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

(10) Mr CASTELLS (Uruguay) (Translation from the Spanish):
Madam President, you asked me if you had answered my question, but you did not give me a chance to
say “yes” or “no”. No, you did not answer my question. I was asking you something else. You said that this would
make for smoother running of the General Conference in the future, but I was asking about the present situation.
Are we working under threat or pressure at the moment or not? Thank you, Madam President.
11. The PRESIDENT:
The question seems very hard to answer, because everyone knows that the strike is going on, so there is
pressure applied; but we are not deciding this matter because of the pressure. It certainly plays a part in the
proceedings, it would be ridiculous to deny that, but I have not just spoken with the strike leaders or whatever, so
I cannot really answer you in this respect. We are dealing with an issue which I hope we can handle with wisdom
and foresight, and I think that what has been presented to us by New Zealand deals not only with the present
situation, but, what is more important, with the future, so that a situation like this would never arise again. I am
sorry, I cannot give you a better answer, Sir.
12. Sr. CASTELLS (Uruguay):
Gracias señora Presidenta: De su respuesta deduzco por dónde va la cosa, ya que, si no dice
concretamente que no, que no hay amenaza ni coacción alguna, es porque sí las hay. Gracias.
(12) Mr CASTELLS (Uruguay) (Translation from the Spanish):
Thank you, Madam President. I can deduce from your answer how things are going since, if you do not
say outright that we are not under any threat or pressure, that means that we are. Thank you.
13. The PRESIDENT:
I give the floor to the representative of Haiti.
14.1 M. CHARLES (Haïti) :
Merci, Madame la Présidente. Je voudrais tout d'abord présenter toutes nos félicitations à M. Marshall
pour les efforts qu'il a déployés et dont sa proposition de résolution - que nous appuyons sans réserve - est le
fruit.
14.2 Par ailleurs, la délégation d'Haïti n'a pas le sentiment d'agir sous la menace. Certes, nos travaux sont
quelque peu perturbés, mais force est d'admettre qu'une grève, pour avoir un sens, ne peut aller sans un minimum
de perturbations. S'il y avait menace, il n'aurait peut-être pas été possible de tenir une quelconque séance, dans
aucune salle. Le moment est venu, à mon sens, de faire preuve de compréhension. Evitons les débats passionnés,
évitons de parler d'affrontement, de conflit, de menaces. Puisque des accords sont intervenus à l'issue de
consultations, il convient maintenant que nous nous déterminions sereinement, et j'invite tous mes collègues à
appuyer et soutenir la proposition de M. Marshall. Telle est en tout cas la position de ma délégation. Merci,
Madame la Présidente.
15. The PRESIDENT:
Thank you very much. I now call upon the representative of Nigeria.
16.1 Mr LIJADU (Nigeria):
Thank you, very much, Madam President. First I would like to thank New Zealand for this initiative.
And while thanking New Zealand I would like to remind this gathering that in fact yesterday we had a text which
was prepared by the President and for that I want to thank her very much, because part of the wording proposed
by her at that time has been reflected here, so we could perhaps have found a solution earlier than this.
16.2 But coming back to the new text, I absolutely agree with those who spoke before me that in fact we have
here the solution for what we want to do. However, I agree with Mr Rao, the representative of India, on the
amendment to paragraph 3 because failing that we would have had to do something about it. That is the first
point. The second point is that somehow paragraph 6 does not really seem to me to belong here. The sentiment
behind it is perhaps something which should be expressed in a separate statement or resolution coming from the
President of the General Conference on behalf of all of us. I think that would give it the necessary strength,
because I think it is something that needs to be said, very clearly, without any ambiguity. But that does not mean
that I will not accept the text as it stands if the preponderant feeling of the house is that we can accept it as it is
here.
16.3 Finally, I would like to go along with the President’s statement that what we are doing here is not being
done under duress. We are acquitting ourselves of our duties as responsibly as possible. Flexibly, but in no
circumstances under any threat whatsoever. Anybody who might have the impression that they are threatening the
General Conference, would have to think again because that is not what we are here for. We are doing our duty
and we will not be dissuaded from that one way or another. Thank you very much.
595
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