AMMAN (Petra) - The war on terror has justified the strong need in the world for a new vision based on human integrity and dignity, HRH Prince Hassan said on Tuesday.

In his keynote speech yesterday at the opening of a conference on “Countering violent extremism: learning from deradicalisation programmes in some Muslim-majority states”, he stressed that it is time to talk about the stability of the peoples of West Asia and North Africa.

Prince Hassan said it is essential to develop conversations within the third sphere - public and private sectors and civil society - to discuss the future of the region, with a focus on the legal empowerment of the poor and the inclusion of citizens as partners in building their future.

He also underlined the importance of citizen diplomacy in the context of composite security and human security in the region, stressing that it is necessary to focus on population, food, resource, environmental, energy, monetary, cultural, preventive, state and market security, in addition to global commons.

In addition, Prince Hassan noted that the West Asia and North Africa region is in need of an economic as well as a social council, which meet every three months to discuss and provide recommendations for governments.

He explained that environment protection in the region must focus both on the natural and the human environment, pointing out that it is difficult to differentiate between political refugees, climate refugees and displaced persons who share the same land and consume the same water.

Stressing the need to place people at the centre of development, the Prince pointed out that poverty is the denial of the rights of people to participate effectively in shaping their own future.

He called for deepening the cultural affinities between the peoples of the region and those of other regions.

Prince Hassan also called for the establishment of a centre for conflict prevention in the region, noting that through intra-independence between the peoples and the states an institutional representation of the region can be built at world level.

He renewed the call for establishing a cohesion fund for social solidarity with the poor, along with an energy charter, stressing the need for a regional conference on security and cooperation.

Emphasising the importance of building confidence for the sake of human dignity and moving from words to actions to encourage the will to stay in the region, Prince Hassan highlighted the strategic importance of education and media in this area. He also stressed the importance of global commons in the management of supra-national issues and the need to invest in the cogitosphere for the advancement of future.

The conference is organised by the Arab Thought Forum, the Norwegian ministry of foreign affairs and the International Peace Institute.