The Queen of Jordan was one the speakers on Thursday’s session at the Clinton Global Initiative in New York. Queen Rania spoke about the importance of education, and how politicians cannot ignore it.
AP Photo/Stephen Chernin
“The benefits of education sometimes don’t fit in with the political cycle because you reap the benefits way down the line,” she said. “What we need to do is realize that sense of urgency when it comes to education, because education is a matter of life and death.”
Queen Rania also discussed how receiving the basic three Rs are not enough to inspire young people to do something with their future.
“Take young people who are opportunity starved, and there is political conflict around them, and that makes a very dangerous social mix. As you all know, what happens in the Middle East, does not stay in the Middle East,” she said. “Critical thinking, problem-solving, creativity, those kinds of skills are extremely important to empower our young people.”
While on the panel, Rania also recognized the Ubuntu Education Fund, a South African program aimed at providing access to education and health services.
The Queen is a strong advocate for education in third world countries, particularly with girls. She works on behalf of UNICEF to get more children into schools, and has her own school program back in Jordan.
Denmark’s Crown Prince Frederik was in New York this past Tuesday for the U.N. Global Impact meeting. The gathering is sort of like a predecessor to the upcoming climate summit in Copenhagen later this year.
Even Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen was at the meeting, just before he stopped by the Security Council to give his speech on Denmark.
Frederik also made use of the popular website YouTube to promote the U.N. Climate Change Conference. Below is the video.
Monaco’s sovereign ruler was one of the many speakers this week at the 64th annual U.N. Security Council gathering.
AP Photo/Frank Franklin II
Prince Albert II spoke about Monaco, the global economy and how his principality would spend its GDP in the future.
“Hundreds of thousands of people now enjoy the actions taken by my country in its international cooperation in the sectors of health, education and the fight against poverty,” he said. “That’s why I asked for our continued effort to devote 0.7% of GDP by 2015 in favor of official development assistance.”
“This development assistance must be accompanied by long-term investments aimed at strengthening the capacities of developing countries, including transfer of appropriate technologies to meet the imperatives of sustainable development.”
The Prince continued: “The months that have passed have strained the global economy. If signs of recovery begin to emerge, but we must learn from this dark year. The globalization of the economy and the resulting interdependence make it essential to reform the monetary system and international finance.
“We must all rebuild the solid foundations of a capitalism with a human face to the benefit of growth and social development. The circumstances give us the opportunity to create a “green economy” that combines job creation and dissemination of new technologies for a sustainable recovery.
“Monaco will continue to work with its partners, is to tell everyone of you to implement best practices for protection, international assistance and capacity building with the sole objective save lives. The Principality also continue to respond in solidarity with humanitarian emergencies, especially for women and children whose vulnerability is no longer to demonstrate in circumstances of crisis. ”
Before Prince Albert went to deliver his speech, he was notified that Monaco was taken off the “grey list”, meaning it was no longer considered to be a tax haven by the OECD.
One of the guests at this week’s U.N. Security Council meeting was Jordan’s Queen Noor. Invited by U.S. President Barack Obama, the Queen sat in the chamber through speeches given by various world leaders.
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However, she was not there on behalf of the Hashemite Kingdom. The widow of the late King Hussein was in attendance because Obama is presiding over a U.N. vote to ban nuclear weapons worldwide.
“I believe that world leaders have come to recognize that the only way to eliminate the nuclear threat is to eliminate all nuclear weapons, and it is urgent to begin making this vision a reality,” Queen Noor said, according to the Associated Press.
As co-founder of Global Zero, where 200 world leaders have agreed to ban nuclear arms within 20 years, the Queen has been fighting for this banning in recent years.
Now, with the United Nations voting on this, she gets to see hers, and many others’, dream to be a reality.
Queen Noor said the resolution “would be a historic step toward an international consensus, and it would pave the way for governments to start working to achieve this goal.”
She also hopes Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev would strike an arms deal cut later in the year.
“It begins with the United States and Russia making deep cuts in their arsenals,” Queen Noor said. “We’re hoping the Security Council will endorse the Obama-Medvedev call for the elimination of nuclear weapons. We see this as a team effort.”
“For so long, so many people have been working toward this goal.”
As for Obama, the Queen has nothing but praise for him. “I admire him for setting the goal,” She said. “He’s got an enormous set of challenges in front of him.”
During this week, Jordan’s Queen Rania has been in the United States, touring on behalf of her country and of UNICEF. She has been speaking with the press and meeting with Americans in regards to education and the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
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First, on Monday, the Queen stopped by the Young Women’s Leadership School in East Harlem. As UNICEF’s first eminent advocate for children, as well as the United Nations Girls’ Education Initiative’s (UNGEI) honorary global chairperson, Queen Rania gave the girls a few inspirational words.
“I want you, girls with voices, to speak up and shout out for girls whose cries fall silent. I want you to fight for them, as others are fighting for you. I want you to pull up another girl, and help her stand tall and strong. I want you to be great and inspire greatness in others. If anyone can do it, you can.”
“Providing quality education to girls is a sound investment that helps build a brighter future for their communities and their countries,” said Ann M. Veneman, the executive director of UNICEF, who was with the Queen on Monday. “Her Majesty Queen Rania is a strong voice promoting access to a quality education for children around the world.”
Tuesday, Rania went up to Yale University for a Q & A session with its students, faculty and staff. There, she switched from being an advocate for girls’ education, to a voice for the Palestinians in the Mideast peace process.
“In Palestine, walls are going up rather than coming down,” the Queen, who is a Palestinian origin, said. “Time has not been a friend” to the Palestinians.
“Land is the geography of the Palestinian soul,” she continued, and each new settlement on the West Bank “is a blow to their existence.”
Below is video of Queen Rania’s visit to Yale:
Wednesday night, the Queen attended the Important Dinner for Women at the Cipriani’s 42nd street restaurant. Attended by various high profiled women, such as Wendi Murdoch, Sarah Brown, Nicole Kidman and Liya Kebede, the event discusses ways
Jordan News Agency
to help women survive childbirth in third world countries, where mortality rate for such women is high.
On Thursday, Queen Rania had two major events. One was the commemoration on the UNRWA’s 60th anniversary. The UNRWA, which was set up to aid Palestinian refugees.
“UNRWA’s presence reminds the Palestinian people that they are not alone; that in their darkest hours, an international aid agency stands by their side,” the Queen said. ”
You know, this is one event I wish I wasn’t at. I wish there was no need for UNRWA. I wish there was no anniversary to mark and I wish that there were not for 6 million Palestinian refugees in need of humanitarian aid. But you and I know the reality is very different.Theirs is a life interrupted, a life half lived.”
Later in the afternoon, she took part in a forum at the Clinton Global Initiative.
On Monday, Queen Rania said on Twitter, “Arrived in NYC for work. As always, excitement and trepidation. Will I be able to champion the causes & people I represent well enough?”
Well, Your Majesty, many people would say you did your job very well!
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