SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES PARTICIPATION IN 'THE GREAT PROJECT OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FOR PEACE', IN ADDRESS AT CEDAR CREST COLLEGE
Press Release
SG/SM/6325
SECRETARY-GENERAL URGES PARTICIPATION IN 'THE GREAT PROJECT OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION FOR PEACE', IN ADDRESS AT CEDAR CREST COLLEGE
19970915 Following is the text of an address given by Secretary-General Kofi Annan at Cedar Crest College, in Allentown, Pennsylvania on 13 September:It gives me great pleasure to join you today for the dedication of the Miller Family Building. As a place where the forces of art, science and peace can come together, this new complex has vast potential. It is a most welcome addition, not only to the Cedar Crest community, but also to the international community.
I am especially happy to see the growth of an institution that has been a pioneer in women's education. More than two centuries ago, the distinguished American First Lady and suffragette Abigail Adams complained bitterly about the difference in education between men and women.
She asked why men should wish for there to be such a disparity in those who would one day be their companions and associates. As she wrote: "I cannot help sometimes suspecting that this neglect arises in some measure from an ungenerous jealousy of rivals near the throne".
We have come a long way since then, of course. Women have made great gains in their long and worthy fight for equal rights. The women's movement is now a global phenomenon. The advancement of women in all realms of life is one of the defining and most promising trends of our times.
When I joined you for Cedar Crest College's 1996 commencement, I noted that our era is crying out for courage, compassion and conviction. I asked you to contribute your best to our common quest for global peace, prosperity and progress -- to accept the challenge of the twenty-first century.
In renewing that call today, and given the noble purposes to which the Miller Family Building is dedicated, I would like to elaborate on those challenges, for they are many.
We live in an era of historic transition. As is true of all such periods, very different expressions of the human predicament coexist in uneasy tension.
Zones of peace expand in one place, while in another we see outbursts of horrible violence. Unprecedented wealth is being created, even as large pockets of poverty remain.
The will of the people and their human rights are both celebrated and violated. Science and technology enhance human life at the same time as their by-products threaten the environment.
At the international and national levels alike, fundamental forces are at work, reshaping our lives and our aspirations.
The end of the cold war set in motion a host of progressive changes within and among nations. But we are still struggling with the adverse consequences of the collapse of super-Power rivalry -- ethnic conflicts in many States, instability in others.
A second fundamental force is globalization -- of information, communication, finance and more. This is perhaps the most profound source of international transformation since the industrial revolution.
Globalization has helped generate a sustained period of economic expansion. It has created vast new opportunities, but it also brings new risks, such as marginalization, and its benefits still affect relatively few developing countries.
A third major shift now under way is the expansion of civil society -- the growing influence of women's associations, human rights "watch-dog" groups, humanitarian organizations, parliamentarians, private sector businesses, and others. This is all to the good. It promotes democratization and the involvement of people in the decisions affecting their lives.
However, there has been a simultaneous growth in global networks of "uncivil society" -- drug-traffickers, terrorists, criminals and money- launderers, who take advantage of the same openness of borders, markets and communications that fosters globalization, and who thrive where institutions and laws are weak. We must combat this menace at every turn.
Most of the forces at work in today's world are integrative -- they stress the interdependence of the world's peoples and nations. The need to safeguard the global environment, for example, has brought nations closer together and led to legally binding international treaties on climate change, biodiversity, desertification and the ozone layer.
Fragmentation runs in the opposite direction. The phenomenon of "failed States" has become well known to us. We have seen genocidal violence, and combatants who deliberately target civilian populations and relief workers. The assertion of exclusionary identities -- ethnic, religious, national, tribal -- has intensified. We must take great care to recognize, confront and
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restrain the forces of fragmentation, lest they destroy the potential for peace and progress that the new era holds in store.
The global agenda has never been so varied, so pressing or so complex. It demands of the international community new approaches, new resources and new commitments of political will. It also demands a renewed United Nations. That is why we are repositioning the Organization and overhauling it from top to bottom. Our structures, management and priorities are being reformed so that we are equipped to face the complex challenges of the new global era.
As part of this process, we are broadening our view of what is meant by human security. Today, security is increasingly understood not just in military terms, and as far more than the absence of conflict. It is, in fact, a phenomenon that encompasses economic development, social justice, environmental protection, democratization, disarmament and respect for human rights.
These goals, these pillars of peace, are interrelated. Progress in one area begets progress in another. But no country can get there on its own, and none is exempt from the risks and costs of doing without.
The United Nations can and should be at the very centre of this quest. It is a unique instrument for common progress, with near-universal membership, a comprehensive mandate, and an international presence that is at once global, regional and country-based.
The need for such an instrument has never been greater. I am prudently optimistic about our future prospects, even though our century continues to show us humankind's proclivity for bloodshed.
I am hopeful, even though we continue our assault on the environment and fail to do enough to help the poor and marginalized.
I am enthusiastic, even though I know that all accomplishments are fragile and that we are far short of our objectives.
The new century and new millennium are already upon us, and we must rise to the challenge. Everything we know about the next 25 years or so -- demographic trends, rates of economic growth, environmental degradation -- suggests that far-reaching changes and threats lie ahead, as well as unprecedented promise and possibilities.
Today, in dedicating the Miller Family Building and its main facilities -- including the Harmon Hall of Peace and Lachaise Art Gallery -- Cedar Crest College and the entire Cedar Crest community are doing their part to prepare for that future.
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I would like to salute the Miller family, Elaine and John Harmon, John Pierce, the Lachaise Foundation, and all others who have supported this building. Their efforts are in the best tradition of the United Nations Charter and its call for international solidarity, tolerance and understanding.
The great project of international cooperation for peace needs your ideas, your energies, your passions. Together, I believe, we can meet the challenges of tomorrow. That is our obligation -- today and to all succeeding generations.
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