SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS TEACHING TOLERANCE WILL BE PRIORITY FOR UNITED NATIONS OF NEXT CENTURY
Press Release
SG/SM/6795
SECRETARY-GENERAL SAYS TEACHING TOLERANCE WILL BE PRIORITY FOR UNITED NATIONS OF NEXT CENTURY
19981113 Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's message on the occasion of the International Day for Tolerance, 16 November:On Tolerance Day 1998, the world marks a virtue that is singularly important to the relations between all human beings, regardless of race, religion, gender or national belonging. The fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights has made 1998 a year of commemoration and commitment -- to justice, to equality, to freedom of speech and to the ideas that all human rights are universal and indivisible.
Tolerance of those who are different -- of their views, their cultures, their beliefs, and their ways of life -- is a hallmark of human rights. The United Nations struggle for tolerance is based on the belief that it is diversity which gives humanity its promise. No union of nations, no assembly of people, and no community can thrive without tolerance. Without that basic respect between human beings, man is doomed to a bitter fate, and the United Nations -- as an idea and a reality -- will never fulfill its destiny.
The battle for tolerance and against intolerance still needs to be fought. Without question, the conflicts of the post-cold war world -- from Bosnia to Rwanda -- were all rooted in the absence of tolerance and the demonization of groups and ethnicities. Solely on the grounds of ethnic belonging, innocent and defenceless men, women and children were persecuted and exterminated. They were the ultimate victims of intolerance.
To win the battle for tolerance, education and knowledge must be employed with persistence and force. The lesson of the wars of the past decade is that the men of war prey on the ignorance of the populace to instill fears and arouse hatreds. If only half the effort had gone into teaching the peoples of those wars what unites them, and not what divides them, unspeakable crimes could have been prevented. Teaching tolerance will be a priority for the United Nations of the next century. By doing so, we will advance every part of our agenda, from development to peace to human rights, knowing that no progress is secure where intolerance and bigotry remain. I am pleased that as part of this effort the General Assembly has decided to dedicate the year 2001 to a "dialogue among civilizations", placing the United Nations at the center of the process of mutual understanding and cooperation that will help secure a peaceful, prosperous and tolerant twenty-first century.
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