Unity in Humanity? Where Two Hands Meet

Speaker

HRH Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan

His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal was born in Amman in 1947. He was officially invested as Crown Prince to the Hashemite Throne of Jordan, in 1965. Until the changes in succession brought about by His late Majesty King Hussein, in January 1999, he served as the King’s closest political advisor, confidant and deputy, as well as acting as Regent in the King’s absence. He also played a critical role in the Jordan-Israel Peace negotiations that culminated in the Peace Treaty between the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the State of Israel in 1994.

On the international stage, many of Prince Hassan’s ideas and initiatives have been catalytic to international resolutions. Addressing the 36th Session of the United Nations in 1981, His Royal Highness proposed the establishment of the New International Humanitarian Order, which led to a request by the Secretary General to found and co-chair the Independent Commission on International Humanitarian Issues (ICIHI). The final report of the Commission was adopted as a resolution at the 42nd General Assembly of the United Nations and published in 1988 as “Winning the Human Race”.

HRH has launched a number of initiatives to encourage dialogue between religious faiths and build a tolerant and pluralistic Arab society. HRH firmly believes that it is important to engage in dialogue with people from different faiths, and to treat our sacred spaces, not as venues for division, but as places for dialogue and constructive exchange.

In 1994 Prince Hassan established the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies in Amman. He was founding Member and President of the Foundation for Interreligious and Intercultural Research and Dialogue (FIRD) established in Geneva in 1999. He initiated and hosted ongoing consultations with the Orthodox Centre of the Ecumenical Patriarchate at Chambesy, Switzerland, the Pontifical Council for Inter-religious Dialogue at the Vatican and the The Interfaith Foundation in the United Kingdom through the aegis of the St. George’s House, Windsor.

In 2017, with the participation of experts, academics and diplomats from different countries, Prince El Hassan launched the “Arab-Iberian-American Divan for Thought and Cultural Exchange”. The Divan is a platform dedicated to promoting dialogue between the Arab and the Ibero-American world and enhancing collaboration at the academic, social and cultural levels. This platform is aimed to facilitate the exchange of ideas as well as promoting cultural and scientific exchange, to establish a human, cultural and religious dialogue between both worlds.

HRH has long had an active engagement with environmentally focused organisations, in particular the Trans-Mediterranean Renewable Energy Cooperation (TREC) Network, and the Jordan based Badia Research and Development Program (in co-operation with the British Royal Geographical Society). Prince Hassan served as the Chairman of the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on Water and Sanitation, UNSGAB and continues to work on water related issues as the Chairman of the High Level Forum for the Blue Peace Middle East plan. In 2009 HRH launched the West Asia-North Africa (WANA) Institute which is a regional initiative intended to facilitate the exchange of information and ideas surrounding shared social, environmental and economic challenges.

His Royal Highness has always been interested in young people and believes in the need for empowering and enabling them to be active members of society. In 1984 HRH founded the Crown Prince Award (renamed the El Hassan Youth Award, in 1999). Collaboration and meetings to organise joint work have started between El Hassan Youth Award, the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies and the Order of Malta, dedicated to the protection of human dignity and the care of all individuals in need, regardless of their ethnicity or religious affiliation.

HRH served as Chairman of the Policy Advisory Commission for the World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIPO) from 1999–2002 and was a Member of the Board of the South Centre (2001–2006), the Committee of UNESCO International Inter-religious Advisory Committee and an Honorary Member of UNESCO World Commission on Culture and Development. HRH was also a Member of the Informal Advisory Group to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and a Member of the Executive Committee and Trustee of the International Crisis Group; Commissioner of the Commission for the Legal Empowerment of the Poor. HRH was appointed Co-Honorary Chair of the World Refugee and Migration Council along with the late US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

HRH is a prolific contributor to newspapers, journals, magazines and periodicals, as well as specific publications on regional and international issues. His books include: A Study on Jerusalem (1979, English); Search for Peace (1984, English, Arabic); Christianity in the Arab World (1994, English, Arabic, French, Greek, Spanish, Russian, German, Swedish); Essere Musulmano – Co-authored with Alain Elkann – (2001, Italian, French, Spanish); To Be a Muslim (2003, English; 2010, Arabic); Q and A: Contemporary Issues (2003, Arabic); Peacemaking : An Inside Story of the 1994 Jordanian-Israeli Treaty, (Oklahoma, University of Oklahoma Press, 2006; El Hassan bin Talal Collected Works: Volume One, 2007, Arabic).

Prince Hassan is the recipient of numerous awards, honours and honorary degrees from across the world.

Lecture Details

Truth should be adhered to in presenting historical facts, while at the same time concentrating on the values of love, peace and respect, so that we can raise a generation that believes in coexistence with others and respect of their values. This is a project that requires our concerted efforts in order to contribute to the making of our history based on dialogue, cooperation and integration, rather than on conflict and clashes.

A statesman and peacemaker, His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of Jordan has worked for decades to promote peace, interfaith dialogue and humanitarian justice.

A pluralist and staunch campaigner for the rights of all to live in peace and dignity, HRH has initiated foundations and organisations for cultural, religious and scientific exchange promoting the values of diversity, pluralism and mutual respect. He believes that whatever detracts from human well-being must be questioned regardless of its effects on political order or economic growth.

The Beshara Lecture aims to promote and further awareness of the knowledge of the unity of existence and its ramifications in areas of human endeavour. Sponsored by the Beshara Trust.