SECRETARY-GENERAL RECEIVES JAN MASARYK COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL 'PRO AMICITIA INTER NACIONES' IN PRAGUE

16 July 1999

Press Release
SG/SM/7070

SECRETARY-GENERAL RECEIVES JAN MASARYK COMMEMORATIVE MEDAL 'PRO AMICITIA INTER NACIONES' IN PRAGUE

19990716 Kofi Annan Says Masaryk Was Shining Example of True Internationalism In Age When Others Misused that Word to Suppress Freedom of Small Nations

Following is the text of Secretary-General Kofi Annan's address on receiving the Jan Masaryk commemorative medal "Pro Amicitia Inter Naciones". in Prague today:

Thank you for those most generous words. And thank you for the great honour you have done me, in bestowing on me this medal named after Jan Masaryk.

This honour is of great significance to me. I am deeply moved to receive it in the very building where Masaryk worked and died, and from the hands of someone who worked directly with him as his secretary.

As foreign minister and head of the Czechoslovak delegation to the San Francisco Conference, Jan Masaryk was, in the fullest sense, one of the founders of the United Nations.

More than that, in him the values enshrined in the United Nations Charter -- values of democracy, human rights, and peace based on collective security -- found one of their most ardent and committed advocates.

He was a shining example of true internationalism, in an age when others misused that noble word to suppress the freedom of small nations.

But also, by staying at his post even when other defenders of freedom resigned, he showed his determination to cling to the vision of a peaceful and cooperative order in post-war Europe, as long as there was any hope at all.

The exact circumstances of his death remain unclear. Whatever the truth, it is fair to say that his sense of duty and commitment to his principles cost him his life.

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It is therefore most fitting that, when this part of Europe became free again to follow those principles, you should have dedicated a medal of international friendship to his memory.

And it is fitting also that you should award that medal to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. Not for any personal qualities of mine, but because the United Nations, more than any other institution, reflects the desire of all the world's peoples to live by the ideals for which Masaryk died.

Jan Masaryk, like his father before him, was a firm believer in the common destiny of Czechs and Slovaks. Were he alive today, he would no doubt be saddened by the fact that these two nations no longer share the same State.

But he would be proud, I am sure, of the way Czechs and Slovaks have settled their differences without bloodshed.

He would be heartened by the friendly and cooperative way they continue to handle their common interests -- as I can testify, having just come here from Bratislava this morning.

And he would rejoice, above all, in the prospect that both nations will before long be members of a European Union founded on peace, democracy and the rule of law.

On the basis of what I have seen and heard in Slovakia yesterday, and in the Czech Republic today, I know that both Slovaks and Czechs will want to spread the benefits of that Union throughout the wider Europe -- including the region so recently disfigured by war and ethnic violence.

I also know they will be strong advocates of a Europe not turned in on itself but outward on a wider world, determined to show friendship and solidarity with all nations.

In building such a Europe and such a world, you will build the most fitting and lasting memorial to Jan Masaryk.

Once again, my friends, let me thank you for this great honour.

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