectiveness of action and the visibility that its mission requires, the United Nations Chair for the Alliance of Civilizations has been endowed with an academic Master’s “Conflict Management and Alliance of Civilizations”, and a doctoral training program accredited by the Moroccan Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Innovation. With the same perspective, the Chair’s leaders have made it, on the one hand, a vehicle for scientific production as evidenced by the numerous books and journals that have just been published. The Chair has also become a space for the exchange of ideas, dialogue and debate where young students from more than fifty nationalities practice forward-looking reflection on the future of societies and living together. Thus the Chair organized several meetings including the Meetings of young Euro-Mediterranean and African people, held on February 14, 2024 in the Moroccan Parliament on the sidelines of the General Assembly of Parliaments of the member countries of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM); meetings during which young people from thirty countries exchanged and debated the issues and challenges facing the Euro-Mediterranean and African region with the production and reading of a Call for the Future before the presidents of the Parliaments of the UfM member countries.

The Chair also organized on December 6 and 7, 2024, under the High Patronage of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, conferences, debates and exchanges on the subject of the Alliance of Civilizations with the participation of several personalities from various countries and also with the participation of around 1,600 students.

In many respects, nothing could give greater satisfaction than the organization of these activities by the Chair, in perfect convergence and synergy both with Morocco’s widely praised and proven peaceful vision, and with the UNAOC strategy of the United Nations translated into continuous actions for the promotion of mutual understanding and living together.
Recall that the creation of the “Alliance of Civilizations Chair” was decreed during the 9th World Forum on the Alliance of Civilizations of the United Nations, held in Fes on November 22 and 23, 2022 on the occasion of the joint press conference of the Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Residing Abroad, H.E. Nasser Bourita and the High Representative of the United Nations for the Alliance of Civilizations, H.E. Miguel Ángel Moratinos.  

This creation finds its foundation in the Royal message sent to the participants of the said forum in which the Sovereign says: “That the Alliance of Civilizations meets in Fes is a natural occurrence. Hasn’t Morocco had the privilege and honor of being among the founding members of the Alliance? Isn’t Fes the spiritual capital of an age-old Kingdom? Does its Al Qaraouiyine University not constitute the oldest university center in the world – the place where Muslim, Jewish scholars and even a pontifical sovereign perfected their knowledge? Does its Euro-Mediterranean University not today build a space of academic and intercultural dialogue between the two shores? Fes is thus, evidently, the very embodiment of a fruitful alliance between civilizations.” 

It is indisputable that this Royal message clearly emphasizes that intercultural dialogue and the Alliance of Civilizations cannot be mere circumstantial narrative, but a paradigm to be built in and through university teaching and research.

The leaders of UNAOC, headed by H.E. Miguel Angel Moratinos, the High Representative of UNAOC, praised the continuous efforts deployed by the United Nations Chair for the Alliance of Civilizations and provided it with UN support for the success of its mission.