Values of Global Solidarity, Individual Dignity Still Central to Organization’s

 

Work, Secretary-General Says in Message for Centenary of U Thant’s Birth

 

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the event marking the centenary of the birth of U Thant in New Delhi today, 1 February:

I am delighted to send my warmest greetings to this special event marking the one-hundredth anniversary of the birth of my predecessor U Thant, the third Secretary-General of the United Nations.

I draw inspiration from many of those who have occupied the position I now hold, but U Thant has a special place in our thoughts.  His work on sustainable development laid the foundations for our efforts today to combat climate change and safeguard the global environment.  His concept of “One World”, which he articulated at the height of the cold war, was an early recognition of the global interdependence that is today so prominent in all our lives.  I have also been moved by his description of the world as “our beautiful spaceship with its warm and fragile cargo of animate life”. 

As a diplomat, U Thant showed great skill and quiet persistence.  He steered the United Nations safely through a decade of change and played a key role in defusing the Cuban missile crisis and ending the civil war in the Congo.  And he was an integral part of efforts to create many of the institutions which work to alleviate poverty and advance human development, including the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.  It is a sad irony that his vision of human development has not yet been realized in his own country. 

U Thant’s values of global solidarity, and his belief that the United Nations must always focus on the dignity and well-being of the individual, remain central to our work.  I am pleased to join you in recognizing his outstanding contribution to the United Nations and to our mission of building a better world for all.

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For information media • not an official record