WORLD FEDERATION OF UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATIONS MORE IMPORTANT THAN EVER,

‘INVALUABLE ALLIES AND PARTNERS’ OF ORGANIZATION, SAYS SECRETARY-GENERAL

Following is UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s message, delivered by Carlos-Felipe Martínez, United Nations Resident Coordinator in Argentina, to the thirty-eighth Plenary Assembly of the World Federation of United Nations Associations, in Buenos Aires, 6 November:

I am delighted to send warm greetings to this Plenary Assembly of the World Federation of United Nations Associations.  You are all invaluable allies and partners of the United Nations.  We see proof of that support through your consistent engagement in a wide range of issues of importance to the Organization.  Above all, we see it in your ongoing efforts for education, outreach and awareness-building about the ideals and work of United Nations.

When I took office 10 years ago, I felt that humanity faced three main challenges.  One was to ensure that globalization would benefit all the world’s people.  Another was to heal the disorder of the post-cold-war world.  Third was to protect the rights and dignity of individuals.

We have made important gains in each of these quests.  Advances on aid and debt relief are helping to render the world economy less unjust.  The world is finally scaling up its response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic.  There are fewer inter-State conflicts than there used to be, and many civil wars have ended.  More Governments are elected by, and are accountable to, those whom they govern.  And the international community has recognized a responsibility to protect people from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

Still, much more needs to be done.  The Millennium Development Goals are unlikely to be achieved everywhere by 2015.  People still face brutal conflicts, especially in the developing world.  We face a possible cascade in the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.  Terrorism continues to create a climate of fear and suspicion.  And, every day, reports reach us of new laws broken, and of new bestial crimes inflicted on individuals and minority groups.

Let us also recognize that people differ in their perceptions of what constitutes a threat.  Someone who lives in a small island State is likely to cite global warming as the main risk to life and livelihood.  Someone who lives in New York, having first-hand experience of the attacks of 11 September 2001, might say terrorism is far more urgent.  Others could well cite AIDS, poverty, small arms or crime.  We need to be concerned about all of these threats -- and crucially, we must be concerned about the threats faced by others if we want them to be concerned about those that we ourselves consider most urgent.

That understanding is the essence of the international cooperation for which the United Nations exists.  At a time when, more than ever before, human beings throughout the world form a single society, we cannot afford divisions that threaten the very notion of an international community.  That is why associations such as yours are more important than ever.  In that spirit, please accept my best wishes for a productive session, as well as my gratitude for your support of the United Nations in the 10 years I have served as Secretary-General.  I wish you every success in your mission in the years ahead.

* *** *

For information media • not an official record