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

century must be that moment of transcendence when the democratizing possibilities of the information
revolution, infused with the vision of a vibrant vigorous UNESCO, results in the construction of unassailable
defences for peace in the minds and institutions of peoples, so that the banners of peace can be unfurled in the
most distant corners of our global village in celebration of a common cause.
6.3 Madam President, the challenges facing the incoming Director-General are plentiful and ponderous. And
so, while we extend the hand of congratulation, every Member State must also extend the arm of solidarity and
support in order that the new Director-General might find in the resolve of the member nations the courage to do
what must be done. We extend to His Excellency Mr Koïchiro Matsuura our warm congratulations on his
nomination to the post of Director-General and pledge our solidarity with and support for him in the discharge of
his functions. The expectations of the international community and the imperatives of the new millennium have
been complicated by recent infelicities that have tarnished the honour and ideals of this noble institution. We
therefore take comfort in and look earnestly forward to the implementation of some of the reform initiatives
promised and to the adherence to principles of ethics, integrity and transparency enunciated in the contest for the
director-generalship.
6.4 Madam President, the expectations of developing countries and small island States in particular are that
the new Director-General, with full accountability to Member States and in harmony with the Executive Board,
will transform UNESCO into a learning organization that embodies and exemplifies the values that it espouses.
We look to the shaping of an efficient, more focused, less top-heavy and more representative international
organization. We expect new modalities of governance and accountability within which performance, results and
impacts speak significantly for themselves.
6.5 Madam President, since our election to the Executive Board, Saint Lucia has unflinchingly stood with
the forces of reform, accountability and better governance in this esteemed Organization. My Government is
proud of the consistent thoroughness with which this irrevocable agenda has been pursued by our esteemed
representative on the Executive Board, Mr Leton Thomas, our distinguished Permanent Representative,
Ambassador Gilbert Chagoury, and his very able and hard-working Assistant, Mrs Vera Lacoeuilhe. I would like
to take this significant international opportunity to publicly thank them for their dedication and their contribution.
Their teamwork, dedication and efficiency has been admired and respected by all who have encountered them.
6.6 I wish also to place on record our recognition of the efforts made by the Executive Board as a whole in
attempting to reform UNESCO. Saint Lucia takes particular note of the following initiatives of the Executive
Board which we firmly believe the Board should continue to pursue with renewed vigour under the leadership of
the new Director-General: the application of the guidelines for the rational implementation of decentralization of
UNESCO’s offices proposed by the Executive Board for adoption at this General Conference; attempts to
improve the administration of the Participation Programme and to provide greater access to funds available to
Member States under this Programme; heightened advocacy for a review of management/staff structures so as to
ensure that more funding is available for programmes; and the move towards “results-based budgeting” and, in
particular, the establishment of a Task Force to provide the Organization with a vision for the twenty-first
century. Saint Lucia fully supports the position taken by Canada on this issue and we would urge that the work of
the reflection group of eminent persons established by the Director-General be subsumed within the Task Force
because, while the Secretariat has an important role to play in defining the future of UNESCO, it is the Member
States that must direct this process and determine the Organization’s future identity.
6.7 Madam President, UNESCO needs to reinvent and reinvigorate itself with a new vision consonant with
the challenges that it faces. We need to sharpen our focus on the elemental mission - the battle against what has
been described as “the three most powerful underlying sources of conflict in the world today: ignorance,
intolerance and inequality”. And in doing so, UNESCO must re-establish intellectual leadership in the family of
nations – providing avenues for the finest minds of our age to connect with the most committed movements of
our time in order to address the ethical, moral and cultural dimensions of this period.
6.8 At the organizational level, we must sharpen our focus and concentrate on our areas of competence –
education, science and culture –, treating them in a more holistic and transdisciplinary manner. The intellectual
leadership established in the field of education must be consolidated on the platform of the conclusions of the
International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century. The partnerships that have evolved over
decades of collaboration must be extended in innovative and exponential ways and this must necessarily involve
the strengthening and more effective utilization of National Commissions and new modalities of extrabudgetary
funding.
6.9 To effect these reforms, Madam President, the incoming Director-General must be given the latitude and
the support to take a fresh look at the relationship between structure and function. We fervently hope that the
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