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

(32.1) Mr AL-MULLAIS (Arab Bureau of Education for the Gulf States) (Translation from the Arabic):
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Madam President, Mr Chairperson of the
Executive Board, Mr Director-General, Your Excellencies, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen, it is an
honour for me to be here in this forum of science and knowledge, to address you on behalf of the Arab Bureau of
Education for the Gulf States (ABEGS). I offer you my sincere greeting, the greeting of Islam, the greeting of peace
that God bids us utter at opening and at closing, upon meeting and upon taking leave. Peace and the Mercy and
Blessings of God be upon you. Madam President, I congratulate you on your election as President of this
Conference, which is being held just as the twentieth century is coming to an end and the twenty-first is about to
dawn, marking the beginning of a new century and also a new world, one in which there will be no place for
isolation and no scope for self-sufficiency. Globalization will be its watchword, cooperation will be the sine qua
non of life in it, and security and peace will be necessities for every individual on earth as distances are shortened
and cultures intermingle.
(32.2) Madam President, it gives me great pleasure to offer my congratulations to Mr Matsuura, the incoming
Director-General. I welcome him, and I look forward to even closer cooperation between ABEGS and UNESCO
during his term of office. I should also like to express my great esteem for Mr Federico Mayor, the present
Director-General, and all his colleagues, both at Headquarters in Paris and at the regional offices in the Arab
region, for their admirable cooperation and their enthusiasm for our common task, especially as regards those
programmes that ABEGS plays a part in implementing, notably programmes relating to education for all and
teacher training in the areas of school health and educational assessment, and also programmes aimed at giving
effect to UNESCO declarations on such issues as higher education and technical education.
(32.3) Ladies and gentlemen, your Organization has adopted some very fine, scintillating watchwords to carry
into the coming century. Two of them are Culture of Peace and Education for All. A culture of peace does not
consist of the recitation of poems, nor the making of speeches, nor articles for circulation in newspapers, nor yet
formal conventions decorated with multicoloured inks; rather, it consists of behaviour which individuals practise,
which communities adopt and thereby set an example, to which peoples aspire and for which nations strive. We,
here in this hall, consider ourselves responsible for the education of present and future generations in every part of
the world. Any defects in behaviour may be attributed to shortcomings in that education. How ironic, then, that
some of us may stand up here in this gathering and call for a culture of peace and education for all, even as our
countries are continuing to practise injustice, commit aggression, plot and conspire. How ironic, too, that even as
we call for peace, many of us are enemies to one another and treat one another unjustly. If that is what we are
doing, how can we hope to design a form of education that will enable us to spread peace and harmony among
peoples and nations?
(32.4) In the Arab States of the Gulf, the teaching of peace is an educational aim. We seek to spread peace in
accordance with the words of God, “And if they incline to peace, incline thou also to it, and trust in God”, and “O
mankind! Lo! We have created you male and female, and have made you nations and tribes that ye may know one
another. The noblest of you, in the sight of God, is the best in conduct”. We are also following the precepts of the
Prophet Muhammad, who said, “The Archangel Gabriel lectured me about one’s duty to one’s neighbour until I
thought he was going to tell me my neighbour was entitled to a share in my inheritance!”. Muhammad also said
that those who caused their neighbours harm were not to be counted among the believers. All human rights flow
from this important principle: beginning with your neighbour, you proceed progressively to your nation and
ultimately the entire world. Belief in human rights is also a form of behaviour that acknowledges the right of the
individual to lead a secure, dignified life in justice, and goes on to extend that principle to whole peoples. But such
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