SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES ROLE OF UNITED NATIONS IN NEXT MILLENNIUM, HELPING PEOPLE DEFINE AND IMPLEMENT COMMON GLOBAL ETHIC

5 March 1999

Press Release
SG/SM/6915

SECRETARY-GENERAL STRESSES ROLE OF UNITED NATIONS IN NEXT MILLENNIUM, HELPING PEOPLE DEFINE AND IMPLEMENT COMMON GLOBAL ETHIC

19990305 Kofi Annan Tells UNIS/UN Student Conference, Bedrock of That Ethic Will Continue To Be Values Defined in UN Charter, Human Rights Declaration

Following is Secretary-General Kofi Annan's address to the United Nations International School (UNIS)/United Nations Student Conference, in New York today:

Thank you for inviting me. My association with the International School goes back a long way. In fact, for eight years I was the Chairman of your Board of Trustees. I still feel the affection, and some of the responsibility, that goes with trusteeship. You on your side make an essential contribution to the life of the United Nations. This conference reflects that in an admirable way.

I congratulate you on your choice of theme this year: "Facing the New Millennium: A Search for Global Ethics". The idea of the New Millennium may not be all that original, but the emphasis on ethics is absolutely right.

If the United Nations is about anything at all, it is about the promotion of certain values which are common to all humankind. That is absolutely clear in the Charter, and it is the unifying thought which runs through all our activities.

The need for such a shared global ethic has become even clearer in recent years. Today, we live in an interdependent world, where what people do in one country affects the lives of those in many others far away.

A single automobile may be produced in many countries. The touch of a button can move billions of dollars round the world in a few seconds. Images and ideas move just as fast.

We are living in a truly global economy. In some ways, one could even call it a global society. But any society, as I have said, needs common values and rules to hold it together. And that is why it is exciting that you have chosen to focus on ethics.

Industrialized countries learned that lesson earlier this century, in the Great Depression. In order to heal the rifts and wounds that it made in their societies, they introduced what one calls safety-nets -- or some call welfare states, to ensure that those who were hardest hit were not left behind.

It took different forms in different countries, but the essence of it is that citizens in those countries know they are not alone in the struggle for economic survival. There is an understanding between them and their fellow citizens about the minimum rights and minimum standards which everyone is entitled to, in good times and in bad times.

That kind of global compact, based on shared values, is what we need today: not a global welfare state, but a concern for global welfare that cuts across frontiers and States.

Much of the United Nations recent work, especially at the big international conferences in the 1990s, has involved working out the terms of such a global compact.

A good example is the Earth Summit which was held in Rio in 1992, and which produced agreement on the idea of sustainable development.

Everyone now understands that economic development is the right of all peoples in the world, not just for some; but also that it is no good having development for the present generation if it leaves behind a planet too spoiled and polluted for future generations to enjoy.

And here I would want to remind you of an African proverb, which perhaps some of you already know. It tells us that the Earth is not ours. It is a treasure we hold in trust for future generations. And that idea has now become part of our common ethic: we have to keep the world in a good state, to be able to hand it on to you in future generations.

Does all this mean that we are trying to impose a single moral code on the entire human race? Of course, not.

It is the diversity of human cultures and religions which makes the world such an interesting and exciting place to live. Being different, human beings can learn from each other -- and that is the secret of human progress.

But we can only learn from each other if we listen to each other, and respect each other's rights. So, there has to be a broad framework of shared values, within which different cultures and religions can coexist.

Your Coordinating Committee suggested that I should speak about the United Nations role as a world mediator in the next millennium.

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I don't know if they were thinking of our role as a mediator in conflicts between our Member States -- or more often these days in civil wars within Member States.

No doubt, however much one may wish otherwise, there will continue to be many calls on our services for that kind of mediation.

But I hope that in the next millennium our main role may be to facilitate dialogue between people of different religions and different cultures, helping them to define and implement a common global ethic.

And the bedrock of that ethic, I hope and I have no doubt, will continue to be the values defined in the United Nations Charter and in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Thank you very much -- and have a wonderful Assembly!

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