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Ammon News - AMMAN (Petra) - His Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal, Chairman of the West Asia-North Africa (WANA) Forum, said participants meet today at a time when mankind witnesses more human suffering of various forms due to human and natural catastrophes and the unlimited self-destruction by humanity itself.

During the inauguration of the 5th WANA Forum, which opened on Monday in Amman to discuss ‘Achieving the Human Dignity of the Uprooted’, His Highness stressed the need to view the issue of the uprooted in an advanced way by establishing a comprehensive methodology, building on available capabilities in the region and finding proper solutions for issues related to water, economic and material resources.

He stressed the need to link human dignity to development, noting that "this is what we are expecting from our meeting today to achieve an integrated vision to restructure the global economic system, where the culture of consumption and financial wealth mean neglecting human suffering." Prince El Hassan added that the concept of the "uprooted" encompasses refugees, internally displaced persons, stateless persons, displaced persons – often uprooted as a result of the failure of governance, as well as being victims of violence and destruction.

His Highness noted: "They are not only a legal term or a classification at the United Nations, they are not only names without an identity, they are humans." He pointed to the need to find a genuine voice that comes out of the region to set our priorities and enhance social cohesion for the people of our region to form the future in a responsible way.

"Isn't it time to have an Islamic finance system founded on a regional and global basis?" Prince El Hassan asked, pointing to the need to take education into consideration and establish inspiring policies to reduce poverty and cement social justice to have access to education, health care and public services.

With 26 million uprooted people worldwide, 20 million of those in the WANA region alone, the Forum will explore practical policy options that place the uprooted at the center of development policy and consider a new regional approach to the issue.

The theme of this year’s Forum is timely, as the WANA region is currently under increasing strain to provide shelter, water, food and energy to 1.3m Syrian refugees, with 6.8m Syrians currently in need of humanitarian help.

The Forum will bring together experts from across the region and beyond to examine over two days how uprootedness challenges the WANA vision of sustainable regional development and stability, as well as a successful transition to the future.

Sessions will explore: humanitarian responses; development; protection mechanisms; promotion of civil rights; legal reform; micro and macro development; regional financing; and solutions to urban displacement.

The Forum will conclude with a meeting of all the participants, chaired by Prince El Hassan bin Talal, in which they will formulate guiding principles for a policy framework underpinned by a Social & Economic Charter.

The WANA Forum is supported by The Nippon Foundation under the Chairmanship of Mr. Yohei Sasakawa.