His Majesty King Abdullah delivered a speech in The Hague on Tuesday at a meeting with around 300 Dutch and international students participating in the World Class The Hague programme.

Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah, and King Willem-Alexander and Queen Máxima of the Netherlands, as well as a number of political, academic, and media figures were in attendance.

King Abdullah also took questions from students after the speech, delivered as part of the World Class programme, which is organised by the City of The Hague in cooperation with a number of Dutch universities.

In the speech, His Majesty praised the legacy of The Hague as a city of justice and peace, describing the World Class programme as part of the city’s inspiring commitment to the shared future of humanity.

“One of the most satisfying parts of my work is always meeting and talking with your generation, a major part of Jordan's young population, and a truly global force today,” the King told the students.

Noting youth’s energy, talent, and concern for the world, His Majesty called for harnessing them to address “the deeply urgent need to help the world's people live together in mutual respect”.

“Every day, in the news, we see anti-diversity; sectarian fears and conflicts; people excluding and maltreating those they see as ‘the Other’… We hear angry, suspicious hate speech; and then, there are also these extremist groups misusing religion, in an effort to gain power over people and drive communities apart,” the King said.

His Majesty warned that allowing these voices to divide humanity is profoundly dangerous. “Our world today is hyper-connected. Global cooperation is absolutely necessary to meet our challenges, because our challenges are shared.”

“How we live and work together depends on morality, depends on how we live up to our values. And our values support the coexistence that is the only way, in a complex world, that our countries and peoples can survive and prosper,” the King noted, stressing the importance of mutual respect, tolerance, and compassion.

“These are my values, as a Muslim. I share them with billions of my fellow Muslims around the globe and throughout Islam’s history. And we are obviously not alone. And I have no doubt that the Golden Rule, to treat others as you would be treated, was a principle taught to every one of you here today,” His Majesty added.

The King said students, as humanity’s future, have a central role in steering the world in the right direction.

“I hope you will continue to do what you are doing, working to understand our world. And this knowledge begins when we come together, in groups like this World Class programme, where we bridge differences of culture and background in a dialogue of respect. And that cannot happen unless we speak and listen to each other with sincerity and acceptance,” His Majesty told the students.

“Take what you learn here in World Class, and put it to work to your community, your classroom, your sports groups, your workplace. Find that person you don’t know, someone of a different faith or background; talk and listen with respect; continue the dialogue. Because you are building the links that hold the world together,” the King urged.

His Majesty called for keeping a healthy suspicion of those who have abandoned the path of dialogue, and who claim that truth is only for the select few. “Truth is light; it is there for all to see and share.”

“Those who lie about our faith, or any faith, should never be allowed to divide our world. And the fact is, the threat today is not from any clash of civilisations or religions. The threat is from those who attack our shared future, through poisonous ideologies of hate. And in this fight, all moderates—of all faiths, of all countries, all ethnic groups—are on the same side,” the King said.

“It is our own responsibility, not someone else’s, to insist on tolerance and mutual respect, in day-to-day life, as well as in the future that we are all trying to build,” His Majesty asserted.

“It is you who can energise the international community to act on our shared values,” the King told the students.

“Above all, we must fight the exclusion of any people, especially young people, from the promise of our age. Let us give everyone a stake in a future of justice, mutual respect, and prosperity, as well as peace,” His Majesty underlined.

Stressing the important role of young people, the King urged the students: “Never lose confidence in your power to change our world for the good. Your voices are already defining and describing our world for millions, if not billions, of others.

“So use your knowledge and technologies as paths to a better world. And let your shared values illuminate the way ahead. And help us all walk away from disrespect and ignorance. Take the world in a better direction, and help shape the better future you all truly deserve.”

During a Q&A session following the speech, His Majesty, in response to a question on the Syrian crisis, said it is a very complicated issue, “and we’re not going to find quick solutions quickly”.

“There are two parts of it. How do we get Syria back into the light? And that comes, hopefully, through the Geneva process, where we can find the changes in the constitution, and the electoral process that allows Syria to move forward; keeping in mind that ISIS is defeated, not destroyed, and that’s not just in Syria or Iraq, but in other places of the world,” the King noted.

“Russia has a role in Syria… and what you’re seeing is the Astana process, which was military deconfliction, leading to the Geneva process, which is the political aspect of this. It’s going to be baby steps,” His Majesty explained.

“In the south, we have relative calm, and that’s because the Russians, Americans, and the Jordanians are sitting in a centre, 24/7 looking at deconfliction. Iran’s presence is a bit of a wild card, especially as we try to move the stability aspect, so that we can have rebuilding and move in the right direction. And the success of the south, hopefully, will allow us to do the same thing in the middle and the north,” His Majesty said.

“So, if anybody thinks it’s going to be solved in 2018… I don’t see it,” the King continued.

“We can’t give up on Syria, so I don’t want to depress anybody here, but it just means looking at the glass half-full, not taking no for an answer, and continuing to move Syria in the right direction,” His Majesty said.

“It’s going to take all of us—the international community, the coalitions—to come together, as long as you keep in mind that you want Syria solved for the Syrians and for their betterment; then, I think we will get there.”

Responding to a question on Jordan’s ICT sector and the role of young Jordanians in leading it, the King said: “The only hope that we have is the younger generation, and young people taking us in the right direction.”

“In Jordan, IT is a very big, growing sector of our society. It has been for a while. Seventy-five per cent of Arabic content written in the Middle East is actually based out of Jordan,” His Majesty continued.

“That comes down to education, and investing in youth to be able to move forward, and giving them all the opportunities to develop themselves,” the King noted.

“Part of the challenge is that a lot of Jordanians, once they graduate, they end up going outside, because that’s where the work is. The challenge for us is how do we bring that talent back to Jordan… We have to give opportunities,” His Majesty added.

“I don’t mind people going outside and learning best practices and coming back, but at the end of the day, our future is to create the opportunities for Jordanians to come back and give all their talent to developing our country,” the King said.

Asked on the Jordanian model of countering extremism and the potential to promote it elsewhere, His Majesty said: “I think the challenge that we’ve had in the past is that for certain Western policies… there was a lack of connectivity in looking at this in what we call now the holistic approach.”

The King said Jordan has begun hosting meetings in Aqaba, where representatives of many countries come together to talk unofficially about how to deal with terrorism and radicalisation from a global aspect.

“The problem with terrorism and radicalisation is going to be with us for at least another generation, and it’s going to come down to education,” His Majesty affirmed.

“The good news is that we’re actually quietly talking to each other, that is, the foreign policy side of the house, the intelligence side of the house, the military side of the house; hopefully, those are actually the short-term aspect, but the medium- to long-term is how do we counter-radicalise and how do we coordinate,” the King noted.

The Balkans, His Majesty said, has been a source of unrest for Europe and the world over the past 100 years, noting that addressing this issue now will prevent the need to address it from a military perspective “in a couple of years’ time”.

“I’m glad to see that people are now looking at it from a global perspective, and I’m very proud that Jordan is playing an important role in that,” the King added.

In response to a question on growing anti-immigrant sentiment and the spread of hate speech, His Majesty related Jordan’s experience with the refugee crisis.

“This is a practical problem that we’ve had in our country several years ago, when waves of refugees were coming in large numbers, and Jordanians were saying, enough is enough,” the King said.

His Majesty noted that Syrian refugees now account for 20 per cent of Jordan’s population, but “if we add the Yemenis, and the Libyans, Iraqis, and—to an extent—the Palestinians, 40 per cent of our country now are refugees. This is a tremendous drain.”

“So it does take us a bit by surprise when we hear, in other parts of the world, when thousands cross borders, that there’s a major panic,” the King said.

His Majesty noted the burden on Jordan’s northern region, where refugees are adding pressure on the educational and healthcare systems.

“We have roughly a million illegal Egyptian workers working in our country, and if we send them back to Egypt, that is not the right thing to do, and it will create a major problem for Egypt.

“Egyptian illegal workers are complaining about Syrian refugees challenging their jobs, but at the end of the day, where’s the Jordanian in all this? So it’s something that we’ve had to deal with, and, at the end of the day, you’ve got to do the right thing,” the King affirmed.

“When some people came to me a couple of years ago and said, ‘enough is enough, shut the borders’, I said, ‘OK, how are we going to do that? If a woman comes across the border with her children, what do you want us to do? You want us to shoot at them? That’s what the other side is doing. You just can’t. You have to open your borders. That is the right thing to do.’,” His Majesty continued.

“The challenge we have in Jordan is people are taking us for granted, because Jordanians will do the right thing. But today, our people are suffering, so we feel a bit of the anger that we’re seeing elsewhere in the world. But at the end of the day, our people will do the right thing, but we’re asking the rest of the community ‘don’t forget us and help us’, because, at the end of the day, Jordan is based on doing the right thing,” the King said.

Asked about the role The Hague can play as an international capital for peace and justice, His Majesty said the city stands for “bringing people from diverse backgrounds, from all over the world, wanting to learn about each other, and looking at it from a global perspective.”

“We are in an interconnected world… whatever happens in one part of the world will eventually affect the other side, and the only way that we overcome that is to get to know each other, to understand each another, to believe in diversity,” the King noted.

“At the end of the day, young people want an opportunity at life; they want to be happy; and they want to be safe and secure. And I think that goes for 99.9 per cent of the world,” His Majesty added.

“Part of the problem is we do tend to be the silent majority, and so we are affected by fringe groups; we are intimidated by fringe groups, and, sometimes, we can be led by populist ideology,” the King stressed.

“I think most people are good-hearted people. If there’s something wrong, we will stand up and say enough is enough, and I think it’s time now that the world says no to those that are preaching hatred,” His Majesty added.

Earlier at the session, The Hague Mayor Pauline Krikke delivered remarks welcoming Their Majesties.

Krikke also spoke about the unrest in the Middle East, which has driven “countless numbers of people from their homes”.

“Millions found refuge in hospitable Jordan. Sheltering all these refugees places a huge burden on your country and its population. But the Jordanian people have an incredible characteristic: solidarity. And it is that solidarity, that compassion that serves as an example for the whole global community,” the Mayor added.

“This is the responsibility of us all. Also that of The Hague. Especially The Hague,” she said, highlighting the city’s work to support refugees and their hosts, as well as its efforts to promote tolerance and coexistence.