UNESCO. General Conference; 30th; Records ... - unesdoc - Unesco

alleviation, illiteracy, lack of access to education, ignorance, exclusion, racism and environmental degradation.
The shift of emphasis in the document from plans to strategies reflects the dynamism of our Organization.
9.4 Mr President, Ghana welcomes UNESCO’s recent publication of the eight-volume General History of
Africa that has set Africa’s historical records straight. The warped and inaccurate presentations of the continent’s
past must now be discarded forever. It is our hope that the General History of Africa will progressively be
published in several languages to facilitate its use as a basic textbook on African history in educational
institutions in Africa and elsewhere.
9.5 Similarly, we applaud UNESCO’s Slave Route project that has given rise to a heightened awareness
about the evils of slavery and the slave trade that for over four centuries were practised with careless abandon in
a triangle that linked Africa with Europe and the Americas. We also deplore the earlier versions of this macabre
trade in human beings across the Sahara and the Indian Ocean to the Arabian peninsula and beyond. It is
gratifying to note in this connection that, as a result of the sustained efforts of a lady parliamentarian from French
Guyana, Madam Christiane Taubira Delannon, the French National Assembly has formally declared slavery and
the slave trade a crime against humanity. We hope that this laudable French initiative will be emulated by other
parliaments across the world.
9.6 Mr President, my delegation supports the contribution that UNESCO continues to make to building
peace within and among States by working to change behavioural patterns that give rise to exclusion and
discrimination based on gender, religion, language and race. We also urge UNESCO to continue its efforts to
shape values, to promote cultural and linguistic pluralism and dialogue among civilizations and to prompt the
institutional changes needed to eradicate the deep-seated causes of violence. As you are well aware, Ghana –
alongside other developing countries – has gained international recognition in the area of peacekeeping for its
involvement in international efforts to find solutions to the conflicts that plague a number of countries inside and
outside Africa.
9.7 These activities have, however, put additional strain on the already limited national budget. There is
therefore a need for greater international assistance to help reduce the incidence of conflicts and mitigate the
concomitant human suffering. As a first step, the international community should take swift action to redress the
perceived imbalance in the allocation of human and material resources for peacekeeping efforts, which now tends
to favour conflict spots in some geographical areas rather that others.
9.8 Ghana appreciates UNESCO’s efforts in support of science and technology education in Africa through
the establishment of UNESCO Chairs at African universities to promote centres of excellence. However, greater
support must be given to the publication and dissemination of research findings from African universities under
the UNESCO University-Industry-Science Partnership (UNISPAR) programme. There is also the need for
UNESCO to help African countries to take advantage of the opportunities offered by the recent advances in
information technology.
9.9 We wish to commend UNESCO for encouraging Member States, especially those in our part of the
world, to develop strategies for clean and sustainable technologies based on renewable energy sources. There is,
however, a need for greater awareness about solar energy in developing countries under the World Solar
Programme canvassed by UNESCO.
9.10 Mr President, this year, the world has witnessed a series of natural disasters in the form of hurricanes
and earthquakes. These disasters have taken a heavy toll on human and material resources in Caribbean countries,
in North and South Korea, in some southern states of the United States of America, in Turkey, Greece and
Taiwan. Ghana extends its condolences to the governments and bereaved families in the affected countries. In
order to help reduce the incidence of human suffering, the advanced countries need to show greater solidarity and
share their expertise in hurricane and earthquake forecasting and warning systems with developing countries like
Ghana, which are located in flood and earthquake-prone zones.
9.11 Finally, Mr President, as the world marches on to the twenty-first century, it is the wish of Ghana that
we, the Member States of UNESCO, resolve to be more committed to our Declaration on the Culture of Peace
and to the fine ideals of UNESCO as we work for more sustainable development through good governance,
tolerance and respect for cultural diversity in an increasingly globalized environment. I thank you for your
attention.
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