Attaf calls for the development of bold initiatives that restore the international community to fulfilling its duties to hold accountable and punish those who compromise with it.

Cascais (Portugal) – On Tuesday, the Minister of State, Minister of Foreign Affairs and the National Community Abroad and African Affairs, Ahmed Attaf, called from Portugal for the development of “effective and bold” initiatives that would enable the international community to fulfill its actual responsibilities in holding accountable and punishing those who dare to blackmail and threaten it.

In his speech during the tenth ministerial meeting of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations Forum in Cascais, which he attended on behalf of the President of the Republic, Mr. Abdelmadjid Tebboune, Mr. Attaf noted that the world today is experiencing “extremely dangerous transformations that threaten the very foundation of the rules governing contemporary international relations and promote a logic of resorting to force and its excessive use as a reality imposed in many corners of the globe, paving the way for the entrenchment of unilateralism and self-isolation as a strategy for achieving temporary gains and dealing with external developments.”

The Foreign Minister pointed out that the most prominent example of these transformations, in all their dimensions and in their most horrific forms, is “the genocide and war crimes and crimes against humanity faced by the Palestinians and the Lebanese at the hands of the Israeli occupation,” emphasizing that “the same applies to other neighboring countries of Palestine that have also suffered from the tyranny and unlimited escalation of the Israeli occupier.”

The minister highlighted that these transformations “once again confirm that the world is not suffering from a clash of civilizations as some want to promote,” but rather that “what we have witnessed and continue to witness is a struggle for illegal influence, a struggle for the dominance of the strong over the weak, and a struggle for the appropriation of others’ rights and silencing their legitimate aspirations.”

From this perspective, Mr. Attaf stated, “It is crucial for us, as we celebrate today two decades since the establishment of our forum, to work on formulating effective and bold initiatives that will first support the United Nations at a time when there is an intention to weaken it and marginalize its vital role.” Secondly, these initiatives aim “to serve the multilateral international system as it faces crisis after crisis that threaten its effectiveness.”

According to the minister, these initiatives must “serve international law, which is being systematically violated by parties that wish to place themselves above international legitimacy with its provisions and regulations.” Furthermore, they should restore to the international community “the actual responsibility to hold accountable and punish those who dare to blackmail and threaten it.”

Mr. Attaf concluded by stating: “Our conviction remains firm that the cycle of conflict witnessed in our world today will not be a predetermined fate if there is a sincere will to overcome it. African wisdom reminds us that there is nothing worse than a human being except another human being, and nothing better than a human being except another human being, for he is capable of both the worst and the best.”

APS