Sorrowful to see contraction in political, diplomatic means in favour of armed solutions

The Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani

The Amir HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani said that the world today has reached a pivotal stage on all political, economic, environmental, and social levels, and this stage requires radical revisions to spare the world from reaching a state of imbalance.

Inaugurating the 20th Doha Forum, at the Doha Sheraton today, he affirmed that “We believe that social justice is the real shelter for societies, and this requires fair tax policies because the majority of societies cannot dispense with state services.”

The full speech is below:

I welcome you to Qatar as we are launching the twentieth edition of the Doha Forum this morning. We founded this platform twenty-two years ago to be a venue for decision-makers, experts and the media from our region and the world at large.

We are pleased that the inception of this forum had paved the way for the emergence of many forums and platforms that were subsequently launched in our region.

The world today has reached a pivotal stage on all political, economic, environmental, and social levels, and this stage requires radical revisions to spare the world from reaching a state of imbalance.

At the level of environment and climate change, we see that non-eco-friendly consumption patterns, and rates of irresponsible industrial production are steadily increasing, which may lead to catastrophic repercussions that impact all of humanity, and even extend to reach future generations.

At the societal level and peoples livelihood, the social and economic gap among states and within a single society, is indicative of a serious defect in the overall economies, especially after the strengthening of the technology sector and its role in the economy and the lives of individuals. This is in addition to the horrific increase in global poverty rates, the difficulty of accessing the basic necessities of life, and the deterioration into famines in some cases.

We believe that social justice is the real shelter for societies, and this requires fair tax policies because the majority of societies cannot dispense with state services.

But we warn against the exclusionary populist voices in a time of societal tensions and economic recession. One of these exclusionary phenomena that have increased in recent years is the phenomenon of Islamophobia.

Regretfully, Islamophobia is not confined only to the forces of the populist right. However, it needs taking a firm and serious stand against it, such as the one witnessed by the world when it took a stand against racial discrimination and anti-Semitism. It is noteworthy here that the accusation of anti-Semitism is now used wrongly against everyone who criticizes Israel's policies, and this impinges on the struggle against racism and actual anti-Semitism.

On the political and security level, it is sorrowful to see a contraction in the political and diplomatic means in favor of military expansion and armed solutions.

The militarization of solutions has begun to grow during the last four decades till it reached one of its most challenging peaks in the Ukrainian war. From here, I emphasize the firm position of the State of Qatar on the renunciation of violence, intimidating civilians and assaulting states sovereignty and all other acts that may constitute a violation of human values and international laws.

We stand in solidarity with the millions of innocent people and refugees who have been victimized by this unjust war and geopolitical calculations. While stressing this solidarity, I would like in this context to remind of the millions of Palestinians who have been suffering from the Israeli occupation and international neglect for more than seven decades, similarly a lot of other peoples, such as the Syrian people and the Afghan people, for whom the international community has failed to render justice.

This war reveals, beyond any doubt that the formulas upon which the international order was based in the aftermath of World War II - and after the end of the Cold War are changing. Its incumbent on all of us, specially the major counties, to take a serious pause to determine the future of the international order and to ask ourselves an important question: What is

the shape of the world that we want to bequeath to our children What is the new era that the current war in Europe, and before it the Coronavirus crisis and other successive crises have proven that we must act to reshape for the benefit of all humanity Would the major powers answer this question by fighting after competing in the development of new types of weapons Humanity cannot accept this catastrophic scenario, and there must be other means than the war to get the answers.

For our part, we have chosen a path of rational dialogue that is simultaneously based on balancing common values and interests. We have chosen the path of mediation to resolve disputes by peaceful means. We have an accumulated experience in this field, which we put at the service of peace, stability and just solutions to conflicts.