The Diplomat
The Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, attended yesterday the inauguration of the headquarters of the Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) in Geneva, a “new adventure” that will strengthen collaboration with the UN entities based in this Swiss city, as stated during the ceremony by the high representative of the Alliance, Miguel Ángel Moratinos.
“Today is a great day for UNAOC,” with the inauguration of the new headquarters “here in the Palais des Nations, in the presence of the two co-sponsors of the Alliance, Spain and Turkey, represented by Foreign Minister of Turkey Mevlut Cavusoglu and Foreign Minister of Spain José Manuel Albares“, Moratinos said during his speech.
The idea of the Alliance of Civilizations was promoted by former Spanish President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero in 2004. The proposal was taken up by the then UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan, and on July 14, 2005, the Alliance was officially launched under the patronage of Zapatero and the Turkish President, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Spain and Turkey continue to be the main political and financial supporters of the Alliance, which has 127 member states. Moratinos, Foreign Minister precisely under Zapatero between 2004 and 2010, has held the position of High Representative of the Alliance of Civilizations since January 2019.
“Today, UNAOC embarks on a new adventure. The new office in Geneva, the so-called capital of diplomacy, will complement the work of the UNAOC head office in New York, where the Secretariat is base “, Moratinos continued. “Our Geneva office will help in enhancing the visibility of our work in Europe where proximity and follow-up is needed particularly at a time when this region is facing many challenges such as the rise of racism including antisemitism, anti-Muslim hatred and other forms of discrimination”, he added.
“At the same time, we will strengthen our collaboration with relevant UN-based organizations such as IOM, OHCHR and UNOSAT” and the presence of a headquarters in Geneva “will facilitate the organization of meetings and events in this chamber. This room was created not only to carry the name of the Human Rights Council but also the Alliance of Civilizations”, Moratinos concluded during the event, which was also attended by Tatiana Valovaya, director general of the UN Office in Geneva.
For his part, Albares took advantage of his stay in Geneva to meet with the director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, with whom he discussed “equitable access to vaccines and other actions against COVID-19” (as reported by the minister on his Twitter account) and with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, with whom he analyzed “the human rights situation in the world, especially in Nicaragua, Venezuela and Afghanistan”.
