UN Envoy al-Hassan at MEPS 2025: New Middle East must be self-defined
Shafaq News – Duhok
UN Secretary-General’s Representative to Iraq, Mohammed al-Hassan, dismissed repeated foreign narratives about a “new Middle East,” insisting the region’s future must be shaped by its own people—not dictated by external powers.
Speaking at the Middle East Peace and Security Forum (MEPS 2025) in Duhok on Tuesday, al-Hassan urged a shift from crises and wars toward genuine peace, warning, “The people of this region are exhausted—by wars, occupations, and crises imposed from abroad.”
He pressed regional leaders to move beyond political rivalries and focus instead on building innovation-driven economies grounded in education, science, and artificial intelligence, calling it a race for relevance—not a fight for dominance.
Pointing to Iraq’s untapped talent “from Zakho to al-Faw,” he stressed that lasting progress hinges on responsible, visionary leadership, affirming the UN’s support while underlining that transformation must be Iraqi-led and Iraqi-owned.
On the Yazidi community, al-Hassan demanded urgent action to end the prolonged displacement of thousands still suffering a decade after ISIS’s genocide. He cautioned that Iraq cannot claim recovery while any of its citizens remain forgotten.
More than 200,000 Yazidis remain in camps under harsh conditions, with thousands still missing or struggling without essential services in partially rebuilt hometowns across Sinjar and the surrounding areas.
The UN envoy closed with a direct appeal to Iraqi leaders to abandon sectarianism, embrace national unity, drive economic reform, and invest in modern education, stressing that a functional federal Iraq must prioritize its citizens—not the power games of its factions.
The MEPS 2025 forum, held from November 17–19 at the American University of Kurdistan, convened regional leaders, diplomats, and academics under the theme: “Managed Chaos – A New Middle East?” Now in its sixth edition, the forum is co-hosted with Cambridge University, the Atlantic Council, Carnegie’s Crisis Response Council, and the London School of Economics.
Read more: Yazidis struggle to return home a decade after ISIS atrocities: report
