UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION ROLE GUARANTEES ORGANIZATION'S POLITICAL LEGITIMACY, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN OTTAWA DINNER TOAST

22 November 1995

Press Release
SG/SM/5822/Rev.1*

UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION ROLE GUARANTEES ORGANIZATION'S POLITICAL LEGITIMACY, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL IN OTTAWA DINNER TOAST

19951122 CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY Following is the text of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali's toast at the dinner hosted by the United Nations Association of Canada in Ottawa on 22 November:

I am happy to be with you again this evening to share this meal in a spirit of friendship. But I am well aware that I have already spoken to you at some length, and I would not wish to prolong my monologue any further.

I should therefore simply like to say how much my wife and I appreciate the welcome you have given us and the warmth of your hospitality.

I should also like to tell you once again how essential I believe it is for private actors to play a part in mobilizing public opinion in support of the great ideals of the Charter of the United Nations.

I should like therefore to congratulate the United Nations Association of Canada and SHL system House, Inc. on their commitment to the cause of the world Organization.

I believe you to be one of the most important elements in the democratization of the international system for which I pray.

________________

* Revised to incorporate an English translation from the French.

- 2 - Press Release SG/SM/5822/Rev.1 22 November 1995

The fact is that the world in which you and I live and work is not made up solely of sovereign States. In today's world, we have to take account of the wishes and aspirations of actors in the economic, social and cultural fields.

I see you as a key element in the representation of today's world. Indeed, the role you play in the United Nations is to some extent the guarantee of its very political legitimacy.

This Association symbolizes, in a sense, what the drafters must have had in mind when they wrote the stirring words with which the Preamble to the Charter opens: "We, the Peoples of the United Nations." I am most appreciative of what you do. You may count on me for my full support as you pursue your goals of peace, development, human rights and democracy.

* *** *