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

14.58 Señoras y señores: les deseo mucho éxito en sus deliberaciones que hoy empiezan. Les deseo que
mejoren las propuestas que les hacemos, tanto el Director General como el Consejo Ejecutivo. Que tengan muy
buena voluntad y mucho acierto. Muchas gracias.
(14.51) Ladies and gentlemen: I am about to conclude my address. To promote these values and attitudes, the
world needs UNESCO to be a living, dynamic agency, respected for the quality of its initiatives and for the quality
of the services it renders. This means that Member States must apply in full the policy decisions adopted by the
General Conference and that the Secretariat must set an example of professionalism and efficiency.
(14.52) The United Nations system is now, so to speak, in retreat in terms of both the growing influence of the
private sector and the attitude of governments, which often show little readiness to fulfil commitments they have
made in the United Nations context. UNESCO must take this new situation into account and act in consequence.
One of the possible options would be to extend collaboration with private bodies, as UNDP has done with the
NETAID network, like other public institutions at both international and national level.
(14.53) To achieve this, the operation of the networks of our associates and partners must be streamlined and we
must invest in images and symbols, the dynamic principles of our time. We must, above all, fire our citizens with
enthusiasm for peace-building and the practice of solidarity.
(14.54) To foster the kind of change I have outlined in this presentation of the Programme and Budget, UNESCO
must experiment with internal transformation, it must continue the process of internal transformation it has already
begun. I have already said that decentralization has now made it into a polycentric world network, accessible to
many collaborators and closer to the partners and associates with whom it accomplishes its mission.
(14.55) The Draft Programme and Budget submitted to this session of the General Conference - otherwise known
as document 30 C/5 - bears the signs of authentic change in progress. Based on the concepts of results, strategy and
responsibility, it announces a different method of work, a different approach to tasks; from now on we shall not be
restricted by a work plan, but work to ensure success; we shall not simply implement programmes, but demand
results; we shall not extol the virtues of the hierarchy, but integrate senior officials into a coherent system of shared
objectives. Like all radical changes, this one will take some time to be completed, but its wide-ranging effects are
already taking shape. The Secretariat which I am handing over to my successor is, like the rest of the Organization,
a body in the process of energetic renewal, based precisely on the total independence of the intellect. We cannot
proclaim academic freedom, scientific freedom, for others and then fail to observe it here in UNESCO. In 1990,
from Jomtien, where the momentous conference on education for all had just ended, I issued a “green note”, which
was very controversial at the time. Paragraph 12 of the note read: “I have the following advice for all the staff of
this Organization, at all levels: never do anything that goes against your conscience. If you believe that something
is harmful or that an order you have been given is misguided say so, talk about it. Never do anything that is an
imposition; this is not a house of people who are imposed upon or under subjection, this is the house of freedom”.
(14.56) Ladies and gentlemen, no one should be surprised that the Organization as a whole and its component
parts are constantly in the process of change, of renewal. In some instances it could be said to be natural for
intellectual organizations that are the focus of such controversy. It is a normal and necessary process because
UNESCO is a challenge, or rather it is constantly responding to intellectual, environmental, cultural and ethical
challenges. As you know, I proposed to the United Nations that these four issues be considered at the Millennium
Assembly with a view to that great world programme of endogenous development which could change the
direction of many current trends.
(14.57) These challenges combine in a complex interaction to constitute a single political challenge, the solution
of which will require courage, audacity and inspiration. This challenge poses various questions: What shall we do
with the century that is about to begin? What shall we be celebrating on 1 January? How shall we put peace into
practice, every day in our daily lives? I should like at this point to pay tribute to President Khatami of Iran, who has
proposed to the United Nations that 2001, as a follow-up to the International Year for the Culture of Peace, should
be declared the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations. I am pleased to say that this proposal has
been accepted. Afterwards will come the decade proposed by the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize, the decade of
education for peace and non-violence. This is our programme, these are our policy decisions.
(14.58) Ladies and gentlemen, I wish you great success in the discussions which you begin today. I hope that you
will be able to improve on the proposals you have received both from the Director-General and from the Executive
Board. May good will and wisdom inspire your decisions. Thank you very much.
15. The PRESIDENT:
Mr Director-General, I thank you for your extensive, detailed and enlightened presentation. You are
indeed a tower of strength and inspiration, whom all of us appreciate, and you have led us beautifully up to the
general policy debate that will take UNESCO not only into the next century but also of course into the next
millennium. Thank you again.
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