Marrakech – Morocco and the United Arab Emirates became the first countries to receive international recognition as part of the United States’ 250th independence anniversary celebrations. The two nations won the inaugural America 250 Founders’ Promise Award during an official session at the US Senate in Washington.
As reported by the Emirati state news agency WAM, the announcement came at the closing of the America 250: Building on the Legacy and Promise of Religious Freedom Forum.
The IRF Peace Builders Forum organized the two-day event from July 16-17. Day one took place at the Museum of the Bible, while the Senate hosted the closing session. Members of Congress, State Department officials, religious leaders, diplomats, policymakers, and international experts attended.
The award was created specifically for the America 250 celebrations. It honors countries that have made exceptional contributions to advancing religious freedom, equal citizenship, human dignity, minority rights, and a culture of coexistence and peace.
The organizing committee, chaired by Greg Mitchell, founder and CEO of the International Religious Freedom Secretariat, selected Morocco in recognition of its “historical legacy” in its relationship with the United States. The committee also cited the kingdom’s role in “consolidating religious moderation,” promoting “citizenship values,” and preserving “religious and cultural diversity.”
That history runs deep. Morocco was the first country in the world to recognize American independence. In December 1777, Sultan Mohammed III opened Moroccan ports to American ships while the Revolutionary War was still underway.
The two countries formalized their relationship through the 1786 Treaty of Peace and Friendship, negotiated in Marrakech and signed by John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. Congress ratified the treaty in 1787. It remains the longest unbroken bilateral agreement in US history.
‘Humanitarian diplomacy’
The UAE received the award for its national model of translating “values of tolerance, coexistence and interfaith dialogue” into policies, institutions, and initiatives with “global impact,” according to the organizing committee. The committee noted the UAE’s contribution to “humanitarian diplomacy” and building “bridges of trust and cooperation among peoples.”
The forum’s opening session featured addresses by Senator Jim Lankford, Senator Jim Risch, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Riley Barnes, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor. Lord Rals Rock, a member of the British House of Lords, also spoke.
Ambassador Sheikh Al-Mahfoudh bin Bayyah, Secretary General of the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace, addressed the opening session. He presented the forum’s work in “protecting religious minorities” and promoting “equal citizenship.” He pointed to the Moroccan and Emirati experiences as two models in “consolidating peace and coexistence.”
Bin Bayyah referenced the landmark 2016 Marrakech Declaration, a joint initiative between Morocco’s Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs and the Abu Dhabi Forum for Peace.
More than 250 Muslim religious leaders from over 120 countries endorsed the declaration, which drew on the principles of the Charter of Medina to defend minority rights in Muslim-majority countries. The 13th session of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Summit in Istanbul later adopted it.
The declaration, Bin Bayyah noted, represents “the first contemporary institutional revival” of the Charter of Medina’s principles of “citizenship, religious pluralism and peaceful coexistence.”
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