SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS MEXICO, LIKE UNITED NATIONS, 'CENTRE FOR HARMONIZATION OF NATIONS', IN TOAST AT BANQUET HOSTED BY MEXICO'S PRESIDENT
Press Release
SG/SM/5910
SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS MEXICO, LIKE UNITED NATIONS, 'CENTRE FOR HARMONIZATION OF NATIONS', IN TOAST AT BANQUET HOSTED BY MEXICO'S PRESIDENT
19960304 Following is the text of the toast delivered by Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at the State banquet hosted by the President of Mexico, Ernesto Zedillo, in Mexico City on 4 March:It is a privilege to be here today. As a founding Member of the United Nations, Mexico has been intimately involved in the evolution of the Organization. In your eloquent phrase, Mr. President, you see it as "the forum that fully represents the diversity of mankind and the plurality of nations". The United Nations was established from the determination of peoples at large. It is they who constitute its greatest strength and assure its ideals their greatest security. For its part, the United Nations has endeavoured to restore on the map of the world the rights and happiness of the human being by addressing, at the highest political level, such issues as social development, the status of women, human rights, population and environmental issues.
The people of Mexico have perceived in war, and the threat of war, not only the trauma of conflict itself, but its relentless interruption of every form of creative, productive national life. "We are condemned to kill time", wrote Octavio Paz, "and thus we die bit by bit." Across vast stretches of our planet, that metaphor holds true. Struggles for survival have diminished the miracle of life. Economic hunger and despair compel confrontation and conflict. Societies are brutally torn apart and nations fail.
These are not situations that admit national remedies. The nations and people affected have neither the energy nor the means to effect solutions. They are an international responsibility, a responsibility whose universal acceptance the creation of the United Nations implied. They must be addressed with the energy of united purpose and in a global environment that is stable and serene. "Peace is real fraternity", observed Mexico's representative at the very first session of the General Assembly. It is that brotherhood of nations alone that can ensure effective global solutions to problems that affect us all. The United Nations offers the single viable forum for this purpose. It encourages consultation, not confrontation. It promotes consensus, not competition. In a phrase, it is not the Azteca Stadium!
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A sense of international belonging has been consistent in your national life. The names of Samuel Ramos, in philosophy, or Carlos Chavez, in music, testify to the universality of thought and culture which infused the work of this nation's great minds. Like the United Nations, Mexico, too, has been a centre for the harmonization of nations. Transculturation is a term that is, in many ways, uniquely Mexican. Your gracious capital city has hosted diverse gatherings of international solidarity, including the 1968 Olympic Games and the 1975 International Conference on Women.
The importance you attached to that meeting reflects the realism and respect which this nation has extended to this important part of its society. In the phrase of President Adolfo Lopez Mateos, almost 40 years ago, "a woman is a citizen who works for Mexico. We must not treat her differently from a man, except to honour her more".
Unfortunately, there are large parts of the world where women do continue to be treated differently. Discrimination and injustice persist. The redressal of this anomaly is a critical priority for the United Nations. It is a mission which I have undertaken to pursue at my level, with the able assistance of my distinguished colleague, Assistant Secretary-General Rosario Green.
In our conversation earlier today, we have touched upon new possibilities for cooperation between Mexico and the United Nations. There are a number of critical areas, such as peace-keeping, where we would welcome enhanced Mexican participation. For its part, the United Nations system stands ready to work with you as you pursue your international endeavours.
And now, ladies and gentlemen, I invite you to join me in a toast to His Excellency, the President of the United Mexican States, to our gracious hostess, the First Lady, to the Government and people of Mexico, and to the continued cooperation between them and the Organization they helped found -- the United Nations.
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