Qatar has emerged as one of the world’s most proactive mediators in the past two decades. Motivated by its neutral position, the country has positioned itself as a key mediator in many successful mediations and peacemaking efforts by helping disputants to end regional conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa.
Qatar’s efforts for peacemaking in Lebanon, Yemen, and border conflicts between Eritrea and Djibouti, and peace deal of East Sudan and Darfur was among the successful mediation processes which has proved that Qatar is an influential mediator, capable to reduce tension and end conflicts.
The ongoing peace talks between the US and Taliban to settle one of the most complicated and prolonged wars of Afghanistan will definitely not be the last in Qatar’s efforts to make peace and it will continue its successful mediation when it is necessary and disputants reach a dead end.
This because Qatar is “determined to be a force for good in the world, and to play an active role in promoting peace” as stated by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohamed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani during his meeting with Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on March 13, this year.
One of the basic requirements for any mediator is neutrality, capability to host peace talks, ability to enhance peace when parties come to an agreement by providing support for peace building and execution of rehabilitation programmes in areas affected during the conflicts, and finally the commitment of the top leaders of the state. All these factors have made Qatar’s role effective and successful in peacemaking.
Qatar is also one of the good examples of a country accommodating communities that represent different cultures, religions, languages and with high gender diversity, making it a haven for harmony and peace promoted by the state policy of coexistence of different cultures and religions.
Along this successful achievement in peacemaking, Qatar is sponsoring, for more than a decade, interfaith dialogue every year through Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue (DICID) to promote the values of tolerance and combating extremism.
The Permanent Representative of Qatar to the UN, Ambassador H E Sheikha Alya bint Ahmed bin Saif Al Thani, at the “High-Level Forum on the Culture of Peace”, held yesterday at the UN General Assembly, highlighted Qatar’s continued efforts to promote a culture of peace and capacity building in the field of dialogue and tolerance through annual international interfaith conferences organized by DICID. She pointed out that the 14th DICID Inter-faith Conference will be held in Doha in March 2020 under the theme: ‘Religions and Hate Speech Scriptures and Practice’ with the participation of leaders from different religions.
Her Excellency stressed that Qatar has adopted an approach based on addressing the root causes of violent extremism, especially among young people, and importance given to the path of education and employment. For this Qatar has established many institutions and has launched initiatives in the field of education and employment at the national, regional and international level.
