SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS UNITED NATIONS IS CRITICAL TO FUTURE OF FREEDOM
Press Release
SG/SM/5792
SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS UNITED NATIONS IS CRITICAL TO FUTURE OF FREEDOM
19951024 Following is the text of the toast delivered today by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at the luncheon for heads of State and government at headquarters:The world of the future must be a world of creativity. Only in larger freedom can social progress and better standards of life be maintained.
The United Nations is an Organization critical to the future of freedom. Fifty years ago, on this day, the opening words of the Charter invoked the idea of democracy. The sovereign authority of the Member States -- and thus the legitimacy of the Organization they were to create -- would be forever rooted in the will of their peoples. Today we celebrate this great achievement -- this birth of a world organization upon a democratic foundation.
The world today is in the midst of a new wave of democratization. New momentum is being provided for this great United Nations project.
This momentum springs from the end of the cold war and the revival of the idea of democracy. Today's urge for democracy is not only for an ideal, but also for a process essential to practical progress. It is revealed in the expanding requests by Member States for United Nations support in democratization. The United Nations is responding to these requests with flexibility and creativity. But today's wave of democratization must be seen in the light of tomorrow.
Democratization within States calls for democratization among States. As the United Nations responds to its Members' requests, it is itself an emerging example of democratization in its full, international context.
In democratization, the United Nations is fulfilling its historic role. In democratization, the world of today and tomorrow is given the opportunity to take this great project forward -- towards a democratic international system of democratic States.
Individual rights and collective rights. The rights of peoples and the rights of persons. The rights of States and the rights of the community of States. Such a system can reconcile the human community in new and original
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combinations. Through this effort the great human goals of true peace, justice, human rights and development can be transformed from distant dreams into concrete realities.
It is not always possible for the world's leaders to meet and address the future. But for three days we have been a community of one. We have understood the changes. We have recognized the complexity. We have looked to the future and seen the way forward.
I invite you now to raise your glasses in a pledge to move forward together, through the United Nations.
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