SECRETARY-GENERAL EMPHASIZES THAT GLOBAL RELATIONS MUST BE GOVERNED BY DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES
Press Release
SG/SM/5864
SECRETARY-GENERAL EMPHASIZES THAT GLOBAL RELATIONS MUST BE GOVERNED BY DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES
19960111 Those Active in International Life Are Guarantors Of Democracy and Play a Fundamental Role in Today's World(Received from the Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Rome.)
ROME, 8 January -- The following is the text of the speech given by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at Rome's city hall on 8 January:
I should first like to thank the city of Rome for its welcome and its hospitality. I am very pleased to find myself here again, with my wife, in this eternal city which is in many ways one of the cradles of Europe and of the Mediterranean world.
I also wish to thank every one of you for the initiatives and projects which you launched, throughout the year just ended, in celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Charter of the United Nations.
During 1995, peoples and their Governments were able to show, despite setbacks and difficulties, that the United Nations is an irreplaceable forum for settling the problems of peace, development and democratization of the international community.
Italian men and women brought their legendary imagination and natural creativity to celebrating the ideals of the Charter. Believe me, I drew great sustenance from your commitment and mobilization.
The political will of States is essential if we are to serve the ideals of peace and development. However, that will can be firm and resolute only if it is constantly spurred by public opinion.
In my job, I am constantly weighing the role that public opinion can play when it is mobilized in support of the noble causes that we espouse. So I want to thank you once again for your contribution.
The city of Rome and its officials, the Italian Committee for the Fiftieth Anniversary and all the corporations and non-governmental organizations which rallied to the occasion gave full meaning to the opening
words of the Preamble to the Charter: "We the peoples of the United Nations". You are the people of the United Nations and, without you, nothing is possible. This is especially true now that we are, as we well know, entering a new world. We are on the threshold of a period in history when many problems have to be approached from an entirely new perspective and in which Italy, because of its democratic and republican values, can contribute much to the international society of the post-cold-war era. We now realize that the United Nations cannot be reduced to an institution which, as an emergency measure and often on an improvised basis, must assume responsibility for settling all the manifold conflicts and confrontations that break out in the world.
Although this emergency role is an important one, the United Nations must also take action for the long term, keep abreast of the radical changes taking place in the world, predict tomorrow's problems, identify the new threats facing us and take the full measure of tomorrow's global reality. Everyone must realize that the major problems confronting our future are now primarily transnational ones. This was the message of the major economic and social conferences which in recent years brought together States and non-governmental organizations at Rio, Vienna, Cairo, Copenhagen, Naples and Beijing. Whether we are talking about protecting the environment, controlling future population growth, combating AIDS, regulating international migration or combating transnational crime, it is clear that all these issues have now become global ones and that only a small part of the picture is visible if we look at it from the perspective of individual nation-States. So we must come up with a political project for our global society. Like you, I believe that such a project must be based on respect for the human person and on the values of democracy.
The task is an urgent one, especially since everyone is aware that globalization is fraught with risks and anxieties. The global economy poses many threats, including that of destroying traditional bonds of solidarity, marginalizing countries and even entire regions of the globe and thus further widening the gap between rich and poor. We know that such situations are not without risk. War, exclusion, hatred and ethnic or religious antagonisms always feed on such a climate. The new international and transnational relations of the global society must therefore be governed by democratic principles. International public opinion, parliaments, local governments, private corporations, the media and civil society must all take their place in this democratization process.
Our global society must invent rules which take into account not only the wishes of political actors, namely States, but also the behaviour of economic agents and the aspirations of social and cultural actors. These new actors in international life are the guarantors of an open, living democracy.
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They have come to play a fundamental role in representing today's world and their participation in international organizations is, in a way, a guarantee of the latter's political legitimacy.
I have said repeatedly that I would like to see non-State institutions and non-governmental organizations accorded an increasing role within the United Nations itself. I should like to say it again here today: if we are to democratize international society, we need your involvement and mobilization. So I want to thank you for the enthusiasm with which you contributed to the celebration of the fiftieth anniversary of the Charter, but I also want to say that your task is not over. Far from it. Now, more than ever, I urge you to put forward suggestions, proposals and initiatives. Now, more than ever, I urge you to continue working together. Together, we will make the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations the starting-point for renewed collective action on behalf of peace, development and human rights. Together, we will find new solutions to the global problems that threaten the future of our planet. Together, we will manage to institute as a fact of daily life a genuine democratic dialogue at world level.
In concluding, I should like to mention the Staff College to which Mrs. Agnelli referred a moment ago. This is a project which is dear to me, so it is with great satisfaction that I am able to announce to you that this college for the training of United Nations staff will come into being this year in Turin. The Staff College will be set up on the campus of the ILO International Centre for Advanced Technical and Vocational Training and will function in close cooperation with it. To my mind, the purpose of this College is to facilitate staff training and to enhance cooperation among the various United Nations programmes and agencies in such fields as peace- keeping, humanitarian questions, human rights and economic and social development.
I also expect the College to help create a genuine management culture within the United Nations, so that the Organization's effectiveness and performance can be steadily enhanced. So I want to thank all those who were involved in this project, particularly Mr. Michel Hansenne, Director-General of the International Labour Office, and Mr. François Trémeaud, Director of the Turin Centre. I should also like to say that the support of the Italian national and local authorities contributed in large measure to this achievement.
I mentioned earlier the need for us to work together. The Staff College seems to me an excellent example of this universal mobilization in the service of the great ideals of the Charter of the United Nations. So I wish to thank you both for your presence here and for your commitment.
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