SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN MESSAGE TO BEIJING FORUM ON HARMONY AMONG PEOPLES,

 

STRESSES IDEAL OF DIVERSITY AS VIRTUE RATHER THAN THREAT

 

Following is the text of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the Beijing Forum, as delivered by Joseph Verner Reed, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General, in Beijing today, 2 November:

I send warm greetings to all participants in the 2007 Beijing Forum who have come together to study and promote harmony between peoples and civilizations.

In the 10 months that I have served as Secretary-General, I have travelled to all corners of the United Nations, from Kinshasa to Kabul, from Brussels to Beirut.  Everywhere I have visited, and among all the different people I have met, I have encountered one common sentiment -- a universal longing for peace and an aspiration to prosperity.

But all too often I have discovered that people who aspire to the same things also suffer from the same prejudices.  They all fear that which is different from them: the other ethnicity, the other skin colour, the other cultural or linguistic tradition and, above all, the other religion.

And yet, in today’s era of global travel and instant satellite transmissions, people everywhere are encountering less of the familiar, and more of “the other”.  This reality has fed rising intercultural and interreligious tensions, as well as growing alienation among vast segments of the world population.

Today there is an urgent need to address this worrying trend.  We need to rebuild bridges and engage in a sustained and constructive intercultural dialogue, one that stresses shared values and shared aspirations.

It is time to promote the idea that diversity is a virtue, not a threat.  It is time to explain that different religions, belief systems and cultural backgrounds are essential to the richness of the human experience.  And it is time to stress that our common humanity is greater -- far greater -- than our outward differences.

The Beijing Forum is ideally placed to contribute to this process.  By bringing together scholars from across the globe, your discussion can become a source of new ideas and innovative approaches to promote understanding and tolerance.

Your exchange can also contribute to the United Nations own initiative for an Alliance of Civilizations, which responds to the clear need for action by the international community to bridge divides and promote understanding.  The Alliance has identified several priority areas for action, and is developing a strategy to promote better understanding between the world of politics and religion.  Meetings such as yours can help guide this important work and ensure the Alliance’s ultimate success.

Together, we must seek to further the basic ideals of all the world’s major religions.  We must build societies that respect individual beliefs and practices.  And we must nurture communities where people of all faiths and nationalities coexist in peace.

In that spirit, let me express my hope that this Forum will help foster harmony and understanding, and thereby advance our wider efforts for a peaceful and prosperous world.

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For information media • not an official record