ESCAP, WORLDVIEW INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION LAUNCH FILM PROJECT

Press Release
REC/35

ESCAP, WORLDVIEW INTERNATIONAL FOUNDATION LAUNCH FILM PROJECT

BANGKOK, 31 March (UN Information Service) -- The fundamental right to development of all people needs to be emphasized more than ever during the ongoing Asian economic crisis, the Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), Adrianus Mooy, stressed today in his opening address to a regional workshop on "Promoting the Right to Development".

"Indeed, one of the important lessons of the crisis is that the rights of citizens to food, clothing, shelter, health, education and work cannot be postponed indefinitely. These are rights that need to be addressed here and now", said Mr. Mooy. The Asian economic crisis had affected everyone, but among those especially hard hit were women, children, older and disabled persons, he added.

The two-day workshop, 31 March to 1 April, has been organized by the non-governmental organization Worldview International Foundation, in cooperation with ESCAP, to inform and educate the public in Asia and the Pacific about their right to development and their human rights in general. The workshop will produce ideas and strategies for a television series on the right to development in the framework of human rights.

Mr. Mooy said that raising awareness about the right to development was essential because "no concept, however noble, can be of social significance unless communicated to as wide an audience and in as convincing a manner as possible". He quoted Secretary-General Kofi Annan as saying, "Education is necessary, because while human rights are universal, public awareness about them is not".

In his welcoming remarks to the regional workshop, Arne Fjortoft, Secretary-General of Worldview International Foundation, said that while the international media was busy covering the crisis in Kosovo there was not enough coverage of developmental issues. "The right to development is the right to survive", Mr. Fjortoft said pointing out that starvation alone was killing over 40,000 children every day around the globe. He emphasized that the media could play an important role in changing society by promoting the right to development.

- 2 - Press Release REC/35 31 March 1999

The regional workshop is part of a one-year project funded by the Royal Norwegian Government to produce a series of 52 television and 13 animation spots on the subject of "Right to Development" for broadcast in the region. Over 50 media professionals, experts on the right to development and United Nations officials from all over Asia and the Pacific region are attending the workshop.

The project will be jointly implemented in ESCAP by the Social Development Division and the United Nations Information Service. They will work with governments, non-governmental organizations and other United Nations agencies.

Mr. Fjortoft read out a message from the Ambassador of the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Bangkok, Lars A. Wensell.

"The Norwegian Government are pleased to cooperate in this project with ESCAP, which is an important regional mechanism for development. Traditionally, our engagement in the Asia-Pacific region has been limited to a few countries of special priority in our development cooperation strategy. This project, however exemplifies how Human Rights is a transnational issue, where boundaries and national concerns are of lesser importance, and the people of the region as a whole are in focus", Mr. Wensell said.

"One cannot create economic and social progress alone, without at the same time respecting and protecting the rights of people concerned. Safeguarding Human Rights is one of the most fundamental cornerstones of sustainable development."

Mr. Mooy thanked the Royal Norwegian Government for its generosity in providing funds to ESCAP to undertake the project.

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