Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace participates in Vatican meet

The Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace participated in the “World in the Making Summit,” referred to as the “Shape the World Summit 2025,” which was held at the Pontifical Urbaniana University in Vatican City, Rome, on June 12 - 13.

The summit brought together numerous decision-makers, business leaders, and academic figures to formulate a shared vision for building a better and more harmonious world.

Shaikh Al Mahfouz Bin Bayyah, Secretary-General of the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, delivered a speech titled “Challenges of Peace in a Hostile World,” in which he emphasised that the journey of building peace is a continuous effort and an unending goal. “When well-being and security prevail, we talk about peace to preserve and sustain it; and when wars and unrest escalate, calling for peace becomes a vital necessity and a moral duty to save humanity and protect nations,” he said.

He pointed out that peace is not merely a transient human condition, but rather a “system of human values that yields tranquillity and reassurance, which settle in hearts and minds.”

As part of presenting the Forum’s efforts that reflect the vision of the United Arab Emirates, Bin Bayyah reviewed several initiatives launched by the Forum to establish a narrative of peace. These initiatives have received international recognition and engagement and now represent milestones in building a humanitarian future based on the values of peace.

He highlighted documents such as the Marrakech Declaration on the Rights of Religious Minorities in the Islamic World, the New Alliance of Virtue Charter, and the Abu Dhabi Declaration for Inclusive Citizenship, in addition to numerous intellectual and academic efforts aimed at promoting a new global discourse that calls for wisdom and builds the foundations of justice on a platform of peace and well-being.

The Secretary-General also revealed that one of the Forum’s most significant achievements in the past decade has been removing religion from the equation of violence and lifting it out of the circle of blame — turning it into a force for construction rather than destruction, and making it part of the solution.

He explained that building global peace is a shared human endeavour that requires reorienting the equation to channel humanity’s energies and resources towards stability, prosperity, and innovation.

He emphasised the centrality of a value-based and shared human approach, noting that humanity can only rise from the abyss of war to the heights of human fraternity through a vision of human relations based on the values of goodness, love, and justice.

It is noteworthy that on June 11, on the sidelines of the World in the Making Summit and during his visit to Italy, the Secretary-General of the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace participated in a roundtable titled “Changing the Conversation on Religious Freedom: A Holistic Approach to Human Development,” organised by the Atlantic Council.

Recently, Bin Bayyah, affirmed that the UAE has presented to the world a civilised vision that embraces diversity, through the Abu Dhabi Declaration, including the historic Marrakech Declaration on the Rights of Religious Minorities in the Muslim World.

He stressed that this vision sets the intellectual and organisational conditions for moving the region and the world from the fragmentation of minorities and narrow identities to the unity of societies of citizenship and universal humanity.

He added that the Emirati model, in building a society of tolerance and love through effective legal, cultural, and educational frameworks, has today become a subject of international praise, reviewing those laws that promote the values of justice and equality and combat hatred.

In a speech he delivered during the dialogue sessions accompanying the celebration, the Secretary-General noted the importance of this event, as it contributes to raising awareness of the challenges and threats facing minorities around the world, especially in light of the conditions that many regions of the world are going through.

WAM