Human dignity is key factor of security, not weapons of mass destruction — Prince Hassan

AMMAN — HRH Prince Hassan has called for the creation of a policy forum for the Levant to monitor development of the water, energy and human environment nexus, recognising the need for a strengthened and more comprehensive international architecture on the three sectors.

“The political momentum for water issues, water-energy issues and water-energy and human environment issues is what we are about today,” Prince Hassan said, highlighting that human dignity should be the core of any talk on the nexus of water, energy and human environment.

The prince made the remarks on Thursday during a roundtable session co-convened by the Strategic Foresight Group and Majlis El Hassan in cooperation with the Royal Scientific Society and the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency to discuss elements of a new architecture for the Middle East. 

Prince Hassan indicated that the foundations of insecurity in societies are going to increase if the poor continue to be marginalised and excluded from the benefits of socioeconomic growth.

“The solution maybe is to look at human dignity as the key factor of security; not weapons of mass destruction, not the war on terror alone, but the war on the struggle for the promotion of human dignity,” Prince Hassan pointed out.

Indicating that millions of people are facing starvation, Prince Hassan proposed the creation of a social productivity package that includes nationals, residents, refugees, displaced persons and human beings all on the basis of a life-skills programme that invites people to participate.

He called for achieving social, environment and economic resilience for the region, stressing that the carrying capacity is the key concept in resilience.

“Resilience is about augmenting carrying capacity in ways that don’t deplete the resources of the planet…. Innovation would be key, but only when distributed policies are guided by human dignity and equality,” Prince Hassan said.

The roundtable meeting brought together policy makers and experts on water, hydro-politics and conflict resolution and academia, as well as media representatives from Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon and Turkey, and representatives of UN and international agencies.

The aim of the roundtable was to develop elements of the new architecture for the Middle East as old structures are collapsing, according to organisers, who said that the roundtable identified new institutional mechanisms to strengthen new structures (see separate story).