The announcement comes ahead of the Year of Tolerance in the UAE in 2019…

It was recently announced that 2019 will be the Year of Tolerance in the UAE, and ahead of it beginning H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Vice President, Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai has announced the formation of a tolerance committee.

The Dubai ruler said that the Supreme National Committee for Tolerance’s mission during the Year of Tolerance is to ‘consolidate values of tolerance within the UAE community, and spread this unique model to our global neighbours’.

“We want the UAE to be the global reference point for a tolerant culture, via its policies, laws and practices,” Sheikh Mohammed said.

The committee will be chaired by H.H. Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Members of the committee include other ministers, government officials and business leaders.

Sheikh Mohammed has requested that the committee now create a comprehensive framework ahead of the Year of Tolerance, and implement its strategies throughout the year. It’s important that all strategies work directly towards achieving the seven pillars that the Year of Tolerance revolves around.

These seven pillars are:

Pillar 1: Tolerance in Community
The first pillar aims to promote the values of tolerance within family members, and to consolidate them among different cultures, activating the role of UAE community centres across the country to promote tolerant, cohesive societies.

Pillar 2: Tolerance in Education
This pillar’s objective is to solidify teachings behind the values of tolerance within education systems – across schools and universities – within the country.

Pillar 3: Tolerance in the Workplace
The third pillar’s focus is on creating a safe, tolerant, and cohesive workplace across public and private sector institutions and organisations, via educational progammes highlighting equal opportunities for all.

Pillar 4: Tolerance and Culture
The promotion of cultural tolerance is the main objective, via the launch of various events and programmes celebrating more than 200 nationalities residing in the country, and enhancing interactions between them via the arts and culture sector.

Pillar 5: UAE Model of Tolerance
This pillar seeks to solidify the UAE as the global capital for tolerance, via a series of initiatives and projects specialised in tolerance and dialogue between various cultures and civilisations.

Pillar 6: Tolerance in Legislation
The sixth pillar will see the Supreme National Committee for Tolerance work on developing policy, legislation and executive regulations guaranteeing the sustainability of values and lessons behind tolerance, dialogue, and cohesion among cultures, including a law on multiculturalism.

Pillar 7: Tolerance in the Media
The media is one of the most important axes in dissemination tolerance and co-existence values via targeted media campaigns and projects, as well as promoting the UAE Model of Tolerance across media channels and social networking sites.

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