All efforts to protect human rights ‘meaningless’ without human dignity — Prince Hassan

AMMAN — HRH Prince Hassan, chairman of the board of trustees of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies (RIIFS), on Tuesday attended at the UN Office in Geneva a world conference under the theme “Religions, Creeds and Value Systems: Joining Forces to Enhance Equal Citizenship Rights”.

In his speech at the conference organised by Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue, Prince Hassan highlighted the need to respect and realise human dignity, without which, all types of protection provided by the legal human rights organisations will be ‘meaningless’, the Jordan News Agency, Petra, reported.

The Prince stressed the the importance for all stakeholders to face international challenges, especially those related to poverty, violating human dignity, decline in decent living conditions and lack of good governance, calling for enhancing the concept of "incubating citizenship", where rights are equal.

Prince Hassan remarked that identity is not confined to just one set of value orientations, but is plural and encyclopaedic. “In both East and West, the debate is no longer restricted to citizenship… but includes recognition of people’s distinct identities as members of religious, ethnic and cultural communities,” he said.

Prince Hassan reiterated that human culture has to be taken into account when economic and political decisions were made, so as to improve people’s livelihoods.

The biggest challenge to the UN is enhancing the culture of peace and including it in the priority list, the Prince noted, calling on governments, societies and individuals to bear their respective responsibilities and enhance coordination in dealing with international causes.

UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres addressed participants in the conference through a televised message and urged them to intensify efforts for achieving equal rights for all without discrimination, noting that Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights constituted the basis for enhancing and ensuring equal rights for all.