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

12.1 The PRESIDENT:
Mr President of the 29th session of the General Conference, Mr Chairperson of the Executive Board,
Mr Director-General, distinguished delegates, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, allow me first of all to express
my deepest appreciation for the vote of confidence that you have accorded me. I feel honoured but I also have a
feeling of great responsibility. May I assure you that I shall do my utmost to justify your trust.
12.2 I should like to thank all the Members of the Executive Board and both Chairpersons of the Board
during this biennium for sharing with us their knowledge and their aims, hopes and worries for the future. I
should also like to thank my predecessor, the President of the 29th session of the General Conference. His
opening speech two years ago, which earned the admiration of us all, was indeed full of inspired thoughts,
understanding and wisdom.
12.3 Now this is the 30th session of the General Conference of UNESCO, and the Programme and Budget
that it is your task to finalize will lead us not only into the next century, but also into the next millennium.
Though I do not believe that the end of the century will mean that all of us will change, it does inspire everybody
to recapitulate, to rethink, to evaluate, and to try to exercise foresight.
12.4 All of us who are here believe in the value of the Organization, and it is this belief that has brought us
here. Yet this Organization has certainly not been flattered by the media in the recent past. Some of the criticism
voiced is justified; that has to be recognized. However, a great part of what has appeared in print has been
inaccurate, exaggerated or truly erroneous. None of the criticism has reflected on the Member States, their
representatives and their National Commissions. Nevertheless, what this Organization will be and what it will
achieve is, or should be, up to us.
12.5 With a good measure of generalization, one could divide the Member States into those that know they
need UNESCO and those that think they do not need the Organization. All countries need UNESCO, though of
course some countries and whole continents have an immeasurably more pressing need for assistance. Yet the
very fact that a country may think it can do without the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization signals to us that something is not as it should be in that particular country.
12.6 We all feel that there is a spiritual vacuum in this world of ours. While the other United Nations
agencies deal with practical, material issues – with politics, security, health, the economy – there has to be some
global organization endeavouring to enhance the quality of life and dignity of the human being. As long as
UNESCO adheres to its inspired Constitution, it will have an extremely important role to play in the years to
come, in the centuries to come, and in the next millennium.
12.7 This very year we learned a lot. We learned about atrocities carried out against innocent men and
women, about the poison of prejudice, distrust and hate of peoples against peoples, hate being the deadliest
poison of all. But we also learned about the admirable capacity for human compassion and solidarity which was
so manifest after the terrible natural disasters that struck several countries. The catastrophes were indeed terrible
and one almost feels as if God – however one may call Him – was angry with us, as if He wanted us to stop, to
pause, to reflect, to put aside greed and envy, to remember that there is one rule which – I believe – applies in all
religions. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. A simple rule indeed, but if all men and women
were to follow it, this world would be a better place to live in.
12.8 Now let us consider the main pillars of UNESCO.
12.9 Education is considered by all, truly by all, to be of primary importance. We are well aware of the dire
need for basic education in places where it is still not accessible to all, yet the question remains whether the funds
attributed to education are indeed used in the most effective way. In some countries, basic education, adult
education and also distance education, technical and vocational education and education in the art of maintenance
are the only roads to a more dignified standard of living. In the more developed countries, the ills of civilization
can only be cured through enlightened education. A lot has been done by UNESCO in the past, yet we still live in
an unjust world which certainly cannot boast of equal opportunities. There is such a huge intellectual potential in
the countries which have to battle with the inaccessibility of education. Many peoples of Africa, Asia and other
parts of the world do not have the chance they deserve.
12.10 Science of course has its firm place in UNESCO, but that is mainly thanks to the scientists themselves,
to the Member States as such. The ethical responsibility of scientists is something that should always be stressed,
and our Organization does that.
40