Your Excellency,

Ladies and gentlemen,

First of all, I would like to thank UNDP for organising this seminar. We are gathered here to discuss an important issue: whether cultural diversity is a cause of conflict or a key to peace and development. Cultural diversity can of course be both of these things, as history has shown time and again. To answer the question, we should ask another: Under what conditions does cultural diversity lead to conflict, and when does it lead to peace? And then we should focus on how we can make it an instrument for peace, tolerance and development.

My own attitude is: We must meet cultural diversity with an open mind, so that we can gain from new ideas and ways of doing things; at the same time we must critically evaluate these new ideas and ways of doing things in the context of the fundamental values we hold dear. By doing this, our own culture can receive fresh impulses. And by doing this we can identify the opportunities and the problems associated with cultural diversity.

Sometimes, problems arise less from diversity than from the inflexibility of the members of the different cultures, whether they are from the majority of the population or from a minority. Uniformity isn’t a necessary condition for unity. But a unified society requires mutual respect and mutual recognition of certain fundamental common values.

Today, we live in a world marked to some extent by severe tensions between groups belonging to different religions and cultures. We must meet this challenge through a broad approach. For example, by taking advantage of opportunities to promote inter-cultural and inter-religious dialogue. This is something I myself have done, and at meetings with Muslim or Jewish representatives I always underline the need to focus on the values we share. This does not mean that I ignore the differences or that I think we should renounce our own values. Nor does it mean that we should close the door on an exchange of constructive criticism.

In multicultural societies I think that the majority can gain from listening to critical comments from minorities. And that minorities can gain from constructive criticism by other groups. This is the kind of interaction I believe can lead to peace, not to war.

In a broader context, I think all of us can benefit from inter-cultural dialogue. Let me mention two examples. In the Muslim world one often hears criticism of Western decadence and accusations of materialism, neglect of family values and lack of social responsibility. We should be willing to take this criticism seriously and discuss it. Westerners often say that Muslim countries fail when it comes to democracy, human rights and gender equality. Muslims should listen to these comments and discuss them.

The UNDP report rightly points out that, if not properly managed, struggles over cultural identity can be a source of instability within and between states. Solidarity that is limited to people from one’s own social class, nation, ethnic group or religion, is not true solidarity. True solidarity extends to the whole human race.

This limited solidarity can all too easily be directed against the outsider, those from a different ethnic group, religion and so on. We have seen the consequences countless times in the course of European history. Among the grimmest examples are the Holocaust organised by the Nazi regime and the millions of innocent people killed by totalitarian Communist regimes. Today, we see anti-Semitism, other forms of racism and Islamophobia spreading through Europe.

The way Muslims and Arabs in the West are presented by the media can alienate moderate Muslims everywhere and reinforce the old fear felt by Europeans towards Muslims and Arabs. Sixty years after Holocaust, we can still see traces of anti-Semitism in western media. However, the situation is no better in other societies. The Arab media sometimes reinforce anti-Semitism and hate towards the “imperialist” or “decadent” west through prejudiced presentations of Jews and Christians. We see many of the consequences of this in the form of racism, terrorism and other hate crimes.

Hate is often the result of fear, which comes from ignorance, frustration and insecurity. Nothing is further from true faith than hatred. All major world religions teach the virtue of peace. Christianity, Judaism, Islam and other religions have promoted respect for the individual and influenced ideas of right and wrong. I believe that religion is part of the solution, not part of the problem. We must build on the values that unite us. Together, we – political leaders, religious leaders and ordinary citizens - must stop the extremists from misusing religion to legitimise terror and persecution.

Tolerance develops from knowledge and from respect for those who are different. In my view, promoting tolerance is especially important in our schools. I am talking about fostering the feeling of community and solidarity, about crossing ethnic and religious lines. At school pupils must learn compassion and consideration for others; they must learn understanding and a sense of justice. Schools must be used to counteract the poison spread by fanatics – be they political or ideological, imperialist or nationalist, religious or atheist. This is not always the case – there are examples of schools where children are incited to hate and condemn those who are different. This must be changed. Schools must teach children to consider those who are different as equals, as brothers and sisters.

Cultural exchange isn’t something new. We are changing all the time, because of our trade with other countries, because of mass tourism and migration, because of cultural and educational exchanges. Being Norwegian today is not the same as being Norwegian a hundred years ago –or thousands years ago when Christianity was introduced in our country.

In the Middle Ages, goods, ideas and knowledge crossed back and forth between the Christian West and the Islamic Orient. This happened through trade and it happened through war. In the Muslim world, local Christians and Jews made important contributions to thinking and philosophy. In Christian Europe impulses from the Moors in Andalusia and the Muslims in the Balkans, together with trade with the East, contributed greatly to the development of philosophy, science and technology.

Today, as then, the Jews and Muslims in Europe and the Americas, and the Oriental Christians and Jews, play a valuable role. They build bridges between cultures and religions; they promote mutual understanding and trust. And of course both Muslims and Christians have learned a lot from cultures beyond the Euro-Mediterranean world. History shows that those communities that were most willing to learn from others have developed most rapidly. This is an important lesson.

We all form part of a cultural fellowship woven from strands that stretch from the present day back to the distant past. By engaging in dialogue, we can make cultural and religious diversity an instrument of peace and solidarity in Europe and beyond. Together, we can make dialogue and diversity instruments of peace.

Thank you.