STATEMENT BY SECRETARY-GENERAL AT DEDICATION OF BUSTS OF FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, AT UNITED NATIONS GENEVA OFFICE
Press Release
SG/SM/5845
STATEMENT BY SECRETARY-GENERAL AT DEDICATION OF BUSTS OF FRANKLIN ROOSEVELT, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT, AT UNITED NATIONS GENEVA OFFICE
19951211 Following is the text of the statement of acceptance by Secretary- General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at the dedication of busts of President Franklin D. Roosevelt and Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt at the United Nations Office in Geneva today:It is a particular pleasure to accept these gifts on behalf of the United Nations. For Franklin Delano Roosevelt and Eleanor Roosevelt not only embodied the ideals of the United Nations, but both played fundamental roles in ensuring that the principles of this Organization were implemented.
Forty years ago, I wrote a book -- the first Arabic textbook -- on the United Nations. Thus, I worked on the first chapter about the origins of the United Nations, and I have read and translated correspondence into Arabic between Roosevelt and Churchill. This was between 1941 and 1942. And in this correspondence, which was entitled later "morning thoughts" you will find the idea of the United Nations, how the United Nations was constructed by those two great leaders. The Ambassador mentioned the two documents which were agreed between them, the Four Liberties, the Atlantic Charter, but the beginning was in a personal correspondence between the two leaders, and because of the war this correspondence was very confidential.
It was Franklin Roosevelt who, for the first time, used the words "the United Nations", not in a speech which he gave on the first of January 1942, but before in this exchange of letters with Churchill. Roosevelt died just before the Charter was signed, but he knew that his vision was soon to become a reality. The United Nations today is a reality. It is not only a reality, but it is also the only forum which will be able to promote peace and development and democracy.
President Roosevelt's wife was to assume an active part in the activities of the new Organization. During the formative years, Eleanor Roosevelt served as a delegate to the United Nations during the first session of the General Assembly in 1945, and later was appointed to represent the United States at the United Nations during the period 1949-1952, and again in 1961. Her greatest legacy concerning the United Nations was as Chairperson of
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the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, where she played a major role in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Thus, it is most appropriate that we continue to honour the memory of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt, reformers, activists and tireless workers in the pursuit of peace and human rights and who showed compassion for the problems of the underdog all over the world.
On behalf of the United Nations, I thank the Permanent Mission of the United States and the Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt Institute for their generosity and thoughtfulness in making this event possible. Thank you.
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