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

DEBAT DE POLITIQUE GENERALE (suite)
GENERAL POLICY DEBATE (continued)
DEBATE DE POLÍTICA GENERAL (continuación)
ОБСУЖДЕНИЕ ВОПРОСОВ ОБЩЕЙ ПОЛИТИКИ (продолжение)
1.1 The PRESIDENT:
Friends, thank you for coming. As we do not have a quorum, we shall have to wait a few minutes before
we start. Please excuse us.
(The meeting is suspended for five minutes)
1.2 Ladies and gentlemen, I declare open the fourteenth plenary meeting of the General Conference. We
shall continue our general policy debate. May I call the first speaker this morning, His Excellency the
Honourable Justin de Brum, Minister of Education for the Marshall Islands. Your Excellency, you have the floor.
2.1 Mr DE BRUM (Marshall Islands):
Madam President, Mr Director-General, Members of the Executive Board, Ministers, and delegates, it is
a special honour for me to convey to the leadership of UNESCO and to the delegates gathered here the greetings
of my Government and the people of the Marshall Islands in the mid-most heart of the Pacific. I want to begin by
congratulating you, Madam President, on your election as President of the General Conference. The people of the
Marshall Islands share your belief in the preservation of human dignity regardless of race, creed, culture, gender
and economic background. I also wish to recognize the contribution made by the Director-General, Mr Federico
Mayor, to UNESCO over the past 12 years. That you will, Sir, carry with you in your future endeavours the idea
and ideal of UNESCO, is a moving and powerful inspiration to us all.
2.2 Madam President, UNESCO exists and operates in an environment of rapid and complex global
changes. Evidence of increasing global consciousness is irrefutable. Remarkable advances in science and
technology have effectively contracted the world into a single neighbourhood. Young nations, regardless of size
or economic conditions, are continually involved with older ones in a great many global concerns. This
Conference itself provides more than ample evidence of this. Organizations of civil society focusing on a wide
variety of international concerns, including many organized efforts for world peace, have vastly increased in
number. The networks by which people can communicate and seek mutual understanding continue to widen. All
of these are closely linked to the goals of UNESCO. I want to assure you, Madam President, that we are
unreservedly committed to the fulfilment of these ideals and will continue to spare no effort in contributing our
share to the collective effort of UNESCO Member States.
2.3 Located in the Pacific, the Republic of the Marshall Islands is at once a member of a large family of
small island States. Many of the representatives from these States have travelled halfway around the globe to
attend this Conference. I especially wish to offer at this time my sincere congratulations to the Federated States of
Micronesia and the Republic of Palau on their becoming UNESCO’s newest Member States.
2.4 As we approach the beginning of the new millennium and the new century, the Pacific island States find
Focus on the Pacific, which is the subject of draft resolution 30 C/DR.19, a most appropriate point of reference.
Having felt the impact of world-shaking forces, we acknowledge the leadership of the United Nations and
UNESCO in forging a lasting culture of peace. As can be seen in this great assembly, we are increasingly
becoming active participants in UNESCO and other international organizations testifying thereby that our
smallness belies the strength of our desire to participate in bringing about a new world order and in reinforcing
the principle of the equality of all States regardless of size. Despite our vulnerability in respect of economic,
environmental and security matters, Pacific islands have, through our respective governments, successfully
established a number of regional bodies to achieve greater social and economic prosperity and to address our
common concerns. In the face of enormous constraints imposed by distance, limited resources and racial and
linguistic diversity, we have shown that cooperation is possible under challenging and even discouraging
conditions.
2.5 Madam President, the Republic of the Marshall Islands is committed to UNESCO’s mandate in science,
technology, education and communication. In the field of education, we have launched our first ever national
curriculum which gives science the strongest possible emphasis. In embarking on this, however, vigilance was
necessary. We did not want a curriculum that begins with words and ends with words or leads to the cultivation
of unrestrained self-interest. Our aim was to prepare young people for a lifetime of service to their community
and society and enable them to play an active role in the building of an emerging new world order. UNESCO’s
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