Jordan's Queen Rania was presented with the Andrea Bocelli Foundation's Humanitarian Award during a ceremony in Florence, Italy, "in recognition of her advocacy for refugees, children’s rights, and community empowerment", the Jordan Times reported Wednesday (September 14th).
In her acceptance speech, the queen said the world desperately needs a new Renaissance that re-energises the shared instinct for common decency and compassion, in order to "counter the ugliness of those forces that seek to wreak havoc on us".
She described these forces as those responsible for the violence perpetrated by extremists in Syria, Iraq and beyond that are "determined to drag civilisation back into the Dark Ages".
"They want us to live in a world of black and white, where the only colour is the red of bloodshed," she said.
In reference to the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" (ISIL), the queen said the group’s priority is to destroy heritage, art and any sign of civilisation in the region, such as the ancient city of Palmyra in Syria and Nimrud in Iraq.
"They have declared war on all civilisation, but perhaps their most painful attack is that on the innocence of childhood," she added.
The world must respond to the crisis in Syria by fighting extremists and supporting refugees, who have had to bear the brunt of the conflict, she said.
