Secretary-General, at Fortieth Anniversary Reception, Hails International Peace

 

Institute for Enriching, Enabling Mission of United Nations

 

Following are UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s remarks at a reception marking the fortieth anniversary of the International Peace Institute (IPI), in New York on 16 June:

It’s a great pleasure to see you again.  This is the fortieth anniversary of IPI and I’d like to really congratulate you on this fortieth anniversary birthday.

In Chinese and Korean tradition, when you become 40 years old — we call it bulhok [in Korean], I don’t know if you understand — that means you are mature enough.  We regard that when you reach 20 years of age you can only stand on your feet, then after 30 years of age and [by] 40 you become mature.  You are not easily convinced, swayed, by other people.  So you should stand on your own conviction, and that is maturity.

When you become 50 years of age, you should know your own destiny.  Then by that time you are really responsible for your future.  After you become 50 years old, if you do not know what you will become in the future, how you can manage your life, that is your responsibility; nobody [else] is responsible.

Now, I’d like to really sincerely congratulate IPI that has become mature and that has become [the] centre of all these important ideas and policy papers.  And for that I’d really like to thank Ms. [Rita] Hauser and Mr. [Terje] Roed‑Larsen, and the many able board members as well as researchers and Vice-Presidents.

When you become 60 years of age — that’s my favourite.  You must have heard a lot about this story when I first became Secretary-General.  I recently celebrated my sixty-sixth birthday, just two or three days ago.  Then, when you become 60 years old, your ears should be soft; that means you should be able to listen to what other people say.  But you should have your own ears.

You should be able to analyse, and that means sometimes you need some flexibility and know how to deal with considering all [kinds of] situations happening on the ground in real life.  I try to have soft ears.  But let us see — that all depends on how you tell me what to do or not to do.

I am really delighted to be here.  I see so many familiar faces — many good friends who are also good friends of the United Nations.

Rita Hauser, thank you for being such a great and generous champion of the United Nations and for doing so much to make IPI’s work possible.  You have worked with so many major think tanks over the course of your distinguished career.  Your long tenure at the IPI is a real vote of confidence.

You are a whirlwind — lawyer, scholar, philanthropist, one-time United States representative to the Human Rights Commission — one of the great citizens of New York.  We are all lucky to have you on our side.

And although I am the Honorary Chair of IPI, the real Chair, the real President, is Terje Larsen.  Normally when you have an honorary title, honorary means really honorary.  So I leave everything to Terje Larsen, who is yet another in a line of IPI leaders with just the right combination of ideas and diplomatic skills.

Let me introduce a story behind the story.  When I was running for this job, I was told while working in Seoul: “You must come to IPI.  You must be interviewed.  It’s not a formal interview.  But you must have the opportunity of addressing IPI members and meet a man named Terje Larsen.”  I didn’t know his name and what IPI was doing.

Anyway, I came to New York only for that purpose.  I didn’t realize that all the members of the IPI were just interviewing me secretly, internally, in their minds.  I thought I did well at that time.  That was an informal interview and I have been working very closely since 1 January 2007 until now, and I really thank you for all your support, members of the IPI.

Thank you, Mr. Larsen, for doing double duty as IPI President and as one of my envoys.  As you know well, they are each in their own way very challenging portfolios.

Few know more about the United Nations than you here today.  And few care more deeply for our shared causes, our noble work.  You all grasp the high stakes involved — from the Middle East, Haiti to Kyrgyzstan — with peacekeeping operations in Sudan and the [Democratic Republic of the Congo] reaching critical junctures, and in our efforts to combat extremism and empower the world’s women.  You know how much more difficult these situations and challenges would be without the United Nations.

As you know, I am just off a plane from Africa.  This was my second Africa trip this month and in about 10 days I am going to embark on a third Africa trip.  So that means visiting Africa three times only this month.  That means I am placing highest priority on the Africa challenge.

There is great enthusiasm across the continent, and not just because of the World Cup.  Of course, I attended the World Cup opening ceremony, and there I could see explosive dynamism and energy generated among African people in the African continent.

It’s not only South Africans, but all Africans are having a sense of great pride and sense of achievement.  People were wondering whether this FIFA World Cup would be able to take place in South Africa, in the African continent.

Not a single such world event, like [the] Olympics or World Cup, has ever been held in the African continent.  Now we have seen such pride and such capacity — one of the most spectacular scenes I have ever seen — that I think African people should be proud.  And if that kind of energy and dynamism and commitment and sense of unity will be there, there is nothing which cannot be overcome among these African challenges.

In Sierra Leone, I watched another World Cup.  That was most moving, at the same time sad.  I was crying in my heart.  Those soccer games were played by young men whose limbs were amputated.  There were about 30-40 people.  They were competing against each other, kicking balls with just one foot, just with two sticks.  They were running very fast.

The goalkeepers had only one arm.  They were playing on sand by the beach.  It was moving.  I have never seen such moving and sad scenes.  They were doing even better than FIFA World Cup soccer players.  They were resilient, courageous.  I am sure that with that kind of resilience and courage and fortitude, I think they could overcome again all these challenges they are facing in Sierra Leone.

I have seen so many moving things; a Millennium Development Village in Malawi and the Songhai Centre in Benin.  It was an integrated system of doing everything there; green economy, green agriculture and green energy.  It was quite moving and I could see that Africans are united in meeting and scoring the goals.  It’s not only football scores.  Of course, you have to keep the ball moving to score the goals, but we have important goals — the Millennium Development Goals.  They are trying to score the Goals.  That’s what I felt while travelling in Africa.

I am really trying to travel more and ask and urge African leaders to come up with a much, much stronger voice out of this forthcoming African Union Summit meeting and in the lead-up to the Millennium Development Goals Summit meeting in September.  Their voice should be heard clear and loud.  And without a successful meeting in September on the Millennium Development Goals by 2015, what do you expect the world leaders to say when they have made such a strong commitment in 2000 at a time of celebration of the arrival of the new Millennium?

We must keep these promises.  That’s what I am working very hard for.  I thank Member States for their strong commitment and this message I am going to deliver to the G-20 Summit meeting this month in Canada.  I have already dispatched my letter to all the leaders of [the] G-20.  I know that many countries, Member States, who are not participating directly with their leaders in person, but they have supported the United Nations very active participation in the G-20.  And your support has been very, very effective and heard by the leaders of the G-20.  That’s what I am going to do again.

Now, in all these places IPI has been playing a very important role.  The overarching truth, the arc of history, is that we have come a long way in the 40 years since the IPI was founded; a long, painful way at times, but a long way in life expectancy, literacy, freedom and peace.

Throughout that time, the IPI has supported our efforts to make that progress possible.  I thank Rita Hauser, Terje Larsen, Warren Hoge and all other distinguished colleagues here and your staff, who possess remarkable experience and expertise.  Time and again, you have been a source of sound advice and state-of-the-art knowledge.  Your workshops, seminars and policy papers have brought us together in ways that have enriched and enabled our mission.

At times it seems as if you are an official part of the United Nations.  But of course, it is precisely the “unofficial” nature of many of the discussions and round tables that makes the IPI so valuable.  I myself have been a participant in the unofficial nature of the discussions as Secretary-General.  For it is in those informal settings where we get a chance to step back, and step out of uniform, and look at the issues and challenges on the international agenda with some broader and longer vision, beyond all these difficult party lines, country lines or group positions.

The United Nations looks forward to benefiting from your work for many, many years to come.  Still, you have 10 more years to know your own destiny and another 10 more years to have soft ears.  Until then, you may still need support from Member States and people like you.  And I may need still support from IPI and many of you.

Again, thank you very much.

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For information media • not an official record