His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE has declared 2019 as the "Year of Tolerance”. In the announcement His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan said "Instilling values of tolerance carries on Sheikh Zayed's legacy and teachings,” and also added that "it is one of the most important attributes that we can impact on our people and the global community to ensure the safety, stability and happiness of peoples across the world.”
His Highness Sheikh Khalifa also said "We look forward to further contributing towards building societies that believe in the values of tolerance, cohesion and dialogue, and establishing concrete models improving tolerance and co-existence both regionally and internationally."
Concluding His Highness Sheikh Khalifa stated "Here in the UAE, the Year of Tolerance will be celebrated as a national effort towards further advancing a decades-long dream of creating a tolerant and cohesive society, open to peoples of varying cultures and religions from around the world. The UAE and Tolerance go hand-in-hand."
His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minster of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai tweeted on the declaration “UAE President’s directives to declare 2019 as the Year of Tolerance aims to boost UAE’s status as a model for co-existence and cultural understanding and further promote this value within the UAE community,”
High Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces welcomed the announcement in a tweet saying "With Khalifa's announcement of 2019 as the Year of Tolerance, we recall the great heritage that Sheikh Zayed founded on tolerance and today characterises UAE's diverse society. The world today needs universal human values to be promoted for the sake of future generations.”
The declaration comes a few weeks after the announcement of the visit of Pope Francis to the UAE in early February next year.
The Year of Tolerance will focus on five main pillars.
The first pillar to deepen the values of tolerance and co-existence among cultures and peoples by concentrating on teaching the youth on the values of tolerance.
The second pillar seeks to solidify the UAE as the global capital for tolerance, via a series of initiatives and projects specialised intolerance and dialogue between various cultures and civilisations.
Th third pillar enacting multiple cultural programmes and contributions to build tolerant communities.
The fourth pillar, a focus on legislative and policy-oriented objectives that contribute mandating cultural and religious tolerance, via dialogue.
The fifth pillar will focus on promoting tolerance and co-existence via targeted media initiatives and projects.