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

(24.9) Monsieur le Président, permettez-moi de dire que j'ai foi en cette Organisation ainsi que dans les idéaux
et les objectifs qui ont présidé à sa création. Permettez-moi également de remercier sincèrement le Secrétariat et
plus particulièrement le Directeur général de l'Organisation, M. Federico Mayor, des efforts méritoires déployés
pour préparer cette Conférence et en assurer le succès. En conclusion, je réitère mes remerciements et adresse à
tous mes voeux de plein succès. Merci.
25. El PRESIDENTE:
Gracias, Excelencia, por su participación esta tarde. Tiene la palabra el Excmo. Sr. John Mutorwa,
Ministro de Educación Básica y Cultura de Namibia.
(25) Le PRESIDENT (traduit de l'espagnol) :
Je vous remercie, Excellence, de votre participation à cette séance. Je donne la parole à M. John
Mutorwa, ministre de l'éducation de base et de la culture de la Namibie.
26.1 Mr MUTORWA (Namibia): 1
Mr President of the General Conference, Mr Chairperson of the Executive Board, Mr Director-General,
honourable ministers, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, we are again gathered here to take stock of
our achievements, and of course of our failures, but above all, to identify the path which we must take as a family
with one vision, and that is to make the world a better place for its people. Namibia welcomes and appreciates
this opportunity to participate in the activities and deliberations of the 30th session of the General Conference,
barely two months before the world will bid farewell to the twentieth century.
26.2 Namibia’s challenge, almost ten years after independence, is still essentially one of nurturing and
maintaining an open democracy, while making fairly rapid changes in the social, economic and individual values
and behaviour of its citizens. The opportunities are there, provided by a rich variety of natural resources and a
fairly stable democratic State created under a liberal Constitution. But, as in many countries in the world, the
majority of our people do not fully benefit from these opportunities. Our mission, therefore, is to ensure that
education and training play a key role, especially in developing the human resources which are central to
sustainable development.
26.3 We all experience, in one way or another, the unfortunate phenomenon of marginalized youth,
unemployed youth and children living in difficult circumstances. This has become a global challenge which
needs to be addressed urgently. UNESCO has organized a number of youth forums during this last biennium and
we note with great interest that there will be a youth forum during this Conference. We have also listened to the
Manifesto for the Twenty-first Century presented to the plenary by young parliamentarians from various Member
States of UNESCO. It is only by involving young people in our discussions that they really become partners in
identifying solutions to global youth problems.
26.4 Regarding children living in difficult circumstances, such as street children, we need to redouble our
efforts to erase this ugly phenomenon from our societies. Namibia has a street children programme which has
been receiving UNESCO assistance since 1996. The programme aims to reintegrate street children in their
families, in schools and in society. However, there is an absolute need to work on the reasons why there are street
children if the problem is to be addressed radically.
26.5 Mr President, we can have excellent programmes and visions, conclusions and recommendations from
conferences, we can have sufficient means to implement them, but in order for our undertakings to be successful,
we need global peace. This century has been marked by conflict and violence. It is time that, as we enter the third
millennium, the world starts cultivating peace, lasting peace. We commend the efforts of UNESCO to encourage
the world to work for peace as we enter the year 2000. We trust that every country will make its contribution so
that peace becomes a reality and part of our daily life. For the launching of the International Year for the Culture
of Peace, Namibia opted for a peace march, involving mainly school children and young people and led by our
Head of State. We need to cultivate peace, tolerance and democracy among your youth, hence our full support
for the Associated Schools Project activities and the pilot project on education for human rights and democracy
in southern Africa.
26.6 UNESCO has organized a number of international conferences where Member States have expressed
their needs and aspirations. These conferences have come up with impressive conclusions and recommendations.
The question that needs to be answered is: What next? Where do we go from here? Are we able to implement
these conclusions? In our opinion, the answer to the last question is yes. All we need is strong political will and
genuine solidarity.
1
The speaker provided the Secretariat with the full text of his statement which, with the authorization of the President, is reproduced
in full in annex to this verbatim record.
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