COLLECTIVE ACTION BY GOVERNMENTS, UNITED NATIONS, CIVIL SOCIETY, CAN ATTAIN SHARED GOALS, ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT SAYS

24 October 1996

Press Release
GA/9139
UND/819

COLLECTIVE ACTION BY GOVERNMENTS, UNITED NATIONS, CIVIL SOCIETY, CAN ATTAIN SHARED GOALS, ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT SAYS

19961024 ADVANCE TEXT UN Day Statement in General Assembly Hall Calls for Commitment to Tolerance, Compassion, Compromise

Following is the text of a statement by General Assembly President Razali Ismail (Malaysia) in the General Assembly Hall, on the observance at Headquarter of United Nations Day, 24 October:

As we commemorate the fifty-first anniversary of the United Nations, we are reminded that the world continues to be cleaved by those that have and those that have not, and by huge inequities that divide the few in charge and the millions in their charge.

Important commemorative events should be occasions for honest reflection to measure how much we have achieved and how much we have failed. We do injustice to the principles of the Charter and to the peoples of the United Nations if we allow our endless words to carry us forward on a path of delusion, which confuses token symbols with substantive programmes.

This year, we shall commemorate the anniversary of the entry into force of the United Nations Charter without pomp and splendour. Instead, we shall reach out to children and young people in all regions of the world, by way of instant communications. I hope that by listening to the aspirations of these children, the essence and spirit of the "sleeping beauty" within our Charter will be reawakened.

I am happy to state that at the fifty-first General Assembly of the United Nations, many governments and individuals are beginning to understand the importance of protecting the opportunities and spaces for people to come together on mutually beneficial terms, so they benefit from the fruits of labour and common purpose, and from the magic of science and technology.

The endless possibilities of renewed investment in the United Nations begin with personal and collective commitments to practise tolerance, compassion and compromise that breach the borders of national boundaries, religions, creeds and race, and reach out to meet the basic and universal needs of peoples in concert, and beyond governments.

The United Nations can demonstrate that shared responsibilities and goals can be met by a collective mobilization that combines the creative energies of governments, the expertise of the United Nations Secretariat and specialized agencies and of civil society. Perhaps it is only through such dynamic and mutually supportive interaction that the United Nations can reach out meaningfully to the millions of people who are unable to attend our meetings, but whose interests and needs we are deemed to promote and protect.

I believe that the potential of each human person, and collectively through the United Nations, to act for good and for justice is infinite. And yet we falter, if not fail, so consistently. Perhaps it is the political cloak of national interest that inhibits us, so that we forsake our obligations to the wider community for the easier gains of self-interest. The degree to which we meet the challenges of the next millennium will be a reflection of our ability to combat fear of change and to act together for common survival.

And what of our planet? Are we to construct our future as if the human being is the only living creature that matters in this world? The path of human development and security can only be complete and sustained if our respect for humanity is matched by an equal respect for our environment and the welfare of our planet.

I wish you all a meaningful United Nations Day.

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