Tolerance award winners.- Photo by Juidin Bernarrd
Dubai - The first global initiative of its kind, the biennial award is initiated by the International Institute for Tolerance.
Published: Wed 19 Feb 2020, 7:00 PM
Last updated: Fri 21 Feb 2020, 7:31 AM
Three champions of tolerance received Dh1 million each at the first Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Tolerance Award in Dubai on Wednesday.
The first global initiative of its kind, the biennial award is initiated by the International Institute for Tolerance (IIT) under the patronage of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. The award ceremony held at the Dubai Opera saw the presence of a number of dignitaries, ministers, students as well as government officials.
The event kicked off with a soulful tolerance song that was sung by men and women representing different nationalities of the world. Donning traditional costumes of different countries, the artists set the tone of the ceremony by singing Michael Jackson's famous song 'Heal the World' in their different native languages, representing the spirit of tolerance the UAE stands for.
German entrepreneur Dr Hubertus Hoffmann won the Literary Creativity category award while paediatric surgeon and former Saudi minister Dr Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah won the award in Human Thought category. Syrian national Rania Ali won the award in the Visual Arts category for her efforts in spreading awareness about refugee and women issues through filmmaking. Two categories were newly introduced at the ceremony, focusing on youth projects and new media. Set to become a biennial event, the tolerance award is the first global initiative to consolidate tolerance values and expand the cultural openness between peoples and communities in order to establish a global, cohesive society. The prize money of D5 million will be divided into five categories.
The awards and trophies were given to the winners by Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, Minister of Tolerance, and Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Dubai Media Office.
Dr Hamad Al Shaikh Ahmad Al Shaibani, Managing Director of IIT, said: "In line with the vision of the wise UAE leadership, the award celebrates creativity in highlighting tolerance as the key to positive human relations worldwide. It is the first global initiative that honours outstanding achievements in promoting tolerance across diverse fields."
Major-General Ahmed Khalfan Al Mansouri, Secretary-General of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Tolerance Award, said: "The award aims to convey the UAE's message of tolerance to the rest of the world and contribute to finding a common language between different cultures and nationalities based on shared values. The high uptake from around the world for the inaugural edition of the award highlights the importance of the initiative and reflects the keenness of individuals and entities to reject violence and extremism, and embrace love and solidarity."
Winners of the award
Advocate for refugees and women - Rania Ali
Syrian national Rania Ali, 24, won the tolerance award in the 'visual arts' category for her efforts in spreading awareness about refugee and women issues through filmmaking.
After escaping from war-torn Kobane at the age of 19, Ali is currently pursuing a career in journalism in Austria and works as a human rights advocate. She chronicled her perilous journey in a deeply personal and immersive documentary 'Escape from Syria: Rania's Odyssey' that has been viewed over 9.2 million times, shared over 93,000 times, and won multiple awards.
Speaking to Khaleej Times about her journey, Ali said: "Syrians did not leave their homes because there was a choice and coming to Europe was not a dream that came true but it was a way to escape the war and live with dignity. I had to leave Syria, but before I left, I decided to document my journey. I was asked by many why was I filming, and I always gave the same answer... Because I want to show the world that we are humans.
"I documented my journey to give people a first-hand and authentic perspective on the Syrian refugee crisis. It was a very hard and perilous journey and I was cheated by people-smugglers, teargassed and beaten at Macedonian border and even was at the risk of drowning in the Mediterranean Sea, since over 50 of us were stuffed on a boat that was meant to carry only 15 people. But I am glad my voice that represented the voice of the refugees was heard and I managed to change opinions of many people."
From then on, Ali decided to work on breaking the social border between Europeans and refugees that she says are there due to lack of communication.
"I make films on women and refugee issues, debunking myths about how women of the Middle East are portrayed and looked at," she said.
Ali is currently working on a multimedia project about refugees trying to rebuild their lives in Austria, as well as the local communities dealing with the challenges of integration. She is a fellow of the 1325 Women in Conflict project, and spearheads the Living Together initiative, co-led by Swiss refugee NGO Terre des hommes, that provides a platform for young people to express their opinions on cultural diversity and inclusion. Since November 2018, Ali has been working with Amnesty International to highlight the plight of vulnerable women refugees on the Greek islands.
A loving paediatric surgeon -Dr Abdullah Al Rabeeah
Saudi national Dr Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Rabeeah, former minister of health of Saudi Arabia and a paediatric surgeon, who specialised and achieved outstanding success in separating conjoined twins, won the 'human thought' category of the award. His efforts have positioned Saudi Arabia as a global hub for such surgeries that are extremely demanding and offer only a 25 per cent survival rate.
During his career, he managed to handle complex surgeries of separating conjoined twins and is known to have conducted the largest number of surgeries in the field. Dr Rabeeah has surgically helped separate 108 conjoined twins from 22 countries free of cost as most of them he said, were from underprivileged families.
Currently serving as advisor to the Royal Court of KSA and general supervisor for King Salman's Centre for Humanitarian Aid, Dr Rabeeah said: "I love children which is why I became a paediatric surgeon and also I pursued this profession because it gave me a chance to ease people's pain. When you attend to a child, you also attend to his whole family, such as meeting his parents and relatives and it is a rewarding feeling to remove tears of misery and see tears of happiness in the eyes of parents of these children. The closer you are to people, the closer you are to yourself and thereby you can be happy and spread happiness wherever you go."
He conducted the first operation in December 1990 on a pair of Saudi conjoined twins. He was also assigned to head humanitarian arm of Saudi Arabia and for the last five years, he said he and his team have managed to help people from 50 countries.
Chronicler of peacemaking principles -Dr Hubertus Hoffmann, President and Founder of the Global Tolerance Initiative
German entrepreneur Dr Hubertus Hoffmann won the literary creativity category for his book "Love Is Tolerance - Tolerance Is Love" that explores the principles of peacemaking. The book is published in six languages including Arabic. In his work, Dr Hoffmann presents a concrete action plan he calls The Human Codes of Tolerance and Respect, formulated after several years of research and meetings with religious leaders, scholars and politicians across the world.
Elaborating on his codes of tolerance, he said: "Through these codes I mentioned in my book, I intend to show that tolerance can be propagated through small deeds such as being friendly, treating others the way you want to be treated, appreciating diversity, looking at what we have in common rather than our differences and making life easier for ourselves and all.
"I also plan to place huge bronze globes of tolerance in places of tolerance such as Dubai and Abu Dhabi. These globes symbolise the whole world and they have 20 different quotes on tolerance, including from the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan in different languages," he told Khaleej Times.
Dr Hoffmann regularly gives speeches about the codes of tolerance all over the world. He has made an outstanding contribution to portraying the true image of Islam and denouncing a culture of hate.
saman@khaeejtimes.com
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