GOVERNMENTS MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES REACH BEYOND NATIONAL BOUNDARIES AND LOCAL CONSTITUENCIES
Press Release
GA/9106
GOVERNMENTS MUST UNDERSTAND THAT THEIR RESPONSIBILITIES REACH BEYOND NATIONAL BOUNDARIES AND LOCAL CONSTITUENCIES
19960930 That Is Major Challenge Facing International Community, Says President of General Assembly at Church Service in New YorkFollowing is a statement delivered by the President of the General Assembly, Razali Ismail (Malaysia), at a service held at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, in New York, on 22 September, on the occasion of the opening of the Assembly's fifty-first regular session:
It is with great pleasure that I find myself in a different part of Manhattan this morning, and among a community different from the one I usually deal with in the United Nations. Addressing a church congregation is an unusual event for the President of the General Assembly, but I welcome this opportunity to follow in the footsteps of my predecessors, and to share my thoughts with you on the United Nations this Sunday. I would like to convey my warmest appreciation to Reverend James Parks Morton for extending this invitation.
I am deeply touched by the consideration the Cathedral of St. John the Divine expresses each year by honouring the opening of the General Assembly with a church service. It is encouraging to know that the United Nations is an institution that remains valid and alive to the wider community outside the bastions of foreign ministries and conference rooms. In many ways, this morning's service represents what the United Nations should be able to do -- to engage directly with and be relevant to people and communities.
These days, the United Nations is suffering from a public image crisis, which is not entirely unfounded. To the outside world, and certainly to the larger community in New York, the United Nations appears to be an ivory tower in mid-town Manhattan, where well-dressed and well-fed diplomats arrive in black limousines to attend endless meetings and to formulate endless resolutions.
This perception is given added weight when one considers the contra- dictions and inequities of our world which the United Nations has failed to ameliorate. Despite the wealth of our scientific knowledge and technological
invention, human society remains divided between the rich and the poor, the oppressors and the victims, the powerful and the voiceless. This inequity not only exists between nations, but within nations also. We see such inequality even in New York with stretch limousines and homeless people sharing the same patch of roadside kerb.
We live in a confusing world, where the forces of globalization and rapid communications seem to knit the world together as a global village, but with equal force cause the marginalization of the poor and dispossession of the weak. When Member States of the United Nations are committed to safeguarding international peace and security, why do governments spend millions of dollars on manufacturing sophisticated weapons of death, but are helpless in preventing thousands of children dying from malnutrition?
Are our societies now so dehumanized by the faceless and homogenizing values of the global market place that life has become too much a struggle for survival at the expense of the needs of others? For example, are we moved and outraged by the recent discovery that 358 individuals are richer than the poorest two-and-a-half billion people in this world? Or do we accept such gross injustice as a fact of modern life? Does it matter and should we care? It seems the world has become more complex, more interdependent and more fragile than before, but the human potential to respond adequately to these challenges has not kept pace.
Since time immemorial, human societies have searched for ways to adapt to their environments, and devised complex systems of ideas and beliefs to ensure their survival. It is, therefore, not surprising that all the religions, traditions and cultures that have evolved embrace the concept of universal values as a central tenet of their beliefs.
Clearly, universalism with its inherent principles of tolerance, equity, and social justice is essential if human societies are to live in peace and harmony. The complex cosmologies of indigenous peoples have much to teach us by demonstrating the need to understand our relationship with the environment, and the importance of living sustainably.
The United Nations is not dissimilar from the houses of worship in its objectives. The United Nations is mediated by the intergovernmental process, and charged with protecting and promoting universal human rights and universal values. The preamble of the United Nations Charter, and I quote, "reaffirms faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small... and for these ends to practise tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours".
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Unfortunately, the United Nations has been unable to defend these values for all peoples and at all times. Too often, it has looked upon nations as pawns in a geopolitical chess game, and not seen them as societies made up of human beings who have a right not only to political freedom, but also to economic security and social justice.
The United Nations is now at a crossroads and needs to redefine itself to meet the challenges of the next millennium. The Organization has embarked upon a process of soul-searching to determine how it can make a tangible difference to people's lives, and build a universal community of values to heal a divided world. The inadequate relationship between those in charge, and those in their charge, must be redressed if human society is to survive.
In 1996, the international community can ill afford to neglect the needs of the majority of people in the world. There are enough resources to go round for everyone. The major problem is our inability, or unwillingness, to redistribute wealth and to provide more equitable access to resources.
If we are tempted to think that the poverty of developing countries is not linked to us here in the United States, we simply have to look at the ingredients that make up our Sunday lunch today. Where does our food come from and how much did the producer earn for it? In London, unseasonal vegetables such as snowpeas are cheaply available, but these are grown in Ethiopia where hunger and malnutrition are endemic. In east Africa, productive agricultural land is ploughed up to grow exotic flowers, flown fresh and direct to the markets of Amsterdam and Paris. Meanwhile, poverty is widespread and the majority of east Africans are unable to meet their basic needs. The relationship between consumers in developed countries and the people in developing countries is real and intimate.
The major challenge before us is to get leaders and national governments to understand that their responsibilities reach beyond national boundaries and local constituencies. This is more so with powerful governments. It is moot to ask whether the taxpayers and electorates of these countries give their governments the mandate to pursue policies that are exploitative and impoverish others, all in the name of "free market forces".
The United Nations has learned grievously from the excesses of rampant power politics. In the years of the cold war, countries were forced in line to choose between one camp or another. Since the end of the cold war, the exercise of power imperatives has not eased and has prevented many objectives of the United Nations from being met.
We must, therefore, re-examine the motivations of our society and the conduct of our governments in promoting national interest at whatever cost. If we believe in the interconnectedness of peace and human security, we must refashion national interest, and our own behaviour, so that it is not at the
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expense of others, especially the marginalized. Society must draw from the well springs of all religions and traditions, and refashion our social consciences by recognizing the importance of tolerance and diversity. Only then will the bonds between peoples across boundaries be reinforced.
The welfare of the planet and the human person will depend on the speed with which we put these universal values into practice. I would like to open all doors of the United Nations to such a common endeavour, believing firmly that this is the basis of a renewed United Nations.
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