HH Sheikha Moza: Humanity Needs Comprehensive Global, Nat.Policies & Programs for Family Issues

Doha, April 16 (QNA) - Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the board chairperson of Qatar Foundation For Education, Science and Community Development (QF) on Wednesday graced the inauguration of the "Doha International Conference on the Family" held at the Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC) under the theme 'Empowering Families: A Pathway to Development'. The opening ceremony was attended by their excellencies the ministers, senior officials and the conference distinguished guests of policymakers, representatives of the non-governmental organisations, academics, experts and family affairs researchers. In her address before the conference, HH sheikha Moza said,"We believe that humanity at the moment greatly needs comprehensive global, national policies and programs that are geared towards family issues as an integrated social system without fragmenting solutions. We behold that the issues of men, women, youth and the child is a single issue: which is the issue of family with its own array of challenges and problems. An issue that starts with the development of minds and requires empowering all family members of their roles. HH sheikha moza went on to say,"Family empowerment in this sense is to create the conditions for the advancement of the roles in a coherent family that preserves and inherits the values of cohesion. However, the larger role falls on the state, through fixing policies and programs that work to save education and health care, addressing the causes of poverty, supporting the balance between life and work, and upholding the values of solidarity and communication between generations". HH sheikha moza further said, "Given that each community has its own social and cultural characteristics, just as all the countries of the world have their own challenges in the area of family issues, the implementation of appropriate policies and strategies should have its own characteristics and mechanisms, taking into account the unique peculiarities in values between countries Elaborating HH Sheikha Moza said, " In this regard, I would like to talk about the issues of the Arab family in an era that Arab societies are undergoing a sensitive historic period whereby its identity, culture and future are threatened. Based on the belief that the family is the nucleus and unity of society, it is also the educational womb of generations: if it is good, society will be righteous, and if it is disintegrated society will be incoherent. We, as Arabs and Muslims, have a religious, cultural and social heritage that sanctifies the relationship between parents and children and honors the values that maintain cohesion, solidarity and compassion among family members," HH the QF board chairperson added. Throughout the course of time, the Arab family has called for many referential values to establish the cohesion and strengthen the inheritance of education between generations. Up until recently, authorities continued to regulate the lives of different Arab societies and the behavior of individuals, including the moral authority of religion, the family authority, the value judgment authority, and the legislative authority with its judicial context. However, the cultural invasion that has swept the world through the flood of globalization in the last two decades has actually shaken the Arab man, created a disruption in the system of values, diminished the identity and cultural characteristics leading to the decline of values and led to slackness in terms of anticipating and addressing the challenges. Here we do not call to a regressive identity; rather we wish to be open with the world, to establish interculturalism with others, not through their identity but through our own, HH sheikha Moza noted. HH went on to say," Cultural invasion has targeted the core of the identity of the Arab family: its culture, language and religion. The media and entertainment culture has played the most influential role in carrying the terms and consequences of this invasion, which has affected many of the Arab youth. We hurt deeply as we see young Arabs losing their identity, cases that blow the siren, lest this domination permeate future generations. Meanwhile Arab countries are preoccupied by political disputes or internal conflicts, ignoring their duties toward building and developing society. Perhaps no other region in the world is quite like most Arab countries, whose budgets are drained through armaments, security requirements and media propaganda. How can the family be decent when the state is not?, HH Sheikha Moza added. HH Sheikha Moza further said," The most shocking is that some Arab countries fund and support hundreds of satellite channels that contribute to the flattening of the Arab mind, promoting cultural literacy and manipulating the instincts of youth. This warns us about our losing bet with the future. Most likely, only a small amount of the vast sum of money that is wasted on these projects is enough to fund and create many of the development programs that are capable of empowering the family. 'Yet these projects would not have achieved their goals without the languor of the Arab elites or inaction in their intellectual, cultural and media roles to address the aspects of devastation and maintain Arab authentic heritage and the vivid cultural values" HH Sheikha said. HH went on to say, " We can see now that the rigid approach towards cultural heritage and values illustrates an ignorance that is unaware of societys evolution and which breeds misconceptions that impact societal and educational values. In order to allow our heritage with its culture and values- to be a vital presence in the contemporary age, we must reproduce this heritage in harmony with the spirit of the age. By this we do not mean breaking the past, just as we do not mean jumping into the present, instead it is a process of assimilating and harmonizing our values with the cultural and social conditions of the age we live in. Elaborating HH Sheikha Moza said, "As you know, the United Nations has summed up the concerns of humanity and outlined the need for comprehensive empowerment in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), all of which truly focus around family empowerment issues, from education, health, work and equality. However, what hurts us is to see the showiness of goodwill and high cadence towards the humanitarian rhetoric, which we have heard so often in the world but has no actual embodiment in reality, when the actual reality remains mere sayings devoted only by verbosity and little acts. This is proved further by the meager support that states have given to the United Nations Trust Fund on Family Activities. And I believe you have also heard some exemplary voices who alerted the world to the high economic cost of family disintegration, an issue that necessitates the intervention of states in supporting and strengthening the familys ties, at least if viewed as a matter of profit and loss, HH Sheikha Moza concoluded. (END)