Monday marked the beginning of the 30th annual International Arab Children’s Congress, taking place in Amman. Started by the late King Hussein in 1980, the Congress seeks to discuss and bring about solutions to global issues young people are facing.
REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed
The King’s widow, Queen Noor, was at the Congress’ opening ceremony which featured Lebanese singer Nancy Ajram, who is UNICEF’s regional goodwill ambassador to the Middle East and North Africa.
Each year, the Congress focuses on a different issue. For 2010, the topic is the environment. During this week, 150 participants from 20 countries, between the ages of 14 and 16 will come up with ways to protect the planet, discuss how harming the environment harms its inhabitants and talk about alternative energy.
“[Environment] is a topic of critical importance to many of our countries, given the fragile nature of our geographies, the chronic shortage of water in many regions, and increasing population pressures,” Queen Noor said in a statement issued by the King Hussein Foundation’s National Center for Culture and Arts (NCCA)
“The goal of the congress is to raise awareness of this issue, and promote better understanding of the dangers we all will face if this threat is not tackled immediately and boldly. We hope to inspire our network of future leaders to clearly and courageously insist that in the future, the air that we breathe will be clear, the water we drink will not be contaminated, and the food that we eat will be safe,” Queen Noor added.
Originally meant for Arab children, the Congress expanded to include European and Asian youths in 2004 for its annual gathering.
This week, Queen Noor of Jordan was at the world famous Cannes Film Festival where she promoted the documentary, “Countdown to Zero” which tells about the threat of nuclear weapons. By promoting this film, the Queen was further campaigning for the elimination of nuclear arms.
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Noor first promoted “Countdown to Zero” on Sunday, where she did a photocall with the film’s director Lucy Walker and former C.I.A. officer Valerie Plame Wilson, who is also campaigning against nuclear weapons. Joining in on the photocall was U.S. actress Meg Ryan, whom the Queen seemed thrilled to be posing with.
On Monday, Noor dressed up in a black gown to attend the premiere of the documentary.
“Countdown” insists that there is still a threat of nuclear arms falling into the wrong hands and will be used to attack people when they least expect it. The film begins with a quote from former U.S. President John F. Kennedy, “Every man, woman and child lives under a nuclear sword of Damocles, hanging by the slenderest of threads, capable of being cut at any moment by accident, miscalculation or madness.”
“I truly believe this is the most urgent threat we face as human beings,” Lucy Walker told reporters. “And that’s why I chose to make this movie.”
Queer Noor added, “I believe this film needs to be seen throughout the world, and help those populations mobilize to put pressure on political leaders or support political leaders who support the elimination of nuclear weapons.”
The 63rd Annual Cannes Film Festival will end on May 23rd.
Sources: Daily Telegraph, Wall Street Journal Blog
During a press conference at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., Jordan’s Queen Noor praised recent efforts to ban nuclear weapons, but said there is still more that needs to be done.
“We are at a nuclear tipping point,” she said, adding “there is still time to change direction.”
“The progress that we have seen over the past year with President Obama… has been very encouraging but we still have so far to go,” said Queen Noor, the American-born widow of the late King Hussein.
The Queen was speaking on behalf of Global Zero, an international campaign to eliminate nuclear arms. She spoke on the very day U.S. President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev signed a nuclear arms reduction treaty, which succeeded the START pact from way back in 1991.
Global Zero also showed a documentary during the press conference. The film was about how the threat of nuclear weapons is still alive 20 years after the Cold War ended.
Jordan’s Queen Noor was one of the 200 attendants at Tuesday’s Global Zero World Summit in Paris. The Summit targets a ban on nuclear weapons, with UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon leading the disarmament.
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Iran was on the minds of the participants, especially since the country has been making headlines with its nuclear program. But Queen Noor warned on signaling out the Islamic Republic.
“There is no benefit in selective targeting. Exceptions fuel tensions,” she warned. “You have to hold all states accountable.”
That also meant Israel, which never formally acknowledged its nuclear arms but its neighbors in the Middle East are well aware of it. The Queen’s comment was immediately shot down by George Shultz, the former U.S. Secretary of State under President Reagan.
“You can’t start by telling Israel to get rid of its weapons,” when it is in a region surrounded by people “who question its right to exist.”
The summit is to last for three days. Noor, the widow of King Hussein, is expected to take part for all days since she is one of the biggest campaigner for nuclear disarmament.
This past weekend saw the 6th annual Dubai International Film Festival open. Royals and celebrities from all over the Middle East have been taking part in the event, and among them is Jordan’s Queen Noor. She spoke at Sunday’s annual Culture Bridge panel as a guest of honor.
In her speech, the Queen said media platforms like this Film Festival (DIFF) can bring exposure on a global scale about the perspectives and narratives of one another’s culture. For example, movies like Burdus, which was shown at the panel, have the power to open communication and display how media can influence people.
Queen Noor cited personal examples and insights when she explained that media has the power to shift behavior and thinking, and can cut through differences and promote peace and prosperity.
Click here to see an interview with the Queen about how movies can help solve certain situations, such as the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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.”
The Jordanian Queen was busy helping to launch the anti-nuclear weapons campaign, Global Zero. She, along with several other dignitaries and activists, are calling for the weapons to be banned within 25 years.
The project was launched in Paris on Tuesday after 18 months of talks on how to revive lagging disarmament efforts.
Delegations went to Moscow for talks with Russian officials Wednesday and on to Washington on Thursday.
An estimated 20,000 nuclear weapons are held by the Britain, China, France, India, North Korea, Pakistan, Russia and the United States. Israel is also thought to have nuclear weapons. As a first step, Global Zero hopes to build support for new negotiations between Russia and the United States to cut 1,000 weapons from their nuclear arsenals of about 5,000 each.
Besides Queen Noor, signatories for Global Zero include former US President Jimmy Carter, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, businessman Sir Richard Branson, Ehsan Ul-Haq, the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in Pakistan, and Brajesh Mishra, former Indian National Security Advisor.
“We have to work on de-legitimising the status of nuclear weapons,” Queen Noor told the BBC.
“We have to set an example,” billionaire Richard Branson was quoted as saying.
With President-elect Barack Obama and several other world leaders advocating the goal of eliminating nuclear weapons, Richard Burt, a former United States arms negotiator, said the idea, once considered radical and unrealistic, was “entering the political mainstream.”
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