Dhaka calls for united stand against hatred, violence
Staff Reporter :
Foreign Affairs Adviser Md Touhid Hossain, currently in Riyadh, on Sunday urged the global community to reject all forms of incitement to hatred-both online and offline-and to stand firmly against violence, intolerance and discrimination.
“With this commitment, we must promote unity, deepen understanding, celebrate diversity and uphold our shared humanity,” he said while addressing the 11th Global Forum of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC).
The adviser stressed the importance of empowering youth, encouraging intergenerational dialogue and placing young people at the centre of global efforts to foster respect across civilizations, cultures and faiths. He also underscored the need to invest in inclusive education that promotes peace, tolerance and social cohesion, while expanding cultural exchanges, arts, sports and responsible media to build empathy and mutual trust.
Highlighting issues of justice, Hossain said accountability must be ensured for victims of forced displacement resulting from ethnic discrimination.
The two-day forum is being hosted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Adviser Hossain arrived in Riyadh on Saturday and is scheduled to return home on Tuesday, a senior official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs told media.
He expressed appreciation to the governments of Spain and Türkiye, the Group of Friends of the Alliance, and the High Representative for their forward-looking leadership.
“Peace remains the ultimate goal of the UNAOC,” he said, noting that Bangladesh is among the leading troop-contributing countries to United Nations peacekeeping missions.
Reaffirming Bangladesh’s commitment to global peace, Hossain strongly condemned the recent attack on a UN peacekeeping logistics base in Kadugli, Sudan, which killed six Bangladeshi peacekeepers and injured several others.
“This tragic incident is a sobering reminder that conflicts continue to escalate and humanitarian crises are deepening worldwide,” he said.
He warned that xenophobia, intolerance, racism and Islamophobia are spreading across continents, while persecution and displacement based on ethnicity or religion continue to trouble the global conscience.
At the same time, Hossain noted, divisions are accelerating in the digital age, with misinformation, hate speech and deepfake content posing serious threats to peace and shared human values.
Against this backdrop, he said Bangladesh remains firmly aligned with the Group of Friends in advancing intercultural and interfaith dialogue, tolerance and mutual respect.
“Our annual UN resolution on the Culture of Peace reflects our belief that peace is not merely the absence of conflict, but the presence of justice, compassion and human dignity,” he said.
True to this principle, he added, Bangladesh has sheltered more than 1.2 million Rohingyas-victims of genocide in Myanmar-who must be allowed to return safely and with dignity to their homeland.
Describing the Alliance as a vital platform for dialogue, Hossain said it has helped transform differences into understanding and mistrust into empathy, while emphasising that far greater efforts are still required.