His Majesty King Abdullah delivered a speech in The Hague on Tuesday at a meeting with around 300 Dutch and international students participating in the World Class The Hague programme. Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, and King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands were in attendance.

 

Following is the full speech:

 

In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the Compassionate,

Your Majesties,

Madam Mayor,

Excellencies,

My friends,

Thank you so much for those kind words. And it is truly an honour for me to be back here. And it is no accident that when people everywhere hear the words “The Hague”, we think of justice and peace. And the World Class programme is part of your city’s inspiring commitment, especially to the future that we all share.

So let me say, I am really especially pleased to have this opportunity to speak with students. One of the most satisfying parts of my work is always meeting and talking with your generation, a major part of Jordan's young population, and a truly global force today. I see your energy; I see your concern for the world; and I see a generation with tremendous talent.

And there are many ways to use that talent, and energy, and concern. And I'm here today to talk about only one of them—the deeply urgent need to help the world's people live together in mutual respect.

Humanity is filled with diversity—different religions, different communities, different cultures. But every day, in the news, we see anti-diversity; sectarian fears and conflicts; people excluding and maltreating those they see as “the Other”—minorities, or people of a different faith, even women, half of humankind. We hear angry, suspicious hate speech; and then, there are also these extremist groups misusing religion, in an effort to gain power over people and drive communities apart.

And allowing these voices to divide humanity is profoundly dangerous. Our world today is hyper-connected. Global cooperation is absolutely necessary to meet our challenges, because our challenges are shared. How can any one country or group protect our borderless environment, or stop global epidemics? How can the global economy thrive, if we do not work together to heal development gaps, and stop chain-reaction recessions, or even worse? How can we protect our people, if we do not respond, in unity, to the regional crises that spread desperation and violence worldwide?

And how can we do any of it, if we don’t understand that humanity is one?

And I've always been puzzled when moral life is seen as somehow separate from the hard realities of economics, and politics, and technology. How we live and work together depends on morality, depends on how we live up to our values. And our values support the coexistence that is the only way, in a complex world, that our countries and peoples can survive and prosper. And I’m talking about mutual respect, tolerance, and compassion. These are my values, as a Muslim. I share them with billions of my fellow Muslims around the globe and throughout Islam’s history. And we are obviously not alone. And I have no doubt that the Golden Rule, to treat others as you would be treated, was a principle taught to every one of you here today.

Indeed, the three monotheistic faiths, Islam, Christianity and Judaism, as well as other world religions, have in common these two, greatest commandments: to love God and love our neighbour. And there is no better guide to the peace and justice our world deserves. And students, your generation, has a central role; not only because you are humanity's future, but because, in our rapidly changing world, you are already a driving force. You have the keys to the car, and we need you to steer us as well.

So please allow me to suggest a few points for our compass.

First—and this may seem easy to you, but it is, in reality, not easy at all—and it is that I hope you will continue to do what you are doing, working to understand our world. And this knowledge begins when we come together, in groups like this World Class programme, where we bridge differences of culture and background in a dialogue of respect. And that cannot happen unless we speak and listen to each other with sincerity and acceptance.

Jordan has worked extensively to bring people together in new knowledge of each other, through the Amman Message, through A Common Word, through the World Interfaith Harmony Week. Each of you has a role to play, also. Take what you learn here in World Class, and put it to work to your community, your classroom, your sports groups, your workplace. Find that person you don’t know, someone of a different faith or background; talk and listen with respect; continue the dialogue. Because you are building the links that hold the world together.

Second, keep a healthy suspicion of those who have abandoned the path of dialogue, who tell you the truth is only for the select few, or who try to detour you into the dark corners of the web, or the dead-end that is hate. Truth is light; it is there for all to see and share.

As a Muslim, I can tell you that Muslims are absolutely horrified to see our faith abused and mischaracterised, whether by outlaw groups inside of Islam or Islamophobes. Islam teaches the equal dignity of all human beings. We are taught to recognise our shared humanity, in all its diversity.

The Prophet Mohammad, peace and blessings be upon him, taught: None of you believes until he or she loves for thy neighbour what they love for themselves. And he told us: The All-Merciful is merciful to those who are merciful. Have mercy upon those on earth, and He who is in heaven will be merciful unto you.

Those who lie about our faith, or any faith, should never be allowed to divide our world. And the fact is, the threat today is not from any clash of civilisations or religions. The threat is from those who attack our shared future, through poisonous ideologies of hate. And in this fight, all moderates—of all faiths, of all countries, all ethnic groups—are on the same side.

And finally, is the importance of acting on our shared values. It is our own responsibility, not someone else’s, to insist on tolerance and mutual respect, in day-to-day life, as well as in the future that we are all trying to build. Each one of you, as a citizen and as a neighbour, can be a role model of compassion and leadership, and help your communities and groups act with fairness as well as respect. Each one of you can speak out when you see mistreatment of others—or experience it yourself. And each one of you can help spread the values on which our world depends.

I know, from the fact that all of you are here today, that you all care about global problems. Each of you, and other young men and women around the world, can take that concern and make a difference. It is you who can energise the international community to act on our shared values, whether in supporting sustainable development, or addressing environmental threats, or finding inclusive political solutions to the regional conflicts that have caused desperate refugees to flee.

But above all, we must fight the exclusion of any people, especially young people, from the promise of our age. Let us give everyone a stake in a future of justice, mutual respect, and prosperity, as well as peace.

Jordanians acted on our values of compassion when millions of Syrian refugees fled the violence in their country beginning in 2011. We currently have 1.3 million Syrian refugees—and that’s one for every five Jordanians—and this is in addition to millions of other refugees from other crises. Now, we depend on our friends to act on their values, to relieve our over-burdened people and give them hope for the future, and also to prevent a lost generation among Syria’s future citizens. And here, Your Majesties, I’m tremendously grateful for the role that your country has played in being a partner for us and being able to help us through our challenges. Truly, to you and to your people a sincere thanks.

Global action on shared values is also critical especially when it comes to ending conflict. The failure to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli crisis has created mistrust worldwide, fuelling instability and radicalisation. Young Palestinians want to know, why does not global justice apply to them? They, and their Israeli counterparts, deserve a lasting peace that will set their futures free.

That won’t come by one side taking unilateral actions; nor will it come by threats to the holy city of Jerusalem, which must be a unifying city of peace. We have a sacred duty, as Hashemite Custodians, to protect Islamic and Christian holy sites in Jerusalem, and I will continue to do my utmost to protect these sites and the historic character of the city. But I believe the entire international community has a duty to join together to support respect and justice for all.

My friends, respected students,

Today’s global challenges are very real. But never lose confidence in your power to change our world for the good. Your voices are already defining and describing our world for millions, if not billions, of others. You are the app users and developers; the artists the writers; the teachers-to-be, founders of start-ups; the innovators and the influencers.

So use your knowledge and technologies as paths to a better world. And let your shared values illuminate the way ahead. And help us all walk away from disrespect and ignorance. Take the world in a better direction, and help shape the better future you all truly deserve.

Thank you."


 

During a Q&A session following the speech, His Majesty, in response to a question on the Syrian crisis, said it is a very complicated issue, “and we’re not going to find quick solutions quickly”.

“There are two parts of it. How do we get Syria back into the light? And that comes, hopefully, through the Geneva process, where we can find the changes in the constitution, and the electoral process that allows Syria to move forward; keeping in mind that ISIS is defeated, not destroyed, and that’s not just in Syria or Iraq, but in other places of the world,” the King noted.

“Russia has a role in Syria… and what you’re seeing is the Astana process, which was military deconfliction, leading to the Geneva process, which is the political aspect of this. It’s going to be baby steps,” His Majesty explained.

“In the south, we have relative calm, and that’s because the Russians, Americans, and the Jordanians are sitting in a centre, 24/7 looking at deconfliction. Iran’s presence is a bit of a wild card, especially as we try to move the stability aspect, so that we can have rebuilding and move in the right direction. And the success of the south, hopefully, will allow us to do the same thing in the middle and the north,” His Majesty said.

“So, if anybody thinks it’s going to be solved in 2018… I don’t see it,” the King continued.

“We can’t give up on Syria, so I don’t want to depress anybody here, but it just means looking at the glass half-full, not taking no for an answer, and continuing to move Syria in the right direction,” His Majesty said.

“It’s going to take all of us—the international community, the coalitions—to come together, as long as you keep in mind that you want Syria solved for the Syrians and for their betterment; then, I think we will get there.”

Responding to a question on Jordan’s ICT sector and the role of young Jordanians in leading it, the King said: “The only hope that we have is the younger generation, and young people taking us in the right direction.”

“In Jordan, IT is a very big, growing sector of our society. It has been for a while. Seventy-five per cent of Arabic content written in the Middle East is actually based out of Jordan,” His Majesty continued.

“That comes down to education, and investing in youth to be able to move forward, and giving them all the opportunities to develop themselves,” the King noted.

“Part of the challenge is that a lot of Jordanians, once they graduate, they end up going outside, because that’s where the work is. The challenge for us is how do we bring that talent back to Jordan… We have to give opportunities,” His Majesty added.

“I don’t mind people going outside and learning best practices and coming back, but at the end of the day, our future is to create the opportunities for Jordanians to come back and give all their talent to developing our country,” the King said.

Asked on the Jordanian model of countering extremism and the potential to promote it elsewhere, His Majesty said: “I think the challenge that we’ve had in the past is that for certain Western policies… there was a lack of connectivity in looking at this in what we call now the holistic approach.”

The King said Jordan has begun hosting meetings in Aqaba, where representatives of many countries come together to talk unofficially about how to deal with terrorism and radicalisation from a global aspect.

“The problem with terrorism and radicalisation is going to be with us for at least another generation, and it’s going to come down to education,” His Majesty affirmed.

“The good news is that we’re actually quietly talking to each other, that is, the foreign policy side of the house, the intelligence side of the house, the military side of the house; hopefully, those are actually the short-term aspect, but the medium- to long-term is how do we counter-radicalise and how do we coordinate,” the King noted.

The Balkans, His Majesty said, has been a source of unrest for Europe and the world over the past 100 years, noting that addressing this issue now will prevent the need to address it from a military perspective “in a couple of years’ time”.

“I’m glad to see that people are now looking at it from a global perspective, and I’m very proud that Jordan is playing an important role in that,” the King added.

In response to a question on growing anti-immigrant sentiment and the spread of hate speech, His Majesty related Jordan’s experience with the refugee crisis.

“This is a practical problem that we’ve had in our country several years ago, when waves of refugees were coming in large numbers, and Jordanians were saying, enough is enough,” the King said.

His Majesty noted that Syrian refugees now account for 20 per cent of Jordan’s population, but “if we add the Yemenis, and the Libyans, Iraqis, and—to an extent—the Palestinians, 40 per cent of our country now are refugees. This is a tremendous drain.”

“So it does take us a bit by surprise when we hear, in other parts of the world, when thousands cross borders, that there’s a major panic,” the King said.

His Majesty noted the burden on Jordan’s northern region, where refugees are adding pressure on the educational and healthcare systems.

“We have roughly a million illegal Egyptian workers working in our country, and if we send them back to Egypt, that is not the right thing to do, and it will create a major problem for Egypt.

“Egyptian illegal workers are complaining about Syrian refugees challenging their jobs, but at the end of the day, where’s the Jordanian in all this? So it’s something that we’ve had to deal with, and, at the end of the day, you’ve got to do the right thing,” the King affirmed.

“When some people came to me a couple of years ago and said, ‘enough is enough, shut the borders’, I said, ‘OK, how are we going to do that? If a woman comes across the border with her children, what do you want us to do? You want us to shoot at them? That’s what the other side is doing. You just can’t. You have to open your borders. That is the right thing to do.’,” His Majesty continued.

“The challenge we have in Jordan is people are taking us for granted, because Jordanians will do the right thing. But today, our people are suffering, so we feel a bit of the anger that we’re seeing elsewhere in the world. But at the end of the day, our people will do the right thing, but we’re asking the rest of the community ‘don’t forget us and help us’, because, at the end of the day, Jordan is based on doing the right thing,” the King said.

Asked about the role The Hague can play as an international capital for peace and justice, His Majesty said the city stands for “bringing people from diverse backgrounds, from all over the world, wanting to learn about each other, and looking at it from a global perspective.”

“We are in an interconnected world… whatever happens in one part of the world will eventually affect the other side, and the only way that we overcome that is to get to know each other, to understand each another, to believe in diversity,” the King noted.

“At the end of the day, young people want an opportunity at life; they want to be happy; and they want to be safe and secure. And I think that goes for 99.9 per cent of the world,” His Majesty added.

“Part of the problem is we do tend to be the silent majority, and so we are affected by fringe groups; we are intimidated by fringe groups, and, sometimes, we can be led by populist ideology,” the King stressed.

“I think most people are good-hearted people. If there’s something wrong, we will stand up and say enough is enough, and I think it’s time now that the world says no to those that are preaching hatred,” His Majesty added.

Earlier at the session, The Hague Mayor Pauline Krikke delivered remarks welcoming Their Majesties.

Krikke also spoke about the unrest in the Middle East, which has driven “countless numbers of people from their homes”.

“Millions found refuge in hospitable Jordan. Sheltering all these refugees places a huge burden on your country and its population. But the Jordanian people have an incredible characteristic: solidarity. And it is that solidarity, that compassion that serves as an example for the whole global community,” the Mayor added.

“This is the responsibility of us all. Also that of The Hague. Especially The Hague,” she said, highlighting the city’s work to support refugees and their hosts, as well as its efforts to promote tolerance and coexistence.