TOLERANCE FOUNDATION FOR PEACE AND SECURITY, BEDROCK OF CIVIL SOCIETY, SAYS GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF TOLERANCE

Press Release
GA/SM/13

TOLERANCE FOUNDATION FOR PEACE AND SECURITY, BEDROCK OF CIVIL SOCIETY, SAYS GENERAL ASSEMBLY PRESIDENT ON INTERNATIONAL DAY OF TOLERANCE

Following is the text of the statement by General Assembly President Hennadiy Udovenko (Ukraine) on the occasion of the International Day of Tolerance, observed 16 November:

Today, for the first time, we mark the International Day of Tolerance. The observance could not have been timelier. It came about as a result of a decision by the General Assembly in December 1996, following a year-long discussion and activities that took place during the United Nations Year for Tolerance. It is also an indication of a broad-based understanding by the international community that the hopes for the beginning of a new era of tolerance following the end of the cold war have not yet become fully realized.

Unfortunately, extremism, discrimination and blunt disrespect for human dignity continue to be a widespread phenomenon in our lives. These evils are cross-cultural. They do not recognize international borders and this is precisely why the United Nations system as a whole should play a more significant role in strengthening the overall international network to deal effectively with the promotion of the concept and culture of tolerance.

More than 50 years ago, in the aftermath of a devastating world war, the peoples of the United Nations reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in dignity and worth of the human person and in the need, in the words of the Charter, "to practise tolerance and live together in peace with one another as good neighbours". Tolerance is the foundation of peace and security and is the bedrock of civil society. But we should never forget that responsibility for tolerance rests with all of us.

Let us, then, use the observance of the International Day of Tolerance to reaffirm our faith in this noble idea and to invigorate our joint action in cultivating the culture of tolerance. Together -- the United Nations system, governments and civil society -- we should renew our commitment to promote tolerance as an underlying principle of international relations and a prerequisite for a peaceful and non-violent world. Let us make sure that tolerance and peace become the dominant features of the next century.

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