1. Towards a Culture of the Heart - editorial
2. A Community Response to UN Appeal
3. “A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda’s Genocide”
4. UN Security Council Meeting on “Fostering a Culture of Prevention
and of Peace”
5. 53rd Annual DPI/NGO Conference
6. Indigenous Peoples Forum
7. Right Livelihood Awards
8. The United Nations Millennium Summit
9. Global Ministerial Environmental Forum (Malmö, Sweden)
10. The United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilisations 2001
11. World Citizenship Day in San Francisco
12. The Legion of Good Will (LGW)
1. Towards a Culture of the Heart
In this rapidly changing world, which sometimes leaves even experts dumfounded and at a loss to explain what is going on or predict what will happen next, many of us are, I think, compelled to stretch beyond the deafening clamour of the daily human struggle to look for some meaning and direction.
Perhaps one of the most disturbing realisations to come to grips with is the fact that none of today’s humanitarian, peacekeeping and conflict resolution efforts appears to be strong or resolute enough to withstand or prevent the heinous crimes of genocide, socalled ethnic cleansing or the murderous intent of one person or group of human beings against another. Neither kindhearted volunteers, blue berets nor white painted vehicles of peace can stem the devastation of this will to harm, hurt, and destroy.
Aid workers with long years of experience in the field tell of the sense of utter helplessness they feel when their assistance is no longer met with any response; when all life in the eyes has died and the soul of a human being is crushed - whey any acts of kindness bring relief to neither giver nor receiver.
But we need not go to battlezones in foreign lands to see victims of such malicious acts. These victims with vacant eyes are to be found in every country, among the young and the old, the rich and the poor.
Perhaps we must look beyond the scene of the crime to find what it is within us that allows such shameful acts to continue to take place; and what the reason might be that we so often settle for patching up the broken and giving the hungry a bowl of food. Can we sincerely believe such measures of humanitarian aid, however necessary, will of itself suffice and that today’s half-hearted peace efforts can prevent the attacks of a brutal force hellbent on killing the life and spirit of humankind?
We can indeed be grateful to those who work in the many warzones and points of crisis around the world for urging us to recognise that general kindheartedness and sporadic acts of goodwill are no longer enough. In order not only to match the commitment of meanspiritedness, but also triumph over it, our hearts must be ablaze with goodness: because it is not the brain but the heart which will help us rise above the timidness of temporary human forms and stand soul-sized in the battle, reviving the spirit and bringing true healing to the entire body of humankind.
So, as we enter the threshold of the first year of a new century, let the limitless goodness of the heart of humankind be released to empower and guide our way.
2. A community Response to UN Appeal
The UN General Assembly in its Declaration on a Culture of Peace (13 September 1999) clearly points out the “civil society needs to be fully engaged in fuller development of a culture of peace” (article 6) and then, in article 8, further stresses this sentiment by stating: “a key role in the promotion of a culture of peace belongs to parents, teachers, politician, journalists, religious bodies, and groups, intellectuals, those engaged in scientific, philosophical and creative and artistic activities, health and humanitarian workers, social workers, manager at various levels as well as to non-governmental organisations.” The General Assembly hopes that this Declaration and Programme of Action on a Culture of Peace, together with its resolution of 10 November 1998, proclaiming 2001-2010 the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-violence for the Children of the World, will guide governments as well as civil society in their activity “by its provisions to promote and strengthen a culture of peace in the new millennium.”
It is this call coming from the United Nations member states that prompted Peace Through Unity to initiate a project which would depend on the creative and cooperative spirit of the community for its implementation.
After a few preliminary probes within the Wanganui community (pop. some 40,000) to gauge the interest in this project, OPTU approached the Wanganui District Council in March 2000 with the proposal of a Sculpture Design Competition which would highlight the theme of a culture of peace, hoping that the Council would approve of this project and allow the completed work of art to be situated on public ground, preferably in the heart of the city. In April, the Council gave the project its full support and permission for the chosen design to be erected on the historic hill of Queens Park, adjacent to the Regional Museum, and Library and the Sarjeant Art Gallery.
In cooperation with the Sarjeant Gallery and a core group of people, including Polytechnic students and multicultural women’s group representatives, the Design Competition was launched and plans for the opening of the design exhibition in the Sarjeant Gallery with a culture of peace celebration, set for 15 September, continued to develop until the last moments of the last day.
A colourful poster had been advertising the competition throughout this period. Two days prior to the opening of the exhibition three judges selected the winning design which received the prize of $2000, - donated by OPTU and presented by the Mayor of Wanganui on exhibition day.
The culture of peace celebrations became a truly memorable event thanks to all the people who contributed to it: the Polytechnic fine arts and graphic design students who offered music and film and also designed the ‘souvenir’ programme; the Wanganui cafés and restaurants who contributed finger food which was served by school students and women dressed in their beautiful national costumes, who had also contributed some of the delicious food; and the MP for Whanganui electorate who gave the keynote address.
The winning design is a 20 metre wide and 2 to 3 metre high work of art: the structure opens to the east and welcomes you to walk the double spiral way, leading first upwards and then - following the second spiral - descending downwards, returning full-circle to the east. The walls, low and safe enough to be climbed by children, will be lined with handcasts of clay, between 5-7000 of them, all donated by community members of all ages. The visionary artist of the design, Ross Mitchell-Anyon, says that the sculpture represents a celebration of life, embracing all peoples and cultures, symbolising the continuous human journey.
A core group of people representing the Wanganui District Council, the artist involved and OPTU has been set up to continue the project, aiming for its completion in 2001. OPTU’s vision from the beginning has been that we are not merely choosing a work of art, signifying a culture of peace; but that the whole process around completing it would be through community involvement and participation, so that the finished work will become a lasting memento of the community cooperative spirit. It is also hoped that this project will be one of many other responses by us people in our millions worldwide to the plan of action in the UN General Assembly’s Declaration on a Culture of Peace.
Gita Brooke, project convener.
3. Book
“A People Betrayed: The Role of the West in Rwanda’s
Genocide”
by Linda Melvern. Zed Publications. London-New York.
In our March 1997 issue we drew attention to “The Ultimate Crime-who betrayed the UN and why” (Allison & Busby, UK) - Ms Melvern's brilliant albeit most disturbing history of the United Nations from its inception in 1945-1995. Commenting on this extraordinary and insightful book we told how this award-winning investigative journalist reveals much well documented information about the intrigues, corruption and inefficiency that brought discredit upon this world institution throughout its first fifty years, notwithstanding a number of successes achieved in some areas and the commitment and dedication of many of its personnel.
Melvern lays bare how our governments themselves have prevented the UN from carrying out what it was meant to do; and how the international community has been indecisive and weak-willed when confronted with the cold-blooded and brutal crimes against humanity continually taking place in many parts of the world. The United Nations has throughout been hampered by lack of funds and the principle of non-interference as regards the rights of sovereign states to do as they please within their own borders.
In her latest book, published in August this year, Melvern focuses exclusively and in chilling detail on the 1994 Rwandan genocide and the deliberate and save manner in which a planned public campaign of murder resulted in the massacre and mutilation of up to a million lives. The author had access to the files of secretly held meetings of the Security Council that revealed what was going on behind the scenes.
The author pointedly exempts from her justifiable castigation of the international community the role played by former New Zealand Ambassador to the UN Colin Keating, then serving as president of the Security Council. Keating did hi utmost to move the Council to appropriate action and had earlier put forward radical proposals aimed at making the Security Council more democratic and effective.
Speaking at the launching of the book in Wellington, Keating said that in all the circumstances of which his office made him aware relating to this horrific Rwandan tragedy, he to the best of his knowledge found Melvern correct in every detail. He strongly recommended both books being read and assessed together.
Special praise is given in the book to Canadian General R omeo Dallaire, who has been under a cloud for the last six years for refusing on three different occasions to carry out UN Orders to withdraw from Rwanda his heavily outnumbered peacekeepers, on the grounds that a retreat of UN forces would intensify this bloodshed. “Never”, says the book, “in the history of peacekeeping has a commander been expected to achieve so much with so little”. Dallaire lacked even basic needs, from sufficient ammunition to a sufficient supply of medicine. Gerry McCarthy, a UNICEF official who was in Rwanda during the genocide thought that of the entire United Nations “Dallaire was the one shining beacon and he was tested beyond endurance.”
The foregoing remarks will, we consider were as a relevant lead-in to
the mention of a moving and significant Canadian radio broadcast given
on Canada Day, 3 April last. There can be no doubt that Dallaire’s health
had seriously suffered as a result of what he had undergone on Rwanda during
the genocide and in the last week of June this year Romeo Dallaire was
hospitalised after being found drunk on a park bench in Hull, Quebec. The
story was reported in the newspapers and Canadian broadcast personnel wrote
sympathetically, expressing their best wishes and asking the General if
he had a message he would like to send Canadian listeners. Appreciative
of the opportunity offered him, Dallaire responded from his hear as follows:
------
“There are times when the best medication and therapist simply can’t
help a soldier suffering from this new generation of Peacekeeping injury.
The anger, the rage, the hurt and the cold loneliness that separates you
from your family, friends, and society’s normal daily routine are so powerful
that the option of destroying yourself is both real and attractive. That
is what happened last Monday night. It appears, it grows, it invades and
it overpowers you.
In my current state of therapy, which continues to show very positive results, control mechanisms have not yet matured to always be on top of this battle. My doctors and I are still building a prostheses that will establish the level of serenity and productivity that I yearn so much for. The therapists agree that the battle I waged that night was a solid example of the humanity trying to come out from behind the military leader’s ethos of “My Mission first, my personnel, then Myself.” Obviously the venue I used last Monday night left a lot to be desired and will be the subject of a lot of work over the next while. I must say that the incident in question took place, for the first time, outside of my dwellings.
I do not wish to be seen as pretentious enough to speak to your listeners on the day of our national holiday. However, everyone of those in military uniform who have served outside our magnificent country, come home with a stronger desire to defend it, to love it, to protect it and to live within it with dignity and respect. Many are casualties of this last decade of world disorder. There will be new casualties amongst our ranks during the next decade and beyond. I believe that the cause for enforcing respect for individual human rights and the campaign for the establishment of human security for all are worthy missions for this country of the world stage.
This nation, without any hesitation nor doubt, is capable and even expected by the less fortunate of this globe to lead the developed countries beyond selfinterest, strategic advantages and isolationism, and raise their sights to the realm of the pre-eminence of humanism and freedom. The youth of our nation, “volunteering” to serve as soldiers, sailors, and airpersons today and into the future are capable of facing up to, with their families in support, the sacrifices, the injuries and the complex moral and ethical dilemmas of Peacekeeping and Conflict Resolution around the world. They must however believe that their families are being treated fairly and with dignity by a nation well aware of what is at stake for them.
I believe that we are on the verge of a new “Social Contract” between the members of the Canadian Armed forces and our citizenry. A new contract for a whole new generation of dangerous and at times devastating operational missions where Canada is not at risk, but where humanitariansim is being destroyed and the innocent are being literally trampled into the ground. The soldiers, sailors and airpersons, committing themselves and “their families” to carry our values, our respect for the dignity of men and women independent of any differences, supported by fellow countrymen who recognise the cost of human sacrifice and in resources will forge in concert with our politicians, our diplomats, our resource managers and our fast growing humanitarian agencies, a most unique and exemplary place for Canada in the league of nations, united under the United Nations Charter”.
In “A People Betrayed” General Dallaire is portrayed less as a rebellious
soldier than as a true hero and in inspiration to us all. We sincerely
hope that this book together with “The Ultimate Crime” will be widely read
and studied by all who are seriously concerned with the democratisation,
renewal and reform of the United Nations.
Throughout the day of the 20 July 2000, the Security Council discussed the issue of armed conflict with a view to creating a strategy for “early warning, preventive diplomacy, preventive deployment, preventive disarmament and post-conflict peace-building”.
During the discussions some saw obstacles to early warning for prevention of conflict, such as its incompatibility with the principle of sovereignty, while others believed that sovereignty could be actually strengthened through the international community playing a constructive role in internal situations, highlighting also the important role of civilian police in the prevention of conflict and of women in peace-keeping.
Several speakers mentioned the urgent need to “address underlying causes of conflict in the hope of preventing it”> Many Governments agreed with Gerhard Pfanzelter (Austria) when, speaking as Chair of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe, he said the “the United nations, regional organisations and individual States should and must invest more effort, time and money in conflict prevention”, adding to this statement that “the cost of war far outstripped resources for institutions that promoted conflict prevention and resolution.”
Among the 30 official contribution of the day was one from the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in which he said that “conflict prevention should be the cornerstone of collective security in the 21st century” and suggested that the Council find ways of interacting with non-State actors in this regard.
At the end of the debate a “presidential statement” was issued, in which
the Security Council invited the UN Secretary-General to submit a report
to the Council (by May 2001) with an analysis and recommendations on initiatives
within the UN for prevention of armed conflict.
Source: Go Between, Aug-Sept, 2000, NGLS, Palais des Nations, CH-1211
Geneva 10, Switzerland. e-mail: ngls@unctad.org.
5. 53rd Annual DPI/NGO Conference, United Nations, New York, 28-30 August 2000
The theme for the UN Department of Public Information (DPI)/Non-governmental Organisations (NGO) Conference, “Global Solidarity: the Way to Peace and International Cooperation”, provided the basis for a series of panel discussions ranging from “The New Democratic Diplomacy: Civil Society as Partner with the United Nations and Governments”; “An Economic Vision That Works: to “new Responsibilities for Civil Society”, as well as a wealth of workshops arranged by different NGOs.
Among the speakers were Theo-Ben Gurirab, President of the 54th sessions of the General Assembly, Hanna Suchocka, MP of Poland and Hanan Ashrawi, Secretary-General, Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy.
Theo-Ben Gurirab (Namibia) welcomed the participants on behalf of the United Nations and told them: “We all want to see a sober and solid partnership between the UN and NGOs”; and the UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, assured everyone present that although sometimes falling short of expectations “we shall continue trying to improve access.” He pointed out, however, that, ultimately, decisions about the level of NGO participation would be up to Member States.
Hanna Suchocka (Poland) saw changes in the role of civil society within governmental systems who were themselves also undergoing changes. She believed that civil society organisations in the western countries were independent from, rather than in opposition to, the State.
Speaking of their role in Poland, she felt that when NGOs had raised their level of professionalism and proved “their integrity by increasing the transparency of their endeavours” they would achieve the position they deserved within the Polish State.
Hanan Ashrawi (Palestine) asked “how can systems of accountability be set up and a moral code of ethics established to govern the globalisation on the rampage and to address the human agenda” and then suggested that new definitions of power, authority, and leadership were now emerging which meant, she said, that “mobilisation and intervention were possible.” But, she insisted, there needs to be a willingness to “step out of the safe havens of familiar relationships and beyond language characterised by platitudes and generalisations. There must be an active will to pursue a new dynamic, unhampered by complacency and static relationships, and in the process, to create fluidity and mobility.”
In her welcome address, Elaine Valdov, Chair, NGO/DPI Executive Committee, said that the conference could be seen as demonstrating a cooperative effort to create a global solidarity through the creation of a new diplomacy between civil society, governments and the United Nations. However she expressed concern about the level of communication to be maintained with NGOs that did not have a presence at Headquarters, stressing that the Executive Committee is always working to “heighten the partnerships between NGOs and the UN and to strengthen our outreach to more people around the world”.
Mentioning the collaborative work of a large number of scholars and
researchers from around the world, called “The 2,050 Project”, based on
the question: “what world lies ahead, in the 21st Century”, Elaine Valdov
tells the meeting of the three possible alternatives, defined by this research:
1) A Market World.
A future of widespread prosperity, peace and stability coming from economic reform, technological innovation, and the integration of developing regions into the global economy2) A Fortress World.
A future in which the rich get richer but large portions of humanity are left behind, the environment is irreversibly degraded, and conflict, violence, and instability are widespread. (This could be known as a world offering: “Islands of prosperity and oceans of poverty.”)3) A Transformed World.
A future world where social and political change, driven by both enlightened leadership and grassroots social coalitions, will lead to a world, in which power and prosperity are more widely shared, in which markets serve social and environmental as well as economic goals, and in which basic human needs are met nearly everywhere (it offers a world that transforms the human condition, offering a better life, not just a wealthier one, and extends these benefits to all of humanity.)
The scientists and scholars said that no one could predict with
certainty if the world is headed for good times or terrible times. The
major question was “Is it within our power to tip the balance toward a
future world we would want to leave to our descendants?”
“I believe”, says Elaine Valdov, “that the outcome - the vision we choose, will depend on the choices humanity makes today and in the coming years.”
And she concludes: “I am optimistic that NGOs, Civil Society, the UN and Member States will find the WILL and the CREATIVITY, to overcome the challenge we face and to establish a future that can be called our ‘Transformed World’.”
6. Indigenous Peoples Forum
The Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) has adopted
a resolution to establish a Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues.
This Forum will provide indigenous representatives the opportunity to participate in a high-level forum within the UN system. The world’s 300 million indigenous peoples from more than 70 countries have sought representation at international level since they first approached the League of Nations in the early 20th century.
The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Anan, saw the Forum, which will be in place by 2002, as one of the greatest achievements for indigenous peoples and as “a forum for dialogue, reconciliation and cooperation”. The Forum, a subsidiary organ of ECOSOC, will consist of 16 representatives, eight of these nominated by governments and elected by the Council while the others will be appointed by the President of ECOSOC after broad consultations with indigenous organisations and groups.
Mary Robinson, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and also Coordinator
for the International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People(1995-2004)
welcomed this decision as a historic voice within the UN system”.
Source: Non-Government Liaison Services (NGLS), Palais des Nations,
CH-1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland, email: ngls@unctad.org
7. Right Livelihood Awards
The Right Livelihood Awards was founded by Jakob von Uexkull in 1980. This Swedish Charitable Trush has no political or religious affiliation. Its awards, usually shared among four recipients (approx. US$50,000 each), are presented in December each year in the Swedish Parliament, Stockholm.
The four winners of this year’s awards, presented “to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenge facing us today”, are the following:
The Ethiopian scientist Tweolde Berhan Gebre Egziabher
Awarded for his exemplary work in representing the Like-Minded Group
of developing countries at the Biosafety negotiations in Cartagena (1999)
and Montreal (2000), and achieving an outcome that safeguards biodiversity
and the traditional rights of farmers and communities to their genetic
resources.
Tweolde Berhan was born in 1940, graduated in 1963 from the University of Addis Ababa and has since 1995 been General Manager of the Environmental Protection Authority of Ethiopia, which is effectively Ethiopia’s Ministry of the Environment.
During the 1990s Tewolde put much of his energy into the negotiations at the various biodiversity related fora, especially the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). In this time he built up a strong group of well prepared African negotiators who began to take the lead in the Group of 77 developing countries (G77) and China. This effectively began to change the geo-political balance of power in the negotiations: Africa came out with united, strong, progressive positions (such as no patents of living materials and the recognition of community rights).
Tewolde was instrumental in securing recommendations from the OAU encouraging African countries to develop and implement community rights, a common position on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs), and a clear stance against patents on life. Tewolde also guided the drafting of the OAU model legislation for community rights, which is now used as the common basis for all African countries.
(Contact: Environmental Protection Authority, PO Box 30231. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)
The Indonesian lawyer and human rights activist: Munir, was honoured for “his courage and dedication in fighting for human rights and the civilian control of the military in the world’s fifth most populous country”.
Munir was born in 1965 and was active on human rights issues even as a law student, when he was involved in a number of cases in East Java, mainly involving military violence against farmers. After taking his law degree, Munir joined a team of lawyers at the head office of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation (YLBHI) in Jakarta and is now leading its operational division.
Munir founded the human rights organisation Kontras (Commission for Disappearances and Victims of Violence) with the backing of 12 pro-democracy NGOs, including YLBHI. Kontras focuses on fighting political violence, encouraging respect for due process of law, ensuring victim’s physical and psychological recover, and promoting reconciliation and peace.
In September 1999 Munir was appointed a member of the Commission to Investigate Human Rights Violations in East Timor (KPPHAM), set up by Indonesia’s National Human Rights Commission. Its investigations produced a wealth of evidence of the Indonesian army’s involvement in recruiting, financing, training, and using the militia which caused such havoc at the time of the UN Referendum. Munir also teaches human rights in police and army training, seminars and workshops and has been appointed to a drafting committee for law on human rights courts, which will be presented to the Indonesian Parliament during 2000.
(Contact: Munir, Kontras, Jalan Diponegoro 74, Central Jakarta 10320, Indonesia)
The Turkish environmentalist Birsel Lemke was recognised “for her long-standing struggle to protect her country from the devastation of cyanide-based gold mining and her key role in the international campaign to ban this disastrous technology.”
Birsel Lemke was born in 1950 and studies Political Science at Ankara University and in the USA. She lived and worked in Germany between 1975-85 before returning to Turkey. In 1990 she founded the Citizens’ Initiative HAYIR in response to proposal by gold mining companies to initiate numerous projects all over Turkey.
The proposed extraction technology uses cyanide, which as been responsible for many environmental and human disasters worldwide. The most recent of these occurred in Romania in late January 2000, when 3,5 million cubic feet of mine waste contaminated with cyanide and heavy metals was released into a tributary of the Danube, killing practically all aquatic life in a 250-mile stretch of the Danube.
HAYIR has been winning support from many sources, among them the European Parliament, and it was also successful in generally raising environmental awareness in Turkey, using imaginative slogans like “Olives are our Gold” and drawing on the ancient myths and stories of antiquity to illustrate the perils faced by the local people.
But in spite of judgement in 1997 by the Turkish Supreme Court to prohibit gold mining with cyanide in Turkey, the Eurogold mining company managed to persuade the Turkish Government to carry out another environmental risk assessment and to relinquish the decision as to whether the project can go ahead to international arbitration, which it is feared will be excessively influenced by corporate interests, and will ignore the enormous public opposition to the project. However, although the battle is ongoing, public awareness has been greatly strengthened by Birsel Lemke’s campaign.
(Contact: PO Box 22, 10700 Oren Burhaniye, Turkey)
Wes Jackson, the United States plant geneticist, received the Award “for his single-minded commitment over more than two decades to developing an agriculture based on perennial crops that is both highly productive and ecologically sustainable.”
We Jackson co-founded The Land Institute (TLI), which is a private, non-profit organisation established in rural Kansas in 1976.
Through the 1980s the Institute’s long-term research, education and field trials began to take shape. To determine whether his Natural Systems Agriculture (NSA) was feasible, Jackson saw that the Land Institute’s research would have to answer four critical questions:
1. Can perennial yield as much grain as annual crops.
2. Can perennial species yield as much or more grain when planted in
combination with other species rather than alone?
3. Can a perennial polyculture provide enough of its own nitrogen fertility?
4. Can perennial species planted in mixtures adequately manage insect
pests, plant diseases and weeds?
By the mid-1990s Jackson was able to report positive answers, published in peer-reviewed scientific reports and journals, for questions 1,2, and 4, and indirect evidence for a positive response to question 3. Jackson has emphasised that the implications of this work were not limited to the American prairies. “By demonstrating underlying principles rather than practical applications only, we are showing that the ‘natural systems’ approach could be transferable worldwide, as long as adequate research is devoted to developing species and mixtures of species appropriate to specific environments. We believe that an agriculture is well within reach that is resilient, economical, ecologically responsible and socially just.”
One other important Land Institute programme is the Sunshine Farm Research Programme, which is devoted to testing and exploring the possibilities of farming without fossil fuels, fertiliser or pesticides by utilising a combination of renewable energy technologies, innovative management practices and biological processes to raise crops and livestock. The Sunshine Farm is designed to fuel itself by sunlight, have tighter nutrient cycles, include soil-conserving perennial plants, and feature plant and animal diversity.
An article in Newsweek (1998) described the Land Institute as “the spiritual home for a growing group of farmers, scientists and prairie visionaries who are quietly redefining the meaning of agriculture”.
(Contact: Land Institute, 2440 E Water Well Road, Salina, KS, 67401, USA)
8. The United Nations Millennium Summit
New York, 6-8 September 2000
With 147 heads of State and Government and representatives from a total of 191 nations this Summit became the largest-ever gathering of world leaders, coming together with a view to adopting the document which, through a process of broad consultation, had been prepared for this occasion: “The United Nations Millennium Declaration”.
Regional hearing and the Declaration and Agenda for Action from the “we the peoples Millennium Forum” held prior to the Summit (22-26 May 2000), gave people throughout the world some opportunity to contribute to the final text of the Millennium Declaration in which the UN member states have formulated their concerns and their commitments under 8 specific headings:
i. Values and Principles
ii. Peace, Security and Disarmament
iii. Development and Poverty Education
iv. Protecting our Common Environment
v. Human Rights, Democracy and Good Governance
vi. Protecting the Vulnerable
vii. Meeting the Special Needs of Africa, and
viii. Strengthening the United Nations
The world leaders reaffirmed their faith in the organisation and
their commitment to the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and see
them as even more relevant today “as nations and peoples have become increasingly
interconnected and interdependent”. they stress that only through “broad
and sustained efforts to create a shared future, based upon our common
humanity in all its diversity, can globalisation be made fully inclusive
and equitable.” Among the values considered to the essential to international
relations are mentioned: freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance, respect
for nature and shared responsibility.
Under the second heading the leaders of the world declare that: “we will spare no effort to free our peoples from the scourge of war, whether within or between States, which has claimed more than 5 million lives in the past decade. We will also seek to eliminate dangers posed by weapons of mass destruction”.
With regard to Development and Poverty Eradication (III) all UN member states have confirmed a resolve “to create an environment - at national and global level alike - which is conducive to development and to the elimination of poverty.” Commitments are made by the year 2015 to halve extreme poverty, provide clean water, basic education for all children and to halt and reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS. By 2020 it is hoped that the lives of some 100 million slum dwellers have been “significantly improved.”
On the issue of the protection of the environment (IV), they state “we must spare no effort to free all of humanity, and above all our children and grandchildren, from the threat of living on a planet irredeemably spoilt by human activities, and whose resources would no longer be sufficient for their needs.” A resolve to adopt a “new ethics of conservation and stewardship” was made, elaborating on several ‘first steps’, such as implementation of Agenda 21, the Kyoto Protocol, Convention on Biological Diversity, etc.
Under section V, a commitment is made “to promote democracy and strengthen the rule of law, as well as respect for all internationally recognised human rights and fundamental freedoms, including the right to development.”
The Declaration spells out a resolve to protect the vulnerable (VI) through strengthening international cooperation and “burden sharing in, and the coordination of humanitarian assistance to countries hosting refugees and displaced persons...”, and to encourage “the ratification and full implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and its optional protocols on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution, and child pornography.”
With regard to meeting the special needs of Africa (VII) the UN member states “will support the consolidation of democracy in Africa and assist Africans in their struggle for lasting peace, poverty eradication and sustainable development, thereby bringing Africa into the mainstream of the world economy.”
The UN Millennium Declaration ends with a commitment to strengthening the United Nations (VIII), saying “We will spare no effort to make the United Nations a more effective instrument for pursuing all of these priorities: the fight for development for all the peoples of the world; the fight against poverty, ignorance and disease, the fight against injustice; the fight against violence, terror and crime; and the fight against the degradation and destruction of our common home”, and therefore resolve to:
* reaffirm the central position of the General Assembly as the chief deliberative, policy-making and representative organ of the United Nations, and to enable it to play that role effectively;* intensify our efforts to achieve a comprehensive reform of the Security Council in all its aspects;
• strengthen further the Economic and Social Council, building on its recent achievements, to help it fulfil the role ascribed to it in the Charter;
• strengthen the International Court of Justice, in order to ensure justice and the rule of law in international affairs;
* encourage regular consultations and coordination among the principal organs of the United Nations in pursuit of their functions;
* ensure that the Organisation is provided on a timely and predicable basis with the resources it needs to carry out its mandates;
* urge the Secretariat to make the best use of those resources, in accordance with clear rules and procedures agreed by the General Assembly, in the interests of all Member States, by adopting the best management practices and technologies available and by concentrating on those tasks that reflect the agreed priorities of Member States;
* promote adherence to the Convention on the Safety of United Nations and Associated Personnel;
* ensure greater policy coherence and better cooperation between the UN, its agencies, the Bretton Woods Institutions and the World Trade Organisation, as well as other multilateral bodies, with a view to achieving a fully coordinated approach to the problems of peace and development;
* strengthen further cooperation between the UN and national parliaments through their organisation, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, in various fields, including: peace and security, economic and social development, international law and human rights and democracy and gender issues;
* give greater opportunities to the private sector, non-governmental organisations and civil society, in general to contribute to the realisation of the Organisation’s goals and programmes.
The final paragraph of this Declaration (Resolution A/RES/55/2)
adopted 8 September, 2000 states:
“We solemnly reaffirm, on this historic occasion, that the United Nations is the indispensable common house of the entire human family, through which we will seek to realise our universal aspirations for peace, cooperation and development. We therefore pledge our unstinting support for these common objectives and our determination to achieve them.”
For full text of the Millennium Declaration contact: regional UN
Information Centre.
More than one hundred of the world’s environment ministers participated in this first Ministerial Environment Forum to discuss, together with the other delegates (over 600 in all), the major environmental challenges of the 21 century, the role of the private sector as well as the role and responsibility of civil society in an increasingly globalised world.
The main outcome of what Kjell Larsson, Minister for the Environment of the host country, Sweden, called a historic meeting, was the Malmö Ministerial Declaration. This Declaration, which acknowledges the continued and increasingly important role of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), provided a significant input to the UN Millennium Summit with its Millennium Declaration (September 2000) and will also send a forceful message to the 2002 review of Agenda 21 (Rio+10).
Kjell Larsson felt that one of the most important messages for the Malmö Declaration was that “the growing trends of environmental degradation that threaten the sustainability of our planet must be arrested and reversed in a spirit of international partnership and solidarity”. He also mentioned the extraordinary sincerity with which the ministers and heads of delegations had acknowledged the alarming discrepancy between commitments made and action taken. “Agreed goals and targets must be implemented without delay” said Kjell Larsson, and “with mechanisms in place to ensure compliance, enforcement and liability”.
In their declaration the environment ministers also agreed that Rio+10 should aim to address in particular “the pervasive effect of the burden of poverty on a large proportion of the Earth’s inhabitants”, seen against the excessive and wasteful consumption and inefficient resource use by others.
Klaus Toepfer, UNEP Executive Director, emphasised that “unsustainable production and consumption patterns in developed countries combined with poverty in the developing world are the two main global threats” and expressed his appreciation that the ministerial meeting in Malmö had placed these two issues at the top of the agenda for Rio+10.
The Malmö Ministerial Declaration concludes with the following
words:
“At the dawn of this new century, we have at our disposal the human and material resources to achieve sustainable development, not as an abstract concept but as a concrete reality. The unprecedented developments in production and information technologies, the emergence of a younger generation with a clear sense of optimism, solidarity, and values, women increasingly aware and with an enhanced and active role in society - all point to the emergence of a new consciousness. We can decrease poverty by half by 2015 without degrading the environment, we can ensure environmental security through early warning, we can better integrate environmental considerations in economic policy, we can better coordinate legal instruments and we can realise a vision of a world without slums. We commit ourselves to realising this common vision.”
Source, among others: UNEP magazine “Our Planet”, PO Box 30552,
Nairobi, Kenya. e-mal: cpiinfo@unep.org
“All people derive comfort and delight from the diversity of nature and the miracles of life. For millennia, its aesthetic value ahs been expressed through art, poetry, song, literature, music and dance. The privilege of admiring the miracle of life should be a perpetual right for future generations. It is our solemn duty to ensure that they, like us, can benefit from its bounty and enjoy its richness.”
Queen Noor of Jordan
10. The United Nations Year of Dialogue Among Civilisations - 2001
In November 1998, the UN General Assembly proclaimed the year 2001 the “United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilisations”. This proposal was made by the Islamic Republic of Iran and was supported by a large number of countries. It asks “Governments, the UN System, including UNESCO, to plan and implement appropriate cultural, educational and social programmes, to promote the concept of dialogue among civilisations, including through organising conferences and seminars and dissemenating information, and scholarly material on the subject”.
The year of dialogue among civilisations follows the International Year for a Culture of Peace and will accompany the International Decade for a Culture of Peace and Non-Violence for the Children of the World through its first year, thus helping to give substance and meaning to the overall concept of a peaceful culture.
UNESCO is seeking to encourage us to go beyond the general approach of highlighting a better knowledge of each other to “an analysis of the dynamics of interaction between cultures and civilisations through a better understanding of the long memory, the long term process involved.” With this new approach it is believed that culture will no longer be experienced as an “enclosure” but rather be understood and even practiced “as a process of opening out to others”.
Recognising that the question of ethics and values lies at the heart of a global dialogue among civilisations, UNESCO has been endeavouring to draw together common threads through worldwide search for ethical values and principles shared by all humankind. This extensive consultation and comprehensive research taking place since 1997 in search for a universal ethics, a common set of values “essential to productive and peaceful coexistence, both among individuals and nations:, has resulted in a document called “Common Framework for the Ethics of the Twenty-first Century”, which UNESCO hopes and believes is suited for a dialogue among civilisations in search of common values.
11. World Citizenship Day in San Francisco
20 March 2000
The Mayor of San Francisco, Mayor Willie Lewis Brown Jr, designated the first World Citizenship Day. The text of the City of San Francisco Proclamation is as follows:
Whereas, peace is of the utmost importance to everyone, and begins when we respect each other, mother earth, and ourselves, and
Whereas, senseless loss of life can be eliminated once we establish a vision of world peace in concurrence with nonviolent solutions to world differences; and
Whereas, in order to create a “culture of peace” in the Global Village of the 21st century, we need to think and act as responsible citizens of the world; and
Whereas, world citizenship is the unifying principle capable of transcending racial, ethnic, and political differences that divide humanity; and
Whereas, the City of San Francisco, the birthplace of the United Nations, joins the world community in celebrating World Citizenship Day; now
Therefore Be It Resolved , that I, Willie L. Brown, Jr. Mayor of the City and County of San Francisco do hereby proclaim March 20, 2000 as
World Citizenship Day in San Francisco!
In witness thereof, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Seal of the City and County of San Francisco to be affixed.
The World Citizens Assembly 2001 will take place in Taipei, Taiwan, 30 March-3 April and be hosed by the Tai Ji Men and the newly established Taiwan branch of the Association of World Citizens (AWC). The tentative theme for this meeting is: “People working together across national borders, with national governments, with the United Nations, and with other international institutions to build the Global Village with a Culture of Peace for the 21st Century.”
Contact: Association of World Citizens, 55 New Montgomery Street, Suite 224, San Francisco, CA 94105, USA.
12. The Legion of Good Will (LGW)
This Brazilian educational non-profit organisation was founded fifty years ago last January and is affiliated to the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) with general consultative status. The Legion’s motto is “Education and Culture, Health and Work with Spirituality”.
Jose de Paivo Nette, President of the LGW states “if you want peace, get read for peace” and “we must experience unity in diversity to beat adversity”. The LGW maintains that there exists a cosmic identity above all the cultural, racial, territorial, economical, religious, social, moral, and ideological differences; and above all prejudices and taboos, that influences all individuals. This cosmic identity is God, by whatever name given, Who is Love.
The LGW maintains that we are not simply material beings. We are Spirit, and this has its moral, ethical and behavioural consequences. Human beings are on earth to better themselves spiritually and to evolve by living ethically, loving and serving our fellow brothers and sisters.
The organisation claims to employ a professional staff of over 5,000 and has the support of approximately 30,000 volunteers, serving a range of educational and social work.
Mr. Agop Kayayan, UNICEF delegate in Brazil commends this organisation
and states:
“we are willing to go into a partnership with the Legion in its
education programmes for children and teenagers. The Legion of Good Will
is giving these boys and girls the attention they deserve, helping them
with their physical, mental and emotional needs”.
Another supporter of this organisation is the East Timor Nobel Peace Prize winner Mr Jose Ramos Horta, who writes: “The LGW is really a unique, creative project, that unites those who want Peace, the tranquillity of all religions and all ethnic groups. It shelters homeless children and provides them with housing, care, education. It is an extraordinary program that should inspire governments and organisations of several countries to do the same.”
Contact Legion of Goodwill SGAS 915, Lotes 75/76, Brasilia, DF, Brazil
CEP 70390-150
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