HCHF Member and Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee at EXPO 2020 Dubai

DUBAI – Nobel Peace Laureate Leymah Gbowee, member of the Higher Committee of Human Fraternity (HCHF), stressed the importance of the historic Document on Human Fraternity during remarks on Monday at EXPO 2020 Dubai, saying that the declaration serves as a reminder that every field – from science and technology to religion to education – must focus on the people, rather than power or individual accomplishment.

“The suffering we see today is because each field is forgetting the most important aspect of our world: people. We operate in silos, rather than collectively. Until we can change that mindset, we suffer,” said Gbowee – who was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize for leading a nonviolent peace movement that helped end bloody civil war in Liberia – during her keynote speech at the G-STIC conference’s education panel in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

“In 2019, His Holiness Pope Francis and His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Professor Ahmed Al-Tayeb signed the Document on Human Fraternity in this country [United Arab Emirates]. The document seeks to promote a world that focuses our attention back to the people,” she added.

The historic Document on Human Fraternity was co-signed in 2019 in Abu Dhabi by Pope Francis and the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and patron of human fraternity. The HCHF was established shortly after the signing to advance globally the values enshrined in the Document.

Gbowee also relayed to the audience a recent conversation she had with HCHF Secretary-General Judge Mohamed Abdelsalam about the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the world.

“We discussed how COVID has drawn communities on the ground closer together and made us realize that we either walk together – or we die together,” Gbowee said.

“The pandemic has also shown how international communities are extremely vulnerable,” said Gbowee, leaving the audience with a question previously posed by UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed at Expo Dubai 2020: “How do we move our world from misery to aspiration?”