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PARIS, 23 July 1999
English & French only
Verbatim record of the discussions held at the 156th session of the Executive
Board during the thematic debate on the following items:
10.2 - Reflection on UNESCO in the twenty-first century
10.6 - The visibility of UNESCO in the Member States
1.
The CHAIRPERSON:
Dear colleagues, we shall now move on to items 10.2 - Reflection on UNESCO in the
twenty-first century and 10.6 - The visibility of UNESCO in the Member States.
2.
You will recall that at our last session, we decided that “Reflection on UNESCO in the
twenty-first century” would constitute the thematic debate of our present session. Therefore,
the Secretariat has prepared document 156 EX/INF.6. In the same context, Sweden has
proposed item 10.6 concerning “The visibility of UNESCO in the Member States”, which is
the subject of document 156 EX/46. An additional note, which has been distributed to you,
has been prepared by Mr Nils Nilsson, representative of Sweden, whom I wish to thank very
much for his contribution. As I informed you at our first plenary meeting, Ms Louise
Fréchette, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, will be participating in our debate
on a videoconferencing link from 5 p.m. May I remind you that the speaking time allowed for
this debate is limited to seven minutes per speaker. I invite the Secretary of the Board to read
out the list of speakers as it now stands.
3.
The SECRETARY:
The list of speakers for this afternoon is the following: Sweden, Canada, Russian
Federation, Germany, Pakistan, Côte d’Ivoire, Zimbabwe, Belgium, Finland, Argentina,
United Arab Emirates, Cameroon, United Kingdom and Cuba.
4.
The CHAIRPERSON:
Who wishes to be added to this list? Colombia, Egypt, Guinea, Kenya, New Zealand,
Barbados, Uganda, Thailand, Ukraine and Indonesia.
5.
Dear colleagues, I should like you to tell me now if you wish to take the floor. As time
has to be managed, with your permission, I would like to apply Mr Wandiga’s method, i.e. we
will draw up the list and, with your authorization, we will then consider it closed. Are there
any more countries that wish to speak? Bangladesh and Saint Lucia. With your permission, I
consider the list of speakers closed. We have 25 speakers on the list and, of course,
Ms Fréchette who will join our debate from New York at 5 p.m. Before giving the floor to the
first speaker, I should also like to remind you of what I said in my letter of invitation, that I
should be grateful if you would address in your statements the following aspects: (a) the
current relevance of UNESCO’s constitutional mandate in view of the rapid changes under
way in the world (development strategies for the eradication of poverty, education for all,
globalization and multiculturalism; UNESCO and the challenges of science and the
information highways); (b) UNESCO’s partners and the role of UNESCO with respect to the
rest of the United Nations system (it is in this context that Ms Fréchette will speak);
(c) UNESCO’s visibility in the Member States; (d) the management and effectiveness of
UNESCO (structures, accountability, transparency). Of course, you are entirely free to
organize your statement as you wish, but all these points are intended to provide you with a
certain amount of structure for a coherent debate. Without delay, I give the floor to the first
speaker on the list, reminding you that the time allowed for statements is limited to seven
minutes.
6.
Mr NILSSON (Sweden):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I will focus on visibility in my intervention. Some months
ago I was invited to a meeting with a high-ranking official in a non-Member State. He wanted
to get my views on the performance of UNESCO, and he shared with me his views on some
of the problems which are connected with the eventual return of that country to UNESCO. He
summarized by saying: “The real problem with UNESCO is the lack of visibility”. “Where”,
he said, “are the letters to the editor pleading for the return to UNESCO? Where are the
-2editorials, where are the Op-Ed articles from the presidents of universities and the scientific
community urging a comeback? Where is the public pressure? The real problem is the lack of
visibility”.
7.
Of course visibility - or lack of visibility - differs from country to country, but I think
most of us could agree that the visibility of UNESCO could be improved. That’s why Sweden
has suggested this item - the visibility of UNESCO in the Member States.
8.
Visibility is a matter of survival. In a media society, where the competition for visibility
is extremely hard, every organization and even company has continuously to update its ability
to make itself visible; to say what you are doing is as important as doing it. Visibility is very
much a matter of public information and communication and, as you can see in the
information document I provided, I have tried to find out how the United Nations and some
United Nations agencies are performing in this field. I have deliberately not added UNESCO’s
performance into the picture; I will touch upon that later in my intervention.
9.
The relevant starting point is the recommendation made by the task force on the
orientation of the United Nations public information activities appointed by the
Secretary-General Kofi Annan and strongly endorsed by him in his comments underlining
“the importance I attach to the role of communications, not as a support function but as an
integral part of the programme of the United Nations”. The overall aim is to create “a culture
of communication throughout the Organization”. This recognition is a major part of the whole
United Nations reform process; and in the final analysis, as the task force puts it, it’s not only
a matter of the Organization’s image but “indeed its long-term survival” which “depends upon
effectively communicating its message and its activities to an increasingly cost-resistant
world”.
10. What goes for the United Nations goes also for UNESCO, the United Nations agency
that has communication explicitly mentioned in its mandate.
11. Mr Chairperson, when we talk about information and communication we often do it in a
somewhat blurred way. I have used, as you can see in the paper, the definitions used in an ILO
paper, and I focused in my study on public information and especially on the role of the
media. The target is, as one experienced director put it, “those who read newspapers, watch
television news and have a right to vote”.
12. As you can see in my paper, different agencies have different strategies and approaches but, as I say, you can see that in my paper. But what about the performance of UNESCO in
this field? Before I try to answer that question I would like to underline, as several Members
of the Board have already done, that the Executive Board, at its 155th session, decided
(item 4.1, para. 72) that “a comprehensive strategy on public information, involving also the
information activities of the programme sectors, should be incorporated into document
30 C/5. The new strategy should aim at giving greater visibility to UNESCO’s activities in the
Member States”. No such strategy is to be found in draft document 30 C/5. The decision
seems to have been just ignored. However, in the one and only page devoted to the Office of
Public Information (OPI) in document 30 C/5, it seems as if such a strategy is in place. I quote
from the first sentence, which skilfully echoes today’s theme: “Increasing the visibility of
UNESCO’s action in Member States is one of the main lines of action of the information and
communication strategy, in which the Office of Public Information plays a pivotal role”. But
no such strategy is available, as far as I have been able to find out. I know that attempts have
-3been made and that the Committee on Public Information was to be revitalized some years
ago, but decision 4.1, paragraph 72 is still to be implemented.
13. The result of this lack of an overall strategy is that the resources are scattered all over.
The very important radio function is in one part of the structure, the strategic audiovisual
production is now under publishing, OPI is in charge of public information but there is also a
Principal Press Officer in the Cabinet of the Director-General. Then you have the clouds of
newsletters from different departments. Nobody knows the real figure; a guess says about
one hundred. And you have the Office of Monthly Periodicals - but that Office deals only with
UNESCO Courier and Sources. There are seven other magazines emanating from the House.
14. If you concentrate here on public information, the sphere where OPI operates, how will
this “increased visibility”, announced in the sentence I just quoted, how will it take place
according to results expected in document 30 C/5?
15. The first answer is “increased impact of information produced through the electronic
distribution of the press releases - UNESCOPRESS - produced at Headquarters and in the
field”. I am one of those who regularly gets these press releases. They represent a more or less
daily visibility of UNESCO, but the sad thing is that the major part of them are useless, as
press releases at least. They are a kind of diary of what’s going on in the
Organization - conferences, prizes, statements by the Director-General, official visits - and as
such are pretty interesting for those already interested in the system but they seldom contain
really newsworthy information for the outside world and, if it happens, have to be rewritten;
and who will do that, especially if the competition is extremely hard?
16. The day I left Sweden I had received 106 press releases this year alone. During this
session, at least 19 more have been issued. The last three ones I read back home started in
exactly the same way: “UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor will address, will head,
today praised, etc.”. One of the latest I picked up here in Paris starts in the same manner: “On
the occasion of World Environment Day, 5 June, UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor
issued the following message”. Then comes the message - it’s a very important message - but
too vague to put headline on.
17. ILO, for instance, and the World Bank and UNICEF, as you can see in the paper, are
carefully selective in sending out press releases. The general rule is: you must have something
to tell - and tell it convincingly. The press releases must be part of a strategy, reach the right
people and have an impact in the media. If there is an inflation in press releases, they will kill
each other. In the end nobody cares to read them, not to say use them. I think the OPI people
are aware of the fact that there are too many press releases leaving the House, but the pressure
is strong. Everybody wants a press release. But the potential of press releases must be
carefully developed if they are to add to the visibility of the Organization outside the system.
18. Press kits and press conferences are mentioned as other tools for increased visibility.
Press kits, yes. The quality has increased in recent years. The one on World Press Freedom
Day, for instance, with the joint message from the Secretary-General, the High Commissioner
for Human Rights and the Director-General, was quite good. But still I wonder why UNESCO
can’t join forces with the World Association of Newspapers, which also produces an
impressive press kit for the same day. Joint forces have a greater impact and the impact is
what counts.
19. I haven’t studied the new press kit on the World Science Conference carefully enough to
make a review, so to say, I can come back to that in other circumstances.
-420. Press conferences: yes, especially if the topic is very much in the minds of the public at
large, as the huge amount of clippings from the paedophilia conference clearly demonstrates.
But the same rules go for press conferences as for press releases: you must have something to
tell - and tell it convincingly. You must build your reputation among media people so that
when you invite them, they know that you are worth listening to, while the contrary is very
easily established.
21. Mr Chairperson, I will not go too much into detail, even if I am tempted to, but rather
try to go back to the overall picture and say the following:
(a)
The lack of visibility of UNESCO is not the result of a lack of content to make
visible.
(b)
Some parts of UNESCO’s activities are indeed visible, like the World Heritage
List. The World Book and Copyright Day is becoming another very visible
initiative. Other similar activities could possibly be developed into “best-selling”
news items too.
(c)
The professional task is to identify and communicate what is newsworthy and
attractive to the public at large among UNESCO’s programmes and activities.
(d)
Every programme sector therefore needs to have its own information experts who
are aware of what’s going on and can translate it into action. Their activities
should be coordinated by a public information unit at a level that reflects the
importance of this issue. You can compare the United Nations Headquarters and
WHO.
22. I could give a concrete example of how it could work, but I will do so in another
framework.
23. Mr Chairperson, I am still talking about public information, with the public at large as
the target audience. And not only about newspapers, of course, but about all kinds of
channels: radio, television, websites. In my experience, having followed OPI’s activities for
quite a while, there is one link that is failing in OPI’s strategic planning: the National
Commissions. They are supposed to be the relay stations in the system, beaming out news and
information coming from Headquarters. It doesn’t work that way. Most National
Commissions - not to say all of them - do not have the professional capacity to do that job.
Some of them can perhaps suggest newspapers and radio stations and television channels, and
name names to contact, but they cannot take on the professional job to identify news stories,
rewrite them and redirect them to the appropriate channels. That must be done at
Headquarters, in Paris.
24. There is a lot more to be said, of course, about public information, but even my
extended time has a limit. Let me therefore just add the other two categories: communication
and public relations.
25. Communication, in the definition I have used, is mainly concerned with in-house,
in-the-system information, and that can for sure be improved. But the impact on the outside
world, on visibility, is more limited or indirect.
26. Public relations includes the whole spectrum of specialized newsletters, websites,
scientific journals, networks, Courier and Sources, UNESCO Publishing, etc. In this more
-5specific target-oriented information are the National Commissions, which are more in a
position to play a helpful role.
27. Just one brief point. UNESCO Publishing has the potential of being a good equivalent
of the best university publishing houses if it is allowed to develop in that direction.
28. Let me just summarize by saying that the future of UNESCO and its visibility in the
Member States are very closely related. Without visibility, no future. That is why Sweden has
introduced 156 EX/PLEN/DR.3 and asked for the item to be placed on the provisional agenda
of the General Conference. The perception of UNESCO in the public’s mind, true or false,
cannot be ignored. The only way to improve the visibility, and the image, is to tell the public
at large what UNESCO is doing and do it in the most convincing way. That is why UNESCO
needs a coherent strategy for public information, with well-defined objectives and sufficient
resources. Thank you Mr Chairperson.
29.
Mr DEMERS (Canada):
Mr Chairperson, Mr Director-General, Mr President of the General Conference, dear
colleagues and Members of the Executive Board, it is in a spirit of openmindedness and
constructive dialogue that I wish to share with you today the fruits of Canadian thinking on
how to bring about the revitalization that UNESCO needs on the threshold of the new century.
We desire this revitalization so that UNESCO may truly become the instrument of peace that
we all want. Nations and individuals aspire to peace as the foundation for progress,
development and human security, which is an important factor in any strategy for peace.
30. The challenges, known and still unknown, of the coming century will require us to be
more flexible, open to change and, at the same time, much more focused and determined in
our fundamental mission of peace-building. We will have to adopt new attitudes, partly for
budgetary reasons, but also and above all because the task of building sustainable peace is
much more delicate and complex than putting into place programmes of activities. There are
no simple answers or solutions to the challenges awaiting us.
31. Neither a change of Director-General nor great initiatives, as impressive as they may be,
will bring about the fundamental revitalization of this Organization that is needed. Rather
what we need is self-criticism and an inner renewal, carefully carried out, which would place
emphasis on a key question: how can each activity and each programme that we pursue or
embark on contribute to our primary mandate?
32. To that end, Canada intends to present a draft resolution at the 30th session of the
General Conference proposing a task force that would prepare recommendations on how
UNESCO should: (1) refresh its fundamental peace mandate and identify the new challenges
in the different sectors of the Organization at the dawn of the twenty-first century in order to
set relevant priorities; (2) build closer ties with other international organizations, in the United
Nations family and beyond, focusing on how we can bring a needed humanistic face to their
work and provide strong ethical leadership; (3) foster transdisciplinarity from within by
recognizing the degree of convergence of interests and activities; and (4) develop a flexible
planning and decision-making approach that encourages the growth of a learning culture
within the Organization.
33. Canada proposes that this task force be mandated by UNESCO’s Member States to
examine these challenges and submit a report to the Executive Board no later than in its
autumn 2000 meeting. In this way, the task force’s proposals can be integrated into the
upcoming Medium-Term Strategy.
-634. Canada would welcome the support of the Executive Board for this initiative, or
alternatively would welcome a recommendation by the Executive Board for the establishment
of such a task force. Canada believes that the task force, in keeping with its twenty-first
century mandate and the outstanding advances of the global communications revolution,
should be as much a “virtual” task force as a physical one - gathering and sharing information,
securing ongoing feedback and building consensus and understanding on a “fast-track” basis,
while ensuring full and inclusive access to its work. We believe that a task force such as this
can serve as a prototype for a UNESCO that itself embraces the opportunities that are afforded
by modern technology.
35. We face in the immediate future the challenge of integrating ourselves into the first true
generation of the “wired”, knowledge-based world. However, an unseemly leap on to the
technology bandwagon would leave behind the bulk of the world’s people, for whom a
knowledge-based world still means basic literacy. Our challenge here, therefore, may be to
show how modern advances can be sensitively integrated and put at the service of humanity.
We must use technology for what it is - a medium of transmission and a tool for sustainable
human progress - and not let it overwhelm us.
36. Canada’s vision for the future of UNESCO is one where the prime reason for
UNESCO’s existence - the construction of peace - becomes much more clearly visible in
everything UNESCO does. This construction of peace can be directed towards individuals as
well as to nations, to human security as well as to global security. The challenges of
harnessing and channelling the best of the world’s work for that durable peace, through
education, through science, through culture and through communication, are even more
daunting today.
37. It is UNESCO’s mission to be a prime agent for positive change. Out task is to
challenge, to lead and to inspire the human spirit in the pursuit of peace. We have a moral,
ethical and intellectual responsibility to all humanity to help build peace. We must forge the
links that break down barriers based on fear and misunderstanding. We must create an
environment of human security to develop the full potential of every human being.
38. In today’s complex and changing world, where a pluralistic diversity of cultures and life
experiences must be taken into account, we face a greater challenge than ever before of
working creatively with the entire United Nations system and other international organizations
to secure needed action in our mandate areas. It involves a willingness to recognize that in
many instances our main role is that of a vital “value-added” agent that puts a human face on
other activities. It also means that we must accept that our role, while morally and
intellectually crucial, is a piece of a larger picture. The plain truth is that we simply must learn
to work better as a team or face marginalization.
39. For some time, UNESCO has been operating in a more transdisciplinary manner.
Canada supports this approach. But we cannot foster transdisciplinarity by simply adopting
new administrative measures. It requires a fundamental shift in internal behaviour and a new
approach to institutional learning and organizational change.
40. As I stated at the start of this presentation, Canada believes that the revitalization of
UNESCO for the next century goes far beyond administrative reforms, government systems or
even the leadership of particular individuals. At the same time, we must recognize that our
administrative and planning structures must evolve to meet new challenges and new ways of
harnessing international cooperation. In today’s constantly changing circumstances, it may
-7well be that we need to carefully rethink whether our two principal planning tools - the
Medium-Term Strategy and the biennial plans - should be modified somewhat with a view to
facilitating more effective and flexible decision-making and fostering a “culture of learning”
within the Organization’s structures.
41. There are numerous choices facing us. There are many ways to proceed. We need to
take a moment, but not an eternity, to consider where we have been, what makes us unique
and what we need to do to ensure that our mandate remains vital, relevant and at the service of
global peace, human security and human development.
42. We believe that a task force can help show us the best way the Organization can be what
it should be for the people of the world - their best hope for global peace and harmony with a
human face. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
43.
The CHAIRPERSON:
Ladies and gentlemen, I have great pleasure in welcoming Mr Sredin, Secretary of State,
Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, who is taking the floor on
behalf of his delegation.
44.
Mr V. SREDIN (Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation):
Mr Chairperson, Mr Director-General, ladies and gentlemen, I value highly the
opportunity given to me to address the members of UNESCO’s governing body. There is no
doubting the topicality of this theme for discussion - it is a subject whose time has come. We
are leaving behind the twentieth century, which will remain in human memory as the century
of two world wars, immense scientific discoveries, the horrors of the atom bombs, the
conquest of space and the Cold War. Today we are entering a new age, heralded by the
aspiration to establish a multipolar world order. This process, it must be acknowledged, is by
no means straightforward. The disposition of forces in the global arena has become far more
complex and the geopolitical configuration of entire regions has changed. The world is
burdened with numerous conflicts, some with ethnic or religious roots. At the same time
attempts are being made to resolve such conflicts by force. The post-war world order is being
sorely, and sometimes dangerously, tested.
45. UNESCO has been in existence for over 50 years. This year marks the forty-fifth
anniversary of the signature by Russia of the Organization’s Constitution. Words from the text
spring to mind: “Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the
defences of peace must be constructed”. UNESCO has always seen its aim as the achievement
of peace and the common welfare of humanity through cooperation in the fields of education,
science and culture. Reading through the Constitution, we find words about peace founded
upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of humanity. Undoubtedly in the half-century of its
existence, the Organization has built up considerable theoretical and practical experience.
However, UNESCO has not escaped the political and ideological turmoil of the outgoing
century. As a result, its tremendous potential has not been revealed and used to the full. In
such circumstances the contribution of Federico Mayor has been especially substantial, as
under his leadership UNESCO has not only managed to overcome an acute crisis but also to
boost its international reputation significantly. The Russian Government and the Russian
Academy of Sciences have authorized me today to inform you that the Director-General of
UNESCO, Federico Mayor, has unanimously been elected a foreign member of the Russian
Academy of Sciences.
-846. The future of UNESCO is not a matter of indifference to Russia, and this is not only
because the Organization has traditionally enjoyed widespread popularity and support in our
country. We see in UNESCO a serious and independent force in the multipolar world order
whose hub is, of course, the United Nations. It would be no exaggeration to say that
UNESCO’s purpose is also to serve the international community as an intellectual barometer
and ethical touchstone. It seems to us that it is UNESCO’s role to organize broad international
humanitarian and intellectual cooperation in the interests of peace and security and to generate
new ideas and creative approaches to that end. For many years UNESCO has been facing a
dilemma: should it remain chiefly an intellectual forum or should it concentrate its efforts on
specific projects. In our opinion, there is no contradiction. Relinquishing its intellectual and
ethical mission would deprive the Organization of its universality, but equally we do not agree
with the transformation of UNESCO into a talking shop detached from real activity.
47. The basic structure of UNESCO in the twenty-first century must include at least three
components. First, the identification of new problems facing the international community in
its fields of competence. Secondly, the mobilization of world intellectual potential to reflect
on these problems and develop practical recommendations. And thirdly, the provision of
support to Member States in implementing such recommendations by carrying out highly
effective projects.
48. We agree with the overwhelming majority of States that the image of UNESCO in the
twenty-first century should be defined through its activity in the area of education. Education
should not however lead only to the transmission of knowledge and professional skills. It must
have an ethical component. It is precisely through the education system that work on
education for peace, tolerance and respect for human rights must be carried out, leading
eventually to a culture of peace. In essence, we should be talking about the strategic task of
forming individuals for the twenty-first century.
49. In the field of science, UNESCO has taken what we consider to be the right road,
combining action to disseminate and exchange scientific knowledge with profound reflection
on the social implications and ethical aspects of scientific and technological progress. The
intellectual leadership of UNESCO in this matter must definitely be retained.
50. With regard to culture, the main task is still to preserve cultural and linguistic diversity
in the face of the global trend towards the levelling out of national cultures, and the aggression
of mass culture. Cultural pluralism is unquestionably a source of shared wealth. It is the only
approach that can help prevent conflicts between civilizations. How can we achieve it? Above
all, by stressing tolerance as a fundamental principle in intercultural and inter-ethnic relations
and dialogue. We share the words of wisdom in UNESCO’s Constitution to the effect that
ignorance of each other’s ways and lives has been a common cause, throughout the history of
humanity, of suspicion and mistrust between peoples. We are convinced that UNESCO is
capable of shattering that ignorance and taking the world to a new level and quality of
cooperation.
51. Lastly, one more challenge which must not be omitted from reflections on the
forthcoming century. It concerns the formation of a global information society. In this field,
UNESCO’s action must be directed at ensuring that the information revolution serves the
interests of humanity and does not create new threats to its security.
52. With all the diversity and scale of these tasks facing UNESCO, it is important to bear in
mind that we have only one planet and we cannot save it by acting each on our own. That is
-9why it is exceptionally urgent today to overcome the spiritual separation of peoples, to unite
their knowledge and efforts so as to save the very basis of life on earth. In our view, the future
role of UNESCO depends to a large extent on whether the Organization can renounce
outwardly effective programmes that often yield little. We must not allow the Organization
which has set itself lofty moral goals to appear in the eyes of the world’s intellectual elite to
be a bureaucratic body wasting money on pointless actions.
53. We link this point to the root-and-branch reform of UNESCO and all its structures. The
most important thrust of the reforms must be the concentration of programme activities.
Naturally, we all have national priorities. However, it is clearly necessary to demonstrate that
we are willing to show some restraint and concentrate on achievable aims. Management and
staff policy and the structure of the Secretariat must undergo substantial renewal. Above all
this means eliminating duplication in the work of its separate units. We are convinced that
making all of UNESCO’s structures more efficient would help improve its financial position,
and make it, in particular, more attractive to external sponsors.
54. As we consider the debate on the future of the Organization to be important, we would
suggest that its conclusions be gathered together and an appropriate document produced. It
could be discussed at the next session of the Executive Board and then submitted for the
consideration of the General Conference. Thereafter, the recommendations of the Executive
Board might be reflected in the forthcoming Medium-Term Strategy of UNESCO.
55. In conclusion, I should like to recall the simple but weighty words of the great French
philosopher Diderot. He called for people to strive in order to leave behind more knowledge
and happiness than there had been earlier, improving and increasing the heritage left to them.
These words might, with every justification, be used in respect of UNESCO’s activity both
now and in the future, its lofty aims and purposes. I am convinced that UNESCO is capable of
overcoming the difficulties facing it and becoming a really effective and universal intellectual
centre, working for the progress of humanity.
56.
Mr DERIX (Germany):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Germany appreciates today’s thematic debate. In a rapidly
changing world it is indispensable for an organization like UNESCO to assess critically from
time to time the contemporary relevance of its constitutional mandate and to draw the
necessary conclusions from such an evaluation. Considerations of this kind inspired our
previous proposal concerning an ad hoc forum of reflection. In spite of unprecedented
progress in many fields, we cannot but admit that in many parts of the world wars and armed
conflicts, grave violations of human rights, ethnic cleansing, persecution of innocent people
and international crime, but also poverty and extreme inequalities, are the sad realities of
day-to-day life. It is for this reason that UNESCO’s purpose to contribute to peace, in our
view, is as relevant and predominant as it was more than 50 years ago at the time of its
foundation. Peace-building therefore remains the most noble objective of UNESCO at this
threshold of a new century.
57. As an intellectual organization, UNESCO 2000 should, in our view, first of all
concentrate on its ethical mission. It should be the international forum for ideas from all
corners of the world, since without dialogue peace will never have a chance. In conformity
with its mandate of peace-building, we see for UNESCO 2000 a priority in the field of human
rights education. A broad cooperation with other United Nations agencies and with regional
organizations such as the Council of Europe should be sought. UNESCO’s Culture of Peace
- 10 Programme, as well as the Associated Schools Project - its most successful grass-roots
project, could play a catalytical role here.
58. We also believe, like some of the previous speakers, that at the beginning of a new
millennium UNESCO should continue to give priority to education in the larger sense. We
would hope that the concentrated follow-up to the world conferences on adult education and
higher education as well as to the congress on technical and vocational training will lead to
UNESCO’s regaining of the leading role in the field of education within the United Nations
system.
59. Multiculturalism, the globalization of communications and new developments in
science and technology present unforeseen challenges. In line with its ethical mission,
UNESCO will increasingly be called upon to contribute to the development of generally
accepted values and standards to face these challenges. UNESCO’s Declaration on the Human
Genome and Human Rights is a good example of the kinds of responsibilities with which our
Organization will be confronted.
60. UNESCO’s role in the future will be more and more that of a world conscience to
preserve human rights in a rapidly changing environment. This should not be understood as an
invitation to widen UNESCO’s activities in its fields of competence. On the contrary, more
than in the past our Organization will in the future have to concentrate on key issues of its
mandate. UNESCO is neither a funding agency nor a humanitarian aid organization.
UNESCO should defend its intellectual role by providing a permanent forum for the exchange
of ideas, by realizing moderate projects of excellent quality and by being a focal point for the
best practices in its fields of competence.
61. Partnership and complementarity should be the directives in relation to other agencies of
the United Nations family and beyond. An essential component of UNESCO in the
twenty-first century will be that of a modern management for the Organization. Clear
structures and responsibilities in the Secretariat, financial austerity, a transparent personnel
policy and an effective evaluation are important milestones on this way.
62. Mr Chairperson, today’s debate can only be the beginning of a process. The Board will
now have to decide as to how to take the results of this debate further. We are flexible on the
modalities as long as there is a follow-up. In addition to the Board’s own reflections, we
would consider it very useful if a few eminent personalities from UNESCO’s fields of
competence would be invited to present their views in one way or another on the future of our
Organization. Thank you very much, Mr Chairperson.
63.
Mr MASOOD (Pakistan):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson, for giving me this opportunity to comment on a vital issue
which should prove a milestone in determining the very ideals of this world forum.
64. Mr Chairperson, as we approach the threshold of the twenty-first century the whole
world looks towards UNESCO for a society free from want, deprivation and ignorance.
Unfortunately the forces of violence, intolerance, national, ethnic and religious differences
unleashed in various parts of the world still remain a serious threat to global peace and
stability. UNESCO’s message is one of cooperation and development in order to bolster peace
and human dignity. But I believe UNESCO is much more than that. Through its vast number
of projects, programmes and activities in Member States, this Organization can successfully
leave its mark in the minds of men and women as a hope and as an ideal.
- 11 65. As mentioned earlier by the distinguished representatives of Canada and Germany and
others, UNESCO must remain a vibrant tool for world peace and the cornerstone of this is
education and literacy. It is through education that we increase the share of the dividend that
we receive at the end of the day. It is only through education that we can break the barriers of
prejudice and intolerance.
66. Pakistan’s perception of UNESCO as an institution for the twenty-first century is based
on the fact that it must focus its actions on the most fundamental areas of those disciplines
which are within its mandate and tailor its programmes in education, science and culture for
the improvement of the quality of life of all people with emphasis on poverty reduction, peace
and security and the preservation of cultural heritage. UNESCO must reorient its programmes
to be fully integrated and holistic, not fragmented and dispersed.
67. Mr Chairperson, permit me to highlight the unique nature of UNESCO amongst other
international bodies - its work through a network of National Commissions. It is through these
National Commissions that UNESCO’s presence is felt in Member States and it is able to deal
directly with government and civil society. This is where its visibility lies. Unfortunately we
notice a lack of cohesion between UNESCO’s field offices and our National Commissions.
Presently the field offices, instead of developing congenial atmospheres and good working
relations with the National Commissions, act as their competitors. This unhealthy trend in our
experience does not help the image or the goals of this Organization. It is necessary that
UNESCO ensure that its field offices work in close collaboration and consultation with the
National Commissions and work out various programmes of community participation which
will assist in growth and development of its activities.
68. Mr Chairperson, spreading UNESCO’s message through the information offices on the
pattern of the United Nations is essential, but we already have an effective forum which not
only makes UNESCO more accessible, but inculcates a sense of peace and tolerance in our
children. I am referring to the UNESCO Clubs and the Associated Schools Project. We in
Pakistan have reactivated this project, and I would like to emphasize that after launching the
ASPnet activities our people have learned more about UNESCO in the last few years than
they did in the last five decades. I do suggest that there is a need to establish information
networks in the Member States as well as to strengthen ASPnet more vigorously to spread
UNESCO’s message and increase its visibility in Member States. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
Mr TIO-TOURE (Côte d’Ivoire):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. How can the defences of peace best be constructed in the
minds of men with the tools at UNESCO’s disposal, namely education, science, culture and
communication? This vital mission entrusted to the Organization just after the Second World
War is as relevant today as it was then. In fact, the end of the Cold War notwithstanding and
despite the enormous progress made by humankind in the fields of science, technology,
economics, communication, etc., peace is far from prevailing in the minds of men. Of course,
there has not been a world war for 50 years, but it has been replaced by bloody, devastating
and corrosive conflicts within States or among a small number of States, often in the poorest
regions of the world. Moreover, violence, exclusion, intolerance and xenophobia have
developed and expanded very rapidly worldwide, spread by unparalleled means of
communication, information and disinformation. And yet, it was in order to spare our world
the dismal image it has today that the United Nations, UNESCO and all the organizations of
the system were established. The results they have obtained therefore fall far short of the
Member States’ expectations. By and large, this may amount to a failure of the international
institutions, but do the Member States not share some of the responsibility for that failure?
69.
- 12 70. There is another point that must be made. The decade that is drawing to a close has been
marked by many world conferences, with their declarations and plans of action. In addition,
there have been the reports of independent world commissions with their follow-up structures
and the results of the regional “focus” meetings, forums and seminars. UNESCO now has at
its disposal a mine of ideas and a store of declarations and professions of faith. Why does it
not therefore devote the first decade of the next millennium to the investment in the Member
States, by those States and in cooperation with international institutions, of all that capital of
ideas and plans of action? In other words, UNESCO would gain from dedicating this new era
to action and to the implementation of programmes that have a real, visible and measurable
impact.
71. In this context, we should like to mention a few of the challenges which seem to be
crucial for the future and which UNESCO must take up. They are, first, the fight against
poverty through the eradication of illiteracy and functional illiteracy and through the
strengthening of basic education and education for all throughout life; secondly, the
promotion of environmental education and education for human rights, democracy, tolerance
and national and international citizenship; thirdly, the sharing of scientific knowledge and
mastery of the new information and communication technologies as major educational tools;
and, lastly, the struggle for the maintenance of cultural diversity and the promotion of culture
as a vital part of the process of human development and fulfilment.
72. To take up these challenges is to work for peace, to sow the seeds of peace, and to build
peace in the minds of men. It is clear therefore that the concept of the culture of peace must be
the leaven, the bond between all of the Organization’s programmes, as well as their outcome.
73. Of all the main thrusts of activity that we have just mentioned, it is obvious that the first,
which concerns poverty alleviation through education, must be an upstream activity, since it is
the most basic, the foundation on which the other main lines of action must be built. Basic
education and literacy do indeed determine the development of the skills that communities
need to participate in the attainment of the objectives set in connection with the other
challenges. It is also in relation to this first activity that UNESCO has an undeniable
comparative advantage even though it increasingly shares this field with other international
organizations that could supplant it if we are not careful. Be that as it may, UNESCO,
UNICEF, UNDP, the World Bank and all the other organizations of the United Nations
system should work more closely together on the ground to check the widening gap between
those who possess knowledge and those who do not, between the haves and the have-nots. As
long as the battle against poverty and ignorance has not been won, UNESCO’s mandate will
remain relevant because violence will persist, and peace in the minds of men will remain a
mere aspiration, just like peace inside and outside States.
74. It is appropriate to recall here that we are still within the First United Nations Decade
for the Eradication of Poverty. The international community has therefore become aware of
the fact that, to win the battle against this scourge, which affects more than 1.3 billion people
worldwide living on an income of less than one dollar per day, it would be highly desirable for
the efforts of all bodies in the United Nations system to focus on that objective. UNESCO, for
its part, does not need to change its programmes radically, at least for the next ten years.
Rather, it should try to mobilize and strengthen its financial and human resources for poverty
alleviation in order to gain more in terms of efficiency and visibility, while responding in a
practical manner to the needs of communities in respect of education and knowledge.
- 13 75. The image of the international community today is more than worrisome having regard
to global equilibrium in the next century. The commitments made in Rio de Janeiro at the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development are not being honoured, nor are
the pledges made by the industrialized countries to devote 0.7 per cent of their gross domestic
product to development. Third World countries weighed down by debt will find it difficult to
take up the challenges of the next millennium in UNESCO’s fields of competence. Curiously,
just when there are some signs of movement on the reduction of the debt burden, official aid
to the poorest countries is being slashed ever more drastically. In this context of inequality,
injustice and refusal to share wealth and responsibilities, UNESCO must continue to work
towards being the true conscience of the international community by taking strong action to
promote the intellectual and moral solidarity of humanity, the foundation of peace.
76. With globalization and all the concepts that are emerging or being hatched as this
century comes to an end, it is clear that environmental and human rights problems will also be
the focus of our concerns in the next millennium. UNESCO’s role consists and will consist in
ensuring that all human beings, from early childhood or from primary and secondary level,
know their rights and the means of ensuring that they are respected; and that all human beings
are also aware of the role of the environment in their lives and demand respect for it. These
twin objectives of rights and duties must be included in programmes of literacy and basic
education for all throughout life.
77. These new concepts, which will be developed, will certainly not all bring progress. Will
the dynamics of globalization in the field of culture not result in the standardization of
behaviour and the way people are, the way they think and act? Will it not hasten the
disappearance of minority ethnic groups and indigenous peoples or the loss of their cultural
identity?
78. UNESCO has established itself worldwide as an international organization that is
concerned about the protection of the cultural and natural heritage of humanity. It has done a
great deal in this field and therefore enjoys indisputable recognition and influence. The fact
that it has recently included the protection of the intangible cultural heritage among its
concerns is of the utmost importance for the preservation of cultural diversity. Why then
should our Organization not consider the safeguarding of minority ethnic groups and
indigenous peoples who are under threat today? In the next millennium, UNESCO must
therefore continue its struggle for cultural dialogue, multilingualism, cultural diversity and the
process of learning to live together in tolerance of differences.
79. Mr Chairperson, in this brief statement the last challenge which we wish to mention and
which the Organization must take up is that of the new information and communication
technologies. Owing to their prodigious and spectacular development, they are transporting us
from a real world into a virtual world, at a speed that suggests that no one today can say with
certainty what they hold in store for us in the next century. On the other hand, what we know
already is the abusive and amoral use made of them to cultivate violence, intolerance, racism,
xenophobia, paedophilia and other forms of deviant behaviour that offend the human dignity.
These harmful phenomena, spread sometimes very widely, by the media, force us to ask the
following questions: What kind of children are we raising? What new human race are we
creating? What kind of world are we preparing for future generations? What we also know is
that these technologies will help to widen the gap between the industrialized countries and
those that are far from developed, between those individuals who will be able to use them and
those who will become a new breed of illiterates. It will therefore be absolutely necessary to
ensure that the means are provided for procuring and for sharing scientific, technical and
- 14 technological knowledge. The use of this knowledge will also be a constant concern.
Consequently, UNESCO will be required to continue and carry further its reflection and
activities on ethical issues in the field of information, communication and science, as it
already does in the field of biology, in which it plays a pioneering role.
80. To conclude, let us simply say that UNESCO should, with the support of the Member
States and partner international organizations, continue to provide the present generations
with more education in order to develop the culture of peace, the culture of solidarity and
sharing in order to give future generations more hope. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
81.
The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much, Mr Tio-Touré.
82.
Mr CHETSANGA (Zimbabwe):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Zimbabwe joins all its distinguished colleagues in this
forum in wishing UNESCO a happy landing in the upcoming new millennium. A forum for
reflection like this provides one with an opportunity for presenting one’s vision for the future
for UNESCO, which is the intellectual powerhouse of the United Nations system.
83. I wish to begin my reflection by recalling a number of positive features from which
UNESCO can derive comfort as we enter the new millennium:
(a)
The literacy rate of the world has shown an increase which has been registered to a
greater extent in some countries than others.
(b)
We enter the twenty-first century with the vestiges of classical colonialism now
eliminated. The institutions of governance and democracy still require nurturing
and reinforcement.
(c)
The new millennium will find the world in the grip of the information revolution.
Access to information has enhanced the decision-making process among nations,
especially those with good access to information.
(d)
There is a heightened sense of man’s desire for peace and a greater appreciation of
one’s cultural heritage and these have been well enhanced by UNESCO’s
activities.
84. I would like to now recall some negative features that characterize our current era. The
new millennium will have to deal with this baggage of negatives.
(a)
We enter the twenty-first century before Agenda 21 (Brazil, 1992) has been
universally adopted in its totality.
(b)
We enter the twenty-first century with the gap between the haves and the
have-nots still continuing to widen both with respect to material wealth and access
to information.
(c)
We enter the twenty-first century with the AIDS pandemic still spreading in both
geographical coverage and in the number of fatalities.
(d)
We enter the twenty-first century with the United States - today’s major power still remaining outside UNESCO.
- 15 (e)
We enter the twenty-first century with a number of armed conflicts still
unresolved in such places as Somalia, Ethiopia and Eritrea, Angola, Sierra Leone,
Iraq and now Kosovo. In fact the number of armed conflicts is still continuing to
increase. The guns are not yet silent.
(f)
We enter the twenty-first century with ever-increasing populations in developing
countries but without an effective global strategy for meeting their food needs.
(g)
We enter the twenty-first century with a looming shortage of clean potable water.
(h)
We enter the twenty-first century under the dominant force of globalization. It is a
world force largely led by the world merchants. It favours the technologically
advanced countries whose products are now flooding global markets. It places at a
disadvantage developing countries whose industrial base is either non-existent or
still at the developing stage. The Third World debt is going to continue to
increase.
(i)
Lastly, ethical challenges to be addressed in science and technology, in
cyberspace, Internet pornography and the biotechnological issues such as the
human genome will intensify in the twenty-first century.
85. Zimbabwe’s wish list is to see UNESCO play an even stronger role in promoting the
redress of these negative features that dominate the landscape of human existence today. The
current Medium-Term Strategy ends in the year 2001. In designing a new Medium-Term
Strategy for the years 2002-2007, we hope that instruments to improve the environment, to
improve access to information for all, for strengthening democracy, for the elimination of
AIDS, for conflict resolution, for ethical considerations and the challenges of building human
considerations into globalization will be intimately embraced by UNESCO. I thank you.
86.
Mr van HOUTTE (Belgium):
Mr Chairperson, Mr Director-General, dear colleagues, to be more fruitful, the debate
on UNESCO in the twenty-first century must be daring. This debate must dare to put basic
questions or else it will run the risk of remaining unproductive. Let us therefore not hesitate,
in our reflection, genuinely to reassess our Organization, to contemplate even its demise and
its virtual reconstruction - so to speak.
87. The first question to ask is obviously whether UNESCO’s objective of building peace in
the minds of men is still relevant. We need only look around us to make our reply - in the
affirmative, of course. The next question is whether that objective should be pursued by
UNESCO or whether there are other organizations that could do so. If it is a task for
UNESCO, then how should it proceed? In which sector should it apply its efforts? In what
activities? With what human and financial resources?
88. A debate that confines itself to what already exists and the preservation thereof
(Headquarters staff, outside advisers, field offices, the very large number of projects, etc.)
would quite probably be sterile: it would amount to a repetition of the consultation of Member
States on the 2000-2001 biennium and its rather meagre and unclear results. Now, the aim is
not to think up activities that would make use of a structure and the existing staff; the aim, on
the contrary, is to determine clearly what is necessary and can yield tangible results.
89. After 50 years of UNESCO, on the threshold of the millennium that is the focus of so
much attention, that is the kind of radical reflection that we must dare to undertake.
- 16 90. We all know that UNESCO is plagued by several diseases: the dispersion of meagre
resources, in both budgetary and personnel terms, over too many activities; weakness of
strategic vision in the choice of activities; insufficient evaluation of results; a recruitment
policy in need of revision; often unproductive competition with other international
organizations; too many media initiatives of no practical utility, etc.
91. The seriousness of these problems calls for in-depth therapy, beginning with a
courageous reappraisal of the Organization, its activities and its resources.
92. As I have said already, UNESCO’s objective is still valid - to build peace by
transforming the way people think, to effect the transition from aggressiveness, lust for power
and intolerance to cooperation, solidarity and tolerance. It is clear, and here too I repeat, that
such an objective is far from having been achieved in the world, that no world organization
other than UNESCO can take up that task and that the best means of working towards that
objective is education.
93. At a pinch, UNESCO could be the United Nations educational organization and it could
concentrate all its resources on effective projects in education at all levels with two aims: first,
to improve the standard of education and of literacy first and foremost, which in itself fosters
mutual understanding, the emergence of democracy and thus peace; secondly, to make
education for solidarity and tolerance part of all curricula.
94. UNESCO’s other activities at present are much less directly related to the promotion of
peace. It is therefore necessary, in order to decide whether or not they should be kept in our
Organization’s programme, to analyse in depth their contribution to the development of a
mindset or a culture of peace, as well as their effectiveness. It will also be necessary to reduce
substantially the number of activities pursued, to do less but much better.
95. Scientific cooperation activities, when they are productive and really contribute to the
attainment of UNESCO’s objective, should and could continue to exist and develop. In this
category I include, of course, UNESCO’s ethical role with regard to science. When scientific
activities are productive but have no bearing on the promotion of peace, they would be
continued outside the UNESCO framework.
96. As to UNESCO’s cultural activities, they suffer from a lack of definition of the concept
of “culture” and consequently from being scattered over a large number of projects. In
addition, their contribution to the promotion of peace is often unclear.
97. A people’s culture is the entire set of values to which that people attaches importance. It
involves their way of thinking and their way of life. It is basically this meaning of culture that
interests UNESCO since our Organization aims precisely to promote values, values that are
conducive to peace.
98. The bulk of UNESCO’s cultural activities must therefore contribute towards
disseminating these values of peace. As with scientific activities, it is on the basis of this
criterion that the desirability of including them in our Organization’s programmes must be
assessed.
99. Furthermore, to preserve and make known the artistic and intellectual achievements of
peoples is also to foster mutual understanding and appreciation and, therefore, peace. From
this point of view, the protection of the world heritage is vital.
- 17 100. My last point concerns the practicalities of our debate on UNESCO in the twenty-first
century. This debate cannot be confined to the plenary meetings of the Executive Board
because this framework does not permit a truly fruitful debate. The establishment of a
working group reporting to the Executive Board, with procedures that permit the participation
of all interested countries, seems indispensable. I propose that the Board establish such a
group. It also seems to me that we should aim at having a discussion during the General
Conference at its 30th session and a decision by the General Conference at its 31st session in
2001. Thank you.
101. Ms MICKWITZ (Finland):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. It is apparent from this discussion that there is widespread
agreement that the constitutional mandate of UNESCO has lost none of its relevance and that
it will continue to be the firm basis for the work of the Organization in the decades to come.
102. The means by which the Organization can promote its objectives have, however, partly
changed radically. I refer here of course to the development of information and
communication technology and to other tools which are available thanks to the development
of science and technology in general.
103. The role of multilateral cooperation has also become more important in the world during
the last decade. This development has meant that multilateral organizations, whether they
work at the regional or the global level, are faced both with greater challenges but also with
greater expectations as regards their performance.
104. There are a number of issues which are of global importance and which have no national
borders. These issues are the observance and development of ethical standards, strengthening
respect for human rights, fostering non-violent solutions to conflicts, whether at the individual
or at the international level, and promoting sustainable development. All these are obvious
tasks for the international community and UNESCO has a role to play in each of these fields.
It has taken up the challenge and it should continue to focus on these issues. By doing so and
concentrating its activities on its own fields of competence, UNESCO can give valuable
guidance to governments. It should also become a centre of excellence in these fields within
the United Nations system.
105. The approach to these issues should be to change security from a military to a human
concept.
106. Working for human rights today means not only respecting these rights but also
promoting them actively. The idea of promotion is also well established in the category of
civil and political rights, and I refer here to the discussion which we had last autumn in
relation to the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration.
107. In connection with the promotion of human rights, the rights of minorities and of
persons belonging to minorities are particularly topical today. Both the rights of minority
groups and of indigenous peoples should be underlined in this connection. The active
promotion of human rights and peace through education and information activities is a major
task for UNESCO in the United Nations system and it has already been underlined by
numerous speakers here. These activities should, of course, take place in coordination and
cooperation with other United Nations organizations and bodies.
- 18 108. UNESCO should be able to demonstrate to national governments, through various
positive examples, that cultural diversity is an enriching factor in any country and that
minority cultures should have the possibility to flourish, develop and be respected.
109. Mr Chairperson, education for human rights and against violence, education for the
future, and early intervention systems for the prevention of exclusion through education are
important areas where UNESCO can help governments to formulate policies as well as to
develop teaching materials and methods. Inclusive education for handicapped children and
youth is also an important way to prevent the marginalization of those who are weak in
society.
110. Education for non-violence, Mr Chairperson, is a difficult task today when conflicting
values and role models are transmitted by the mass media in practically all parts of the world.
Violence grows through marginalization but also as a result of the breakdown of traditional
values and social patterns.
111. The challenges and problems posed by the information society are immense. The
concept of the information highways or cyberspace, which are frequently used here in
UNESCO, conjure up, however, a too optimistic view of development in this field. New
information technology is a whirling paradox. It opens up hitherto unseen vistas of cultural
globalization but it leads at the same time to deep gaps between the haves and the have-nots.
Information technology is a valuable tool for education and science but it can be severely
misused, as we all know, and can also lead to the marginalization of groups, even of nations.
We should be aware that this development can easily lead to a new conflict. More research is
needed to gain a better understanding of the nature of the information society, the factors
shaping its development and the mechanisms of steering and controlling the information
society process. The implications of this process are far from being simple and
straightforward.
112. Capacity-building, Mr Chairperson, in the field of information and communication
technology, as in respect of the development of capacities in research, is only at a rudimentary
level in many parts of the world. UNESCO can, together with international and national
funding agencies, help to bridge the gap in this respect while consistently and constantly
drawing attention to the ethical and environmental aspects of scientific and technological
development.
113. Mr Chairperson, the water issue is one of the many challenges in the next century. It was
referred to here a moment ago by Zimbabwe. This question also leads us to reformulate the
concepts of security and independence. It should make us aware of the need for a more equal
sharing of resources and knowledge. Water is one of the globally important dimensions of
sustainable development and UNESCO has an important role to play in this field.
114. The promotion of endogenous capacities of Member States in UNESCO’s fields of
competence is, in general, a major task for the Organization, it being understood that the main
responsibility, however, lies with the governments concerned. UNESCO’s role is also in this
respect to help in strategic policy planning and to help in the training of trainers for national
purposes.
115. UNESCO should seek and support viable national partners which can multiply the effect
of its work but also provide fresh ideas and test the old ones against existing national realities.
National Commissions are privileged partners in this respect, but they can only fulfil their task
if truly representative of the educational and scientific constituencies in their countries.
- 19 116. Mr Chairperson, the performance of UNESCO is less physically visible than that of
many other international organizations. This is partly due to the very mandate of UNESCO to build peace in the minds of men. The activities of the Organization do not leave many
physically visible traces, nor do they lend themselves to big headlines or become the focus of
temporary international interest in the mass media. The result of work in the fields of
competence of UNESCO are mainly visible in the long term and at the end of a long process
of development. Even so we are convinced that greater efforts could be made to make the
work of UNESCO more widely known, as has been proposed by Sweden. Thank you,
Mr Chairperson.
117. Mr MASSUH (Argentina):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson, UNESCO quite rightly concerns itself with humanity’s
past. It has produced histories of Africa, of Latin America and of the Arab World. It protects
historic property and heritage, pays tribute to events and eminent persons of yesteryear and
revives heterogeneous cultural traditions. Much of its task involves an extensive exercise of
memory, the memory of a human species, it is true, that tends to forget its own nobility.
118. This interest in the past is legitimate. But one may say that in view of the imminence of
the twenty-first century, UNESCO should put the emphasis on understanding the future. That
means that we must turn our attention to the unknown and perceive the lines of a time that
does not yet exist and has not yet taken definite shape. Those anticipated lines of the future are
indispensable to our guidance in the present.
119. Paul Valéry wrote some 50 years ago that “The future is not what it was”. The great
French writer was thereby saying that the future of 50 years ago was different from that of
earlier decades, and also different from today’s. The future that we now imagine, that of the
next century, is extremely confused, with lowering skies and apocalyptic clouds alternating
with sweet visions; cities in ruins would alternate with humanitarian Utopias, great famines
would coexist with palaces of abundance. All forecasts are so uncertain that the physiognomy
of the new century would seem to prolong the current picture of a civilization having lost its
sense of direction. Sometimes the future is such a closed horizon that it disappears from our
view. There are desperate people who make do with the miracle that there might be a future.
120. For these reasons, I consider that the future should be the subject of more intense
reflection within UNESCO. It is a topic that is often not in good hands; it is in the hands of
soothsayers, prophets of doom or incorrigible Utopians. It is also a subject for entertaining
authors of fiction rather than thinkers or visionaries; hard-working ecologists rather than
biologists or poets. Our future thus runs the risk of being overwhelmed by the market-driven
optimism of technological innovation linked to worldwide industrial gigantism.
121. It is desirable that UNESCO should contribute towards ensuring that our descendants in
the next century do not inherit an Earth that has become a scrap heap or a dump of
unrecyclable waste. It is desirable that knowledge should not be impoverished by a wealth of
information; that the smart missiles that we see on television do not eventually lead us to
believe that the destruction of cities is painless, or that the situation of refugees and the
homeless can easily be seen to later. In this and in so many vicissitudes of our time, the look
of the future is pure tragedy. Its usual association with adventure, quest and innovation has
seemingly been passed over.
122. UNESCO, with its immense intellectual potential, can help humanity to find new
benchmarks, new goals, as it faces a dramatically uncertain future. It must engage in reflection
- 20 on goals and on the purposes of the human adventure. I say this because much of the most
alluring feature of today’s civilization lies in the improvement of means. A powerful network
of data, information, services, incentives, advertising and entertainment holds us captive in its
worldwide enmeshment. This network is backed by technical wizardry and sophisticated
equipment. It is said, quite rightly, that those means have been developed to achieve human
beings’ true ends, namely truth, goodness, beauty and sacredness; but the pre-eminence given
the means eventually obscures the ends, with the resultant risk that human life might lose its
depth and slip into pure banality. Will UNESCO be able, with the new century in mind, open
a debate on this theme of the ends and the means? In other words, a discussion on what can be
expected from a culture taken over by an instrumental mindset? Will humans become
instrument-guided instruments?
123. UNESCO can be the forum for discussing conflicting images of the future. Little matter
whether these images are apocalyptic or pleasant; what does matter is that they should be
mutually compared and corrected. It is important that the future should be omnipresent, that it
should form a lasting image in our eyes, that it shall permeate our hours in such a manner as to
make the immediacy of the distant felt in the most modest routine of daily life. Just as
medieval society lived close to the eternal, today’s more mundane people must rescue the
future as a protective prospect.
124. I stress that this task is not foreign to the great tradition of UNESCO, which has always
travelled the future and sought creative anticipation of it. I think of UNESCO mainly as an
anticipatory body. It was concerned with peace when the wounds of war were still open. It
spoke of cultural dialogue when Western hegemony was still intact. It opened the door to
different religions at a time when Christianity’s self-esteem was at its height. It protected and
used little-known language precisely when a couple of prestigious languages carried great
weight. Perhaps, tomorrow, with science in full and arrogant command, UNESCO will
encourage dialogue between scientific knowledge and religious knowledge. Perhaps reason
and faith will come to terms with each other when reason has rid itself of rationalist
arrogance, and faith spurns the lure of the irrational.
125. I think that UNESCO is opening itself defiantly to the future by opting for a culture of
peace and by being sceptical of violence as an instrument of historic change. In one way or
another it spreads human brotherhood, the idea of a universal person, and does not spurn the
prospect of a world citizenship. These goals are in themselves a good guide through the
stormy night upon which note I conclude, Mr Chairperson.
126. Mr QASSEM (United Arab Emirates):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Mr Chairperson of the Executive Board,
Mr Director-General, Members of the Executive Board, as we begin to reflect on UNESCO in
the twenty-first century, I should first like to emphasize the United Arab Emirates’ support for
this Organization, which represents humanity’s conscience and creativity, with a view to its
continuing to be a focal point of the world community, an international forum with the noble
mission of shaping human thought, supporting scientific progress, maintaining world peace
and etching its ideals on the minds of all people. Although peace and development are the two
main objectives of UNESCO’s programmes and activities, by virtue of its Constitution and its
successive strategies, and despite the great efforts made by the Organization for more than
half a century to meet these two objectives, it is painfully clear that the number of pockets of
tension has increased in different parts of the world, both in the North and in the South, due to
the spread of regional and ethnic conflict, soaring violence and terrorism, the worsening of
poverty, the widening gap between North and South, the decline of the concept of human
- 21 rights and the absence of standards making it possible to achieve true justice.
127. Does this mean that UNESCO has failed to fulfil its basic objective of “contributing to
peace and security”, as defined in Article I of its Constitution? To answer this question, an
important fact must be borne in mind: UNESCO represents its Member States and its action is
simply the result of decisions taken by the Member States. However, the contradiction
between what UNESCO undertakes to do and what is actually done is in itself a very serious
matter. It is not a question of whether or not UNESCO and the United Nations system have
failed. Other factors are involved, notably Member States’ fulfilment of their own
commitments. As stated by the Director-General in his Introduction to the Draft Programme
and Budget for 2000-2001, only the political will of these States can bring about change, and
it is only political measures that can affect the radical changes that are so essential today.
However, while I share his opinion, I think that UNESCO can help to strengthen this political
will to promote peace and development by continuing to carry out its remarkable work in the
fields of education, science and culture. By proposing appropriate methods for education to
foster understanding of other people, awareness of the solidarity between human beings and
respect for cultural diversity, we can instil in the minds of the younger generations the values
and ideals of peace and justice; and by spreading and reinforcing the culture of peace we can
establish a dialogue between cultures and civilizations based on mutual respect and equal
rights and responsibilities.
128. By continuing its outstanding work in science and technology, by facilitating the
exchange of information and experience between States, UNESCO can reduce the gap
between North and South and help developing countries to rise to the challenges and
consequences of globalization, which means to acquire the necessary competitive abilities,
bases and tools which so many of them are struggling to possess.
129. Members of the Executive Board, UNESCO must present a more positive image in the
international community in terms of the necessity of responding to the real needs of its
Member States and its ability to do just this, and become more effective in carrying out its
programmes. In this regard, I would like to share with you the ideas of the delegation of the
United Arab Emirates which I trust will contribute, along with those of other delegations, to
defining a framework for the Organization’s activities over the next century. First, UNESCO
must redouble its efforts, through its representatives in the various regions, to convince
decision-makers and political leaders in its Member States of the need to link the decisions
and recommendations of the Organization with measures taken. In other words, UNESCO
must endeavour to establish constant dialogue with the governments of Member States in
order to bring about full concordance and make them aware of the important role that the
Organization plays in improving the quality of life, so that the standard-setting action of this
type of organization may be reflected in practical terms in the laws and regulations of its
Member States. Secondly, UNESCO must present a better image of itself in the field. This
should be done by giving greater freedom and responsibility to its Regional Offices to allow
them to adequately accomplish UNESCO’s mission. Their current situation does not allow
them to act as one would expect. Their prerogatives are limited and their freedom of action
curtailed by a number of outdated administrative and financial regulations. Thirdly, as
depositary of world expertise in the areas of education, science, culture and communication,
UNESCO must endeavour, using the machinery at its disposal, to identify the real needs of
Member States in its areas of competence and to assist them to achieve their development
objectives. UNESCO has produced innumerable reports, studies, investigations and surveys
on its Member States and is undoubtedly capable of analysing these studies and reports,
drawing conclusions on the situation of education, science and culture in these countries and
- 22 formulating strategies and policies which correspond to the countries’ possibilities. If it
succeeds in this task, UNESCO will have taken an important step towards accomplishing its
world mission. Fourthly, UNESCO must adapt its information resources to the information
age in order to enable all the national media to contribute to making the role of the
Organization known on all the continents; this in turn will assist the Organization in
accomplishing its humanist mission as defined in its Constitution. UNESCO must therefore
intensify its support for its partners - National Commissions, Associated Schools, UNESCO
Clubs - which are taking UNESCO to the field and which are the mirror of the Organization in
its Member States. These partners certainly deserve more support. Fifthly, in order to project
a clearly defined image of UNESCO in all its Member States, more attention must be paid to
publications in the various working languages - English, French, Spanish, Russian, Arabic and
Chinese. I must underscore the need for balance and fairness in the use of these languages for
publications. The inadequate amount of UNESCO publications in Arabic is undoubtedly
detrimental to the visibility of UNESCO in the Arab world, even contributing to erasing all
knowledge of its existence.
130. Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a world community without walls, where people hear
and see each other, where there is more and more knowledge and less and less wisdom, and
we have no other choice but to continue to support this Organization to enable it to undertake
its ethical mission. We do not want this Organization to take decisions and make
recommendations that will remain a dead letter. We want it to be a living force in the world,
capable of producing useful effort and efficient action. If peace is the goal and development
the means to achieving that goal, then we must overcome all the forces of evil and all the
factors of division by using this august world body to forge a peace for humanity that brings
about development and a development that consolidates peace.
131. The CHAIRPERSON:
Dear colleagues, it is my pleasure to greet Ms Louise Fréchette, Deputy
Secretary-General of the United Nations, who is joining us from New York. During our
discussion, we shall consider UNESCO’s future and the possible reforms that will enable the
Organization to meet the needs and the challenges of the new millennium more effectively.
We consider that, as we are part of the United Nations family, this debate should encompass
the projects that concern the whole system, and I am therefore particularly happy that the
Deputy Secretary-General has been able to accept our invitation. We agreed that she should
speak to us for some 15 minutes and, if her timetable permits, we shall then have a series of
questions and answers for a further quarter of an hour. You have the floor, Madam Deputy
Secretary-General.
132. Ms FRECHETTE (Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. First of all, I should like to thank you for having invited me
to participate, thanks to the wonders of technology, in your session. Obviously, it would be
more pleasant if I could be with you in Paris. But it is nevertheless excellent that we can see
one another like this, thanks to the cameras.
133. The reform of the United Nations is, of course, a many-sided concept. For some, it is
primarily a slimming-down programme, and there has been in recent years a fairly substantial
reduction in United Nations staff. This also happened at the beginning of the term of office of
Mr Kofi Annan, who promptly abolished a thousand posts in the Secretariat. Our regular
budget has been frozen for more than six years, which means in real terms that we are living
with resources that dwindle from year to year. Next came a rationalization of the Secretariat
structures, when the present Secretary-General took office, which led to the rationalization of
- 23 a number of Secretariat units and the establishment of others. But in reality, this aspect of the
reforms is probably not the most fundamental, even though it was necessary.
134. I should like to speak briefly to you about aspects which I consider more fundamental in
the reform of the United Nations from the standpoint of the Secretariat itself and the funds and
programmes of the United Nations. First of all, in the case of the modernization of
management methods within the Secretariat, we have adopted four important types of
measure. The first concerns the methods of preparing the United Nations budget, which the
Secretary-General has proposed to transform in order to introduce into it what is known as
results-based budgeting. The aim is to prepare budgets by setting forth much clearer
objectives, enabling the Organization to evaluate the progress made on the basis of the
objectives thus set. This calls for a rather radical change in the way in which the United
Nations budget is presented and discussed; as a matter of fact, there has already been an initial
exchange with the General Assembly on this subject. The next budget will be submitted to the
Assembly in two forms: in its present form, which places more emphasis on inputs; but we
shall also submit concurrently, for a number of programmes, a budget that gives pride of place
to results in such a way as to assess the progress achieved. It is a reform that will require
several years, but it could fundamentally change the way in which the Organization’s
activities are discussed.
135. Still in relation to the modernization of management methods, the Secretary-General has
proposed reforms in respect of human resources. We have a system for the management of
human resources that is rather bureaucratic, rather complicated, and above all very slow,
which does not fully satisfy either managers or staff. Accordingly, we have initiated a
programme of reforms which should be spread over several years.
136. In addition, we have made considerable efforts to achieve savings on the management of
resources, and we are seeking more economical methods of providing services and fulfilling
the mandates that the Assembly has entrusted to us. This concerns, for example, distance
translation, with which we are experimenting in connection with the central services. The
savings thus made should be allocated gradually to a fund that will serve to finance a number
of development projects. This question is still under review before the Assembly, but already
last year we were able, thanks to the savings, to release $13 million that will be spent on
development projects.
137. Lastly, the Secretary-General has proposed that each new mandate voted by the
Assembly be given a time limit. This would lead to a more systematic review of those
mandates and would compel the Member States to vote officially on the mandates that they
sought to renew, rather than extending them automatically. This measure, which was proposed
by the Secretary-General, has not yet been the subject of an Assembly decision.
138. A second type of reform has been implemented within the United Nations for several
years already, namely, what I will call the updating of the various United Nations
decision-making bodies. I would cite by way of example UNCTAD, the reforms introduced
into a number of regional economic commissions, and also, more recently, those made to the
United Nations Environment Programme and Habitat. The Economic and Social Council itself
has made a number of major changes in its agenda and its priorities. I believe that, through all
these reforms, the Member States were aiming at three objectives: first, to identify clearly the
new priorities of those entities or those decision-making bodies so as to reflect to a greater
extent the current needs of the States themselves; secondly, to ensure that the
intergovernmental apparatus, in other words all the intergovernmental committees, would be
- 24 fully geared to the new priorities; thirdly, to see to it that the Secretariat structures backing the
activities of these intergovernmental bodies were themselves geared to the new priorities. That
is what has happened in UNCTAD and also in several regional commissions. I would add that
a similar procedure has been followed by UNIDO and in other Specialized Agencies.
139. Lastly, and it is in all probability the aspect which is of the greatest interest to
UNESCO, I should like to mention the reforms proposed by the Secretary-General to
introduce greater coherence between the different entities in the United Nations system which
come under his authority: in other words, the Secretariat and the funds and programmes of the
United Nations. In order to strengthen coordination at Headquarters, the Secretary-General has
put in place two types of mechanism. The first is a weekly meeting of senior officials of the
United Nations system. For the first time in 53 or 54 years, the Secretary-General has regular
contact once a week - and in his absence, I am the one who chairs the meeting - not only with
all the Assistant Secretaries-General of the United Nations Secretariat but also with the
directors of funds and programmes such as UNICEF, UNDP, and those who are not in New
York. So it is that Mr Topfer (Nairobi), Ms Robinson (Geneva) and Mr Arlacchi (Vienna) join
us every Wednesday, by teleconference, in fact, for this meeting, during which we discuss
subjects of common interest. We thus have a much more effective exchange of information
among the members of the group. For the first time, I think, in the history of our system, we
really feel that we form a team. This is, I believe, one of the most important innovations that
the Secretary-General has introduced as regards the coherence of the United Nations. At the
same time, the Secretary-General has set up four executive committees to permit more
in-depth discussions and joint decision-making in our four major fields of activity, namely,
political issues and peace-keeping, economic and social questions, humanitarian matters and
development issues.
140. This reform has its counterpart in the field, in the operational activities of the United
Nations. In this connection, the Secretary-General has requested that all the United Nations
funds and programmes represented in developing countries work together and develop, in
cooperation with the partner country, a common framework for the assistance that the United
Nations system can provide. It is also requested that, as far as possible, the funds and
programmes be assembled together within the same “United Nations House” and that they
pool all the services that can be shared. Obviously, this fresh approach now being introduced
links United Nations funds and programmes. But I am very happy to impress upon you that,
the vast majority of the Specialized Agencies have expressed an altogether voluntary wish to
join this initiative in the field. Today, if you go to countries in which the United Nations takes
action to promote development, you will see that not only the funds and programmes but also
the Specialized Agencies are jointly developing this common framework, that they are sharing
services as much as possible and that, already, a number of United Nations Houses have been
established throughout the world. It is perhaps this part of the reform that has yielded the most
tangible benefits to our Member States, since, for the first time, there is a genuine effort to
promote coherence within the system. The States in which we are working now are able to
deal with a single interlocutor, in any case as regards the framing of major strategies. Of
course, each agency, fund and programme continues to implement, in its own sector, the
cooperation projects with the government concerned, but everything is now done within a
common framework. As an initial move, we have developed common frameworks in 18 pilot
countries.
141. This first stage has now been completed. An in-depth evaluation of these activities
showed us that we were on the right road. This common framework for assistance strategies in
partner countries must now be extended to all the countries in which we are represented.
- 25 These, in brief, are the main components of the United Nations Secretary-General’s
programme for reform.
142. It remains only for me to mention my own post, which, as you are aware, is also part of
the reforms by the Secretary-General. My post was created to assist the Secretary-General in
his duties. I am primarily required to assist him in tasks of management and coordination and
also to play a more immediate and more active role in the economic, social and development
fields, while the Secretary-General, as you can imagine, continues to be extremely busy with
all the many issues concerning peace, security and the activities of the Security Council. It is a
partnership between the Secretary-General and his Deputy Secretary-General that was
organized very pragmatically in the early months of my taking up my post. I believe that this
formula works very effectively and that it has facilitated, to a certain extent, the
implementation of the reforms that he launched. As I have already spoken for several minutes
and as we no longer have much time ahead of us, I shall now stop, but I am quite prepared to
answer questions or listen to your comments. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
143. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you, Madam Deputy Secretary-General. We thank you very much for your brief
statement. Dear colleagues, you now have the opportunity to ask questions or make
observations.
144. Mr MARSHALL (New Zealand):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Deputy Secretary-General, we’ve had a lot of discussion in
UNESCO which is ongoing about a controversial issue with us called decentralization. From
what you were just saying about the coordination in various countries of your own operations,
would there be any possibility that you might come to look at say ILO, WHO and UNESCO
as having a large degree of field coordination in those individual countries?
145. Mr DERIX (Germany):
Madam, I noted with particular interest your remark that the United Nations are now
living for the sixth year with the same budget. Since we are preparing a new budget for the
years 2000-2001, the question of the level plays an important role. Can you say something as
to how you reached this? Was this done through savings, are there cutbacks and in which
fields are these? I would be very grateful for information on this point. Thank you very much.
146. Mr CHETSANGA (Zimbabwe):
Thank you. Following on from the question just asked by my colleague from Germany,
concerning the budget you had six years ago, which you have kept the same, could you tell us
whether there have been adjustments to it for inflation or have you kept it at the US dollar
level of six years ago? Thank you.
147. Mr NDIAYE (Senegal):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Madam, I have listened to your brief statement with a great
deal of interest and I have consequently noted that your budget has remained stationary for six
years. I should like to know how in your programmes, especially with regard to the least
developed countries, you manage to cater for their needs. Do you show particular concern for
these countries, despite this stationary budget? My second question is obviously bound up
with the least developed countries. I see that your Organization takes action more or less
everywhere that there are difficulties, but more particularly in the least developed countries.
How, in practical terms, does this primary concern make itself felt in your programmes and in
your activities? Thank you.
- 26 148. Mr BAVU (United Republic of Tanzania):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I also wanted to know to what extent the arrears of some
Member States who have not been paying their contributions would have affected the current
budget situation, resulting in the continuation of the same budget ceiling for the last six years.
149. Mr WICHIENCHAROEN (Thailand):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. In connection with the questions already asked about the
budgetary reform and the six-year level of budgeting there is the problem of arrears of
payment, as mentioned by the previous speaker, and also how the United Nations deals with
the problem of cash flow on top of everything else. Thank you.
150. Mr NACHABÉ (Lebanon):
Within our Executive Board, we are discussing the question of decentralization. What is
the position of the United Nations on this matter? Thank you.
151. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much, dear colleagues. Madam Deputy Secretary-General, would you
be so kind as to reply to these questions? You can see how much interest has been aroused
within our Board.
152. Ms FRECHETTE (Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations):
Thank you. Before I begin to reply, could I ask you the meaning of the word
“decentralization” in the context of your discussions?
153. The CHAIRPERSON:
In brief, it is to have or not to have field units.
154. Ms FRECHETTE (Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations):
I see. I feel that I am venturing on to particularly dangerous ground when I address
decentralization.
155. First on the question of how, on coordination among the broader United Nations family.
First of all as regards the Administrative Committee on Coordination, and I think
Federico Mayor is much better placed than I am to answer that question, but I think ACC is
performing its functions increasingly well. I have now attended three meetings and I have
found the discussions at all three meetings to be very rich, demonstrating a real desire among
the whole United Nations family, including not only the funds and programmes that come
under some authority from the Secretary-General but also the Specialized Agencies, to seek to
work together much more closely. To my way of thinking one of the keys to the ability of the
Specialized Agencies, the funds and programmes and even the Bretton Woods institutions to
work more closely together is to have a greater understanding of what the policy priorities of
each of the organizations are, to have really a meeting of minds on the goals being pursued by
each organization. Of course each organization has to follow the mandates given to it by its
Member States, but in reality it is the same Member States that speak through the various
organizations and I think the various secretariats have a responsibility to see where there are
real synergies between the activities of each of the organizations. I must say that I am quite
impressed by the quality of the debates that I have witnessed in ACC and the evident
willingness in the field for the organizations to try to combine their efforts. I think we are
addressing vigorously the question of duplication and lack of coordination in the field, so I
think in this respect there have been some interesting developments that have been remarked
upon by people who are close to the United Nations in the field and have noticed a different
mentality and a different spirit of coordination in the field.
- 27 156. There were several questions on the budget. Our budget has been stable in nominal
terms for the last three biennia if I’m not mistaken, which means that it has not been adjusted
for inflation but there is a formula to adjust for exchange rate fluctuations. I am sure that this
is a subject of great interest to your group. I would hesitate to enter too much into the
technical details of how it works within the United Nations system but I’m sure that our
Department of Management would be more than happy to share information on the details of
the budget numbers and the exchange rate adjustments that come from time to time. But there
has been no adjustment for inflation. We have managed to deal with that by a gradual
reduction in the number of posts in the Organization. To give you rough orders of magnitude,
I think in the United Nations proper we had up to 12,500 posts some five or six years ago; we
are down to somewhat less than 9,000 now. We have also made real efforts to reduce our
costs. I think the introduction of computer programs in the administrative fields has made a
real difference, they have allowed us to reduce our costs. We are forever looking for ways to
continue to be able to deliver our mandates within the limits of the resources that we have at
our disposal. But I must say that after six years of such a regime the Secretary-General feels
very strongly that we have reached the limit of our capacity to absorb more and more requests
and more and more mandates without either some elimination of less important mandates or
some increase in the budget that we have to deliver on all these mandates. So there will be an
important debate in the General Assembly this Fall in connection with the budget of the next
biennium on what is the appropriate level of the budget for the Organization. And if you will
allow me to quote my boss, he has said on several occasions that we do believe very much in
value for money but without money you can’t get any value.
157. In reply to the question by the representative of Senegal regarding the needs of the least
developed countries, it must be remembered, of course, that, when I speak of a budget that has
not increased for six years, I am speaking of the United Nations regular budget. The assistance
budget, in other words the budget involving UNDP, UNICEF and other United Nations
institutions and which finances most of the assistance programmes, depends on voluntary
contributions. And here we have a range of scenarios. A body such as UNICEF has succeeded
in more or less maintaining its level of financing from one year to the next; by contrast,
substantial reductions have been made in the voluntary contributions to UNDP, to cite only
this example. Obviously, UNDP and its Executive Board have had to make choices between
the needs of the different regions and the different countries, but I believe it is fair to say that
priority definitely goes to the least developed countries and that Africa continues to be a very
important priority in the allocation of development funds. Nonetheless, we are extremely
concerned at this gradual reduction in the funds granted to United Nations programmes and
agencies, which reflects in reality the year-to-year shrinking of funds earmarked for official
development assistance (ODA) by donor countries. The Secretary-General has launched an
appeal on several occasions to donor countries to increase their contributions in respect of
ODA. We dare to hope that there will be a change for the better in this sector. Already, we
have heard some good news from a number of major donors, and we hope that this marks the
beginning of a much more favourable trend in the amount of development assistance.
158. The question of arrears affects essentially the reimbursement of sums that the United
Nations owes to troop contributors. The problem of arrears is essentially related to the budget
for peacekeeping, not to the regular budget. What it has meant is that we have for several
years owed over $1 billion to countries that provided troops for the United Nations
peacekeeping operations earlier in this decade. Should there be a quick reimbursement of
these arrears we would simply turn around and write a cheque to all the countries that
generously put troops at the disposal of the United Nations in the early 1990s when we had
several major peacekeeping operations.
- 28 159. We do have cash-flow problems from time to time in our regular budget and this has to
do with the uneven pattern of payments from our Member States. Usually we have very few
cash-flow problems early in the year, when a number of Member States pay their
contributions in full right at the beginning of the calendar year. We usually run into cash-flow
problems around August and September. In October usually the American contribution is paid
in and, as you know, the American contribution represents 25 per cent of the regular budget of
the Organization, so when we finally receive the American contribution, then it gives us quite
a lot of breathing room. When we’ve had cash-flow problems around August and September,
we have had to borrow from whatever cash we had on hand from the peacekeeping budget.
These borrowings have varied over the years; last year was somewhat better than previous
years, but frankly our two main problems from the budget side are first the fact that we owe a
lot of money to troop contributors and have done for many years and that we will not be able
to repay these sums until the arrears are paid in, and secondly that we are now facing real
problems in terms of our regular budget, to the extent that our budget has been decreasing in
real terms from year to year without a corresponding reduction in the number of mandates and
of what is expected of the Organization.
160. Finally, on the question of decentralization, I will simply say that, in all the reforms that
I have seen, the most important thing was to establish the priorities very clearly, to provide a
structure in keeping with those priorities and to make funding arrangements which matched
those structures and those priorities. If there is no harmony between these basic components, I
think problems can arise. If I may make a more general comment, one of the great challenges
facing the United Nations is that we have little money to perform all the tasks entrusted to us.
Personally, I am concerned about the fact that many of our operations in the field - I am
speaking of specific operations by the United Nations - are on an extremely modest scale. As
there are very few resources to spend on the programmes, we always have to assess the
relative costs occasioned by the management of field offices in relation to the funds that we
can release. Of course, the duties that we discharge in the field are not necessarily a reflection
of the resources that we have at our disposal. Important functions in terms of presence, advice
and partnership with governments can be exercised without their requiring very heavy
investment. Nevertheless, there is always a calculation to be done to determine whether we
can afford to ensure an effective presence in the field. I therefore think that this dilemma
arises for all bodies carrying out operational activities, and it also arises for our information
programmes. In any case, it is a problem to which there is no easy answer.
161. I think that I have tried to give a quick reply to all the main questions.
162. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much, Madam Deputy Secretary-General, for your answers and
comments. I know that we have used up the time that you generously allowed us. May we ask
you one or two more questions, Madam Deputy Secretary-General?
163. Ms FRECHETTE (Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations):
Yes, very quickly.
164. The CHAIRPERSON:
Well, one last question, which will be put by the representative of Austria.
165. Mr OGRINZ (Austria):
Thank you, Madam Deputy Secretary-General. It is obvious that persons at the head of
large international organizations are in great demand, often beyond what is acceptable. It is
- 29 therefore with much interest that I listened to your remarks on the pragmatic partnership that
you practise in New York. Is it accurate to say that responsibilities are shared between you and
the Secretary-General, and does this arrangement, which is certainly not a two-headed one,
make it possible to keep a holistic view of activities, as well as of the problems facing the
Organization? Does it permit compartmentalization, so to speak? And, if it does, do you think
that such an arrangement could be a model for other organizations within the United Nations
system? Thank you.
166. Ms FRECHETTE (Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations):
The partnership or, let us say, the sharing of tasks between the Secretary-General and
myself, is altogether pragmatic. There is no formal sharing of responsibilities. All the heads of
services, departments, funds and programmes continue to be under the direct authority of the
Secretary-General. In fact, let me remind you that virtually nobody is under my authority apart
from my secretary and executive assistant. The post of Deputy Secretary-General does not
carry with it any official authority, but entails the ability to solve problems and to ensure
harmonious relations among the various units. I am always saying that I step in when I am
needed, but when things are running smoothly, I do not step in. Usually, I intervene when it is
necessary to have someone in charge at the top of the pyramid to ensure that all parts of the
system are working in harmony. Our goal is to ensure that the Organization functions better,
but without having recourse, in my case, to formal authority. I must say that it functions
extremely well, in my opinion. I am constantly in touch with the Secretary-General; when he
is in New York, we see each other once a day, as a rule. I keep him informed about the files he
has entrusted to me, but he has not relinquished any of his responsibilities, even for
management or economic matters. When there are very important issues to be settled, I refer
them to the Secretary-General, who always has the last word. I think this is a flexible
arrangement. I, for my part, am convinced that if an attempt had been made to impose a more
formal sharing of responsibilities, whereby certain bodies would come within my remit and
certain others within that of the Secretary-General, more problems would have been created
than solved. I am sure that the arrangement that we have put in place, for the last 15 months at
any rate, is the one that works best. Obviously, it is vital that the Secretary-General and his
Deputy Secretary-General understand each other very well, that they have a shared grasp of
problems and that they have frank and open relations. If these conditions are met, I think that
the Deputy Secretary-General arrangement, as devised here in New York, can be very useful,
in that it relieves the Secretary-General of certain responsibilities and allows more direct
follow-up at the top of the pyramid of certain management and coordination issues. In fact, the
Secretary-General cannot devote the necessary time to all these issues because he is very
much in demand for other matters, and in particular the settlement of political crises. In our
case, therefore, it works well. Now, it is for you to judge whether this model could be useful at
UNESCO.
167. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much. Your participation has contributed very significantly to our
debates. I wish to say that we strongly support your efforts to improve coherence within the
United Nations system. Thank you again for having been with us. It must be nearly midday in
New York. I hope that you will have a pleasant day, not too hot, in New York; here, it is not
very warm. We wish you every success in your important duties. On behalf of all the
Members of the Board and the Director-General, I should like to thank you very much, and
bid you goodbye.
168. Ms FRECHETTE (Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations):
My thanks to you, too. I shall return to the scorching New York heat.
- 30 169. The CHAIRPERSON:
Dear colleagues, I never cease to be surprised when this miracle of teleconferencing
happens. I think you will agree that it is an experiment that works. Let us now resume our
debate. The next speaker is the representative of Cameroon, who will be followed by the
representative of the United Kingdom.
170. Mr NJOH MOUELLE (Cameroon):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I am delighted that the Board has decided to devote the
thematic theoretical debate of its 156th session to the subject of UNESCO in the twenty-first
century. Before I go any further, allow me, Mr Chairperson and dear colleagues, to address my
most sincere congratulations and thanks to the Association of Former UNESCO Staff
Members, in particular the Miollis Group, for the initiative that led them to publish as long
ago as October 1995 the fruit of their own reflection on the same theme, entitled UNESCO
Faces the Twenty-first Century. An Invitation to Dialogue. In the introduction to this
document, the Miollis Group stated that they were not making suggestions but wished to
trigger “in-depth discussions that will be progressively pursued in stages long after the current
anniversary observances are over”. In reality, and despite the modesty of its authors, the
publication of the Association of Former UNESCO Staff Members contains valuable
indications that could be built upon in the context of a responsible formulation of specific
reform proposals.
171. I should like to refer to a second paper, signed by the Director-General, Federico Mayor,
and entitled “UNESCO, an ideal in action: the continuing relevance of a visionary text”. The
visionary text, you will have realized, is the Constitution of UNESCO, a text that is far from
outdated, as the ideals and principles it enshrines are more relevant now than ever before.
172. Much emphasis has been placed on the effect of the Second World War on the decision
to found UNESCO, and were we to stop at considering only the phenomenon of war, we
should find a constant justification for the mandate conferred upon UNESCO by its
Constitution, as wars have not ceased and probably never will do so in the future. Other
phenomena, however, have unfortunately emerged to add to war and provide new justification
for the Organization’s ethical mission. They are the threat of human cloning and genetic
engineering; constant aberrations on the information highways; and globalization, with the
worsening of imbalances and inequalities of all kinds.
173. UNESCO has been and continues to be perceived as the moral conscience of the United
Nations. However, from the outset, there has been no agreement on whether UNESCO should
develop a common doctrine. While Julian Huxley, the very first Director-General of the
Organization, inclined towards such an objective, the French philosopher Jacques Maritain
spoke out against all those who sought to impose upon UNESCO “a common doctrinal
denominator”. The debate on the issue continued until recently with the project to formulate a
universal ethics emanating from UNESCO. I have already had the opportunity of expressing
my position on this question, which coincides with that of Jacques Maritain.
174. The key issue of concern today seems to me to involve putting into practice the
principles proclaimed in UNESCO’s numerous official declarations, which it already
disseminates and will still be disseminating tomorrow. In other words, the ethical mission of
UNESCO is perennial, and the most urgent and worrying challenge facing the Organization is
its effectiveness in the sphere of ethics. It is not possible to be content with making
declarations and setting forth principles that are doomed not to be implemented.
- 31 175. Last Saturday, 5 June, the Director-General of UNESCO, Mr Federico Mayor, was the
guest of Catherine Ceylac on her television programme “Thé ou café”. It is significant that the
background music or, rather, song selected by Catherine Ceylac for the programme was
Paroles, paroles … (Words, words) by Dalida, as a means of telling the day’s guest that he
was at the helm of an institution where much more was said than was done. The
Director-General, an astute politician, did not fail to pick up on the song while endeavouring
to turn it to his advantage, when he said that it was indeed his ambition for UNESCO that the
Organization should change the world through words. Where UNESCO’s word is concerned,
we may well ask: can it one day act like the trumpets of Jericho (a story familiar to Bible
readers)?
176. For myself, I am convinced that if UNESCO is willing and obliged to seek effectiveness
in the field of ethics, it should cooperate with its parent organization, the United Nations, as it
is only at that level that the legal bodies can be founded to deal with violations of the
principles set out in the many official declarations. On this aspect of the problem, I subscribe
fully to the substance of the following extract from the Miollis Group document to which I
have already referred: “Within the United Nations system, UNESCO plans to contribute to the
maintenance of the values guaranteed to all people by the Charter. Hence, UNESCO should
clearly make its contribution to thought about major world problems, and their solutions, in
the context of cooperation between institutions, rather than in that of competition and search
for systematic specificity”.
177. The time allowed me means I cannot address a large number of problems. I should just
like to say something on the visibility of UNESCO in its Member States and its strategies for
action. First, the visibility of UNESCO in its Member States. Everybody gives a different
interpretation to the heading “UNESCO’s visibility on the ground”. For some, it means
making good use of the media in the service of the Organization; the representative of Sweden
stresses this aspect and I share his view. For others, it means multiplying the number of field
offices. I think that all these meanings are valid and not mutually exclusive.
178. On this point, may I add that UNESCO seems to me, at its Headquarters here in Paris, to
be like a very large cultural centre, as much through its publications as through the activities
held here: conferences, seminars, concerts, ballets and art exhibitions of various kinds. In
most of the Member States in my geographical region, there are a number of cultural centres
run by certain Member States in the framework of bilateral relations with our States. These
institutes do good work for young people, by providing them with language laboratories,
libraries to encourage reading, rooms for film clubs and so on. I can imagine UNESCO in the
twenty-first century transforming its many field offices into cultural centres. I am convinced
that it is in this kind of cultural centre that the young people of our countries, the young
people of all countries, of all Member States, will be able to acquire a mindset open to
dialogue, multiculturalism and globalization in its true sense. Would it be asking too much to
set the objective of seeing UNESCO in the twenty-first century transporting to its periphery a
sizeable amount of its work as an international and intercultural centre? We have mentioned
the aspect of peace that must be built in the minds of men and women, and above all in the
minds of young people. Of course, it goes without saying that it is at the level of education
that this work must be done in the first place, but my belief is that wherever field offices
acquire the dimension of a cultural centre, genuine interest will gradually develop on an
everyday level, not only from members of UNESCO Clubs but also from many other young
people who would go there to gain a real grasp of internationalism and multiculturalism,
which, moreover, are essentially verbal.
- 32 179. The second and last point I should like to make concerns action strategies. I will make it
clear here that I am referring to the issue that has led some of us to state that UNESCO is not a
development agency. In yet more words, it means ascertaining whether UNESCO should
continue to involve itself in carrying out operational activities or whether it should have them
done by professionals outside the Organization and with specific skills. I share the opinion of
the Miollis Group that “as regards operational activities, UNESCO could, without claiming
exclusiveness, limit itself to innovatory pilot activities, particularly those involving a sharing
of risk, and leave it to other operators to apply the results; if one tries to do too much, one
does nothing well”. In recent years UNESCO has been accused of trying to do too much. That
does not mean that UNESCO’s major programmes, which must continue to justify the
Organization’s acronym, should be revised - far from it! Education, science, culture and
communication must remain the basic sectors of UNESCO’s work.
180. However, should the various projects added every year or every biennium to the
Organization’s budget necessarily be implemented by the Organization itself? Could Member
States not be made more responsible, by restricting direct intervention by UNESCO to
standard-setting activities and general and innovative guidance? That would be a sure
safeguard against political scheming, which is always a temptation. I would plead in favour of
taking that route, that is, one that ultimately keeps to the principle of concentration and
reducing the overall wage bill caused by the role of technical agency that the Organization has
long found itself playing.
181. Mr Chairperson, I had also prepared a few brief thoughts on the administration of
UNESCO, but the time allowed prevents me from addressing them. That is why I will
conclude by restating what seems to me to be the greatest challenge facing UNESCO as the
twentieth century draws to a close and the twenty-first century dawns: its effectiveness in what
remains one of its loftiest missions, namely, that of an intellectual and ethical Organization. I
share the opinion expressed by the representative of Belgium, who said that our debate would
be of no interest if we did not dare to call into question some of the ideas and practices of the
Organization. I believe, as he does, that in order to advance resolutely in that direction we
must establish a working group with the mission of proposing specific ideas and guidance on
the reforms that the Organization needs now, for we must think before we reform. Thank you,
Mr Chairperson, for your attention.
182. Mr STANTON (United Kingdom):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I see this debate as the beginning of a process of taking a
radical look at the raison d’être of UNESCO at the dawn of the twenty-first century.
183. I think the purposes of the Organization set out in Article I of the Constitution have
stood the test of time, but the functions set out in the Constitution need some reinterpretation
in the light of the challenges that the world faces today. We need to state clearly that the
eradication of poverty is essential to securing the purposes of the Organization. We need to
understand that this means the implementation of the commitments given at global
conferences over the last decade.
184. UNESCO needs to focus on those objectives where it has a unique role and relinquish
those that are no longer valid or which others perform better. Clearly, UNESCO’s intrinsic
areas of comparative advantage lie in those functions which transcend individual countries
and those which need to be undertaken by an Organization with a global mandate. Thus,
establishing international standards and global indicators, sharing ideas and analysing
- 33 comparative experience serve the international intellectual forum and catalyst function of
UNESCO.
185. When it comes to UNESCO’s role as a development assistance agency, we need to take
a hard look at where UNESCO has core strengths and encourage UNESCO to work out with
sister agencies and member countries an appropriate division of labour and not try to do
everything.
186. The constitutional injunction to “give fresh impulse to popular education, to advance the
ideal of educational opportunity” needs to be seen as a determination to achieve the
international development targets of universal primary education by 2015 and eliminate
gender disparity in primary and secondary education by 2005. The effort required is daunting,
and this leads me to argue that UNESCO should significantly increase the share of its
resources devoted to primary education, literacy, access to information and life skills.
UNESCO might well devote more than half its effort to education with a particular focus on
poor countries and the socially excluded.
187. The formulation in the Constitution about science needs to be reinterpreted in the light
of the significant new benefits and challenges brought by the tremendous developments in
scientific knowledge over the past five decades. We look to the output from the timely World
Conference on Science to inform this debate and the key issue of the use of scientific advice
in policy-making.
188. In keeping with UNESCO’s global mandate, it should review its objectives in terms of
the need to contribute to achieving international development targets on the sustainable
management of physical and natural resources and the protection of the global environment, in
particular by the implementation of national strategies by 2005 so as to ensure that current
trends in the loss of environmental resources are reversed by 2015.
189. The positive way in which UNESCO has developed good understanding of the relevant
scientific issues in its work on water - the oceans and freshwater - is a useful model. This is
the area where it seems appropriate for UNESCO to continue to concentrate its scientific
effort. It should not duplicate scientific research but aim to draw together scientific
discoveries in pursuit of global objectives. We must also give prominence in the scientific
debate to the ethical challenges of science.
190. The work of ensuring the conservation and protection of the world’s heritage remains
much as it was defined in the Constitution, but the new cultural and communications agenda
must address the challenges of globalization and the relevance of culture to development.
191. UNESCO needs to modernize. It cannot and should not continue in ways of working
and thinking which were more appropriate to its inception in the 1940s and its early years of
post-world war experience. For the beginning of the twenty-first century there should be more
emphasis on effective implementation of the programme. Priorities need to be set so that
scarce resources have the most impact. There is a need for greater focus, precision and
intellectual rigour. We should systematically set biennial targets for efficiency gains. We
should reduce the bombardment of requests on Member States which are particularly onerous
for poorer countries. The private sector should be tapped as a source of management
techniques. Results-based budgeting is an important step in the right direction. It follows that
managers, notably the sectoral Assistant Directors-General, must be held accountable for the
delivery of the Organization’s objectives and that they must control the resources allocated for
these purposes. They should not be micro-managed nor pre-empted by parallel management
- 34 systems. However, there should be independent evaluation of their achievements so that the
Organization can learn lessons from experience and so that we can measure the impact of
UNESCO’s work.
192. UNESCO needs to be nimble and responsive to a world where the only constant is
change. We need to modernize the governance of UNESCO, both to ensure that it is
responsive to the Member States and to overcome the innate unwieldiness of the present
systems. We should abandon the concept of a Medium-Term Strategy; it is no longer
meaningful to sit down in the year 2000 to try to work out what UNESCO should be doing in
2007. We should take a biennial look at our strategic approach and programme activities
should be subject to a zero-based review. We should make systematic use of sunset clauses to
counter institutional inertia, and existing institutions should not be exempt. Like the World
Bank, we may well need a strategic compact in order to restructure and reskill the Secretariat.
We also need a more transparent and flexible approach to personnel policy. Appointments and
promotions should be on merit and seen to be on merit; fixed-term contracts should not be
treated as probation for tenure. Professional staff at the cutting edge of the programme should
generally stay with the Organization for limited fixed terms.
193. UNESCO needs to be visible. In many member countries UNESCO is scarcely noticed,
and programme work is very limited in scope and impact and value. We need to demonstrate
where and how we can make a difference. Developing our external relations will help to
define many critical issues such as UNESCO’s role, its niche and where its comparative
advantage lies in filling that niche. Our publications strategy also needs a thorough review.
194. We need to think seriously about sources of finance. Can we improve on the present
pattern of a core budget insufficiently focused on core responsibilities and ad hoc
extrabudgetary finance driven by bilateral donor priorities? I believe we can but it is
unrealistic to assume much real growth in the assessed budget. We therefore need to be much
more active in building partnerships to assist members to achieve UNESCO’s purposes.
UNESCO’s efforts must be directed towards convincing its members of the added value of
working with it. Only when UNESCO has proved the effectiveness of its programmes and
monitoring systems will donors be ready to pledge support to fund UNESCO on a surer,
sounder and more predictable basis.
195. What next? This debate needs to be followed by a process of reflection and decision.
The Board should take the matter forward, perhaps by means of a task force or committee, but
we should seek the views of persons and organizations, both associated with UNESCO, such
as the Miollis group, and outside UNESCO. However, we do need to report progress at the
Board’s 157th session so that we can consult the General Conference. Thereafter, the next
Director-General should be engaged and the results of this process should be submitted to the
Board in final form at its 158th session. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
196. Mr BARNET LANZA (Cuba):
Thank you very much, Mr Chairperson. Distinguished colleagues, the twenty-first
century presents us with a major choice: either the future will be nurtured by ethical values
and adhere to the humanistic tradition of universal culture, or the machine in its perfection and
arrogance will devour us. UNESCO, and no other international organization, must ensure that
the purest human values of solidarity and cooperation prevail over selfishness, individualism
and greed. The founding principles of UNESCO must be the standard taken up by each and
every Member of this Executive Board. We cannot indulge ourselves to the extent of
forgetting these principles. We cannot transform this Organization, which has always been a
- 35 forum of ideas, a laboratory of values, into an office given over solely to technical and
bureaucratic matters and to endless and, at times, Byzantine discussion on questions that are
not vital to the development of the men and women of our planet. This convulsive and tragic
end of the century has shown us that to lose sight for even an instant of the most estimable
interests of humanity is little short of criminal. Our Organization cannot stand aloof from the
only priority uniting us, which is human beings and their destiny on Earth.
197. Hence I urge a retrieval of dialogue between cultures, of respect for diversity, and of the
promotion of social equality on behalf of the most disadvantaged and in the quest for peace.
What are the obstacles existing today that might prevent us from achieving these goals in the
next century? We, as international experts in culture, science and education, are in the best
position to know what these obstacles are. Why, then, do we not confront them with courage,
honesty, rigour and transparency? If we do aspire to transparency, why do we use obfuscation,
why do we lapse, as I said, into Byzantine discussion and evasive answers? The visibility
about which we talk so much, and which is so necessary, requires both credibility and
efficacy. UNESCO, as an intergovernmental organization, has a duty to call attention to such
harmful and dangerous threats as today’s globalization and the economic order imposed on
the world by the strongest. Environment damage, unequal terms of trade, external debt,
unemployment, extreme poverty, illiteracy and many other problems confronting us make the
developing countries more vulnerable and hinder their chances of success in the future, in a
world moving towards globalization.
198. With regard to the oft-debated subject of education, we advocate a system that provides
learners with humanistic knowledge, one that does not turn technological and teaching
resources into mere instruments but uses them for the sake of scientific results and genuinely
educational purposes. In the sciences, effort is needed to build endogenous research capacities
and promote integrated projects in areas of strategic interest calling for multidisciplinary
approaches in a historical framework. Science is expensive and not always seen as a paying
proposition by private financial entities, which generally use its yields with an eye rather to
marketing than to their noblest universal application. It is the responsibility of States to take
on the scientific projects that are of the greatest use to humanity. The twenty-first century
cannot dispense with these advances since without them there would be no development in the
society of the future. But UNESCO is the organization that must help to impress upon States
that it is the human person who needs to be trained to assume the means of attaining
comprehensive and modern scientific knowledge. It is necessary, therefore, to promote
integrating disciplines such as philosophy, social anthropology, history and sociology, which
in turn afford scope for other sciences. Here, too, UNESCO has an important responsibility
with such essential programmes as education for all, the slave route, and the culture of peace,
to name but those. And in the field of culture, which underpins all our thinking, fear must not
reign, market forces must not dictate the norms of social development, and vision and
perseverance must not be lacking. Culture is the bridge to a better world, a world of
understanding, dialogue and honesty, not at odds with the most legitimate interests of
humanity. “Culture is humanity”, said the Cuban poet and national hero José Martí.
199. The identity of our countries is forged through a process of transculturation, making
them stronger and better at communication. In diversity is understanding, and in tolerance
respect for human beings and their personal message is fashioned. Thus culture is the path
towards a more generous and participatory world, a world of genuine peace. This course of
action, which has been UNESCO’s shield and blazon, must be uppermost in our priorities for
the coming century. It is ethics, as a fundamental concept, that must govern what becomes of
our Organization. Culture is no luxury or adornment, no preserve for the privileged; it is a
- 36 necessary energy, an overriding necessity for survival. The realization of all these goals will
be a major challenge of the twenty-first century.
200. Communication and information must serve all the inhabitants of our planet, and it is
our responsibility to prevent further inequity in access to a technology that is so vital to all of
us in equal measure. We actively support the improvement of communication infrastructures
in the least developed regions, together with professional training in mass communication to
make information a two-way flow. This is another priority responsibility for an organization
born of the need to provide humanity with a vehicle for the satisfaction of basic and everyday
needs and the attainment of possible and enduring dreams. “The future is not what it was” said
Valéry, as the distinguished representative of Argentina reminded us. But what interests us is
what the future will be, simply because it is there that we are going to live or, more
importantly, where our children are going to live. Let us think of the future without shunning
the present, which, as T.S. Eliot put it, is present both in time past and in time future. Thank
you very much.
201. Mr GALAN SARMIENTO (Colombia):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Mr Chairperson, it is as a physician and former health
minister that I have the pleasure of addressing you this afternoon, a group of people
thoroughly conversant with UNESCO. I trust that my remarks, seen in the light of my career,
will contribute to our debate today.
202. We are approaching the end of the century which has brought about the greatest
transformations ever seen in the history of the world. Scientific and technological advances
unimaginable a century ago are today a reality. Forms of government that were nascent then
are today consolidated. Economic development models that transcend physical boundaries are
being prescribed as inevitable. In short, without going into any more detail, we have witnessed
an extraordinary century.
203. Nevertheless, it is clear that these advances have not been equitably distributed and that
the well-being of a few has been attained at the expense of the needs of many and, at times, by
the exploitation likewise of many. Poverty is spreading worldwide, striking mercilessly at
thousands of millions of men, women and children. There is no doubt that the eradication of
poverty will be the major challenge for humanity in the next century. And it will be a
challenge for everyone. For those suffering from it, naturally, and for the rest of us - because it
is not possible to observe all this misery and injustice without feeling shame.
204. For more than 50 years UNESCO has been present in the world, and there can be no
doubting that its work has gained universal recognition. Its efforts and achievements have
been amply demonstrated. But it has to be plainly stated that we cannot rest on our laurels.
One look at the world around us leads to the inevitable conclusion that there is still a long
road to travel before we reach the goals set by the founders of this cherished Organization,
because although the percentages suggest a reduction in illiteracy over the past 50 years, the
century is ending with close on one thousand million illiterates. And in some continents, the
trend is towards an increase. According to the Organization’s own data, in the 25 years
between 1970 and 1995 the absolute number of illiterates rose in Africa by 25 per cent.
Likewise, the number of people unable to read and write in some Asian countries rose by over
30 per cent in the same period. And in those developing countries that have managed to halt
the trend towards more illiteracy, the quality of education still leaves much to be desired.
- 37 205. And what about peace in the minds of men? Apparently, the Cold War both scared
humanity and anaesthetized feelings. A good thing it is that that war is over. But, regrettably,
it did not end as a result of human progress in establishing the values of tolerance and respect.
Furthermore, since the improvement in relations between the major powers and the
accompanying hope for a peaceful world, we have, in horror, witnessed massacres, genocide,
persecution, refugee flight and other violent expressions of numerous ethnic, cultural and
religious conflicts that had been restrained by the threat of a showdown between the two
powers which might have claimed countless lives. The prevention of war and violence has
certainly not been a major feature of the past 50 years.
206. Nor, at the same time, has there been equitable access to scientific and technological
progress. On the contrary, it has permitted a concentration of economic and political power
and information resources such that, according to World Bank figures, the five richest men in
the world - some heading major multinationals - possess wealth equal to that of its 42 poorest
countries.
207. Clearly, areas such as these are where UNESCO has primary responsibilities, so that it
can provide the specific abilities needed to help meet the global challenge of eradicating
poverty. Because this Organization cannot be satisfied until it has banished the spectre of
illiteracy from the face of the earth. Nor can it sit back until relations between human beings
the world over are governed by three simple phrases concerning the value of respect: first,
respect for others; secondly, respect for the ideas of others; and lastly, respect for the free
expression of the ideas of others. There can likewise be no rest until scientific knowledge and
technological exchange are made available to all in a balanced and supportive manner such as
to prevent the emergence of new forms of hegemony, submission or colonialism.
208. Education is the common denominator in the three scenarios. Education for
development. Education for peace. Education for the ethics of knowledge. In short, education
for the physical, mental and spiritual growth of the human being. That, for us, is the priority of
priorities. Without distinction as to sex, race, religion or social status. Without population or
generation barriers. In a nutshell, education for all.
209. The idea of bringing together eminent thinkers, specialists and experts in UNESCO’s
fields of competence is undoubtedly important. Nevertheless, we must be careful to avoid the
risk of dispersion that would result from striving to address every concept, suggestion or
priority arising from that meeting.
210. UNESCO’s mandate is clear and today’s realities demonstrate its continuing relevance.
We must go to the source of ideas without looking on ourselves as the owners of knowledge.
This is no time to invent the wheel. As they used to say, greatness lies in simplicity. Let us
remember that the seemingly simple and obvious tasks are sometimes the hardest, a lesson
best learned when we fail. To succeed in these tasks, the Organization is faced with the
immediate challenge of ensuring its presence and its influence, since there seems to be no
questioning of its raison d’être. But the visibility of an entity like UNESCO is affected by a
number of considerations, ranging from financial ones, shared by all, to those of
administrative organization, which some find less patent.
211. UNESCO must strengthen its administrative management if it wishes to attain the goals
proposed. Otherwise, all the talk about priorities and our vision for the next century will
remain just that, namely good or bad speeches remembered only by those who gave them, but
which will never be reflected in real and concrete action helping to transform the panorama
- 38 we are now glimpsing in UNESCO’s areas of influence. Strengthening of administrative
management begins with the respect due to the authority of the governing bodies. Any attempt
to ignore the authority vested in them would entail unnecessary risk to the institutional
structure of the Organization. Any doubts about the Organization’s basic aspects should be
resolved through agreement as rapidly as possible to eliminate any sources of confusion that
could perturb the functioning of UNESCO. Administrative processes and procedures should
be established within the Secretariat to ensure the efficiency of UNESCO services. This
should be accompanied by further training for staff and a revised human resources policy with
mechanisms for recruitment, promotion and the incentives such as will restore staff
motivation.
212. In addition, it is crucially important that there should be ongoing evaluation of
programmes and projects. Precise management indicators are needed to ensure efficiency, but
also to indicate the course on which the Organization is set. Without regular evaluation,
organizations are like ships adrift. But evaluations are also important because they help to
clarify the level of commitment of the Member States. We cannot go on adopting conventions
and declarations if they are not respected. The systematic monitoring of compliance with these
instruments will enable us to narrow the gap between what countries preach and what they
practise. Such follow-up is unquestionably the joint responsibility of the States and the
multilateral organizations.
213. Finally, we see this debate as the start of a series of reflections that will continue in
other settings and in which Member States must take an active part. While we lay no claim to
the ultimate truth, we do not think that there are profound differences in opinion about the
Organization’s programme priorities. The eradication of illiteracy, training in human rights
and equal access to science and technology are some of our priorities. We must not forsake
our capacity to dream in the face of a confused, sceptical, anguished and selfish humanity.
Thank you very much.
- 39 214. The CHAIRPERSON:
We will resume the debate on items 10.2 and 10.6 and will continue with the list of
speakers who were not able to take the floor yesterday. I give the floor to the first speaker, the
representative of Egypt.
215. Mr SALEH (Egypt):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. UNESCO has a leading mission among the agencies of the
United Nations system, for it represents the aware, cultured and pioneering spirit of those
agencies. The Organization’s Constitution clearly reflects this role, since its Preamble
proclaims that UNESCO’s mission is to construct the defences of peace in the minds of men
and women by means of its programme in its fields of competence - culture, education,
science and communication. We are now on the threshold of the third millennium and of the
twenty-first century; a new Director-General is to be appointed; globalization has become a
fact, and attention is no longer focused on the many and varied scientific advances but on the
drawing up of ethical rules addressed to the scientific community; we have moved from a
world where information was engraved on stone, then written on paper, to a world of
electronic information. All of this makes it incumbent on UNESCO to reconsider its vision
and its strategy for the period ahead. This does not mean that UNESCO has not played its part
effectively over the period that has elapsed, but simply that current circumstances confer on
UNESCO a task that is more difficult than that of yesterday, whether in relation to its internal
management or its external relations.
216. UNESCO should, in our opinion, put into place the equivalent of what is known in the
private sector as the quality control system, such as, for example, the “ISO 9000” system, so
as to evaluate the results and guarantee the quality of the execution of the programmes, the
work of the Secretariat units, the management and the efficiency of the field units and the role
of the National Commissions.
217. When it comes to information and public relations, UNESCO has, as pointed out by the
representative of Sweden, a long way to go in order to give a higher profile to the
Organization in the outside world. As we are aware, UNESCO’s image is more closely linked
nowadays to its action in the field of culture and the heritage and, in particular, the World
Heritage List, and I think that it should raise itself to the same level in its other fields of
competence and publicize its achievements, so that the world knows that UNESCO is present
in those fields. In communication and information technology, UNESCO has much to do to
move not only from the 1980s to the 1990s but also into the twenty-first century.
218. Finally, I endorse the proposal made by the representative of Canada to form a working
group, a proposal supplemented by that of the representative of Germany, to the effect that
such a group should include highly cultured officials to help UNESCO to respond as
necessary to the changes evoked. I also back the proposal by the representative of Sweden to
place this item on the agenda of the Executive Board. Thank you for your attention.
219. The CHAIRPERSON:
I now invite the delegate of Guinea to take the floor.
220. Mr ZOUMANIGUI (Guinea):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Mr Chairperson, the UNESCO emblem is a brand that
works well in Member States, at any event in the Republic of Guinea. It is precisely that
situation which makes debate on UNESCO in the twenty-first century interesting. As people
say in Guinea, glory is like an eel: taking hold of it is one thing, holding on to it is another. In
- 40 our case, the reputation is unfortunately not glorious, owing to the conflicts and illiteracy in
Africa, war in the Balkans and the noteworthy frustrations in practically every region of the
world.
221. Anticipation and future-oriented studies remain constant tasks of UNESCO because of
their mobilizing value. But UNESCO should, in the next millennium, increase its visibility in
its Member States. Whether in relation to the fight against poverty, insecurity and uneven
development, the framing of a new social contract for the next century, or the transition from a
culture of war to a culture of peace, there is just one thing that remains essential as an
instrument for our peace action: education, education, and again education, to promote the
reintegration of all categories of excluded persons. That is the price that must be paid for
intercultural dialogue, understanding, tolerance, love, a conscience at peace and peace itself. It
is a matter of restoring the impact of our Organization. All of that can be achieved through
flexible structures, transparent overall management, efficient and effective reflection and
contributions to discussions: in short, the relevance of UNESCO’s programmes.
222. Mr Chairperson, I should not like to talk any longer than the speakers we have been
listening to since yesterday on UNESCO in the twenty-first century and its visibility in its
Member States. I hope that in the twenty-first century UNESCO will strengthen its
programmes and implement them properly in real terms. Thank you.
223. Mr WANDIGA (Kenya):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Mr Chairperson, Mr Director-General, colleagues, change
is part of UNESCO as much as it is part of Member States. UNESCO as an organization has
undergone several changes. It has accepted staff retrenchment; reorganized its programmes
and restructured itself into a different, more forward-looking organization. Indeed, at each
General Conference, every two years, UNESCO effects changes in the concepts and
philosophy of life and operation through resolutions passed. A few examples, like the
resolutions on culture of peace, tolerance, bioethics, human genome, communication,
individual freedom and cultural rights, point to the dynamic nature of the Organization. In
many instances, UNESCO has changed faster than some of its Member States. In a few
instances, some Member States have been in the forefront of change. This push-and-pull of
forces between Member States and the Organization is as it should be, but above all it is
individuals who have pushed UNESCO to new heights. Without individuals, with vision and
mission, UNESCO could not change. It is in the genetic, cosmopolitan nature of UNESCO’s
staff that its strength lies. The cultural mixture at UNESCO and of UNESCO staff and organs
deserve the strongest support and encouragement if the Organization is to continue along the
path I have described. Each UNESCO employee should be given the opportunity to utilize to
the utmost all human resources in his or her possession for not only dreaming of new ideas,
but also experimenting with those ideas in a positive and fruitful way. Above all, UNESCO
must continue the process of staff renewal by attracting the best in all societies.
224. In the past, the name UNESCO brought hope to education. It brought new insight to
science programmes. It was the foundation rock in culture and communications. Today, the
vast changes taking place in education, science, culture and communication have their sources
of influence outside UNESCO. The changing state of national economies has had a profound
impact on education. The classification of nations into developed and developing,
industrialized and non-industrialized, rich and poor, has reflected very closely the quality of
education provided to the citizens of those nations. Economic disparity remains the number
one enemy of quality education. In this area, UNESCO remains a conscience but is helpless in
effecting significant change. There is no questioning of the fundamental rights of every child,
- 41 citizen of the world, to quality education. However, the means of providing that quality
education remains elusive. Finding solutions to how best to provide good education for every
child remains UNESCO’s permanent task in the twenty-first century.
225. Improvement in education has brought with it profound changes in science and
technology in societies that have economic resources and have applied such resources to
human resources development. It is through education that science and technology prosper.
However, the catalyst for such prosperity is a healthy economy and a democratic government
that rewards hard work, creates jobs and allows human freedom to flourish, and in this area
UNESCO needs to take a holistic approach to its basic areas of competence and embrace the
fact that education, science and technology and democracy cannot flourish, let alone survive
in destitute States. Poverty remains the strongest opponent of UNESCO’s ideals today and
tomorrow. The new industrial revolution, which has been nebulously called globalization, has
shortened the distance between nations and the time-lapses between events through
unprecedented speed in communication, caused a shift from the importance of ownership of
natural resources to the importance of efficiently developing natural resources, resulted in
unprecedented speculation in world financial markets in which high-quality bonds and stocks
have become the kingpins of wealth creation with up to $2 trillion circulating around the
globe chasing after such securities every day, led to the emergence of financial rating
institutions as new players in world power with their enormous leverage to dictate to
governments the actions and policies to follow, created rising unemployment worldwide,
forced the creation of new or imagined markets for the consumption of surplus goods,
crippled the social welfare engine and promoted the rise of non-governmental organizations,
shrunk the middle class in many countries with the emergence of only two classes: the filthy
rich and abject poor, and sharpened the debate on governance with emphasis put on the
centralized government for the developing countries and centralized government for
developed countries.
226. In a globalized world, UNESCO’s activities must take a new form. It must change its
paradigm of operations and thought. Its programmes in education, science and technology,
culture and communication must of necessity be globalized. Cross-national attainment ratings
in education and other areas of UNESCO’s competence must become the norm rather than the
exception. In this way, importance will be ascribed to efficiency and effectiveness of
UNESCO’s programme implementation. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
227. Mr MARSHALL (New Zealand*):
As we enter the twenty-first century, we live in a world where the Cold War has ended
but more localized conflicts have increased and there is little sign of the “peace dividend”
which was to be available for investment in education and other social programmes, where we
have phenomenal growth in information technology and its availability, but with much more
benefit to a few than to many, where globalization has made us more interdependent and more
aware of each other than ever before but where the gap between the already advantaged
minority and the rest has widened even more rapidly, where the drive for profit continues to
undermine the quality of much of our media and where UNESCO’s most defining goal - that
of universal basic education - continues to elude us. And in this place we are about to elect
and welcome a new Director-General and we await, we hope, the imminent return of the other
prodigal, the United States, and the return to near universality.
*
Not a prepared statement, i.e. based on notes.
- 42 228. After over 50 years, what defences of peace have been constructed or even identified?
We remain committed, as many people have said in this debate, to basic education, though
there is still a daunting journey ahead of us. In that context, here and elsewhere, the
overwhelming needs of Asia must receive high UNESCO priority in the twenty-first century.
Increasingly, we are beginning to see how the Associated Schools Project may well turn out to
be one of those significant defences of peace, and UNESCO’s work in the field of culture,
especially over the last few years and not least now in the field of intangible heritage, also
increasingly forms some of those defences. Some other suggestions have been made during
this debate about a few other activities which some of us can see as helping to make the peace.
229. I sometimes wonder whether we should be brave and radical and sweep the board clean
and start again by asking ourselves anew how we can construct from the beginning those
long-sought defences of peace. The elements that I have just mentioned and others would
inevitably form central parts of our programme. But on sober, careful re-evaluation, not
everything that we do now would necessarily fulfil our original mandate.
230. One activity I would welcome is the search for those things, great and small, which
around the world have defused or prevented conflict and created greater tolerance and
understanding. Where were conflicts resolved with no resort to force? Why in similar
situations did conflict appear in one place and not another? As well as basic education, what
other long-term building blocks can we find which make the peace?
231. Mr Chairperson, five years ago I spent several months in South Africa joining in the
international and domestic effort to prepare for the first ever really democratic elections. One
of my most vivid memories is of the Peace Committees, set up in many local communities and
suburbs. Leaders of the African National Congress, the Inkatha Freedom Party, sometimes
other parties as well, together with senior army and police officers and church and union
leaders met regularly, often every week, often in difficult and tense discussion to identify and
defuse tension. I saw some of those committees at work, agonizing through the difficulties
that had beset them for generations and repeatedly finding ways through local tension. I often
felt at the time that that was a model which could well be used in other places. We tended, I
fear, to look at South Africa at the time as a country which was finally entering the civilized
world and not to look at the things which we could learn from its experience. I had seen the
same idea used with considerable success 20 years earlier in a deeply divided town in
Alabama.
232. UNESCO does not need to invent many new defences of peace; it just needs to find the
best, most effective practices and to promote them. As I suggested in the first plenary debate
of this Board, all of what we do might well be described as the culture of peace.
233. Once we have reworked and refocused our core commitment, we should largely
abandon anything which makes us look and act like a development agency. A renewed and
reinvigorated UNESCO will inevitably create its own media attention. We should listen to
what Sweden has been saying to us for three years now and take seriously its tangible
proposals for increasing the visibility of UNESCO.
234. The United Kingdom’s contribution yesterday covered very well my major concerns on
the management and structure of the Organization. The views expressed by Mr Stanton were
an excellent summary of what many of us believe needs to be done. I want to add a couple of
radical contributions. I am not convinced, with due respect to my 57 colleagues, that in a
58-person Executive Board meeting for several weeks a year and a large biennial General
- 43 Conference is the best way for Member States to devise and to monitor the programme. For
what it is worth, I have been thinking that it might be better to have five or six regional
conferences every two years to which we might invite some of their most creative national
thinkers. The most concentrated articulation of Asia’s views in the three years that I have been
on this Board came at the last session of this Board shortly after a regional meeting held in
Thailand. Each of those regional conferences could then elect three or four people who would
form a much smaller Executive Board. We might still need to have a General Conference
every few years for some evaluation and strategic planning and for regional minds to meet
other international colleagues.
235. Mr Chairperson, I am sure there will be more and undoubtedly better ideas than mine,
but my concern is that even our basic Member State structures are overdue for more
fundamental review. With the benefit of hindsight, I think that we need to revisit the so-called
Japanese Amendment which did away with individual membership and replaced it with
country representatives. I have come to doubt whether a Board so comprised is ever going to
be allowed to be brave enough or radical enough to fulfil the original mandate. I hope that the
incoming Board and Secretariat team will look closely at the United Nations management
reforms. I thought yesterday that it would have been good to have had all the candidates for
Director-General present to hear the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General as she
addressed us.
236. Many wise and thoughtful comments have been made in this debate. It would be a pity
if those ideas were allowed to wither on the vine. New Zealand therefore supports the
Canadian proposal for the establishment of a task force on the future of UNESCO.
237. Mr Chairperson, we do not want the survival of UNESCO just for its own sake. We are
at a crucial point in the history of the Organization. If we do not respond strongly and with
imagination to the realities of today’s world, then frankly, in my view, we run the risk of
leaving behind a little Paris-based fossil of the post-war United Nations system. But the world
still needs UNESCO to do what it was set up to do. In many respects the great tasks set out so
eloquently by our founders are still before us.
238. Ms PHILLIPS (Barbados):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. This reflection on UNESCO is a matter of great importance
for Barbados, not least because UNESCO has responsibility for education and education has
always held singular significance in Barbados. Indeed, we value education as the key
component in all spheres of development.
239. Mr Chairperson, the first preambular paragraph of UNESCO’s Constitution points to the
fundamental logic of first instilling the value of peace in people’s minds if war is to be
prevented. The Organization’s purpose, stated at paragraph 1 of the Constitution, is “to
contribute to peace and security by promoting collaboration among the nations through
education, science and culture”. This mandate for conflict prevention is as relevant today as
when UNESCO’s establishment was first conceived. This relevance, I am sure, is obvious to
everyone and thus needs no arguing. I must also comment that we, however, interpret peace
more broadly now to cover more than the absence of war.
240. The stated purpose of UNESCO implies a link between functional cooperation and
peace, which can of course be debated. Some would point out that the existence of
cooperation has not prevented wars. This is true. Some would further claim that functional
cooperation is therefore not the solution. However, it is important to note that we have
- 44 managed to avoid a third world war and that while functional cooperation on its own does not
bring about peace, it is a crucial element that contributes to peace.
241. Apart from the general relevance of functionalism, it is the significance of the
intellectual and moral dimension of human affairs that can be found in education, science and
culture that the creators of UNESCO prioritized. An important observation is made in the fifth
preambular paragraph of the Constitution namely that political and economic agreements are
inadequate to produce lasting peace. Our forefathers did not merely have a more holistic
concept of interstate relations but considered that peace could only be lasting if it were based
on the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.
242. Even though the words of that preambular paragraph may not be forecasting or
envisaging the free trade agreements or extent of trade liberalization, the germ of the message
is still food for thought for those today who place so much emphasis on trade and economic
cooperation and the gains therefrom to society.
243. With the mandate to shape the minds and thinking of societies to achieve enduring
peace and security, UNESCO has been given an intellectual, standard-setting, moral and
ethical mission that is of paramount importance. It is of paramount importance because it
involves the promotion and dissemination of values and it is only through the adoption of the
appropriate values that the most troubling problems in the world today can be tackled.
244. If we look at three or four challenges facing us in the twenty-first century, we will see
the current relevance of this intellectual and ethical mandate. For instance, one of the most
urgent challenges of the twenty-first century will be to re-educate our societies against racism,
now being seen in one of its ugliest forms, ethnic cleansing.
245. Mr Chairperson, wars have been fought against human rights abuses, but the inculcation
of values will be the only lasting way to ensure respect for human rights. UNESCO has
already embarked upon a programme of human rights education, but it will have to make this
programme very dynamic for the future. I wish to mention here as well, Mr Chairperson, that
despite the formal abolition of slavery some 200 years ago, alas, it is still being practised in
various parts of the world. As you are aware, on the initiative of Zimbabwe, we will be
deliberating upon slavery as a crime against humanity at this session. We hope that our
discussions will stimulate some vigorous action for the twenty-first century through the
human rights education programme.
246. If we look at another realm, we will see that the second important challenge will be to
deal with water scarcity. Mr Chairperson, UNESCO’s role here is not only to help to provide
technical, scientific knowledge or advice under IHP, but more importantly, if a long-term
solution is to be achieved, to promote through science and education the principle of
sustainable development endorsed at Rio.
247. A third challenge, Mr Chairperson, will be the marginalization of countries or pockets
of society that are unable to cope with the competition resulting from market liberalization
and globalization. The new millennium will bring increased competition between States as the
close of this millennium marks the waning of an era which was tolerant of preferential trading
regimes and coincides with the launching of a fresh round of liberalization negotiations. This
spells further marginalization of countries with weak economies and added pressure to adapt
to changes. Already, through the creation of the MOST project, UNESCO has recognized its
role in alleviating the pressures created by globalization. We notice that UNESCO is being
approached to play a larger role in facing the challenges of liberalization. I am referring here
- 45 to calls made during this session for debate within UNESCO on intellectual property rights
and trading cultural goods. Thus UNESCO is expected to provide a forum that will assist
developing countries who wish to set values for fair trade.
248. On the question of globalization and liberalization, George S. Papadopoulos points out
in Education for the Twenty-First Century that there is a special role for education in these
circumstances. He says “In market-driven, competitive and consumerist societies, education
can play a crucial role in sustaining social cohesion, all the more so in view of changes in
family patterns and community relationships”.
249. Now Mr Chairperson, I wish to look at a fourth challenge created by this information
age, which although it has brought wondrous new services, has also created inequities
between knowledge-rich and knowledge-poor, has brought paedophilia into our homes via the
Internet, has encouraged a misplaced emphasis on the acquisition of information and
knowledge without the accompanying stress on values to filter that information, and has
engendered more human-to-computer contact than direct human-to-human communication. In
Learning: The treasure within, Jacques Delors makes the important point that in today’s
world there is an overabundance of transient information and emotions which “keeps the
spotlight on immediate problems. Public opinion cries out for quick answers and ready
solutions, whereas many problems call for a patient, concerted, negotiated strategy of reform.
This is precisely the case where education policies are concerned”. George S. Papadopoulos
also says that schools will need “to develop in pupils the capacity to discriminate between the
mass of information sources to which they are exposed every day”. These comments point to
the need for a forum for reflection and this is what UNESCO should provide and is providing.
Moreover, UNESCO will be increasingly appreciated as a standard-setting institution as
uncensored information continues to reach our homes.
250. On the whole, when we look at the field of science and research - and not just that one
facet of information technology - it is clear that UNESCO’s ethical mission will have an even
higher profile in the twenty-first century as advances in cloning, genetically modified foods,
etc., continue to generate debate and dissension. I am sure that we agree therefore that the
promotion and transmission of values is a key mandate of UNESCO and I wish to say here
that Barbados has adopted a programme of values education in recognition of the fundamental
importance of values in every human being’s life.
251. With reference to UNESCO’s function as stated in the Constitution, the Preamble
pinpoints that “ignorance of each other’s ways and lives has been a common cause” of the
suspicion and mistrust that lead to war and in paragraph 2, UNESCO is mandated to advance
“the mutual knowledge and understanding of peoples, through all means of mass
communication”. In paragraph 3, the Constitution recognizes the fruitful diversity of cultures.
252. Mr Chairperson, at various stages some of us have believed that cultural diversity would
be reduced to a greater extent than we have seen. Strands of such thinking are picked up in the
stages of growth theory which was dominant in the early era of industrialization and held that
traditional cultures would be wiped out by modernity. In this era of globalization we had
thought that that too would lead to the homogenization and Westernization of cultures. At the
end of the Cold War, Francis Fukuyama in his End of History posited that this spelt the end of
ideological evolution and universalization of Western liberal democracy. However,
Huntington in his Clash of Civilizations observes that modernization and Westernization are
related but are not one and the same thing. Undeniably, various cultures have all but
- 46 disappeared in the process of modernization but still, as we have seen, the diversity of cultures
has persisted to a perhaps unexpected extent.
253. It is very important to recognize this so that we do not underestimate the scale or
importance of the task of promoting intercultural understanding. This understanding will
become more important in the next millennium because the increase in liberalization will
bring our diverse cultures into closer contact and intensify competition. Also, as it is believed
that leisure travel will grow in the coming years, further contact between peoples is expected.
Increased contact can produce conflict or promote understanding. It is UNESCO’s role to
work for the latter.
254. Huntington theorizes that avoidance of global war depends on world leaders accepting
and cooperating to maintain the multi-civilizational character of global politics. If you accept
his reasoning, then UNESCO’s function to dispel ignorance is very relevant and vital. We
therefore envisage continued and greater emphasis on the promotion of linguistic diversity and
multilingual education. The LINGUAPAX project may well acquire a more prioritized role in
UNESCO’s activities in the future.
255. In the Caribbean, ours has been a peaceful experience of multiculturality and we hope to
share this example with others through the UNESCO textbook project already under way. We
also hope, with UNESCO’s efforts, to complete the first dictionary of Caribbean English
language usage, which will demonstrate the unique blend of American, African, Asian and
European linguistic roots of the Caribbean language. It is the fruits of these kinds of projects,
which present the intangible cultural heritage of the world and which help governments like
those in the Caribbean to reclaim the hidden heritage of multicultural communities, which will
ultimately contribute to intercultural understanding.
256. Mr Chairperson, I now wish to make a few brief remarks on the need to bring focus and
authority to our sphere of competence. This delegation is concerned that the image and
influence of UNESCO is not as commanding or precise as it could be. Our image can only
acquire strength and precision if we rationalize UNESCO’s activities, but this rationalization
itself can only be successfully carried out after an identification of core images.
257. Finally, Mr Chairperson, this delegation supports Canada’s proposal to set up a task
force and we would also recommend that any such task force or committee be subsidiary to
the Board and consist of representatives of Board Members with due regard being paid to
regional and subregional representation. Thank you.
258. Mr LUGUJJO (Uganda):
Mr Chairperson, UNESCO’s intellectual, catalytic and anticipatory mission should
continue to be fostered within its major programmes, but it will be necessary to respond
quickly and urgently to location-specific problems, whether regional or continental. These
responses should focus on areas of greatest need and, without overemphasizing, I can assert
that basic education, providing skills and education at every stage of human development,
should constitute core activities of UNESCO in the next century. But UNESCO requires
favourable conditions to accomplish these objectives. For instance, it should foster
inter-agency cooperation in order to have a common implementation strategy and reduce
waste; identify key partners in development in order to concentrate scanty resources in vital
areas; initiate a dialogue with United Nations agencies and banks in order to work towards
writing off the colossal debts owed by countries, especially the least developed - this is now a
moral and human-centred issue which should be taken up with UNESCO in partnership with
- 47 the other industrialized countries; and it requires Member States’ commitment to sustain
activities started by UNESCO, which is difficult, if not impossible, for poverty-stricken
countries.
259. As we enter the new century, in which the watchwords will be competition and
efficiency, UNESCO should improve networking as well as programming processes so that
each activity yields tangible results. It is true that the gestation period of UNESCO’s actions is
very long, as observed by the distinguished delegate of Finland, but every effort should be
made to phase projects appropriately.
260. UNESCO’s future-oriented studies should continue almost with the same vigour as
self-reflection and the assessment of its activities. This forward and backward linkage will
enable the Organization to monitor its activities effectively.
261. Mr Chairperson, how can the world develop and continue to change and yet remain
real? The issue of fostering a culture of peace in the minds of men should continue to be the
focus of UNESCO’s ethical mission in the new century. How can we continue to prosper in a
world of cultural diversity? How can we stay truly cultural? Well, flexibility, selective
assimilation, eagerness to share and appreciate other cultures, all of these facets will have to
be addressed by UNESCO.
262. Mr Chairperson, judicious application of scientific research in development must be
fostered and adhered to. The ethical mission of the Organization must be exerted in this
respect.
263. With respect to the visibility of UNESCO in the Member States, UNESCO is still
visible only to a small group of intellectuals. UNESCO must permeate society. It must be part
of the public and society, it must be for the people, by the people. In the present UNESCO
structure, the field offices and National Commissions are strategically placed and, if
empowered, can improve the visibility of UNESCO. National Commissions in some countries
have formed partnerships with the media, in which special feature articles on UNESCO are
published periodically. The UNESCO Clubs and Associated Schools projects have also done a
great deal to improve the visibility and image of UNESCO, especially at the grass-roots and
among the youth. These programmes give hope for the future of the Organization.
264. Mr Chairperson, there is a simple principle in physics and that is, for any object to be
seen, it must reflect light. How can UNESCO reflect light? UNESCO should endeavour to
implement resolutions and recommendations whenever they are made. Follow-up mechanisms
must be fostered so that ideas are translated into tangible actions. That is what people will be
waiting for in the new century; that is the challenge. UNESCO must strengthen partnerships
and linkages and strive for a common focus and objectives with a view to achieving results at
minimum cost.
265. Lastly, allow me to pay glowing tribute to the representatives of the United Kingdom,
Sweden and Finland, who really made very useful contributions yesterday. Thank you very
much.
266. Mr WICHIENCHAROEN (Thailand):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I shall address the constitutional mandate of building the
defences of peace in the minds of men that the founding fathers of UNESCO gave us. This
peace, as stated in the Preamble of the Constitution, was to be founded on the intellectual and
moral solidarity of mankind. It was a challenge then, as it is now and will be in the next
- 48 century. In dealing with the issue, we had come to accept that attitudes, values and the
behaviour of human beings should contribute to the promotion of democracy, human rights,
cultural diversity, tolerance and peace. These precepts are articulated and formulated in terms
of the culture of peace in contradistinction to the culture of war. But we should look further
into the root causes of war and violence in order to find the basis for inculcating the culture of
peace as the conceptual framework of the Medium-Term Strategy for the coming century.
267. I accept the conclusive anthropological studies by Clark Wissler and other scholars that
war and violence were learned as a way of life in all preliterate societies. All the drives in
connection with animal war - food, sex, territory, activity, self-preservation, society,
dominance and independence - could be observed among primitive peoples. The drives to war
among animals and primitive peoples have existed also among civilized peoples, although
their relative importance has been very different. The drive for societal union, for
independence, for territory and defence and/or for abstract social symbols representing forms
of religion, race, culture or justice, has often been manifested among the civilized peoples.
Political motives often combine drives for territory, dominance and adventure. I would say
that war among civilized peoples is rather a function of State politics than a function of
instinct or merely a function of learned behaviour. Instead of springing spontaneously from
the behaviour patterns of the masses, it springs from the manoeuvring of leaders.
268. It is true and indeed encouraging that the latter half of the twentieth century, as never
before in human history until the advent of the era of high technology and rapid world
communication by electronics, has witnessed numerous standard-setting instruments to
strengthen and widen the scope of international humanitarian law. UNESCO has played its
role in helping to establish this belief in humanity, liberty, democracy, pluralism,
interdependence and tolerance - the virtue that makes peace possible. But in spite of all this,
the world has so far failed. While the minimum necessary means seem to have been put in
place to usher in a new order of international peace, international conflict still prevails. At the
society level, where normative mechanisms are already at the disposal of authority, the trend
of violence by individuals and between groups of individuals remains the same if not more
than normal.
269. Everything else having been considered, the question is whether there still is anything
that we need specifically to address. If one goes in for the wisdom of Buddhism, there is an
answer. It is all in the minds of men. Human beings are lustful. In the modern world of
materialism, of advertisement and consumerism, men are suffering all the more from cravings
present in the mind. The Buddhist creed of renunciation of all material ambitions in life
renders individuals free from depending on the non-necessities of life, from struggling and
from conflict and hence non-violence. It is unrealistic to expect the Buddhist creed of
renunciation to be upheld by the great bulk of mankind. More realistic is the notion of the
rational man and his legitimate self-interest such as propounded in the rationalist philosophy
of Locke, Hume and Bentham. The notion of the rational man legitimately pursuing his
self-interest in the liberal democratic State is best suited to cultivating the mental attitudes of
the human race towards tolerance and peace. To me this is a practical approach and a
philosophical basis for inculcating in the minds of men the use of reason instead of impulse in
social relations and in dealing with conflict situations.
270. Attitudes are nurtured by education and socialization which constitute the process by
which the culture of a group is developed and passed on to the rising generation. The
educational process is addressed to individuals: systematic communication and promulgation
of the cause for the use of reason is addressed to the group. Education aimed at supporting and
- 49 transmitting the notion of the rational man seeks to influence private attitudes, thus building
the individual personality and the group culture. Eventually, the culture of peace will, we
hope, evolve into the cultural universal of all cultures as the foundation of the intellectual and
moral solidarity of mankind. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
271. Mr O. DEMIANIUK (Ukraine):
Mr Chairperson, our delegation has already observed that the extremely rapid pace of
social and economic change affecting society calls for flexible international structures and
mechanisms capable of adjusting quickly to changes taking place at international level, and of
foreseeing them and working in the long-term context. We see the future of UNESCO in
exactly the same light. We are certain that at a time when societies are contending with new
challenges and problems, analysis of the Organization’s role and functions must always be on
our agenda.
272. There is a dilemma that we must resolve: Is UNESCO a body that supplies expert
technical advice with generally limited financial resources, or should it strengthen its role as a
centre of global intellectual cooperation? We are in full agreement with the consensus that has
emerged here on the subject. As regards the provision of assistance, in many of its spheres of
competence UNESCO can hardly compete with powerful commercial enterprises and
specialized transnational centres possessing huge financial, technical and intellectual
potential. It should therefore strengthen its constitutional function and role as an intellectual
and moral centre both for the United Nations system and for the international community as a
whole. It should be a living organism with a clear reaction to challenges as they arise,
foreseeing them and assisting societies in finding the answers to contemporary problems. We
also consider that a balance should be kept between overall activity and specific projects,
between the global view and the pragmatic view. Efforts should also be made to ensure that
the global view does not encroach on Member States’ national interests, or mean that
UNESCO is not represented at local level. This is precisely why defining the nature of
UNESCO’s work calls for very fine tuning.
273. We agree that where there is armed conflict between different ethnic groups at national
level UNESCO should play a heightened role in strengthening peace, tolerance, stability and
security at regional and national as well as at global level. UNESCO’s basic strategy should
be centred on peace in the next century. The Organization should play a key role within the
United Nations system in strengthening not the military but the humanitarian aspects of
international security and stability. The Organization’s ethical role should be strengthened in
this context, and its strategy should focus on the ethical aspects of social development and the
ethics of the future as our agenda for the next century.
274. We also consider that sustainable social development with a strategic, transdisciplinary
approach should be the essence of UNESCO’s activity, and we should like to support the view
expressed by the distinguished representatives of Belgium, Argentina and other countries
concerning the need for boldness in seeking new solutions. In fact I would say that innovation
should be the key to the Organization’s strategy for seeking solutions. The psychology of the
culture of peace, the transition to a biotechnical approach, the ethics of genetic engineering
and infoethics are some of a series of subjects in the development of which UNESCO has
played a pioneering role, and it must continue to develop these lines of inquiry.
275. Innovation must of course be based on future-oriented studies and forecasting and on a
global, long-term view. Forecasting and a future-oriented approach thus constitute an
- 50 important aspect of UNESCO’s work in the future. Of course a scientific approach must be
adopted towards forecasting; “futuristic” approaches should be avoided.
276. The need for UNESCO to play a more important role cannot be separated from the need
to expand and strengthen its presence in the field. In order to strengthen UNESCO’s role in
general it is essential to increase its visibility in the Member States, enhance its authority, and
make the usefulness of its work more widely known. We should like to draw attention in this
connection to the interest shown in UNESCO all over the world. This interest determines
attitudes to the Organization, and consequently the authority that it enjoys. In our view the
main concern should therefore be to focus the efforts of all on stimulating interest in the
Organization’s work. Two aspects need to be taken into account in order to do this. The first
is the communication aspect, in other words making UNESCO’s work better known, and the
second is the practical aspect, concerning the Organization’s usefulness, which must be felt
locally. The whole existing network of the Organization’s partners, and in the first place the
National Commissions, must play a key role in this respect. As regards the communication
aspect, we should like to stress the importance of continuing to improve publishing and public
information work at UNESCO, which should keep pace with the times and meet their
demands. As far as interest in UNESCO is concerned, the experience of my country and the
work of our National Commission suggest that the interest shown in the Organization cannot
be separated from the resources at our disposal. There is, unfortunately, quite a large group of
countries which are in difficult socio-economic circumstances. On the one hand, the
development of international cooperation and integration is more vitally necessary for them
than for the others, and on the other their limited resources make it difficult for them to
engage in this process, and exclude them from the international community and global
communication processes. What is needed, therefore, is to strike a balance between the
Member States’ interests and their resources. How is UNESCO to attract the interest of
potential partners when its financial resources, which are of not inconsiderable importance in
such an undertaking, are generally limited? The distinguished Deputy Secretary-General of the
United Nations incidentally had something to say about this. It is also an important factor
when it comes to strengthening the role of the Organization. We should like to mention
another in our view important aspect of the strategy to be adopted for UNESCO’s work, and
that is the question of performance, of a results-oriented approach.
277. Yesterday the distinguished representative of Colombia mentioned the list of the richest
people in the world. Heading the list is Bill Gates, who has set up a special fund to help solve
the problems of the children of the developing countries and has endowed it with $11.3
billion. I do not wish to comment on this, but it does make one think about stimulating interest
in our work and activating the policy of raising funds from extrabudgetary sources.
278. To conclude my statement, I should like to say that we must be quite clear that those
who have the ideas, who enhance and advance the Organization, who make it a centre of
attraction for all humanity, are its key partners, namely its Member States. Dialogue will be
another important factor for UNESCO’s future. The more active the dialogue between
cultures and civilizations, the more intensive the process of mutual enrichment with the
material and spiritual achievements of all, the more positive will be the effect on the results of
our Organization’s work in the future.
279. I should like to voice my confidence, in conclusion, that if we just pool our efforts, we
shall be able to strengthen UNESCO’s role, its ability to respond to the demands of the times
and the expectations of the world’s peoples, and its importance as a centre of global
intellectual cooperation. This will be the key to the Organization’s survival in the future. We
- 51 agree that discussion of this subject should be continued in more depth and with due regard to
similar processes under way in other parts of the United Nations system. In this connection we
support the proposal of Canada, which has received the support of many other countries,
concerning the creation of a task force to look into these questions.
280. Mr MAKAGIANSAR (Indonesia):
Mr Chairperson, Mr Director-General, dear colleagues, many amongst us may still
remember the beautiful song Que sera sera. In the lyrics the innocent child asks her mother
whether when she grows up she will be happy or rich, to which her mother responds Que sera
sera, the future is not ours to see. This was a common truth at the time. Today, however, with
the forceful growth of human knowledge, which thrusts forward with ever-increasing speed, it
is said that we need no longer be passive observers of an emerging future.
281. A Dutch professor once stated a good many years ago that the future is the past, thereby
implying that the past and the present help shape the future. Today’s behavioural sciences and
recent interdisciplinary studies are more specific when they point out that thanks to scientific
breakthroughs and expanded knowledge, humankind gradually empowers itself in becoming
the choreographer of its own future. This means that we live simultaneously, at the same time,
in the past-present-future continuum. All thinking and action today are in part determined by
our past, while what we do to ourselves and our habitat, the planet Earth, in the present is in
fact sculpting and giving shape to our own future. Human action is obviously limited by the
limits of the natural physical order and by our brain capacities, the potentialities of which,
according to some specialists, have been activated, if I may use the term, not more than 25 per
cent. Therefore, it is still true to say that the future holds many uncertainties and that in the
next century we all have to learn to manage uncertainties. To refer to the song I cited, we need
to master the knowledge and the art of managing the Que sera sera of our future.
282. Indeed, who knows what UNESCO will be in the twenty-first century? Scientists agree
that the road to the future will not follow a straight line, will not be unilinear, but non-linear
with concomitant loops and positive and negative feedbacks. There is nothing new in the
saying that the only certain thing in history is its very uncertainty because even an unschooled
person cannot escape recognizing that our yesterdays differ profoundly from our todays and
our tomorrows remain terra incognita. Scientific breakthroughs and technological wonders,
especially information and communication technologies, confluence with globalization.
Undreamed of software and the fast, if not superspeed, succession of mega-powered
generations of computers and the Internet’s almost perfect removal of constraints of time and
space, they all remake our world without end. Impacted by the information age, humanity’s
upsurge entry into what is called the New Age of Biomaterials, the triumph of the new
high-tech which is biotechnology and new materials, is a far cry from the earlier agrarian and
industrial revolutions. Each produced a victory of the ingenuity of humankind, the supreme
power of the brain of the human species. The agrarian age uplifted agriculture and defeated
hunger. The industrial epoch conquered space, and the biomaterials era promises the
transforming of matter. Quantum physics, the elucidation of the physical structure of DNA,
the unveiling of the mystery of the gene, all these introduce new theoretical insights,
perceptions and shifting paradigms in human knowledge that make mono- or
single-disciplinarity give way to multi-, trans- and interdisciplinarity. They introduce a new
thinking in which the old paradigms are methodically and safely overtaken by the new. The
sea changes that occurred and continue to progress dramatically in our lifetime, especially
through the impact of the new ecology, is the empirical and verifiable discovery that nature
and all species are interconnected, interdependent and interactive. Fritjof Capra calls it the
web of life, of which we are an organic part and from which we can neither isolate nor extract
- 52 ourselves, while James Lovelock speaks of the Gaia theory. A few thoroughly
interdisciplinary centres of research have come into existence, working on the interface within
scientific disciplines. The new theories of interconnectivity, holism and the order and chaos
theory point out that the new knowledge emerges at the nodes of encounter between
disciplines.
283. Inseparably and organically connected with the above setting derived from the new
physical, natural and biological sciences, our societies, behaviour and styles of life have
equally gone through and continue to go through strings of profound change. The rise of civil
society and the powerful shift from government-directed to market-driven economies affect us
all. Paradigm shifts in perceptions, values and behaviour have caused deep-seated social and
cultural transformations including for those living in isolated habitats. The most recent issue
of L’Express includes an article entitled Français, comme vous avez changé which describes
the changing forms, patterns and contents of film attendance, family food and a host of other
new social and cultural behavioural changes. It would be interesting if similar surveys could
be done for other societies which, in my own case, would be entitled Indonésiens, comme vous
avez changé?
284. Can we say that of UNESCO - comme vous avez changé? Changes certainly we have all
witnessed over the years but wisdom compels us to rethink, to scrutinize and to verify whether
those changes in the UNESCO body and soul are in consonance with and thereby defy a
mismatch with the evolving world. UNESCO, as it strides forward, passing through the
portals of the twenty-first century, cannot do so independently. UNESCO is part of the
evolving organic, physical and natural biological environment and at the same time it is a
living entity which is organically interdependent with the sociocultural, economic and
political global setting in constant flux of change.
285. Thinking about the future of UNESCO cannot be done, therefore, simply in a linear or
more specifically in a unilinear sense. Its desired future must not be limited to making things
better as we know at present. Instead, while the point of departure must be anchored in the
Preamble to the UNESCO Constitution, which in fact is the heartbeat of UNESCO’s
existence, UNESCO in the future must be, at the same time, a UNESCO of the future through
which we empower UNESCO to become the foremost intellectual and moral choreographer of
our emerging times. As the intellectual international organization par excellence, its role as
intellectual powerhouse is to generate knowledge and ethics as the twin principles, one of
which cannot be dissociated from the other, within the context of a living culture of peace.
Whatever direction our Organization is to choose in its journey into the future, it is absolutely
essential that we must make as a building block in the construction of our future UNESCO
edifice the accumulated treasure of UNESCO information, knowledge and ideals embedded in
the huge archives of documents on conferences, intellectual encounters, medium-term plans,
aspirations of Member States and so forth. It is this building block which must basically
inspire our vision of the future. Like the human individual, the community and society at
large, UNESCO also lives in the past-present-future continuum I referred to earlier. Its past is
important for today, and what UNESCO does in the present choreographs its future. To ignore
that particular building block is tantamount to reinventing the wheel of UNESCO, which is
not a guarantee for success.
286. As we graduate to becoming our own choreographers of UNESCO’s future, we must do
hard thinking about whether we can learn from ecology and biology. I, for one, believe that in
not doing so we cut ourselves off from the great web of organic interactive connectivity I
referred to. If UNESCO is seen as an ecological subsystem of the world’s ecology, the
- 53 Organization must develop a special kind of intellectual environment with the health of the
whole being as a manifestation of the health of each part. Like DNA, I envisage UNESCO in
the future and of the future to be an open system, receptive to external stimuli, active,
interactive, self-organizing, transparent. It must have a shared mission which finds its
biological equivalent in the organic interdependence of organs, sub-organs and symbiosis, or
to use a new term, “symbiogenesis”. From these observations, we may deduce a wide range of
imperatives which have implications for the organization, functioning and structuring of the
UNESCO of tomorrow. Indonesia therefore supports wholeheartedly the spirit of the
Canadian proposal of establishing a task force.
287. We are fortunate to be the actors in the unfolding of UNESCO happenings. We will do a
great service to the Organization if the democracy of intellectual cooperation that radiates with
fresh vigour from the UNESCO fora everywhere is nurtured by something which I feel that we
have systematically unlearned, namely, the wisdom, the capacity and the art of listening.
Somewhere our modern education undermines listening to others: instruction, yes; how to do
it, yes; learning from the teacher, yes; but learning from others from all ranks of society,
almost none if none at all. Without the art of listening to others and a genuine willingness to
do so, intellectual democracy, democracy at large and the culture of peace become a farce at
the mercy of the powerful and the rich.
288. As the teacher of tomorrow ceases to be the single source of knowledge, so are we.
Therefore it is through teamworking in the sense of the complete merging of individual and
collective egos, where the success of the group is the success of the individual and the
accomplishment of the individual is the group’s own pride, that the design of the future of
UNESCO must be undertaken. What counts is the synergy of all opinions because the triumph
of human creativity and living ethics will benefit the culture of peace if in the dialogue
between civilizations, all of us who make up the UNESCO constituency, being an inseparable
part of the web of UNESCO, are willing and prepared to take the initiative, not only in
learning to live together but also, at the same time, in embracing the art of learning from
others which is grounded in the art of listening to others.
289. To accomplish all these ideals we will have to work hard and let the best brains
contribute, but, most of all, what counts is solidarity, compassion and love for humanity to
make our future world better for our children and grandchildren. It is in this spirit that each of
us takes the lead, for UNESCO is beautiful and it must remain beautiful as a shining jewel in
the United Nations family. Thank you for your patience.
290. Mr AHSAN (Bangladesh):
Mr Chairperson, in a rapidly changing world it may be rather ambitious for us to look at
the twenty-first century in one sweep, with all that it holds, and to be able to fashion the goals
and activities of UNESCO. At the same time, from this vantage point, we cannot avoid the
stark reality that the world is still burdened with the age-old problems of poverty,
underdevelopment, illiteracy, the lack of democratic governance and violation of human rights
in many parts of the world. Among the challenges facing humanity, particular mention may be
made of those emanating from developments in science and information technology,
globalization and multiculturalism. UNESCO must gear up its activities to help the Member
States, particularly those in the developing world, to deal with old as well as emerging
problems. Its emphasis, in our view, should lie in indigenous capacity-building and
encouraging self-reliance. It should serve as a promoter of ideas, a facilitator, ready for direct
intervention and involvement with critical inputs and expertise where these are most needed.
- 54 291. Besides education, the teaching of science and the protection and promotion of culture
and heritage should continue to occupy a position of priority for UNESCO. The critical issues
of our time including poverty alleviation, promotion of democracy, human rights, tolerance
and intercultural harmony, can be better served if we set our priorities rights.
292. Mr Chairperson, globalization, developments in science and the growth of the
information society have brought nations and peoples of the world closer together as never
before. This calls for renewed emphasis on UNESCO’s role as a clearing house for knowledge
and ideas, as a standard-setter on many key issues, as well as on its intellectual and ethical
missions. The ongoing activities of the Organization in these areas therefore need to be
continued and strengthened.
293. Finally, even after the end of the Cold War and the cessation of confrontations based on
political ideologies, which have long kept the world divided into different camps, incidents of
war, ethnic conflict and violence continue unabated. This underscores the need for
intensifying UNESCO’s role as a promoter of peace and harmony within the areas of its
competence. The UNESCO initiative on the culture of peace is a fitting response to the
situation the world faces today in this regard. Through its network of Associated Schools,
UNESCO Clubs and traditional and new partners, the Organization is better placed than most,
both within and outside the United Nations system, to promote peace from the grass-roots
level up. The breakthrough in communications should facilitate as never before the task and
the project deserves to be pursued in all earnest.
294. Mr Chairperson, dear colleagues, the matter is as important as it is multifaceted. It needs
to be looked into carefully by a specially constituted task force, as suggested by Canada.
Besides the Member States, all stakeholders in the Organization should be taken on board to
draw up an in-depth, comprehensive and result-oriented blueprint for action. This study
should be considered by the Executive Board for submission to the General Conference for
providing guidelines and policy orientation. Thank you.
295. Mr MOKHELE (South Africa):
Thank you very much, Mr Chairperson. In another setting, Mr Chairperson, I would
simply say that what I wished to say has been said enough that I don’t have to say it at all. But
since I’m with the Executive Board of UNESCO, I think the Members of the Board are going
to have to endure to listening to my own reflections on UNESCO in the twenty-first century.
296. I’ve known about UNESCO as an organization for a much longer period than I’ve
known the Organization and its operations, as my country could only rejoin it in 1994. My
personal knowledge of the Organization has deepened considerably since November 1997
when South Africa was elected to the Executive Board. When I joined the Board, I recall
being struck by what I perceived rightly or wrongly as a rather unhealthy level of criticism of
the Organization by those Members of the Board whom I encountered. I initially thought that
natural selection was exposing me disproportionately to Members of the Board who happened
to be overly critical by nature. It was only when this criticism persisted that I began to
formulate questions that have come to dominate my thinking about this Organization. I asked
then, and continue to ask, the following questions.
297. UNESCO was created at a particular time in human history to play a particular role, one
that would hopefully provide appropriate responses to the world of that time and the future. If
the world had not created UNESCO then, would the world create UNESCO now? If the
- 55 answer to the question is in the affirmative, what kind of UNESCO would the world create
today?
298. I remain surprised that, without exception, all the Members of the Board who responded
to the first question, then and now, are convinced that the world would create a UNESCO of
some kind at this point in human history. It is in response to the second question that things
become a little interesting. What kind of UNESCO would the world create today? Here,
Mr Chairperson, a great diversity of opinion prevails. When I asked these same questions of
the people in southern Africa, not just South Africa I must say, a great majority of respondents
expressed the opinion that the world would not create a UNESCO today. I do accept,
Mr Chairperson, that it is entirely likely that another person asking the same questions of a
different set of respondents might just get responses that are entirely different from the
responses that I got. I cannot, however, stop wondering whether UNESCO has over the years
become an organization whose virtues are voiced only by those who are directly associated
with it. Put in another way: has UNESCO become an organization whose virtues are voiced
by those who benefit directly from it, except that it is only those who are associated with it
who benefit from it?
299. Mr Chairperson, these questions in fact may have nothing to do with the twenty-first
century; they are questions that ought to be asked of any organization that is 55 years old,
whether or not the fifty-fifth year anniversary coincides with the end of a century or a
millennium. My reflection will thus not be on the twenty-first century but on UNESCO as a
55 year-old organization.
300. I have heard many times in this same room many people attesting to the role of
UNESCO as an intellectual powerhouse of the United Nations system. To others, however,
the intellectual role of UNESCO is at best historical. To these people, the Japanese
amendment confirmed the end of that particular role for UNESCO and introduced a new one.
301. My responses, Mr Chairperson, to the same questions that I asked others are as follows:
I believe that the world needs the following organization: an organization that will provide an
intellectual reservoir of education, culture, science and technology and their deployment in
various human interventions, that will serve as an oasis into which Member States can dip to
inform actions that they undertake to meet their own national and subregional needs; an
organization that will provide the world with a platform for ethics in education, culture,
science and technology; an organization that will facilitate the contemplation of innovative
models on how education, culture, science and technology can inherently transform the
fortunes of nations; an organization to which Member States will want to stay very close, lest
they deprive themselves of the enrichment to be derived from such proximity; an organization
that will itself be ethnically unimpeachable in the conduct of its business and thus enjoy
unreserved favour and confidence from the States of the world; an organization firmly rooted
in accountability and delivery of tangible, measurable outputs and outcomes.
302. The organization envisaged above will be a development agency with a difference. It
will insert itself into the consciousness and conscience of nations and of citizens of the world
and provide frameworks for the world to employ in confronting vexed questions like the
eradication of poverty, illiteracy and intercultural confrontations. It will mediate in a world
that has become a global village, that is increasingly dependent on technologies emerging at a
near exponential rate. It will mediate in this global village where the gap between wealthy and
poor nations is widening at an even faster rate than history has ever experienced.
- 56 303. I am sure that there are people in this same room today who will argue that this
organization is the UNESCO that we currently serve, but is it really? More importantly, how
many people whose interests UNESCO purports to serve would concur that the organization
described above is this UNESCO? I would presume that the organization described above will
prove to show little difference from the organization that the creators of UNESCO believed
they were creating in 1945. It is, however, from my experience not necessarily the
organization in which I currently serve. The current UNESCO has, nevertheless, in some form
or another displayed some of the features described above. I have participated in enough
debates in the Special Committee and in the sessions of the Executive Board itself in the last
18 months to be convinced that the majority of Members of this Board and members of the
Secretariat yearn for a UNESCO that is regarded by its Member States as key, pivotal and
outright important.
304. From the nature of some of these debates in this Board, I have to wonder about how
attainable is the organization described above without injection of a new mood into the
debates. I thank you, Mr Chairperson.
305. Mr THOMAS (Saint Lucia):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Saint Lucia welcomes the opportunity provided to reflect
on UNESCO in the twenty-first century and to explore possible ideas for its future direction.
This reflection is most opportune, coming as it does at a time when we are about to welcome
the dawn of a new millennium, the appointment of a new Director-General and even more
unprecedented changes in the future.
306. A former Director-General of UNESCO is reported to have said, and I quote “The
period of rapid change which the contemporary world is traversing obliges UNESCO to renew
the objectives which it sets for itself and the methods by which it works in order to meet the
imperatives of new situations”. This statement is as true today, perhaps truer, than it was
25 years ago when it was stated.
307. Despite the considerable efforts expended, the unprecedented progress made and the
impressive results achieved by the Organization in fulfilling its mandate, some of our
persistent problems remain with us, such as the eradication of poverty, and the provision of
education for all. Education must continue to be the key building block in the twenty-first
century.
308. The Programme and Budget is the instrument through which UNESCO carries out its
role in promoting peace and development. The reflection provides us with an opportunity to
raise questions about our priorities, our structures and our implementation strategies. Two
considerations provide us with a launching pad. The first is that the times in which we live
call for the efficient utilization of the resources of the Organization. The second is that
UNESCO cannot continue with “business as usual” if it hopes to continue to provide
leadership and to make an even greater impact in the areas it is uniquely competent to address.
309. I shall therefore focus on just a few mundane issues.
310. The demands on UNESCO’s fields of competence are practically unlimited. It cannot
continue in the prevailing environment to deal with all the problems facing the world and its
Member States. It must re-examine and refocus its priorities. We need to consider what the
priorities of UNESCO should be and to focus on specific needs. This, of course, raises for our
consideration questions about how the priorities should be determined and also about the
identification of areas for concentration. A refocusing of the Organization on priorities would
- 57 enable its work to be more qualitative, its activities more intensive and innovative, especially
with regard to particular regional and subregional problems. In this way, the criticism that
UNESCO’s activities are so wide and diverse that one does not always have a clear grasp of
what its priorities are would be addressed.
311. It is clear to me from the discussions during this and previous sessions of the Executive
Board that there is need for more transparent programming of activities. An overall plan of
allocation of resources, based on the nature of its activities and the results expected, seems to
be called for in order to ensure that the activities are adequately funded. It is always sound
practice to provide a measure of flexibility to enable the chief executive officer of an
organization to respond to emergency needs. A contingency provision should be provided to
the Director-General to ensure that resources allocated for programmes are not cut in
midstream to meet emergencies. This would serve to underline the need to balance the
objectives of programmes against available resources, ensure proper allocation of funds and
hold those who implement accountable.
312. Our brief period on the Executive Board has convinced us all the more of the need for
periodic evaluation of UNESCO’s activities. It has also shown how important it is to get
accurate and critical analyses of UNESCO’s work. To the extent that UNESCO intensifies its
collaboration with its partners, it will need to evaluate and delineate more carefully what it
does, and clarify its enabling role with its partners. We have also seen how difficult it is to
introduce change. The question which arises is, how best can we, as Members of the Board,
ensure that the results of evaluation are effectively taken into account and implemented? This
question will be all the more critical as we implement in earnest a system of results-based
budgeting.
313. National Commissions are the principal means of contact between the Member States
and UNESCO. They have helped to give UNESCO a measure of visibility through their work
under the Participation Programme. The process of refining their work, rationalizing their role
and devolving more responsibility on them must continue and be accelerated alongside further
improvements in the management of the programme and increasing assistance, to enable them
to become more effective partners in carrying out the operational activities of the
Organization.
314. Mr Chairperson, we are of the view that the Executive Board needs to take a hard look
at the rules and regulations intended to facilitate the effective operation of the Organization. In
this regard, matters likely to undermine the image and independence of the Executive Board
should receive priority consideration especially when there are clear signs of an undesirable
trend. In short, ethnical values underlying some of our rules and regulations must be upheld,
clarified and reinforced by up-to-date measures.
315. These ideas are not new, Mr Chairperson, but we merely wish to underline them since
we have on several occasions expressed them in the hope that they will be taken on board as
we develop a new vision for UNESCO. The suggestion of a task force, put forward by
Canada, seems to us an excellent way of carrying the process of reflection forward. Saint
Lucia remains committed to UNESCO, its ideals and its mandate, and we lend support to
actions calculated to enhance its role, its efficiency and its leadership. Thank you,
Mr Chairperson.
- 58 316. The CHAIRPERSON:
Ladies and gentlemen, I will tell you which speakers remain on the list: Senegal,
Lithuania, Honduras, Yemen, Lebanon, France, Japan, Bolivia, India and the United Republic
of Tanzania. I give the floor to the representative of Senegal.
317. Mr NDIAYE (Senegal):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. As our 1999 spring session draws to a close, before the
third millennium, the words of the travellers to Emmaus 2000 years ago spring to mind:
“Abide with us, for it is toward evening”. Those travellers believed, full of hope, that the
institution, the system of values to which they had given their lives was at last going to
establish a world of peace, justice, solidarity and love. And then they saw it all collapse before
their very eyes. So, feeling sad and lost that evening, they understood nothing, because what
had been their strength, their hope and their life now seemed impotent in the face of so many
tragedies: death, war, inefficacy and failure. I am sure you will allow me, dear colleagues, to
use this ancient and modern fable, this allegory, to express the way we are feeling now.
Gathered here together in this temple of dialogue and peace, of giving and receiving, at
UNESCO, we carry with us, and in our hearts, we feel the tragedies and sorrows, the dark
nights of so many nations and peoples, of men, women, and children throughout the world the poverty, hunger, disease and war, the exploitation of children, the humiliation of women,
illiteracy and the burden of debt on poor countries.
318. So we are haunted by doubt and we wonder: are people - nations - incapable of
controlling the world? Is it impossible to affect the course of history? Have the great ones of
this century lacked guides, wise counsellors? And UNESCO? Is it no longer the prestigious
intellectual and moral force it once was, the ethical conscience of the system of nations? The
intellectual forum for dialogue among nations, the far-sighted and forward-looking power in
the service of peace through education, science, culture and communication? Doubt haunts us
and we wonder.
319. Mr Chairperson, the UNESCO of the twentieth century must first of all answer these
questions before crossing the threshold of the third millennium. In this regard, we join those
who are proposing a working group. For the moment, however, we turn to the wisdom of the
elders of my people to tell us what the UNESCO of the twenty-first century will be: “When
you travel and you are no longer sure of your way, go back to where you started from”. Yes,
for our part, we think that we must go back to the source and the founding principles of
UNESCO and rekindle the dormant energy that is primarily the intellectual, moral and
spiritual energy of nations and peoples.
320. Bergson talked of breathing more soul into his era, our century. We believe that this is
the kind of spiritual supplement that must be instilled, the kind of generosity and humanity
that must be restored to UNESCO, to States and to nations in order to meet the major
challenges of the present century and of the one about to begin. They are the challenges of
which Mr Bindé has spoken and which, if they are to be met, call for a number of values such
as “justice, solidarity, love and the intangible heritage” of which you have spoken, too,
Mr Director-General, in your “Twenty-first century talks”, a series I enjoy hearing and a
welcome new institution. The most recent of these talks took place yesterday evening, and my
compatriot and friend Pierre Sané, of Amnesty International, was among the distinguished
guests. In passing, I should like to congratulate the Analysis and Forecasting Office on its
work and the plan to create a Council on the Future in this century, a venture which is both
charged with and devoid of meaning, and which is seeking its bearings, its prophets, or I
should say its visionaries.
- 59 321. As the disciples did long ago at Emmaus, we wish to say, to say to you, UNESCO
activists, Board Members and staff members: “Abide with us, for it is toward evening”.
322. The end of this century is far from glorious. Facing the changes observed throughout the
world - globalization, multiculturalism, poverty, information highways, education for all UNESCO is holding on to, and must hold on to, its mandate for peace, the peace whose other
name is development. It must preserve, bright and strong, the values of solidarity, justice,
dialogue and ethics in the face of the challenges posed by science and the information
highways. From this point of view, we were delighted with the campaign against paedophilia
on the Internet.
323. We welcome all the major declarations made here, which must be meticulously
followed up and implemented tomorrow and beyond. We also welcome the creation of the
intercultural and multicultural unit for dialogue between cultures, religions and spiritual
traditions. UNESCO does indeed need more soul so that it can communicate with all its
partners, since it must remain the ethical conscience of the system of nations throughout the
world and in all its Member States.
324. In order to do so, it must necessarily opt for local action and for the emergency
operations that are increasingly required in difficult situations and situations of severe distress
in a large number of countries of the world. This need to be present on the ground and visible,
in the face of the demands of States and emergency situations, probably explains the large
number of field offices throughout the world. We should also ensure, of course, that these
offices have sufficient resources. We have already said so, but we cannot decentralize without
respecting the inviolable principle of local action, constant contact with the situation on the
spot in countries which sometimes cry out to UNESCO to solve their problems or simply to
be there as a centre of cultural influence, a presence and an ethical conscience.
325. All this must happen naturally under rational and transparent, effective management;
this we have also said. That is what the Executive Board is increasingly demanding; it is what
the Secretariat endeavours to do and should do more and more. And for consistent action on a
basis of trust and complementarity between the different bodies of UNESCO and for its
greater good, we must ensure that each of the organs plays its role to the hilt in a spirit of
responsibility and complementarity, sharing and mutual support.
326. Mr Chairperson, in a world of globalization drawn towards orthodoxy and conformism
(the realm of death), diversity, pluralism, sharing, solidarity and dialogue (the realm of life)
become more necessary than ever. The priorities set at UNESCO are therefore genuinely
topical and must be maintained and sustained in the future.
327. More than ever before, Africa, women, young people, and the least developed countries
and communities must be the subject of particular attention in the programmes and activities
of our Organization, which must aim to meet the challenges of illiteracy, poverty, inequality,
sustainable development, debt and peace. And in order to lend greater credibility and visibility
to these priorities, especially Africa, we believe that we must define and develop in minute
detail clearly identified priority projects with qualitative and quantitative objectives and
substantial resources and funds to carry them out. We are thinking of education for all, science
and technology, the culture of maintenance, the solar, oceanographic and hydrological
programmes, the culture of peace, debt cancellation, poverty alleviation - and the list goes on.
328. So it is that this house of dialogue, of giving and receiving, will remain for the century
that is knocking on our door an institution in the service of peace - that is, of true
- 60 development, justice, solidarity and love, the peace that, on behalf of my country, we wish for
all of you and your countries.
329. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much, Mr Ndiaye. The representative of Lithuania has the floor.
330. Ms KARVELIS (Lithuania):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. More than half a century after the founding of UNESCO,
some reflection on what the Organization should be on the verge of the twenty-first century is
obviously necessary. Its approach should be twofold. On the one hand, the Organization
should inspect its structures, its machinery and its ways of functioning and transmitting
information in the light of the acceleration of technological change in recent years, and carry
out reforms, as the entire United Nations system is doing. It should, secondly, look at the
changes that have occurred in the nature of the Executive Board and their implications for the
relations linking the constitutional organs. For the first time, we are no longer confronted by a
triangle with each corner corresponding to a different approach, namely, the Member States
assembled in the General Conference, individual intellectuals sitting on the Executive Board,
and the Director-General assisted by the Secretariat. It is probably quite natural that an
Executive Board now made up of representatives of Member States should be more concerned
with oversight and management than with forward-looking reflection and an ethical approach.
This, indeed, reflects the general tendency of a world that is increasingly worried about costs
in all fields of activity. However, this approach must not impede the political independence of
the Director-General and bring about a split between the Organization and civil society.
331. Like all Member States, Lithuania attaches great importance to the sound management
of UNESCO’s programmes and resources. However, it attaches even greater importance to the
content of what will have to be managed, to maintaining and developing UNESCO’s vocation
as a global intellectual and ethical forum. Vaclav Havel, President of the Czech Republic,
recalled in a recent article that the countries of Central and Eastern Europe fought
totalitarianism in the name of liberty, democracy, human rights and equality, and not for the
sake of access to the market economy, even though the latter is the corollary of the ideals
defended by our peoples.
332. The second aspect of the debate that must take place should therefore look at what
UNESCO’s priorities should be in the twenty-first century. Education for all throughout life
remains, of course, the absolute priority. However, confining the Organization to its
educational function would mean denying its vocation of peace by reducing it to the mere role
of one technical agency among others in the United Nations system. We must not forget that
the Constitution, whose principles remain valid, calls upon UNESCO to establish lasting
peace founded upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of humanity. The promises made to
children 50 years ago by the victorious Allies of the Second World War have not been kept. In
all four corners of the world, people continue to massacre other people, often their nearest
neighbours, with whom they had rubbed shoulders in the fields, at the market, or in the café
the previous day. The twentieth century is drawing to a close in disarray and anxiety.
Constructing peace in the minds of men, as a matter of urgency, and defending human rights
against military force, remain UNESCO’s primary tasks.
333. For that, however, we have only one weapon: words, even though others consider it
obsolete. Nevertheless, the Bible teaches that the Word came before all else and Islam, when
it praises God, mentions his Prophet; I will not even speak about the trumpets that brought
down the walls of Jericho. Were it not for the griots, storytellers and grandmothers, humanity
- 61 would already long ago have lost its memory, and many peoples, including my own, would no
longer know any other languages or cultures than those of their oppressors. Words remain the
basic medium for all education, for dialogue among individuals, peoples and cultures, and for
the dialogue between civilizations that is the precondition for our spiritual survival. Impelled
by this conviction, my country would like to offer its capital city as a meeting place for
members of different civilizations.
334. The twenty-first century will be the century of communication and its corollary,
globalization. That is one of the rare certainties we have. Fighting for peace, tolerance,
freedom of expression and against violence and paedophilia, defending linguistic and cultural
pluralism, safeguarding endangered forms of expression - all these will be just as important
tomorrow as today. And instead of working to combat, or at least neutralize, the harmful
effects of inevitable globalization, we could try to channel them so as to promote ethical and
intellectual values, and the eradication of poverty and of exclusion. That is a challenge for
UNESCO, whose innovative imagination would ensure for it a leading role, as the keeper of
the collective conscience in the world order. That would correspond to the wishes of the
Organization’s founders.
335. The twenty-first century will surely also be the century of culture in the broadest sense
of the term, for culture is the only guarantee of a recognizable identity, the guardian of the
tangible and intangible heritage, the soil in which the achievements of the past are embedded
in order to nourish creativity, imagination and play. Its medium is of little relevance. I have
noted that that good old standby, paper, is regaining ground, since it is still always accessible,
unlike ever-changing software. What is essential is what is to be transmitted. The concern
expressed by young people at the end of the millennium that is pushing them to scrutinize
family trees and seek an answer in religion testifies to this cultural need. Recognition of the
cultural dimension of development is, of course, vital but we must be careful: it would be
wrong to regard culture as just one aspect of an economic and social process. It cannot be
subordinated to purposes other than its own, and may not be reduced to the role of a mere
tool. Culture, like education and thought, cannot be maintained at zero growth without
running the risk of destroying itself. As a place for meeting and exchange, UNESCO enables
us to discover and honour the culture of others. Just look, for instance, at the gorgeous Latin
American exhibition that we can now see.
336. On the threshold of the third millennium, UNESCO is needed more than ever. But in
order for it to be able to respond to the challenges of the century about to begin, the means
must be found to give it - to give us - time to think, by entrusting the task to a group of
individuals of world stature, and to raise the profile of the Organization’s achievements and
actions. In this, I agree with Sweden’s initiative. Thank you for your attention.
337. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much, Ms Karvelis. I now give the floor to the representative of
Honduras.
338. Ms MENDIETA de BADAROUX (Honduras):
Mr Chairperson, UNESCO was born in 1945 as the hoped-for response to the universal
desire for peace. The fact that it has endured for more than 50 years is in itself a highly
significant achievement for any institution. Thus UNESCO has become recognized as the
ideal body for the promotion and dissemination of education, science and culture in all the
countries which have joined it with the noble goal of collaborating out of a sense of altruism
and solidarity in the achievement of its worthy objectives. With its presentation of reports on
- 62 completed programmes, statistics and future projects and those now under way, the
Organization can pride itself on having accomplished its mission with the utmost
effectiveness and responsibility.
339. Nevertheless, the significance of the tasks accomplished is not in any way diminished
when we ask to what extent they have achieved the basic goal assigned to them in accordance
with the fundamental tenets of the Organization: to construct in the minds of individuals the
defences of peace and to eradicate prejudice and absurdities which have been elevated to the
status of dogma, despite the fact that they openly violate fundamental human rights. Painful
but necessary, the question must be asked, in view of the terrible wars that have never ceased
to bring death and devastation to vast areas of the planet, annihilating indiscriminately the
guilty and the innocent.
340. UNESCO cannot remain indifferent to the flagrant acts of racial discrimination and
violations of many other fundamental rights of minority groups. And what makes it even more
serious is that all this is taking place precisely during a period, 1995-2004, that has been
proclaimed by the United Nations the Decade for Human Rights Education. Faced with these
harsh realities, and as we approach the new millennium in which we have placed so many
hopes, it is most appropriate that we reflect deeply on whether the methods and approaches
adopted thus far have been the most effective for reaching the proposed goals in one of the
most sensitive and important areas of the Organization’s educational mission. In this
connection, I believe that in order to arrive at a satisfactory solution - and here I should like to
make a formal proposal - our own Executive Board, whose Members represent various
cultures, should turn itself into a General Commission, a sort of private forum in which,
without formalities or official speeches, we might continue our broad exchange of views and
where we could go more deeply into all the delicate aspects of the problem, calling upon
experts qualified to enlighten us on specific topics and - why not? - using modern
communication technology as we did yesterday when Ms Louise Fréchette, Deputy
Secretary-General of the United Nations, spoke to us from New York.
341. Undoubtedly, with a contribution from each one of us we shall be able to arrive at a
consensus decision that will take us into the twenty-first century under much better conditions
than our current ones and in harmony with the hopes that the world’s people have placed in
our initiatives. To express the need to act urgently and promptly, I could well borrow from our
Director-General, Federico Mayor, the title of one of his most significant works: Tomorrow is
Always Too Late. This same General Commission will also study new strategies and tactics
for the promotion of human rights on a universal scale and the construction of a genuine
culture of peace, aimed principally at young people, in whom we must sow the seeds of
friendship and solidarity.
342. Of course, all these efforts will perhaps be to no avail if UNESCO fails to recover the
spirit of universality which inspired its creation. To that end, we should strive, among other
things, to bring all the nations of the world into the Organization, for it is only through
civilized dialogue that we can settle the controversies that usually arise in relations between
States.
343. The new millennium must be characterized by the recognition of the universal value of
the individual, regardless of nationality, colour, race, sex, religion or social status. In other
words, natural differences, the existence of which cannot be denied, must never be used as an
excuse to violate the legal equality to which all individuals are entitled. It is necessary to
proclaim, time and again, the fundamental right of every individual to defend their differences
- 63 without thereby giving rise to any discrimination whatsoever. That is the only way to achieve
peace among peoples and among nations, and UNESCO, as the standard-bearer of hope for
the world’s populations, must meet, with all its determination and courage, this challenge
thrust at us by the approach of the new millennium. Thank you very much.
344. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much, Ms Mendieta de Badaroux. I now give the floor to the
representative of Yemen.
345. Mr EL-ZINE (Yemen):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. It might be tiring to keep hearing about the predictable
changes that will confront the world in the twenty-first century. It is not a luxury, however, to
repeatedly pose questions about the nature of the challenges the world will face in the next
century. The past is laid out before us, whilst the future remains hidden. Whatever our skills at
prediction, it is highly likely that tomorrow’s world will not be what we expect it to be.
Therefore, our purpose in going over these questions yet again is to hone our predictions until
they are as close as possible to the future realities, so that we can be ready to meet the
challenges in appropriate and rigorous fashion and avoid the shock of a surprise that would
deprive us of our own resources and prevent us from dealing with the situation successfully.
That goes for individuals, institutions and countries but even more so for an international
organization whose field of action and predictions cover the whole world. The task is all the
more difficult for UNESCO in that it is an organization for intellectual cooperation, and
anticipation and forecasting are central to its work. It is concerned with developing the
training tools that will enable the younger generation to face up to changes in the world in
fields such as education, the acquisition of knowledge and skills and their use in the service of
human, spiritual and material development. UNESCO is therefore required to take up the
challenges that the next century poses. After half a century during which human knowledge
has grown more than since the human race first emerged on Earth, and at a time when we are
about to enter a century during which knowledge and science will expand even further,
UNESCO owes it to itself to be in the midst of this extraordinary adventure of knowledge,
scanning the horizon and trying to define ethical norms so as to prevent the kind of slippage
that might harm people, the environment they live in and their very existence, and so as to
avoid moving towards a world divided between rich and poor, with a high life expectancy for
some, and sickness and epidemics for others, on the one side science and technology and on
the other illiteracy and dependence that are the causes of war, emigration, exclusion and
racism.
346. Mr Chairperson, from the outset, UNESCO has set itself the task of eradicating conflict
at its source by bringing its efforts to bear on education, culture, science and communication
and through multilateral intellectual cooperation. The changes in the contemporary world
oblige it to examine the course followed and to renew its mission and means of action. Thanks
to the great advances in knowledge and in particular communication technology, it can do
more with less costly means and vigorously encourage the abandonment of planning,
programming and management methods inherited from the past so as to gain in effectiveness.
UNESCO can, above all, set a clear strategy to put an end to illiteracy within a reasonable
time limit by mobilizing to that end the energy of Member States and civil society at the local
level, and that of international intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. It is
unreasonable, even scandalous, that hundreds of millions of people continue to labour under
the yoke of illiteracy in the era of cloning, information highways and other exploits of science
that are now part of everyday life. UNESCO can arrange for the right to knowledge to be
accessible to all and concentrate on the achievement of the objectives it has set for promoting
- 64 basic education throughout life and the implementation of the four pillars of education,
namely, learning to know, learning to do, learning to be and learning to live together.
However, these lofty objectives require innovative methods that can transform them from
slogans into living reality and bring them within the reach of the largest possible number of
underprivileged and excluded people. UNESCO can help with non-bureaucratic methods to
promote culture and jettison the red tape we are used to, in order to free up creativity at the
national level and intellectual bilateral and multilateral cooperation at the international level.
The World Conference on Science that it is about to hold will provide the Organization with
the opportunity to review science teaching methods in developing countries so as to enable
those countries to take an active part in scientific progress and strengthen their capacity to
participate in scientific activities and activities connecting science and technology. UNESCO
must indeed revisit its working methods, which are not very productive and are linked to
burdensome and complex administrative and consultative structures, which sometimes make
work more difficult and represent a waste of time and resources, the consequence of a
complex bureaucracy and outdated practices. That is perhaps why the Organization is
deprived of the cooperation of donor bodies which are increasingly turning to direct bilateral
cooperation. One can have recourse to external evaluation to modify effectively the
administrative structure so as to cut costs and increase efficiency and competence in the
execution of activities and programmes, especially since internal evaluation has never been
able to bring about the necessary changes.
347. Mr Chairperson, with regard to item 10.6, we consider that the efforts currently made by
UNESCO in the field of information may not be up to the tasks conferred upon the
Organization or on a level with the ideals it pursues. Many UNESCO activities are unknown
to many people in the world even though they are important: this gives the impression that
UNESCO’s role is confined to organizing major world conferences or sessions of the General
Conference, since ministers of education take part in them, and the information services of the
country concerned only look at the meeting from the standpoint of the speech of a particular
minister or official. Thus citizens remain ignorant of the importance of the meeting in
question and the decisions resulting from it and do not appreciate how important it is to
strengthen UNESCO’s role in the world.
348. In fact, this situation leads us to ask the following questions: What are the reasons for
the ineffectiveness of the Organization’s information resources? What is the capacity of the
professionals concerned? What are the means available? Is there an information strategy or
plan? Is there coordination with the national media or the National Commissions? It is all too
clear that, thanks to information technology, a high proportion of the world’s inhabitants can
now follow events, sensational or not, throughout the world, interacting for good or for ill, and
at the same time many of them are largely unaware of the work of a world organization like
UNESCO, its role and importance, that is when they do not confuse it with UNICEF.
349. Mr Chairperson, the era we are living in is undoubtedly the era of the transfer of ideas,
the consequence of the information and communication revolution. It is not good that people
believe throughout the world that UNESCO is only interested in the struggle against illiteracy
and in supporting projects concerning education, science and culture in the strictest sense.
They must be informed that the Organization also has the task of championing the causes of
freedom, law, justice and social peace, of combating all forms of injustice, oppression and
racial discrimination and defending human rights in the broadest sense.
350. Lastly, Mr Chairperson, on the threshold of the twenty-first century, the first
well-thought-out steps must be taken to promote the role of information by explaining both its
- 65 beneficial and harmful aspects; as this is done a vision will emerge of what information in
UNESCO should be about, and its capacity to reflect the Organization’s role fairly and more
effectively. The debate on the issue is open and this is a good thing; its outcome will reveal
the nature of the problem to us and the alternatives available to us to accomplish UNESCO’s
mission effectively. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
351. Mr NACHABÉ (Lebanon):
Mr Chairperson, our debate on the twenty-first century is based on the unwarranted
belief that the next century will be better than the present one. This optimistic hypothesis is
itself based upon another hypothesis, namely, that the rich and the powerful are prepared to
sacrifice their own immediate interests for the benefit of a higher long-term interest.
Unfortunately, this is not the case; yet if we wish to build a better world - which is the
ultimate aim of UNESCO - we must plead in favour of a new civilization in which we would
sacrifice ourselves for others and agree to live simply so that others may survive. The rich and
the powerful - States or individuals - would have to decide to give up their own comfort and
to live simply, for the poor have nothing to sacrifice. This way of thinking calls for a change
in attitudes and behaviour, both in UNESCO and in groups of people and individuals, and it
demands courage. If development strategies are to be successful, they must be backed by
strategies which encourage austerity and counter the wastefulness of the rich and the
powerful, thus helping to preserve the security of nations and the world.
352. Mr Chairperson, we speak of the culture of peace and we are endeavouring to
disseminate it, but it has no meaning if it is confined to the concept of war or of peace in the
military sense. Military wars may come to an end, yet peace may not be established; we have
to eliminate the idea of conflict and confrontation in the field of trade, in our attitude towards
nature, in sport and in education generally, because a civilization which relies on competition
in order to conquer, oppress and dominate does not build a better world than that in which we
are living, and it will not have much weight when civilizations are compared on the basis of
the criteria of truth, goodness and beauty. Perhaps it is true that this is only a dream, but we
live in an extraordinary era in which ideas which until recently were regarded as Utopian have
proved to be achievable. Thus, on the basis of what I have just said, we should like UNESCO
first and foremost to invite States to renew the commitment that they made at Rio de Janeiro
to alleviate ignorance, poverty and disease and to assist countries which are victims of natural
disasters and anthropogenic disasters - which are the worst - taking as a model the
achievements of the Scandinavian States in this field. I also invite UNESCO to consider the
voluntary organizations as essential partners in its action for development within its fields of
competence. While stressing the key role of Member States and voluntary organizations, I
should also like to emphasize that of individuals and of the family; individuals have
considerable resources and could play a key role in funding our Organization’s projects and
programmes. The family is itself a pillar in the educational process, and we are greatly
concerned for its future on account of the impact of materialistic societies today. Thus, in
future, some of UNESCO’s programmes should be devoted to protecting the family as an
institution, and its role in society.
353. Mr Chairperson, the United Nations system is one of the great achievements of the
twentieth century. However, the organizations within the system - including UNESCO - have
to be constantly strengthened if their decisions are to be acted upon and if the Member States
are to fulfil their obligations towards those organizations. Yet UNESCO and its Member
States must also understand that UNESCO should not and cannot take the place of the
Member States; it works in areas where the Member States cannot act alone. UNESCO must
remain an institution which is first and foremost concerned with education - education first,
- 66 this must be our slogan today and in the programmes and projects for the coming century. Yet
education does not consist only of projects and programmes, for it is from principles and
ethics that it derives its true meaning.
354. Lastly, Mr Chairperson, it is essential that UNESCO should be a flexible and effective
institution in its methods of work and its vision for the future, and indeed in all its activities,
so as to anticipate problems, for it is much easier to prevent a problem than to have to find a
solution to it. This is the challenge and the starting point for reform. Thank you.
355. The CHAIRPERSON:
I now give the floor to the representative of France.
356. Mr MUSITELLI (France):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Thanks for having organized this worthwhile and
interesting debate. Mr President of the General Conference, Mr Director-General, dear
colleagues, I believe that before commencing our reflection we must adopt the following
premise: that entering the twenty-first century does not change UNESCO’s mission in any
way. One need only reread Article I of the Constitution to measure the extent to which the
objectives it sets out remain highly topical. War, illiteracy, intolerance, the violation of rights,
to which you have extensively referred, are continuing to defy the efforts made by people of
goodwill. But whilst the mission does not change, the context is steadily evolving. It is not the
first time that our Organization has been called upon to adapt to historical changes. There was
decolonization, the East-West confrontation and the end of the Cold War. To frame a strategy,
we must know the context in which it is to be implemented so that it can have the best chance
of obtaining good results. Today, I think the dominant trend in relation to UNESCO’s
mandate is globalization. For that reason, I will focus my statement on this theme since,
moreover, the others have already been excellently illustrated by the speakers who have
preceded me.
357. The onset of globalization - this explosive combination of economic deregulation and
technological innovation - constitutes both an opportunity and a challenge for UNESCO,
which can emerge from it either regenerated or in shreds. Our Organization’s primary mission
is to organize the worldwide sharing of knowledge for the benefit of the greatest number,
beginning with those who are the most deprived. We are confronted, however, with a trend
which is redealing in an awesome way the cards of knowledge on the surface of the planet.
The forces driving this trend are ambivalent. In theory, the dissemination of information and
communication technologies is supposed to put within everyone’s reach, at an affordable
price, tools for learning, creation and communication that could, in particular, meet the needs
of developing countries. In fact, left to its own logic, that of the financial forces which govern
it, globalization leads not so much to the constitution of a common intellectual heritage as to
forms of appropriation, by powerful private interests, of goods that were previously
considered as public. It induces a shrinking of what might be called the world public domain
and if, by any chance, this domain disappeared, UNESCO would no longer have a raison
d’être. To employ the words of Aminata Traoré, Minister of Culture of Mali, who knows what
she is talking about, “suffering, poverty and fear of tomorrow are becoming globalized faster
than the market benefits”.
358. Can UNESCO alter the course of globalization in a direction more in keeping with its
ideal of universalism and its approach based on cooperation? Can it devise a correct usage of
globalization, that avoids both glorification and demonization? In its fields of competence education, science, culture, communication - which constitute by virtue of their interaction the
- 67 strategic crossroads of tomorrow, the Organization would thus help, to use a phrase coined by
the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Hubert Védrine, “to civilize globalization”.
359. UNESCO has therefore everything to gain by making its voice heard more firmly in the
globalized concert. First, by reaffirming, with regard to the purely market approach, the
centrality of culture in every human activity (I prefer to speak of centrality than exception in
cultural matters). To those who reduce culture to its economy, i.e. market shares to be
conquered or mass products that can be endlessly duplicated, it is appropriate to point out that
it is also, and first and foremost, a medium for identity and a vector of development. This
dimension must at all costs be reintroduced into international negotiations. For this to happen
UNESCO must demand in this context a role which it has lost to economic and commercial
institutions. It must not leave the task of deciding the fate of cultural production and
dissemination to WTO alone.
360. Secondly, it is also the job of our Organization to ensure that innovation serves diversity
and not standardization, integration and not exclusion. How can technological change be
prevented from creating a new planetary divide between a handful of over-informed
cybercitizens and the great mass of those who have been left behind? How can the global and
the local be dovetailed so as to avert overall standardization on the one hand and the retreat
into one’s community of origin on the other? It is time to seriously address these questions by
launching a real programme aimed at fostering the entry of the most underprivileged countries
into the information society.
361. Thirdly, UNESCO should endeavour particularly to determine the outlines of a global
public sphere in which unrestricted free access would be guaranteed to the foundations of
knowledge and to the cultural heritage. Globalization tends to bring all sectors of activity
under the sway of market forces. All our fields of competence are concerned. This is true of
education, the first of our priorities, where the demand will be more likely to be met when the
resources are available. The result, of course, is that inequalities between rich and poor
increase instead of being diminished. It is also true of the sciences. We observe that living
matter is becoming more and more a commodity. The distinction between discovery and
invention is becoming blurred; soon the human genome will be patented. Research
laboratories are encouraged to maintain secrecy with a view to possible rights of commercial
exploitation. The decline of the public service media is contributing to the expansion of
pay-as-you-go access to radio and television. These are the risks and they are real. Between
laissez-faire and meddlesome regulation, I believe there is leeway for flexible international
regulation, for codes of conduct negotiated between public and private partners, for rights and
duties managed in keeping with the digital environment. And who better than UNESCO to
take the initiatives that are called for?
362. Of course, to be up to that task our Organization must have at its disposal its full
capacity for action and I should say, as others have said, that it needs to become really
universal once more. The absence of the United States heavily penalizes our institution and I
say that with all the friendship that I feel for our American friends. It deprives UNESCO of
intellectual and financial resources and, above all, it marginalizes it within the multilateral
system. I therefore hope, and perhaps it is a wish for the third millennium, for its beginning in
any case, that the reasons that provoked the departure of the United States are now over and
done with. I hope that it will again occupy in the Organization a position in keeping with its
enormous capabilities.
- 68 363. UNESCO must also restore its force of attraction for the intellectual community that has
waned over time. It is vital that the great names in research, thought and creativity again find
the way back to place Fontenoy, not to make a career there, but to distribute for several years
the best of their expertise.
364. Finally, UNESCO should renovate its structures and its methods of work accordingly; I
will not enlarge upon this point about which you have spoken at length, my dear colleagues. In
short, it will be even more essential tomorrow than it was yesterday to combine enthusiasm
with method. Our Organization can do this; each time that it has blazed new trails - I have in
mind, to take a recent example, the Universal Declaration on the Human Genome - it has
succeeded in making strikingly important and unanimously recognized advances.
365. France hopes that UNESCO will resolutely embark upon this path and will support all
its efforts in this direction because it is convinced that our Organization has an irreplaceable
role to play in the tenaciously pursued building of a better balanced and more equitable world
order, i.e. one that is multipolar and based on solidarity. Thank you.
366. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much, Mr Musitelli. The representative of Japan has the floor.
367. Mr HAYASHI (Japan):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Half a century after the creation of UNESCO, and with the
twenty-first century just around the corner, I should like to point out the importance of
conducting this constructive dialogue on the future of this Organization. Although I think we
have been always talking about the twenty-first century, still I find all the debates so exciting
and interesting.
368. UNESCO is a unique intergovernmental organization, dealing with fundamental areas in
our lives such as education, science, culture and communication. Today many of the issues
faced by humanity are intertwined in a more complex, multifaceted and confusing manner.
That is why UNESCO is expected to play an increasingly important role.
369. One of the greatest challenges which UNESCO will face in the twenty-first century will
be to find the best possible balance between its two major roles. UNESCO should continue to
fulfil its inherent function as an international organization for intellectual cooperation and
carry on implementing international cooperation, in particular in the field of education, which
has been intensified in the last decades.
370. Another challenge is to determine the areas where UNESCO should play a leading role
in order to increase its efficiency within the overall United Nations system. Strengthening
UNESCO’s capacity in the field of intellectual cooperation depends on our ability to rally the
collective wisdom of humanity. We would like to see top scientists, philosophers, artists,
lawyers and journalists get together in UNESCO and send a message from here. To achieve
this, UNESCO should implement concrete activities enhancing its visibility and efficiency.
UNESCO must continue to address the ethical issues related to scientific and technological
development.
371. UNESCO’s primary mission is the creation of a foundation for international peace. It is
vital that we help develop and make the most effective use of all human resources to ensure
economic and social stability and development. In fact education is the base of national
nation-building. I dare say education is more important than industrialization. Education is
more important than agricultural development. Still I do think it would be worthy to
- 69 re-examine from a strategic viewpoint the range of diverse projects which UNESCO has
ambitiously developed and to determine how education can deal with North-South disparity
and poverty.
372. The situation in Kosovo is one example of the frequent regional conflicts which have
plagued the international community since the end of the Cold War. The incidents are
abundant, not only in Kosovo but also in Asia and in Africa. These regional disputes are
related to cultural, religious, ethnic and other historical differences. On the other hand, the
process of globalization spreads across economics, science, information and
telecommunications. We think it is the duty of UNESCO to start the debate about living
together, coexisting peacefully. It is the only way. We must learn, we must respect and we
must go as far as to love the different cultures and, for this purpose, we must study the role of
education.
373. UNESCO must strengthen its cooperation with the National Commissions of each
Member State and with non-governmental organizations and create an expanded base for
support in order to better achieve its mission of promoting international understanding and
peace. The bilateral relations between National Commissions should be expanded.
374. In the next century UNESCO must become a dynamic organization able to effectively
take such initiatives. This is another reason why we must enhance the efficiency and
transparency of its operations and more clearly define its priorities in project implementation.
375. Since the end of the Second World War, Japan has consistently advocated peace. Japan
is committed to an even greater contribution towards reforming UNESCO to help it meet the
challenges of the twenty-first century.
376. In closing, I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm that Japan will cooperate
with all the governments and peoples of UNESCO Member States in order to build an even
better UNESCO. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
377. Mr PAZ ZAMORA (Bolivia):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson, to tell the truth, I have the advantages and disadvantages of
being the last speaker. I had prepared a speech, but I know that if I read it I will be making the
mistake of repeating what others have said already. I have therefore chosen to take what I have
heard into account and to make some complementary remarks. First, I should like to say how
much I appreciate this excellent thematic debate and the idea of holding it. It might have been
better if the thematic debate had come before discussion of the organization of the next
General Conference session, since the thematic debate would have yielded much guidance for
it. But since we decided otherwise, so be it.
378. I should like to note here that our Organization has from the outset been marked by
deep-seated contradiction. It was founded in the immediate post-war period within a United
Nations system whose focus was the quest for peace through confrontation. It was the Cold
War period, and in that adverse context, we were assigned the contrary goal of seeking and
constructing peace in the minds of men. I believe that this is the deep-seated reason why our
Organization has so far been unable to achieve its objectives to the full. I now understand why
that great Director-General René Maheu, on relinquishing his post, spoke of his impression of
gazing powerless from the “cliff” of UNESCO at a stormy sea. And I remember that the only
Latin American Director-General we have had, Jaime Torres Bodet of Mexico, stepped down
because his budget had not been accepted, a somewhat topical problem. How were they going
to accept his budget if the problem was to seek peace through confrontation, while what he
- 70 wanted was a budget to seek peace and construct it in the minds of men? That was
contradictory. But the Cold War has come to an end at last, and we can cast off; our hands are
free. UNESCO has the opportunity to be itself for the first time and we must have the courage
to be ourselves, and being ourselves is no more than to be workers of the mind. UNESCO’s
primary pursuit is the minds of men. To work on the minds of men through its own fields of
competence, to build peace in the minds of men, in the minds of people, in the minds of
others. This is especially so in a twenty-first century in which structures will be very firmly
established and people’s behaviour will be the basic cultural factor in societies. Accordingly,
as Canada is calling on us to rekindle the flame, I too call on you to let us be ourselves for the
first time, workers for peace in the minds of men.
379. But while the Cold War is over, the situation now - as an African representative has
said - is that local wars are breaking out. Peace negotiations are under way in Kosovo and I
wonder, in all humility, what UNESCO, whose objective is peace, is doing now that peace is
being negotiated in Kosovo. There is no doubt that we cannot do anything now because our
task is pre-eminently preventive. We should have been in Kosovo, in Serbia, in the whole of
Yugoslavia, working on the minds of the Serbs, the Kosovars, all the Yugoslavs, to prevent
war from taking hold once more of people’s minds. But we cannot allow any other Kosovo to
take our Organization by surprise in the future. That must be prevented because, with
reference to the budget, we must bear in mind that two-and-a-half months of war in Kosovo
have cost infinitely more than UNESCO’s annual budget.
380. The Cold War is over, but we are faced with the challenge of globalization. Our hands
are free, but we are faced with a challenge and UNESCO has to make qualitative advances in
its fields of competence, namely education, science, culture and information in the context of
globalization. Globalization has bred new needs, and those new needs have bred poverty of a
new kind. The new poverty spawned by globalization in UNESCO’s fields of competence
means that literacy instruction will not suffice now because people who become literate today
in the world of globalization remain poor and continue to be sidelined so long as they do not
attain genuine literacy, which is informatics. The challenge is hence an enormous one. Our
Organization is consequently suffering from a transitional crisis caused by the two
phenomena: the end of the Cold War and globalization. There is a structural crisis and an
institutional crisis, and we have a Director-General who does what is in his power, sometimes
criticized and sometimes not, but in the final analysis I credit him with having taken initiatives
at a time when nothing was clearly defined. Those initiatives include the culture of peace, the
question of the human genome, responsibility towards future generations, the right to peace
and decentralization.
381. With regard to decentralization, our Swedish friends have raised the problem of
visibility and viability. I believe that in Paris we are visible; the cultural events in which our
institution takes part here in Paris are of the highest level and enjoy worldwide visibility. But
we are not visible in the rest of the world and therefore, my Swedish friends, I conclude that
we cannot discuss the visibility of UNESCO without discussing decentralization. But to be
visible to the world, we must be where the world is, where people are. Or to whom do we
wish to be visible? To a world elite? I believe that we want to be visible to people, to the
peoples, and for that we must be where the people are. Let us take the case of Bolivia: hardly
had a UNESCO Office opened there than we observed that all the United Nations agencies
were surprised and somewhat envious of UNESCO in Bolivia because of the enormous
visibility, greater than that of UNDP, UNICEF and other agencies, that our Organization had
gained in the country.
- 71 382. Now what is to be done inside the Organization? Yesterday, thanks to the kindness of
the Chairperson of our Board, we heard the Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.
In my country there is a saying to the effect that “things are hard everywhere, but for us they
are worse”. I realized that the United Nations faces the same problems as UNESCO, but on a
larger scale, and is therefore trying to find a larger-scale solution. We need structural reforms,
we need institutional management reforms, but we also need self-esteem, as the delegate of
Argentina, Mr Massuh, has said. I also agree with the representative of France that we must
renegotiate with the international community to obtain new resources in order to achieve the
objectives of our Organization. In our Organization, we must adopt new criteria for the
recruitment of staff. If we are workers of the mind, staff joining this Organization must have a
vocation to work in people’s minds. They must be inspired and committed to that cause. In
addition to structural changes and anything we may be able to do internally, we need to elect a
Director-General with leadership qualities. We will need structures and we will need
leadership. Both are necessary to give UNESCO greater visibility and to enable it to achieve
its purposes.
383. These are internal matters, but what is to be done outside the Organization?
Mr Chairperson, I believe in the possibility of forging on a world scale the first generation of
peace in the history of humankind, and this must involve education, which, as we have said,
must be an education for peace. But we must also work to combat the cultural depredation of
the world. We must be prepared to handle the universal intermingling that will be the
hallmark of the twenty-first century and is related to the problems of indigenous peoples
mentioned by some African representatives. We also have to make allowance for the
substantially larger part to be played by women in the activities of our societies in the
twenty-first century. Another task ahead is to bring the criteria of peace to bear on matters
relating to religion and national sentiment. Lastly, if we are to secure health, food and
education for the poor peoples of the world, basic educational, health and food technology
must be made part of the universal heritage of humanity. Thank you very much,
Mr Chairperson.
384. Mr DUBEY (India):
Mr Chairperson, like several of the previous speakers, we also believe that UNESCO’s
mandate as given in its Constitution remains as valid today as it was when that Constitution
was adopted. As a matter of fact, with the passage of time, this mandate has acquired greater
relevance and validity. To remind ourselves once again, the basic objective of UNESCO is to
build the defences of peace in the minds of men and women through the application of
education, science and culture. The objective is, perhaps, as elusive as it was 55 years ago
when UNESCO’s Constitution was adopted. As is now widely recognized, this century will
go down as perhaps the most violent century in human history. While the objectives have
remained unchanged, the instrumentalities through which they are being pursued by UNESCO
have undergone revolutionary changes. Education has not only remained an intrinsic value,
but it has also emerged as of great instrumental value. I think its role as an important
instrument for development and the process of production is now widely recognized. Its
potentialities have multiplied manifold and the means it can deploy have also increased and
become more effective. Science and technology have been revolutionized several times during
this century and in turn are changing practically everything around us - not only our physical
and material conditions but also our ethos, values and culture.
385. The modern technological revolution, particularly in micro-electronics, informatics,
space and microbiology has opened up vast opportunities for humankind. Culture has been
transformed most radically in this vortex of change. This has made it more important than
- 72 ever before to preserve old cultural heritages, promote living cultures and deploy culture for
social transformation. Several new facets of the relation between UNESCO’s objective of
democracy, human rights and equality on the one hand and its instrumentalities of education,
science and culture on the other, have been revealed by recent studies and empirical evidence.
There is now increasing evidence of a positive co-relationship between democracy and
development: development is not possible unless it is participatory and it is democracy which
imparts participatory character to development.
386. Globalization poses many challenges for modern societies and hence for UNESCO.
There is increasing evidence that it has accentuated inequalities at most levels, both within
and between nations. The rich have gained at the expense of the poor, the big at the expense
of the small, the urban at the expense of the rural, capital at the expense of labour, and the
affluent at the expense of the deprived. Globalization has led to the homogenization of
cultures based essentially on the dominant mainstream Western culture. The insecurity created
by this phenomenon has resulted in the resurrection of primordial identities, which pose grave
threats to social cohesion and national unity. It is becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile
democracy with nationalism. As a result several societies, particularly in the Third World,
have split apart or are on the verge of doing so. All bases of national unity - like ideology or
majoritarian ethnic and regional identities - are collapsing, and they are yet to be replaced by
new bases of cohesion and stability. A consensus on universal and commonly shared values is
yet to emerge.
387. On the other hand challenges of science and technology juxtaposed against growing
scarcities, inequalities and marginalization are creating new crises of values. Hence the search
for the ethics of water and energy management or biotechnology or patenting of life forms, of
genes and micro-organisms and of dual-purpose technologies. Globalization in its present
form is unfolding at a time when global institutions have been weakened, emasculated and
downsized beyond recognition.
388. Some of the basic Charter roles of the United Nations have been substantially diluted or
simply transferred to institutions outside the United Nations or placed firmly under the control
of major powers by virtue of their voting rights or military power. The essentially holistic
functions of the United Nations, as provided for in the Charter, have all but disappeared. A
systematic attempt has been launched to keep the United Nations confined to the soft areas of
relief, rehabilitation, humanitarian assistance and propagation of certain chosen values, areas
where it is alleged to have a comparative advantage.
389. The United Nations has been kept constantly on the brink of bankruptcy and there are
huge arrears of payment essentially to acquire a leverage of control, not only on the
peacekeeping account, as was wrongly pointed out on the big screen yesterday, but also on the
normal regular budget account. There is now for several years a freeze in nominal terms on
the budgets of the United Nations and its Specialized Agencies, which is basically a means for
controlling the operations of these organizations. It is not correct that this freeze is taking
place against the backdrop of an all-round cut in national budgets all over the world. National
budgets are increasing in many countries. A major nation of the world has only this year
decided to increase its defence budget by $12 billion per annum over the next eight to
ten years to develop new defensive weapon systems and generally to bolster its military
power.
390. The United Nations organizations were designed to be the centres for the harmonization
of national policies and the solving of international problems, but national policies of major
- 73 powers have been put simply outside the pale of the surveillance and discussion by United
Nations organizations, which have now increasingly become forums for doling out
much-reduced and fast-reducing aid and mainly advice to the developing countries on how to
help themselves.
391. Mr Chairperson, it is against this background that we have to discuss UNESCO’s role in
the coming century. The first question is: should we make the present vastly emasculated role
and functions of United Nations organizations our point of departure, as most of our
colleagues from developed countries have advised us to do, or should we still try to restore the
original Charter functions of the United Nations and plan for dynamic and growing - no doubt
in real terms - United Nations organizations. I do not have the time to go into UNESCO’s
priorities and plans, but I will mention very briefly just a few.
392. We share the view that UNESCO had spread itself out somewhat too thinly. Sometimes
it is moved by the desire simply to climb on the bandwagon set rolling by others. These
activities should be identified and weeded out and there should be greater concentration on
UNESCO’s unique and principal domain of activity, which is education. And within
education, as we have repeatedly pointed out, we attach the highest importance to the
universalization of basic education. We also believe that high priority should be attached to
human resources development in the widest sense of the term and to capacity-building in areas
where developing countries have inherent disadvantages and where there is a real danger of
their being marginalized.
393. Cultural pluralism poses one of the greatest challenges to modern societies. UNESCO
should continue to explore the ways and means of meeting this challenge. Finally, UNESCO
should continue to function as the chosen forum within the United Nations system to explore
and inculcate the values which bind the human race together, which make for our essential
humanity. These are the values of compassion, fellow-feeling, togetherness and non-violence.
These virtually define the culture of peace. In these and other areas UNESCO’s effectiveness
will depend upon how it combines its efforts with those of other organizations of the United
Nations system while confining itself to its chosen instrumentalities of education, science and
culture. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
394. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will meet again at 3 p.m. to resume the debate.
The first speaker will be Mr Bavu, followed by the Director-General, who will speak prior to
the adoption of a decision.
- 74 395. The CHAIRPERSON:
I declare the twelfth meeting open. We are going to resume our debate on items 10.2
and 10.6. I now give the floor to the last speaker on the list, the representative of the United
Republic of Tanzania.
396. Mr BAVU (United Republic of Tanzania):
Mr Chairperson, dear colleagues, the founders of UNESCO had thought that by
intervening in the development of the human mind, the world could eliminate ignorance,
ignorance of each other’s way of life and could reduce suspicion and mistrust between people
and amongst people. How has UNESCO’s programmes affected human behaviour of the
world so far? Is the increase in socio-political conflicts worldwide to be taken as a failure of
the delivery part of the Organization? Or, is it a suggestion of an unfinished business?
Because of the limitations in UNESCO’s programmes as a result of its meagre resources, it
could be said that there is still a large part of the world population which has yet to be reached
by UNESCO’s programmes, or which may not have received an adequate dose of those
programmes. Illiteracy and therefore ignorance are still on the increase. This is a major
challenge, Mr Chairperson, when we are closing our accounts of the twenty-first century. In
short, the question is whether or not UNESCO has done enough and can do enough due to its
limited resources.
397. Adequacy of resources is therefore a critical question in the success or failure of the
Organization. Adequacy of resources, Mr Chairperson, requires prioritization of programmes
and activities. It requires economies in the use of resources available. It also requires taking
into account other factors which are outside the control of the management.
398. The twenty-first century, Mr Chairperson, is just around the corner. Decisions of the
dawn of the century would have a long-lasting consequence on the coming century. The
programmes of the twenty-first century, as far as we are concerned, have already been defined
by this Board, with a tight structure on the availability of resources. Ironically, the proponents
of limited budgets for the Organization and the United Nations system are ready to spend
much, much more on the fight for peace when peace is at stake. Contrary to the saying that
prevention is better than cure, or war of prevention is cheaper than fighting wars. Costs
involved are greater and have greater implications. We are tempted here to quote the adage:
“If education is expensive, then try ignorance”. Yesterday, the Assistant Secretary-General of
the United Nations told us of another word of wisdom: “We very much believe in value for
money, but without money, we cannot get value”.
399. Mr Chairperson, now we will attempt to enumerate a selected list of challenges of
UNESCO in the twenty-first century. This will be in the form of questions of which we have
no answers. The world community is witnessing a major change in international relations in
the areas of economics and social development. The catchword today is globalization, in
which it was once observed, there is the globalizer and the globalized. This intended
consequence is contributing the more to the widening of the gap between the poor, the
globalized, and the rich, the globalizer, in all areas - economics, technology, information,
trade, etc.
400. At the same time, Mr Chairperson, the illiteracy rate, as pointed out earlier, is on the
increase, both the classic forms of illiteracy and the new forms commonly known as
functional illiteracy. In their attempts to bridge the above-mentioned gaps, the poor countries
find themselves increasing the debt burden which strangles their economies. Concomitantly,
the poor become poorer and the rich become richer. In this context, dear colleagues, how can
- 75 we build the defences of peace? Of late, we have been witnessing the evolution of
regionalization as a strategy to obtain balance of power. However, there is an unintended
consequence also: the demise of the State and the emergence of collectivism in
decision-making which results in some kind of desperation by the smaller States within the
regional group.
401. At the international scene, we see the development of super-regional blocs, which like
collectivism contribute to the domination of the small within the group and the poor at the
international level. Within this same environment, the question of culture comes to light,
whether what we see developing is cultural integration, or cultural domination. Or
information, whether there is free flow of information in the information superhighways. How
do we reach the unreached? Include the excluded? When problems of prerequisites for active
participation, costs of communication and the acquisition of knowledge are yet to be resolved.
402. These, ladies and gentlemen, are in our view, some of the questions which form part of
the list of challenges facing UNESCO in the twenty-first century. Some of these questions
may not be directly related to the fields of competence of the Organization, but certainly they
do constitute the turbulent environment in which our Organization operates, and have
therefore to be borne in mind. It is here that we would like to caution the Board in the
consideration of the proposal concerning the virtual task force. We certainly support the idea
of the task force but it should not be of a nature to exclude those who are not active players on
the information superhighways. Mr Chairperson, I thank you.
403. The CHAIRPERSON:
Ladies and gentlemen, I now give the floor to the Director-General.
404. The DIRECTOR-GENERAL:
Mr Chairperson, ladies and gentlemen, distinguished Members of the Executive Board,
first of all, I would like to tell you that I have been following this debate very attentively
because it is so important for the future of the Organization. In accordance with your request
to the Secretariat, I have provided you with document INF.6, in which we have drawn the
attention of the Members of the Board to various existing publications, reports and documents
that could help you in your reflection on UNESCO in the twenty-first century. I would very
much like to tell you, Mr Chairperson, precisely because I wish this exercise to be a success,
that this debate has been very inspiring. I think that perhaps the first thing that you should do
now is to make an analysis of what has been said around the table, because there were very
interesting points made, very interesting convergences, very interesting divergences and also
very interesting initiatives. I think that the Members of the Board will also be aware that in
1991, a proposal was made to have a forum of reflection, the ad hoc forum, as it was called.
That was a German initiative, approved by a resolution of the General Conference in
November 1991, followed by a decision of the Executive Board in May 1992, and another
decision in October 1992. It had 18 members who were very distinguished personalities. I
think that we must learn from what happened - what was positive, what was not so positive and the follow-up finally given to this ad hoc forum of reflection. Mr Chairperson, I think
there are some points of general agreement. The most important one is that our Constitution is
the most audacious and most inspiring document that we have today before us. This is
because it was written at a time in which there was human tension and passion, so it was
absolutely indispensable to really look forward and to have this far-sightedness. Today, very
often, we are quite short-sighted and we are perhaps unable to see the trees for the forest.
- 76 405. There are some issues on which I can say there has been unanimity. The first is our
mission in relation to peace. I have noted particularly the interventions of Ukraine, Thailand
and New Zealand to the effect that the best we can do is promote a culture of peace with
increased visibility. The distinguished representative of New Zealand raised the two questions
that we have been considering in the Executive Board yesterday and today. In other words
what must we do in the future, what are the challenges, how can we make our action more
visible? I have also taken note of the interventions of the distinguished representatives of
Bangladesh and of India. India said that the values of togetherness, of non-violence and of
tolerance are the essence of this mission of peace-building. Democracy is no doubt also one of
these points of general agreement, as are education for human rights and education for
citizenship. There is no genuine democracy if there is no participation, if there is no full
citizenship, and this, as you know, is one focus of our efforts, particularly in the education
field. The department on education for a culture of peace concerns precisely education for
human rights, non-violence and tolerance at all levels. I must emphasize that this is not only
for children. Sometimes we give the impression that education for human rights is only for
schoolchildren. It is for all countries, not only for the developing countries.
406. Yesterday, in the meeting that we had on human rights, we learned how many countries,
although they have signed the human rights declaration, afterwards do not behave accordingly.
We must not forget, Mr Chairperson, that many countries today still have this shame that is
capital punishment. How can we go on talking about human rights if some of these countries
still have capital punishment? This makes it clear that when we talk about democracy and
education for human rights and citizenship, we are talking for all levels, not only for schools.
We must have solidarity, intellectual and moral solidarity. I think that is another point on
which we all agree: solidarity in the case of UNESCO must be the expression of what we are.
We are a group of representatives of intellectuals, of artists, of teachers, of professors, of
scientists, therefore it must be intellectual and moral solidarity, in the beautiful and powerful
words of our Constitution. There must also be freedom of expression. There is nothing, there
is no justice if there is no freedom of expression. I have been in so many countries in which
there is the rule of law, but if there is no freedom of expression, the law is unjust. There is the
rule of law, there is legality, but there is no justice. We must therefore have freedom of
expression in an ethical forum, as was said by the distinguished representative of Germany, a
place in which we can uplift human dignity, tolerance and interculturality, in a forum of
discussion, a place where all cultures can express themselves without submission. This is very
important.
407. It is very important that we keep this specific feature of UNESCO. We are not a council
of administration, which people must follow, without any opportunity to discuss the decisions
that are adopted. We are an intellectual and ethical forum. I was happy to see that the
distinguished representative of Togo mentioned “UNESCO, an ideal in action”. I recommend
this book to the group, and particularly to the task force, because it contains my reflections on
our Constitution, the Preamble and Article I of our Constitution. It is a meditation, a reflection
on UNESCO as an ideal in action and I hope that it will provide some food for thought for
some of the members of this task force who perhaps are not very familiar with UNESCO. I
consider that we must now go further, inspired by our Constitution. We must not now reinvent
our Constitution, or some of our missions will be, I can assure you, less audacious and less
imaginative than this wonderful text. We also have the very important Medium-Term Strategy
and the resolution of the General Conference adopted in 1995. I think sincerely that the
transition from a plan to a strategy has been one of the high moments of this Organization.
Many organizations are still making a plan. You remember the plan; now we have a strategy.
Now we are more flexible. We can listen to the countries, not apply to them decisions made
- 77 six years before. We also have some important Board decisions concerning the intangible
heritage, and concerning the Tashkent Declaration.
408. It is very clear that you all agree on education for all: not just basic education, but
education for all and all education for all. I have repeated this many times, but I should still
like to quote what the former President of the United Republic of Tanzania said to us, in 1988.
He said, “Basic education for the developing countries? No thank you. We need all kinds of
education. We need access to education, education for all throughout life”. And this is exactly
what we decided all together in Jomtien in 1990. If we want, as Mr Bavu has just said, to
include the excluded and to reach the unreached, then education is what we must promote. We
must give guidance. We must not implement this fundamental right ourselves. This is for the
Member States to do, and they must do it from their budgets. I have said many times: “Do not
ask for loans, you will be indebted afterwards and maybe unable to reimburse the money that
you have received as a loan”. Education is a fundamental right and we must offer guidance,
select the best experience and disseminate it, as we have done. What is happening in the most
populous developing countries in the world at this moment is a very big success, with some
exceptions, which are Pakistan and Nigeria. I hope they will improve in the future.
409. The emphasis is thus on education for all throughout life, on endogenous
capacity-building, an ethical framework at the world level, as the distinguished representative
from Argentina has said, on advice and guidance to the Member States, as the Russian
Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs pointed out, on cultural diversity, multilingualism, the
environment, and international standards and global indicators, as was noted by the delegate
of the United Kingdom. I repeat that our advice in this case is always that all the segments of
the education system must be present and must be paid mainly from the States’ own budgets.
The central role of culture was emphasized by Ambassador Musitelli, and la centralité is an
expression that I think is worth remembering. The only way to face the market is to increase
creativity. Others would say that this distinctive capacity of human beings to create is our
great hope. The market must not guide human beings; human beings must guide the market
with their wisdom. The world would not create UNESCO today, because to create something
like this Organization you must know the turmoil of war, of genocide. The distinguished
representative of South Africa has been talking about this, which I think is very important. We
take peace for granted today. We take freedom and water and electricity and food for granted.
We take too many things for granted, because people do not know, as I know, the meaning of
war, violence, torture and lack of freedom. I have witnessed such situations on your behalf,
and I must tell you to be careful not to take these things for granted. We are talking in a
peaceful environment, we have electricity and we have drinking water.
410. None of these things can be taken for granted today. The world needs sharing to avoid
poverty and exclusion. This is not up to UNESCO. It is up to the different Member States, and
the parliaments of these Member States, to realize that without sharing we will have more
poverty, more exclusion, more terrorism at international level. We might reduce the machine
of war and honour our commitments. We have not honoured our commitments, we have not
honoured what we decided in Copenhagen in 1995. We have not honoured what we decided at
the Earth Summit in 1992. We have not honoured our promises. Perhaps, now, one of the first
things for our future, with all these challenges, will be to start honouring our promises, and
what we have decided. The world needs to stop practices that are leading to the widening of
the gap between the rich and the poor, the vicious circle of loans and reimbursements. Many
developing countries are rich in resources, with very good people, but they cannot live with
40 per cent of their budget paid out for debt service. A practical measure that should be
adopted is the cancellation of debt, with a focus on nutrition, health and justice. These,
- 78 Mr Chairperson, are concrete ways of addressing the problems that we have. Otherwise, we
will once more produce some very nice decisions, and give some very nice advice, but nothing
will happen if the countries that have the more important responsibility do not have the
commitment to share more, to honour what they have promised. In this connection I must pay
tribute to Denmark, Netherlands and the Nordic countries for what they are doing. They are
effectively making their promises a reality. But apart from these exceptions, this is not being
done.
411. We talked about codes of conduct. Yesterday, Ms Robinson was talking to us about the
code of conduct of the multinationals. Of course codes of conduct would be very good
because the present situation is a scandal. So many countries have natural resources but these
natural resources are exploited by multinationals. There must be some code of conduct. But
will this code of conduct be observed? That is the problem. And on what authority will it be
observed? The only authority that exists at the international level is the United Nations
system. Is the United Nations system being reinforced, or not? Do we or do we not want to
have the United Nations as an international legal framework? Do we have this framework? If
we do not have it then we cannot be surprised that we do not have this possibility of finding
real solutions. If we are deciding here that education is the solution, then why are budgets
being reduced, progressively? We do not want to assume the responsibilities of the Member
States, but at least to be a catalyst for education in the different countries. The world should
not stand by and watch the United Nations being weakened.
412. The world should not accept more delays to development, to peace-building. I must tell
you that, very recently, I saw the new paradigm of development of the World Bank and, on
behalf of UNESCO, I rejected it. For more than 40 years, we have been talking about new
paradigms of development In the 1960s it was integral, then endogenous. Please, stop! Now
we have another paradigm of development. But where are the funds for development? For
endogenous development, to promote inner development? The day before yesterday, there was
another ECOSOC meeting against poverty, organized with the best intentions. But I have seen
the document. It is the same again: as there is poverty and hunger, we are going to provide
fertilizers. With these fertilizers, things will be better. But who will pay for the fertilizers?
And we are going to provide vaccines, in order to improve health. But who will provide them?
All this makes the machine of the richest countries of the world work better. If this is a
donation, it is welcome. But if it is not, the result will be that instead of really tackling the
roots of poverty, we shall find, 10 years later, that we are even worse off than we are today.
413. Concerning education, it is said in this document that what we need is basic education
and literacy. What about scientific development? What about secondary education and skills
learning? What about these? What about the results of UNESCO’s Conference in Hamburg?
Why are we not consulted? You remember that we took a very important decision in
Hamburg. We have said, “Be careful, literacy is only one part of adult education”. I have now
read with great interest this document on the flame of peace by the distinguished delegation of
Canada, with the very interesting concept of human security. The meeting that took place on
this concept of human security on 20 May in Norway, offers one perspective on human
security, but there are many important aspects that are not covered because the text prepared is
a summary. In the summary, there is not a single mention of the culture of peace, of
democracy or of human rights. Here I must warn you about one thing, and that is that the
security of peace is what we want, not the peace of security. Many people around this table
know very well what I mean. They know very well what it means when security is decided on
by the big brothers in their own countries. There is peace then, but this peace is silence, the
negation of human rights. We must be very careful, if we wish to act on any of these very
- 79 interesting points. I have read all the original document, and I consider that it makes some
very interesting points. But we must, from the very beginning, say that what we want is the
security that is the result of peace, democracy and freedom of expression, as stated in
UNESCO’s Constitution. We must be very careful not to focus on the external aspects of
security, the external aspects of judgement, and concentrate on what is ethical and what is not.
The different countries have their own capacity, and we in UNESCO, in 1992, suggested the
two criteria for determining when the Blue Helmets could usefully intervene: in the case of a
massive violation of human rights or lack of government.
414. Mr Chairperson, my conclusion is very clear: democracy, democracy, democracy. As
you know, in 1991, in Montevideo, in Uruguay, we started with a meeting on democracy and
development. Then in Prague, on development and culture, with Vaclav Havel. And then in
Tunis, on education for democracy, in Montreal, on education for democracy and human
rights. And then on the island of Contadora in Panama we started this process concerning
democracy and poverty, democracy and government, and democracy in general, culminating
in the summit in Brasilia, with the President of Brazil. Then we met in Maputo, in Africa. At
all these meetings we reached very interesting conclusions. I fully agree with Amartya Sen
that democracy is the solution and that democracy-building is the best way to fight against
poverty and against all the diseases that we have, this lack of values, this lack of an ethical
framework. UNESCO promotes a culture of peace and, as the distinguished representative of
Côte d’Ivoire said: the culture of peace is the leaven of our programmes, the link that binds
them all together and their ultimate goal. I think that this is exactly what we want, in fact, as
you know, for me the best conclusion of the Stockholm meeting, and it is absolutely relevant
to this vision of the future of UNESCO, is that the supreme expression of culture is our
everyday behaviour: the way we behave every day defines our culture today. And therefore, if
we really want to have this democracy leading to this peaceful coexistence, with respect and
tolerance of others as well as togetherness, we must have freedom of expression, we must
have women playing a full role, not a secondary role, not a complementary role: we must talk
about parity without any kind of reservation. We must have the teachers and we must have the
media with us too.
415. I recommend you to take a look at the two declarations adopted with the media, the
press, television and audiovisual producers in Puebla in 1997 and in Panama, last year. I have
some interesting recent examples, because some of the Members of the Board do not know
any examples of the culture of peace in action. One of these is the Balkans history textbook.
This is one of the projects that I really like. The 10 countries in the Balkans have agreed to
meet in Gotland in Sweden next September. They can do as has already been done in Peru and
Ecuador and as is being done now in Central Europe, at the Lublin centre. To the extent that
we are able to write a kind of history of disarmament and of good neighbourliness, I think that
we shall be able to make some progress.
416. Mr Chairperson, yesterday you saw Ms Fréchette. One of the things of which she is in
charge is the Millennium Assembly. As you know, we have already submitted proposals. All
these documents are at your disposal. They concern four new contracts which I have already
mentioned to you, but I think that now is a good moment to suggest that you use these
suggestions as elements of your reflection on a new social contract for the twenty-first
century, involving the eradication of poverty and the reduction of inequalities. The
Ambassador of Germany, Mr Derix, touched on this in the context of learning societies and
including the excluded. These are the three main points that we have developed with a view to
new social contracts for the twenty-first century. The second concerns a planetary contract for
the twenty-first century, a commitment towards our global environment, towards sustainable
- 80 development involving the future of the planet, the future of the species. The third one is a
cultural contract for the twenty-first century, promoting cultural pluralism, the world heritage,
culture and development. Finally, the fourth new contract concerns a culture of peace in the
twenty-first century, a new political and ethical contract for the twenty-first century,
promoting peace, dialogue and tolerance, democratic culture and governance, the role of the
United Nations system, anticipation and the ethics of the future.
417. What are the main challenges, Mr Chairperson? I will not comment in detail, but I am
thinking in particular of the distinguished representative of Kenya and Chairperson of the
PX Commission, who made a very good summary on the subject of poverty. The
distinguished representative of the United Kingdom also referred to the exclusion caused by
illiteracy. Mr Bavu, this afternoon has again spoken of inequalities, of the exploitation of
natural resources by foreign enterprises. The dependence of many countries, which before was
political, and then technological, today is very often financial. They are not independent, they
are in conflict. All these are the challenges we are facing today, at the end of the century.
Professor Bavu, you have just spoken of our “turbulent environment”. The real situation has
been emphasized by the Indian delegate in great detail. What is the real situation, when we are
saying we must fight poverty and provide education for all, we must concentrate on this?
What is the real situation? The real situation is that there is a decrease in ODA, a decrease in
UNDP funds, a decrease in the budget of the United Nations system, of United Nations
institutions and agencies, and an increase in debt service and in military R&D. This is the real
situation. Just at the time when our resources are decreasing every day, we are saying that we
are going to fight against poverty and that we are going to fulfil all our missions, not only
UNESCO but the system as a whole.
418. What tools do we have in this context? Our tools are the National Commissions. As you
know, in recent years particularly they have received quite a lot of funds for equipment, and
today they are better equipped than they were before. But when I listen to some of the
comments sometimes I think perhaps it is not realized that most of our proposals are the result
of a very costly process of consultation with the National Commissions. Efficient
decentralization, in my view, is one of our tools. We must be represented in the field with all
the other representatives of the United Nations system. Yesterday, Ms Fréchette said that at
the national level it is very important to have good cooperation, but we cannot cooperate if we
are not there. If we are not in the kitchen, I repeat, we cannot help bake the cake. To
cooperate, you must be there. The teachers’ associations also constitute an excellent tool.
UNESCO has very good contacts with them and they represent an immense asset for us. I
must pay tribute to Mary Futrell here today. She has been one of the most inspiring persons
that we have worked with in recent years. The network of the Associated Schools, the network
of Man and the Biosphere reserves, and the more than 5,000 UNESCO Clubs must all be
taken into account. They are an immense force that sometimes we completely disregard. Also
very important are the declarations that we have adopted, for example on the human genome
and the protection of future generations, and the new partnerships. I sincerely think that the
new partnerships should be one of the most important aspects of the implementation of this
suggestion concerning the flame. If the flame must now be revived, we need to have all these
new partners that we are so fortunate to have. Non-governmental organizations and
intergovernmental organizations are very important and becoming ever more important, as are
parliaments, the media, ombudsmen, and particularly mayors.
419. This brings us to the increased visibility of the Organization. Mr Chairperson, I very
much appreciated the contribution of the distinguished representative of Sweden, Mr Gunnar
Nilsson, because he provoked a debate. He forced us to review what we are doing, and how
- 81 we are doing it. I think sincerely that this is a very difficult issue that to a very large extent
depends on you and not on UNESCO. We can promote, we can set some general patterns, we
can make announcements to promote general kits for the press, for CNN, for example, which
quite often gives us coverage. The quality of the press kits has improved. Now we have radio
programmes in some countries, which are very satisfied with them. But there are many things
that must be improved. We have a website, which is very important. The problem is always
how to move on from making general statements to concrete measures to put them into
practice.
420. You remember that many years ago I told the Members of the Executive Board the
anecdote about the centipede. As he had so many legs, he went to see the wisest of all the
animals, the lynx, and said: “Can you tell me how to sort out this problem of having so many
legs? It is confusing”. The lynx, after some reflection, said “You must become a quadruped.
This is the best thing you can do, because a quadruped can do very well, it is very dynamic”.
And he left and said, “That’s wonderful, now I know what I must do. I must become a
quadruped. But he has told me what to do, but not how”. So he went back to the lynx and said,
“Well my good lynx, you have told me what I must do but not how I must do it”. And the
lynx said, “This is not my problem. I am a policy-maker”. This is to tell you that we try to
implement as many things as we can, but the problem with others is how to do them. It is
sometimes easier at the country level, than at UNESCO. For example, this morning, the
distinguished representative from Yemen was saying that in his country there is a lot of
confusion between UNICEF and UNESCO. I can assure you that I am not going to come to
Yemen to clarify this. This is your role, the role of your National Commissions. If Yemenites
cannot clarify this in Yemen, how can I do it from UNESCO? And in the same way, the
distinguished representative of the United Arab Emirates said that people do not know what
UNESCO does in the Arab-speaking world. I do not share your view. If you talk with your
neighbour, the representative for Egypt, I can assure you that you will find that in Egypt most
people know what UNESCO does very well, they are very aware. They know about the
literacy campaigns, the Nubian campaign, the library of Alexandria project. I think that
Morocco will not agree with you, and nor will Lebanon. Very briefly, I think it is very
important for all of us to know that although visibility is essential, it is very difficult to
achieve, because we are in competition with so many other institutions.
421. When you address this problem of visibility in the task force please take advice from the
people who know how to do this in practical terms. It may also help to have some
consultations, because some of the different activities of the Organization, for example the
World Conference on Higher Education, have had extremely good coverage, particularly in
Latin America. This is because we have a very good network called Redepaz in Latin
America. The same thing is true of coverage of our work on the very delicate issue of
paedophilia, as Mr Nilsson recognized. The meeting of ministers of education of Africa was
also well covered. I am very concerned that the countries of Africa should know the impact
that their meeting has had in many countries. Some of their conclusions already have had an
impact in Latin America. This is the press book, containing the press reviews of the
publications issued by the future-oriented studies unit. As you can see, it is quite substantial,
but I will not go into details. I think that the report of Mr Nilsson was very balanced. In the
case again of child pornography, the Gothenburg Observatory has had quite a lot of good
coverage. We have now had more than 200 minutes coverage on CNN. These are indications
of the visibility of UNESCO in the Member States. You see that in some Member States, we
are more visible because the National Commissions of these Member States are more active,
because they have some people who are able to do this very well. For example, in the Russian
Federation, you have Professor Kapitza. Professor Kapitza is a man who is very well-known
- 82 and he appears on television very often. UNESCO has also had a UNESCO week in the
Russian Federation. This was on their initiative. What I mean is that this matter is in your
hands rather than in mine. The development of interpretation and translation in Azerbaijan is
also encouraging.
422. I would also like to say a few words on anticipation. Prospective studies that can be
utilized for the task force include the Delors report, the Pérez de Cuéllar report, and the
biennial reports on education, on science, on communication, on information, and on culture.
This year, the social and human science report will be issued. We have the unit on
future-oriented studies and various world conferences organized by UNESCO. I think that
they were very forward-looking, and some were held very recently. The declarations adopted
in Paris on higher education, in Seoul on vocational training and in Budapest on science, will
all provide very important material on future challenges and how to face them. Another aspect
I consider has been very important and could be taken up is the widening of the concept of
heritage. You have already added the intangible heritage. I think this is very important. This
can have an immense impact, and the intangible heritage, as has been said by the
distinguished representative of the Côte d’Ivoire, is particularly relevant. I need say no more
about the declaration on bioethics, the commission on ethics, or the different positions that
have been taken by UNESCO concerning the human genome.
423. Why, then, are we so invisible? Because our work is preventive. I would like to quote
something that Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said when he was
appointed: next century will be the century of prevention. I hope it will, but this will make our
role even more difficult and this is why I think that the provocative statement of Mr Nilsson
was so important, because the more successful we are in prevention, the more invisible we
will be. I consider that in building the defences of peace, as was said by the distinguished
member of New Zealand, Mr Marshall, three elements are most important, and all three of
them are invisible: education, freedom of expression and teacher training. These are three
pillars, but how can I make any of them visible? I can make the pyramids or the sphinx of
Giza, or Machu Picchu more visible, but it is difficult to give a high profile to our success in
bringing together the journalists of Greece and Turkey or to this wonderful creation of
opportunities for professors of countries in conflict to meet together. All these things are
invisible. What we have done for many years for the liberation movements is also invisible.
424. Ladies and gentlemen, for many years UNESCO was not very popular in some countries
because we were supporting and helping the liberation movements, ANC, for example, of
South Africa. For so many years, we were supporting its activities from Dar es Salaam within
the limits of our possibilities. We have done the same, as you know, with other liberation
movements. Member States, tell us what you think about UNESCO in your country. Tell us
what is happening. What do you think about your National Commissions? If you have a field
unit, about the visibility of UNESCO in your country? About the priorities in your countries?
This morning, the distinguished representative of Indonesia spoke of the art of listening. We
have introduced this art of listening in UNESCO, and I think it is extremely important.
Audience Africa is an example, Focus on the Caribbean is another example, Focus on the
Pacific another. The Member States are absolutely right. It is not up to me, it is up to them to
tell us what their distinguishing features are. I think that if we can listen better, it will be
wonderful for the future of the Organization. Yesterday, Mr Chairperson, I was quite
impressed with one of the statements, in which the distinguished representative of Belgium
told us that we must dare. I was very happy, because I thought he was going to say that we
were going to reduce the number of the Members of the Board. But no, what he suggested was
to reduce the Secretariat and the number of my advisers, my personal advisers. We must be
- 83 consistent. I think sincerely that until now, when you have wanted to introduce reforms, you
have always tried to reform the Secretariat, not to reform yourselves. You must try to reform
yourselves. For example, would it not be wonderful if, when I describe to you what the
Secretariat has done, Members of the Board in return described what they have done in their
region during this period, what has happened. Has visibility improved? Has support for
education improved in their countries? This will really be UNESCO, because UNESCO is the
Secretariat and you, but particularly it is you. We exist only to be at your service. Therefore, if
the only reforms were to reduce the number of the staff and reduce the number of my advisers
I would pay tribute to them, I would be very happy with them. But I think that it would be
very good if every six months, the Member States too were to present the results of the
activities of UNESCO in their areas of competence.
425. The distinguished representative of New Zealand has said it would be wonderful if we
had a smaller Executive Board, based on a regional approach. I think that all these things
should be carefully studied, because, sincerely, I think it is not going too far to say today that
this vision of the future that we have involves making do with less money, with fewer people.
Some important proposals have been made: improve networking, said Uganda; inculcation of
values, said the representative of Barbados. There is also the priority of water. We must share
more. We must be courageous enough to stop the immense machine of war that we have
today. I was recently, as I have already told you, at a meeting in Atlanta of the United States
Physical Society, where the Chairperson said that the main problem is inertia. We are unable
to stop this immense machine. We must try, because we cannot make progress if present
trends continue, which, as I have already told you, are leading to more poor, to more
emigrants, to more challenges and problems for peace in the world. We should be able to tell
the young people that we will honour our promises. I would very much like to say this to my
granddaughters. My eldest granddaughter is 16 years old and I am not able to look her in the
eye because we are not doing any of the things we said we would, for example, in Agenda 21
and the commitments of Copenhagen. We must honour our promises and then we can tell our
children and grandchildren that we are humanizing the planet. Yesterday, at the end of our
fantastic meeting, Professor Mireille Marti said that, finally, all our efforts every day must be
to try to humanize our planet progressively more and more. To build peace with the word was
what the distinguished representative of Lithuania said. Yes, this is the problem. Do we want
the sword or the word? We must not be silent. I request all the Members of the Board not to
be silent, to tell the world that we must change, that present trends are not helpful; that we can
change, and the only way to do this is to be, as the distinguished representative of Egypt has
said, the mind of the United Nations.
426. I will conclude with a quotation from Winston Churchill, who said that the empires of
the future would be the empires of the mind. This is why I, Mr Chairperson, fully support any
reflection you can undertake in the future. I thought I could share with you some of my
reflections and my wish for the task force to be very successful. But at the same time, I
consider that we must not forget that many very important things have been said around the
table of the Executive Board during these last two days.
427. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you, Mr Director-General. Although the list of speakers is closed, I shall with
your permission give the floor to the representative of Belgium, who was referred to in the
Director-General’s statement.
- 84 428. Mr van HOUTTE (Belgium):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I asked for the floor because I think that although I tried to
be clear yesterday I have been misunderstood by the Director-General and perhaps also by
certain colleagues. I should simply like to stress that I never at any time asked either for the
Secretariat or for financial resources to be cut back. All I said was that the level of staff and
financial resources should correspond to the work we ask UNESCO to do, which is not at all
the same thing. It could mean an increase in the level of staffing in the Secretariat, its
maintenance at the same level, or its reduction. In any case I never asked that the number of
Secretariat officials should be reduced. Thank you.
429. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much for making that point, which will of course be reflected in the
summary records.
430. Dear colleagues, we have come to the end of this debate, during which we have heard
statements from 37 speakers and also from the Director-General. I should like to thank those
who took part in the debate. It was, I think, a most interesting and important debate, and I am
particularly happy to have heard such frank and courageous questions being asked. Of course,
Mr Director-General, far from being pioneers we are continuing a long tradition, but I think it
is sometimes useful to ask questions, in a different way, as the Board wished to do, and
although we take as our basis what has been done and what has been said before, it is
important that we should say what we think too. I therefore wish to thank the Board for this
very worthwhile debate, and to thank the Director-General for expressing himself very frankly
too.
431. Dear colleagues, we shall have to adopt a decision when we conclude this debate. I think
one point has emerged from our debate which has received unanimous support. This is the
proposal made by Canada and supported by a very large number of representatives and by the
Director-General too, concerning the establishment of a working group or task force to
continue this process of reflection. The question I should like to ask you now, since everyone
is in agreement on the establishment of this task force, is what form it should take. Some are
of the opinion that it should be the General Conference that establishes the task force, as
according to the Constitution it is the General Conference that determines the Organization’s
policies and main lines of work, which means that the Board should recommend to the
General Conference that it set up such a task force. For others - and this view was also
expressed during the debate - the task force should be set up by the Board itself. I should like
to have the Board’s views on this point. I give the floor to the representative of Belgium.
432. Mr van HOUTTE (Belgium):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I do indeed, like most other Board Members, agree with the
idea of a working group or task force, which in my opinion should be set up by the Executive
Board in order to be able to start work as quickly as possible and report to the Executive
Board at its next session if possible, so that the General Conference will be able to discuss the
question of UNESCO in the twenty-first century at its 30th session and take a decision at its
31st session, in 2001. The Director-General has explained that there was a similar working
group in 1991 or 1992, composed of 18 members. That seems a good idea to me. I suggest
that the 18 members of the working group should be chosen by the six electoral groups, with
three members from each group. I feel it is essential that the group should be open, by which I
mean that, in addition to the 18 members who would have the right to vote, any Member State
of UNESCO which was interested could come and put its ideas forward, although the task
force itself would consist of only 18 Member States. As far as the experts are concerned, I
- 85 should like to be sure that they could either be members of Permanent Delegations or people
who have no connection with the delegations at all. It seems to me that it should be for the
Member States making up the group of 18 themselves to choose the expert who will represent
them.
433. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you. The representative of Saudi Arabia has the floor.
434. Mr RASHEED (Saudi Arabia):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I join with the representative of Belgium in saying that the
working group must be an offshoot of the Executive Board; furthermore, I believe that it
should be a select group consisting not of three persons per group but one per group. I believe,
in addition, that the Secretariat should participate in the working group. Finally, I hope that
the work of the group will provide all the necessary elements and, above all, that it will set
forth the goals and purposes of this effort that we are making to ensure the visibility of
UNESCO in our country.
435. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you. I now give the floor to the representative of Egypt.
436. Mr SALEH (Egypt):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. The proposal of the representative of Belgium is excellent;
in addition I endorse the views of the representative of Germany with regard to the
contribution of outside experts to the group. I propose that the number of group members
should in fact be limited - perhaps two members or a single member per group, in addition to
the outside experts, so that the total number does not exceed twelve. Also, given the number
and great significance of the statements to which this debate has given rise, I propose that the
Secretariat summarize these statements and provide a list of the areas of agreement in a single
volume or brochure that would in the future be useful to the working group or to us
personally, as a way of effectively using this debate, which has been of a high level.
437. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much. Perhaps I anticipated the request of the distinguished
representative of Egypt because as soon as I began to listen to the debate I asked the
Secretariat to transcribe all the statements. You will thus have not only the usual summary of
the debate but also the full text of the statements in English and French.
438. I now give the floor to the representative of Canada.
439. Mr AGNAÏEFF (Canada):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. We should like to expand the debate rather than limit it, as
the Executive Board is undertaking a major initiative, exercising its leadership role to the full,
as it has several times wished to do, in relation to the General Conference, by recommending
that it set up a working group. This recommendation to the General Conference could be
formulated in various ways, in order to allow the Executive Board to play a decisive role, for
example in setting up the task force at a later stage. One possibility would be for the General
Conference not to set the working group up itself but to entrust this task to the Executive
Board, which would be perfectly in keeping with the nature of the role it has been
endeavouring to play for several months, if not longer.
440. We would not like the working group to get off the mark too quickly. We feel that it
may have rather a difficult task ahead of it, and an extremely complex one, since it will
- 86 involve taking a fresh look at programming in order to reorganize it and thus achieve greater
efficiency in programme implementation and obtain sufficient resources for UNESCO’s work
to go further, as has been said. This means that to wish to reduce the working group to one
representative per group or two representatives per group would be in a way to disregard the
fact that the process is as important as the end pursued in this case, for throughout the group’s
discussions the aim will be to re-establish a consensus among us on a number of subjects and
to identify a shared vision of UNESCO’s action. This is why we would be more in favour of it
being an initiative of the Executive Board, which would enable it to continue to play the
leading role in the whole process, on the understanding that it would bring the General
Conference in too. It is not enough to want change, a strategy for change must also be
adopted, the main objective of which will be UNESCO’s programme, which concerns all the
Member States. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
441. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much. The representative of Ghana has the floor.
442. Mr SPIO-GARBRAH (Ghana):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. My delegation is of the view that the proposal to have a
task force on this very important subject of UNESCO’s mission, orientation and work in the
twenty-first century is a critical and crucial task that merits the creation of the proposed task
force. But in terms of whether it should be a task force of the Executive Board or of the
General Conference, we are inclined to believe that since this task force will potentially
involve some expenditure of some of the budgets of those bodies and to the extent that
whatever the task force itself proposes is likely to involve some organizational, administrative
or financial and human resource implications for the Organization, both of which should
normally involve the approval of the General Conference, that whatever the Executive Board
wishes to do in this matter should be liaised closely with the work of the General Conference,
to the extent that we are preparing the work of the General Conference, I think it is in order
for this Executive Board both at this session and at the session preceding the General
Conference to consider in detail the proposed terms of reference for such a task force, the
number of Member States that could be members of this task force and the procedure by
which they may be nominated or elected, the procedures by which the task force itself could
work and all of this should then be brought to the General Conference to obtain the General
Conference’s support for the work of this task force. And indeed, as has been proposed by
Canada, the General Conference might well then delegate the Board to oversee the actual
work of the task force because the General Conference only meets once every two years. That
will allow the Executive Board over the next biennium to see to an efficient work procedure
for this task force, and we presume no matter how quickly it works it will have to present its
findings to the Board for reflection and again to the 31st session of the General Conference for
adoption, if there are proposals that require adoption because of the financial, human,
organizational or other implications that we have already suggested. Thank you very much,
Mr Chairperson.
443. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you. I think these are very sensible proposals, coming up with a solution which
combines the two approaches, by which I mean an Executive Board working group backed by
the authority of the General Conference.
444. Dear colleagues, I still have seven Members on the list, and we have many many
questions. I should like to make a suggestion, and if you do not agree, I shall of course give
you the floor. I think the most important thing now would be to set up a small drafting group
- 87 to submit a draft decision to us on this matter. The text should specify the form in which the
Board intends to submit the text of the statements in order to ensure that they are really
preserved, and formulate proposals for the establishment of the task force. I am afraid that if
we continue this debate we will not have time to do this. Do you agree with this approach?
The representative of Finland has the floor.
445. Ms MICKWITZ (Finland):
Having had the opportunity to follow the work of the forum of reflection which we
concluded at the beginning of the 1990s, I think that the fact that unfortunately it did not
arrive at very substantive results was due to the fact that it was working in the blue. Many of
its members were not persons who were familiar with UNESCO. I think the starting point
should be that a group under the aegis of the Board should include people who have some
experience of UNESCO and also who are Member States’ experts in the fields of competence
of UNESCO.
446. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much, Madam. I am afraid that was not what I meant. I proposed that
the debate should not be continued here because there are still 10 speakers to be heard. I
propose that volunteers should draw up a draft decision for tomorrow afternoon. Are there any
volunteers to form this drafting group? Canada, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the Russian
Federation, Barbados, Colombia, Honduras, Senegal and Ghana are volunteer members of the
drafting group. I should like to thank them. I suggest that the drafting group be coordinated by
Canada, which first launched this initiative. Are there any objections? Thank you very much.
So the group will be coordinated by Mr Agnaïeff and will submit a text to us on this matter by
3 p.m. tomorrow.
447. Dear colleagues, we also have before us a draft decision, 156 EX/PLEN/DR.3, on
item 10.6, The visibility of UNESCO in the Member States. I request the representative of
Sweden to introduce the text.
448. Mr NILSSON (Sweden):
I should first like to correct the little language error which slipped into paragraph 4 in
the process. The second line of paragraph 4 should read “of the activities of the Secretariat in
the field of public information”. Mr Chairperson, the basic idea behind this draft is that the
Executive Board has a duty to also reflect on the visibility of the Organization, its image, the
way we make UNESCO known. That is why we suggest that the Board Members take the
opportunity to contribute their own experience, bad or good, to this reflection that we convey
our suggestions to the Chairperson, who is expected to make a report based on the
suggestions, that the Board discuss this report, together with the overview we request from the
Director-General on the activities of the Secretariat in the field of public information, and that
we discuss this at the 157th session of the Executive Board. And I think that, taking wisdom
from this debate, we should not mix the two items together, such important items as visibility
and the future. Because we would risk making the issue of visibility quite invisible.
449. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much for introducing the draft decision, Mr Nilsson. Are there any
comments on it? I give the floor to the representative of Ghana.
450. Mr SPIO-GARBRAH (Ghana):
My delegation welcomes this initiative of Sweden and the countries associated with it
and the proposal for a draft decision on this matter. We are going to make just some
- 88 suggestions which we hope that the Swedish delegation and others would agree to for slight
amendments of the language of the draft resolution. So if we go to the stage of amendments,
then we can propose it now. We are not starting a debate.
451. Our first proposal concerns paragraph 3. The word “image” in our view tends to be used
in the field of communications and public relations, but in a manner that is often not
sufficiently concrete. Maybe what we are really seeking to do there is to improve the
reputation of UNESCO and its Member States. And so if the original drafters of this
document will accept the change in the word from “image” to “reputation”, that will be our
first proposal.
452. The second concerns paragraph 4. There, I think, we would like to propose a slightly
different concept. Rather than the concept of the Director-General assisting the Executive
Board to carry out any evaluation or overview of activities in the field of public information, a
more productive approach would be, and I will give you the actual wording soon, but I want to
explain what I have in mind, would be first for the Executive Board to request the
Director-General and the Secretariat to present to the Executive Board their own proposals for
a new strategic plan and programme for UNESCO’s activities in the field of external
communication. We would prefer to use, rather than “public information”, “external
communication”. And it is our view that it is following such a presentation by the Secretariat,
of how it intends to present a new strategic overview for UNESCO (because in this document
there are already millions of dollars made available to the Secretariat for such tasks), that the
Board can then take the document up and take up other views that may exist to do the kind of
reflection that the original document implies. If I am to give the exact language for
paragraph 4, if I may do so at this time, with your permission, Mr Chairperson, I could give
you a specific proposed wording for paragraph 4. It will read as: “Request the
Director-General to present to the 159th session of the Executive Board proposals for a new
strategic overview, plan and programme for UNESCO’s activities in the field of external
communication”. Let me just add a postscript to the changing of “public information” to
“external communication” by explaining that from our delegation’s point of view, public
information is generally perceived as a one-way direction in information flow, whereas
communication implies a two-way flow, which would allow such a strategy to take into
account views of UNESCO from the field, or from other audiences that are important to the
Organization.
453. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much. If I understand correctly, paragraph 5 of the draft decision is
automatically deleted.
454. I give the floor to the representative of Haiti.
455. Mr CHARLES (Haiti):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. A simple comment: like the representative of Ghana, I am
not too happy with the expression “improving the image”, but nor do I feel it would be
appropriate to use the word “reputation”, as he proposes. Both expressions can give the
impression that there is something wrong with the present situation. I suggest that we speak
rather of increasing the Organization’s influence, in order to keep on a positive note. Thank
you.
456. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much. The representative of Saudi Arabia has the floor.
- 89 457. Mr RASHEED (Saudi Arabia):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I have examined the Arabic text and compared it with the
text in English. It seems to me that both texts need to be modified. Above all, we must bear in
mind the major objective of our efforts to improve UNESCO’s image, which is to ensure that
in all the Member States the people endorse UNESCO and support it in contacts with
governments, but also to ensure that the people benefit from UNESCO’s programmes, that
they gain knowledge from them and are motivated to put them to good use. As to using the
word “improving” (tahsîn in Arabic), it implies that the situation is not good, that it is bad,
and, in my opinion, I think that we should be reflecting on ways to “make known and
disseminate” and not to improve. As I see it, people do not have a negative image of
UNESCO, there is not a negative image that must be got rid of, but there is, as some have
said, ignorance, and that is why we would prefer using the expression “to make known and
disseminate”. Thank you.
458. The CHAIRPERSON:
Mr representative of Ghana, do you suggest that we delete paragraph 5, because you
suggested that the Board will deal with the programme at its 159th session? I think it would
be logical.
459. Mr WANDIGA (Kenya):
Kenya is one of the supporters of this draft resolution and we would very much like to
go along with the suggestions which have been put. But there are caveats, which I still do not
find acceptable. We still have to find a proper word for “image” or “reputation”. I think we
have not got it yet. I think maybe somebody who is good at language and whose mother
tongue is English may help us in that area. I think we know what we are talking about but we
have not hit on it yet.
460. Mr Chairperson, the second point is that to defer this to the 159th session has
implications, in that about half the Board Members who have known the activities of this
debate will have left. At the 159th session, about half the Board will be new Members who
will not know what you are talking about, and you will have to educate them. The possibility
of getting much success at the 159th session of the Executive Board may not be there. You
may have to give them time to learn how the Board works. I would therefore try to intercede
with my brother from Ghana that we nevertheless consider this at the 157th session.
461. The Chairperson invites the Members of the Executive Board to reflect on ways of
improving the visibility of UNESCO in its Member States.
462. Mr NILSSON (Sweden):
That was exactly what I was going to suggest.
463. The CHAIRPERSON:
As the word “image” in paragraph 3 is a problem, I suggest that we drop it and stick to
“visibility”.
464. I give the floor to the representative of Ghana.
465. Mr SPIO-GARBRAH (Ghana):
I am sorry to appear to lengthen this debate, but let me just make a very quick
observation. If the majority is convinced that “visibility” is what we want, we are not very
doctrinaire about it. But from a technical point of view, something that is visible can still be
- 90 viewed negatively. There are many organizations or institutions or individuals that are very,
very visible, but their visibility is not a favourable visibility. But I think the message or the
intent, the spirit of this paragraph was to talk in a positive sense. If you permit, I will suggest a
proposal, if it’s fine, it’s okay, but if the majority prefers “visibility”, we will withdraw. But
we suggest that paragraph 3 could read: “Invite the Members of the Executive Board to reflect
on ways of enhancing public awareness, understanding and support for UNESCO’s activities
in its Member States”. It is a slightly different message, but I think that is really what visibility
is intended to achieve. It is not visibility for visibility’s sake, but for what UNESCO is doing
to be understood, supported, and so forth. That would be one way of handling it.
466. The CHAIRPERSON:
I give the floor to the representative of Germany
467. Mr DERIX (Germany):
I think that when we had our debate on items 10.2 and 10.6, there was a large consensus
that there are good ways of improving the visibility of UNESCO. I think we have a consensus
as far as substance is concerned and given the fact that we have not started yet with our
afternoon’s agenda, I would rather prefer that we should not niggle about each word. But
rather, I mean, since the direction of this draft decision is okay, we should accept it without
going into the toilettage of every word. It is the direction that matters, Mr Chairperson.
468. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you. I should like to support your proposal, but first I shall give the floor to the
representative of Kenya.
469. Mr WANDIGA (Kenya):
Mr Chairperson, I was just going to support the formulation “public awareness,
understanding and support”, but I have no strong feelings about it.
470. The CHAIRPERSON:
Dear colleagues, the agenda item we are discussing contains the word “visibility”, and
no one objected to this word when the item was included in the agenda. It thus seems rather
strange that we should now say that we do not know what it means. I proposed that we should
stick to the word “visibility” in the draft decision as the word “image” had been ruled out as
raising a question of substance. It seems to me that if we use the expression “improving the
visibility” the draft decision will reflect the thrust of this debate perfectly. I give the floor to
the representative of Haiti.
471. Mr CHARLES (Haiti):
I think that to put “accroître le rayonnement et la visibilité” in the French text, as I
proposed, would express just what the Members of the Board have in mind. An English
equivalent would have to be found; that is all.
472. The Chairperson invites the Members of the Executive Board to reflect on ways of
improving the visibility of UNESCO in its Member States and convey their suggestions to the
Chairperson and the Board.
473. The CHAIRPERSON:
Are there any further specific objections to the wording that I have proposed, which
seems to meet with your approval? I give the floor to the representative of Zimbabwe.
- 91 474. Mr CHETSANGA (Zimbabwe):
I thought that the latest proposal by Ghana was better than what we are ending up with,
so I was proposing that that is what we take as the text.
475. The CHAIRPERSON:
Dear colleagues, I think we must put the question to the vote. The representative of
Sweden has the floor.
476. Mr NILSSON (Sweden):
What we are suggesting is that Members of the Executive Board and all of us
participating in this debate know very well what it is all about. We are being asked to reflect
on ways of improving the visibility, or you can have this wording, too. But it would be best if
we were to avoid a big debate about words. All those of you who have been here today and
yesterday know very well what it is all about. It is our own reflections that we should convey
to the Chairperson. I think we should stick with visibility.
477. The CHAIRPERSON:
Bearing in mind the wording of the agenda item we are discussing, I propose that
paragraph 3 of the draft decision be worded as follows: “... to reflect on ways of improving the
visibility of UNESCO in its Member States and so on ...”. Is there any objection to this
wording? No. Thank you very much. We now move on to paragraph 4 of the draft decision, to
which an amendment has been proposed by Ghana. I request the Secretary to read out the
amendment.
478. The SECRETARY:
The representative of Ghana has proposed a new text for paragraph 4, which reads as
follows:
“Requests the Director-General to present to the 159th session of the Executive Board
proposals for a new strategic overview, plan and programme for UNESCO’s activities
in the field of external communication”.
479. Mr GUERRA CARABALLO (Uruguay):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. We all agree that this is a theme of the utmost importance in
terms of contributing to the future of the Organization, and we consider that efforts can be made.
But it is also the case, Mr Chairperson, that there are other positive experiences we may draw
upon. In another working group, there are some items of work that were done with the
collaboration of the Permanent Delegations in order to spare the Organization extra cost. And if
the first meeting can be held at around the start of our 157th session, that would be a good
solution. And there we will be able to continue studying the advisability of entrusting some tasks
to the permanent representatives or to people already in Paris, and we would decide on the
themes for the second meeting more diligently and promptly. That is the proposal,
Mr Chairperson.
480. The CHAIRPERSON:
I should like to point out that the representative of Ghana does not insist on having the
overview at the 159th session. I give the floor to the representative of Haiti.
481. Mr CHARLES (Haiti):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I am not sure that I understand the connection between the
text proposed by Ghana for paragraph 4 and the text of paragraph 3 we have just considered.
We seem to be asking the Director-General to do something that we are asking the Members
- 92 of the Board to do in another form. In addition, I do not feel it is appropriate to talk of
“communication” here, as that word is usually used in a much wider context - communication
technology, means of communication, communication systems - than the context we are
concerned with here. Thank you.
482. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much. I understand the logic of what you are saying. Board Members
are being asked to reflect and if at the same time the Director-General is asked to assist the
Board in carrying out an overview there is no inconsistency, because the overview could help
us to reflect. But you feel that Ghana’s amendment introduces an inconsistency. The
representative of Sweden has the floor.
483. Mr NILSSON (Sweden):
I would just remind the Board of the fact that we requested a comprehensive plan at the
last Executive Board and we have not got one. This is a way to get this kind of overview,
parallel to our own reflections. The aim is to take it up at the next Executive Board, and the
issue will also come up at the General Conference. I think this is parallel action and the goal is
to raise it at the General Conference.
484. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much. I should like to ask the representative of Ghana if he maintains
his amendment to paragraph 4. As he wishes to maintain it, despite the disagreement of the
representative of Sweden, I must ask you to vote on this amendment. I give the floor to the
representative of Ghana.
485. Mr SPIO-GARBRAH (Ghana):
Paragraph 5.
486. The CHAIRPERSON:
No, paragraph 4.
487. Mr SPIO-GARBRAH (Ghana):
Yes.
488. The CHAIRPERSON:
You insist?
489. Mr SPIO-GARBRAH (Ghana):
Right.
490. Mr NILSSON (Sweden):
I stick to the original wording here.
491. The CHAIRPERSON:
I have just received a new proposal from France which seems to offer a compromise
solution. Paragraph 4 would read as follows: “Requests the Director-General to assist the
Executive Board in carrying out an overview of its activities and formulating preliminary
proposals in the field of public information”. This text makes provision for proposals by the
Director-General, as the representative of Ghana wanted, but only preliminary proposals, so as
not to be over hasty. Are there any objections to this new text? I give the floor to the
representative of Ghana.
- 93 492. Mr SPIO-GARBRAH (Ghana):
I don’t want to presume to speak on behalf of my colleague from Sweden, but I got the
impression from what he said that he saw the two paragraphs, his original paragraph 3 as
amended and paragraph 4 as proposed by my delegation, as in consonance with each other, as
reinforcing each other. Paragraph 3 involves reflection by the Board Members and
paragraph 4 involves the Secretariat bringing up some recommendations. The two of them
allow the Board to reflect more fully at the 157th session. That’s how I understood this. There
is no conflict between the two paragraphs.
493. Mr NACHABÉ (Lebanon):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I endorse the text as it stands for a simple reason: we are
approaching the General Conference and the amendment proposed by the representative of
Ghana requests the Director-General to formulate numerous strategies. We do not wish to
impose this burden on the Director-General; we would like him to provide us with basic
information on what the Organization has accomplished with regard to UNESCO’s image, in
various circles and vis-à-vis the general public. This would be enough to enable us to
formulate precise proposals concerning UNESCO. I do not believe that it would be desirable
at this time to ask the Secretariat, which is preparing for the General Conference, to elaborate
new strategies as has been proposed. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
494. Mr SPIO-GARBRAH (Ghana):
I just want to ask a question based on this formulation. What document will the
Director-General then be presenting to the Executive Board at the 157th session? What does it
mean to assist the Board in carrying out this overview? As long as there is some kind of
document being presented, I think that from the distinguished delegate of Lebanon’s point of
view, maybe just crossing out the word “new” from my original formulation might satisfy
him. The point is that the Secretariat currently has some kind of a strategy for communication
with which many of us may not be fully familiar. If they simply want to regurgitate that
document, or they want to revise and update it, this is a field in which I have some knowledge
and I know that a document can be produced in 60 days by the department, which has quite a
number of staff attached to it. But if they say that there is not enough time between now and
the next Board meeting for them to produce one, I would be surprised. I had originally
proposed the 159th session, to give them almost a year to do this. But in the light of their
proposal and seeing how important it was for us to do this before the new Board and the new
Director-General, I was agreeable to the 157th session. But for us to be told that now because
it is the 157th session there will not be enough time to do it, then it creates a problem for me
because I did not start with that session. And I am willing to take the word “new” out of the
original proposal so it does not have to be a dramatic or revolutionary new document, but at
least a document that is sufficiently detailed so that the Board can reflect fully at its
157th session.
495. The CHAIRPERSON:
“Requests the Director-General to present to the 157th session of the Executive Board
proposals for a strategic overview, plan and programme for UNESCO’s activities in the field
of external communication”.
496. The CHAIRPERSON:
In accordance with the Rules of Procedure, I will first put to the vote the amendment
furthest removed from the original text, namely the amendment put forward by Ghana, in
which the word “new” is now deleted. I give the floor to the representative of Egypt.
- 94 497. Mr SALEH (Egypt):
I think it is better to stick to the original text and maybe by adding the following phrase:
“Requests the Director-General to assist the Executive Board in carrying out an overview of
the activities of the Secretariat and the public information by supplying the necessary
information about the Secretariat’s vision”, or “strategy”, the intention being to define the
form of assistance. But I think that asking for a new strategy or a report will be difficult, as
mentioned by the representative of Lebanon.
498. The CHAIRPERSON:
If I have understood correctly, you are now making a new proposal seeking to amend the
original text, but we have to decide on the amendment put forward by Ghana. I give the floor
to the representative of Ghana before putting it to the vote.
499. Mr SPIO-GARBRAH (Ghana):
Perhaps we could have a brief statement from the Secretariat as to how they see the
whole thing, since we are asking them to assist us in some work, as to the timing and the
direction and what exactly we think they should do. Might that help us to improve our
understanding?
500. Mr POWER (Deputy Director-General for Education):
Clearly, in the next few months, it would be difficult for the Secretariat to develop a
comprehensive strategic plan on public information strategy. As I understood the tenor of the
proposal, it is really the Executive Board that is being asked to reflect. The debate, I think,
was an intense and very interesting and very useful one. I think on the basis of that, if we
could have some more elaborated report the Secretariat could ultimately, by about the
159th session, present a strategic plan. But I think you need an interim step, which involves
the Members of this Board. This is my understanding of what is intended, and naturally the
Secretariat will do all it can to assist those Members of this Board that so wish in preparing a
report for further consideration at the 157th session of the Board, which I think would then
probably recommend the Director-General to develop a strategic plan on the basis of the
report of the Working Group.
501. The CHAIRPERSON:
Are there any objections to the amendment proposed by Ghana? There are. I therefore
put this amendment to the vote. The amendment is rejected.
502. I will now read out the original text of paragraph 4: “Requests the Director-General to
assist the Executive Board in carrying out an overview of its activities in the field of public
information”. Does this text give rise to any objections? Yes.
503. I therefore submit the amendment proposed by France: “Requests the Director-General
to assist it in carrying out an overview of activities and making preliminary proposals in the
field of public information”.
504. Are there any objections? There are none. The text of paragraph 4 as amended in
accordance with the proposal made by France is therefore adopted. Thank you very much.
Paragraph 5: “Decides to place this item on the agenda of its 157th session”. Does it give rise
to any objections? No. It is therefore adopted. The whole of draft decision
156 EX/PLEN/DR.3, as amended, is adopted. Thank you, Mr Nilsson, you have done
remarkable work.
- 95 505. The CHAIRPERSON:
Does the representative of Ghana wish to maintain his amendment? Okay.
506. Paragraph 4 will therefore read as follows:
“Requests the Director-General to present to the 157th session of the Executive Board
proposals for a strategic overview, plan and programme for UNESCO’s activities in the
field of external communication”.
- 96 507. The CHAIRPERSON:
I now invite you to examine draft decision 156 EX/PLEN/DR.7 relating to item 10.2.
You will remember that at the end of the thematic debate, we adopted a decision concerning
the visibility of UNESCO and you will also remember that there was a consensus on forming
a task force so as to pursue reflection on UNESCO in the twenty-first century and that a
Drafting Group was set up composed of the following Members: Barbados, Belgium, Brazil,
Canada, Colombia, Ghana, Honduras, Russian Federation, Senegal and United Kingdom. We
asked that Drafting Group and its coordinator, Canada, to submit to the plenary a text
reflecting the views expressed during the debate. I invite the representative of Canada,
Mr Michel Agnaïeff, to present this text.
508. Mr AGNAÏEFF (Canada):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. In view of the time, I will try to present the draft that is
submitted to you briefly, but nevertheless, I hope, clearly.
509. The Drafting Group worked in an exceptionally positive and constructive spirit.
Initially, at its first meeting, it endeavoured above all to define the conceptual basis of this
Task Force, to specify its mandate and to outline its timetable of work. On the completion of
this process of “thinking aloud”, a text was prepared, reviewed and refined - and you now
have the final version before you. What was the outcome of this process?
510. First of all, in order to clarify our debate at the end of the plenary, it is very clearly a
Task Force of the Executive Board, established by the Executive Board, reporting to the
Executive Board. Of course, Mr Chairperson, we shall have to consider the requisite
procedures for informing the General Conference in an appropriate way, but I stress that it is a
Task Force of the Executive Board. How will it be set up? It will be made up of 18 Member
States chosen by the electoral groups, on the basis of three per electoral group, and the States
making up this Task Force must be Members of the Executive Board. It will be for each State
chosen to nominate the person who will represent it. It is advisable that this person should be
very well informed about either UNESCO, the international system or one of UNESCO’s
fields of competence.
511. As I have just said, the Drafting Group has defined the Task Force’s mandate, which is
set forth in paragraph 4 of the draft decision. The goal is, in the first phase, to identify the new
challenges posed by the twenty-first century for UNESCO. Clearly, underlying these
challenges, there may or may not be new areas of activity or former areas of activity in which
action may be taken once again. Of course, this exercise should be carried out in the light of
all the forecasting work already done by UNESCO and also the work to be done by the
forthcoming General Conference at the two meetings scheduled to take place in each
programme commission and in the light of the deliberations of the Executive Board itself.
512. The Task Force should then propose a strategic vision, i.e. a vision of the UNESCO that
we would like to see in seven, eight, nine or ten years’ time, depending on the time horizon
we choose, but not just any strategic vision: one which focuses on objectives in relation to
which UNESCO has or should have a comparative advantage.
513. In addition, the Task Force should propose orientations, activities, programmes and a
modernization of structure and management that would allow UNESCO to achieve its
fundamental mission with the greatest efficiency and effectiveness possible.
514. As regards the formation of the Task Force, we also specify dates, since we request that
each electoral group designate three Member States by 30 July and that subsequently each
- 97 Member State concerned nominate its representative no later than 30 August. We also
recommend to the Executive Board that the first meeting of this Task Force be held no later
than 30 September so as to enable it to report promptly, after its first few working sessions, to
the Executive Board if there is a need to clarify any details or perhaps even to consult the
Board.
515. The Task Force will designate its Chairperson and Vice-Chairperson. It was also
decided to recommend to the Executive Board a rough timetable, which the Task Force itself
will refine, but which sets the key dates. The Task Force will submit an interim report to the
159th session of the Executive Board and final conclusions to the 161st session. The interim
report will probably confirm different work paths from among which the Executive Board will
specify its preferences, after which, the Task Force will be able to work on its final report.
516. You will also note that it is specified that the Task Force must briefly inform the
Executive Board at each of its sessions, after which the Members of the Board could perhaps
ask questions in the Executive Board. We were keen to avoid creating any division between
the Task Force and the Executive Board, and that is why it was also decided to recommend to
you that the Task Force be open-ended. I should like to point out in this connection that it
would be important to provide, perhaps as from the first meeting of this Task Force, for
mechanisms which, on the one hand, would facilitate Member States’ participation in the
Task Force’s various meetings but, on the other hand, would also make it possible to ensure
the cohesiveness of the group as a unit in order to enable it to advance in the process of
reflection - which, in my view, will sometimes be a complex and difficult operation.
517. Having provided these clarifications on the Task Force, I now return to paragraphs 2
and 3 of the draft decision which you have before you. You will recall that the representative
of the Russian Federation mooted an idea which was taken up by several Members, to the
effect that the deliberations of the Executive Board at this session should be set out in a kind
of summary report and brought to the attention of the General Conference. The Drafting
Group accordingly proposes in paragraph 3 a technical modification concerning the title of
item 4.1 of the provisional agenda of the General Conference, which should now read
“UNESCO in the twenty-first century” instead of “Future orientations of the activities of the
Organization”. That concludes my presentation, Mr Chairperson.
518. The CHAIRPERSON:
I thank the representative of Canada very much. I wish to thank him and also the other
members of the Drafting Group for their work. I fully agree that this is a very important
initiative. We must make a clear decision. Are there any objections to this draft decision?
Distinguished representative of the United Republic of Tanzania.
519. Mr BAVU (United Republic of Tanzania):
A question, Mr Chairperson, on paragraph 9 of the proposed decision. Reference to the
large participation of all Member States. I assume that this refers to Member States who are
not even Members of the Executive Board. Am I right? If that is the case, I would definitely
support the whole decision. Thank you.
520. Mr AGNAÏEFF (Canada):
Indeed. It concerns all the Member States.
521. Mr CHETSANGA (Zimbabwe):
Yes, Mr Chairperson, one really congratulates this group that did the drafting at such
short notice and in such a short time. I wonder though, number one, Mr Chairperson, if they
- 98 would accept a friendly amendment to the effect that “aware of the great challenges that
UNESCO has to face in the new millennium”, rather than just confining the observation to the
beginning. I wonder if they would accept that amendment. Thank you.
522. The CHAIRPERSON:
Would you please repeat what you said because I did not hear the amendment.
523. Mr AGNAÏEFF (Canada):
Yes, of course, Mr Chairperson.
524. The CHAIRPERSON:
I see, that is quite clear. Are there any objections to that amendment? No, there are
none. It is therefore decided to replace, in paragraph 1 of the draft decision, “on the eve of the
new millennium” by “in the new millennium”. Who has asked for the floor? The
representative of New Zealand.
525. Mr MARSHALL (New Zealand):
Just two or three suggestions, really, and also to join the people who such as yourself
congratulated the Committee and thanked them for the work they have done, especially
Canada. I want to follow up the question about open-ended membership. My two suggestions.
One is that once this progress is under way, it would be helpful for those of us who are not
based in Paris to have an e-mail address so that we can put written submissions in. And
secondly, I wonder whether, in the week when we meet just before the plenary begins,
whether the group might meet too so that those of us who come for the Board might get some
chance to take part in some of the debate. It may not be possible, but I’d just like to suggest
that you consider having one of your meetings in that pre-plenary week. And the third
suggestion, Mr Chairperson, is that its only four years since we had our fiftieth anniversary.
There were a lot of contributions at the fiftieth anniversary event and somewhere, I think,
somebody should digest some of the useful information which came out of that, because we’re
not really starting this exercise from scratch. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
526. Mr AGNAÏEFF (Canada):
Yes, these are organizational arrangements which, of course do not prejudge the way in
which the work is pursued. I think that these suggestions should be taken into consideration,
especially the one concerning electronic links, to the extent possible, for we know that not
everyone has the same equipment. The idea of holding a meeting in such a way as to make
possible a high level of participation of course raises the question of dates, but I imagine that
it would be possible to follow up that suggestion. Lastly, as I have said before, a number of
major contributions have already been made to the forward-looking reflection process. I shall
not enumerate them all because there are so many. They must be taken into account.
527. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you. Lebanon.
528. Mr NACHABÉ (Lebanon):
Mr Chairperson, I think the work carried out by the group is indeed outstanding,
especially at this stage. The group has done everything we could have hoped for from it. It has
submitted clear proposals on the conduct of proceedings in the next few years. That is why I
consider that this general scheme it has drawn up for the conduct of proceedings and working
methods over the coming year is exactly what we need at this stage. I also consider that in
order to facilitate the work we must set this subject aside, and close the debate until the next
- 99 session and the sessions after that when we will study these issues in detail, because then there
will be quite enough to discuss.
529. The CHAIRPERSON:
I thank you very much. The representative of the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.
530. Mr ALASWAD (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya):
I would like to add my voice to all those who have already thanked the representative of
Canada and all the members of the Drafting Group. With regard to the proposed text, and in
particular paragraphs 5 and 9, since the Task Force should be open-ended, I propose merging
the two paragraphs and increasing the number of members of the Task Force so that it
includes Member States of the Organization that are not Members of the Executive Board. It
should also include representatives of the Organization’s sectors. In addition, I would like to
ask whether it would be possible to hold working meetings some time between now and the
159th session in States, which would enable National Commissions to make proposals on this
subject, and meetings at the regional group level with the same purpose; all such proposals
would be submitted to the Task Force.
531. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much. Guinea has the floor.
532. Mr CISSE (Guinea):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. While paying tribute to the work achieved by the working
group, I should like to ask whether the implementation of this decision will have financial
implications, especially as broad participation by the Member States is expected. Thank you.
533. The CHAIRPERSON:
If there are no other questions for the moment, I shall ask the representative of Canada,
as coordinator, to answer these questions.
534. Mr AGNAÏEFF (Canada):
I shall first reply to the questions raised by the distinguished representative of the Libyan
Arab Jamahiriya concerning the number of members of the Task Force. Our main
preoccupation in setting the number was to guarantee the efficiency of the Task Force.
Experience has shown - and I refer here specifically to the working group which was chaired
by Mr Krogh - that a group composed of 18 members makes it possible to ensure satisfactory
regional representation, with three members per electoral group, and to take into account the
subregions, which is important in our case, and also to facilitate teamwork. In my view although this is in no way a hard and fast rule - a group of more than 18 members makes
teamwork very complicated. Very complicated because the group has to examine questions,
discuss the definition of the problems and then seek the solutions together. This is a critical
process which means that the size of the group cannot be increased beyond a certain point. On
the other hand, of course, as stated in the draft decision, we need a mechanism which would
allow participation by all Member States wishing to make a contribution. Hence the choice of
an open-ended group. But some operating procedures will have to be settled later.
535. With regard to the financial implications, the Drafting Group has not considered the
financial aspect of the question. It was not asked to do that. Of course, there are financial
implications. In theory, logistic support for the Task Force should be provided by the
Secretariat, as implied in paragraph 10; the participation expenses should, in theory, consist of
subsistence and travel expenses for the 18 members of the working group. This must be made
clear. And traditionally, at UNESCO, many countries cover the expenses of those whom they
- 100 appoint to represent them in working groups such as this themselves. It is their way of
contributing to the working group. In the past - and I say this with great circumspection - we
have succeeded in providing a certain amount of financial support with the help of ad hoc
extrabudgetary contributions from one, two, or three countries, to make things easier. But I am
not in a position to assert that this extrabudgetary element exists at present, for the good
reason, as I said at the beginning of my statement, that we did not discuss this aspect of the
mandate. Thank you, Mr Chairperson.
536. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much. Dear colleagues, I feel I should add that this is a fundamental
task for UNESCO. When you see in paragraph 4 of the draft decision that the mandate of the
Task Force will be to “propose a strategic vision for UNESCO in the twenty-first century,
which focuses on the objectives in relation to which UNESCO has or should have a
comparative advantage, with orientations, activities, programmes and a modernization of
structure and management that would allow UNESCO to achieve its mission with the greatest
efficiency and effectiveness”, it is obvious that such a task has budgetary implications, which
must be covered. We hope that some of the 18 countries represented will be able to cover the
costs of their representatives’ participation at the first meeting, but the Executive Board
secretariat must also find ways of enabling other members of the Task Force to participate.
537. The SECRETARY:
Mr Chairperson, the budget of the Executive Board which was adopted by the General
Conference normally covers the sessions of the Board in its current composition and the
meetings of the groups established at the beginning of the biennium. In the case of the
18 members of the Task Force who will hold their first meeting in September, it will be
necessary, as the representative of Canada said, to pay their travel expenses, and we do not yet
know from what parts of the world they will come. It will also be necessary to pay their
subsistence in Paris and there will also be interpretation costs. I must admit that I have not
made any estimate, as I have not yet been asked about this, but if you wish I can give you a
provisional estimate of approximately $30,000 for a meeting covering two or three days. If I
may refresh your memory, reference has been made during the session to the Krogh working
group which was composed of 18 members and which held three meetings of two or three
days: the total cost of the three meetings was $127,400.
538. So, to be on the safe side, you need to know that your actual budget does not foresee
such a meeting, which was not budgeted when document 29 C/5 was approved at the last
General Conference. Nevertheless, if it is your decision that the cost of the first meeting
should be borne within the ordinary budget of the Executive Board, we, the Secretariat of the
Executive Board, my colleagues and myself, we will do whatever is at our disposal. We
normally economize in the expenses of the Executive Board, as some of you know, because
we are very strict in the application of the financial rules applicable to all of you and we are
afraid that if $30,000 or $40,000 is missing at the end of the biennium, maybe I will have to
be reassigned to another post because I have failed in my duty as the Secretary of the
Executive Board. I thank you, Sir.
539. The CHAIRPERSON:
What a threat, what a threat. I give the floor to the representative of Canada.
540. Mr AGNAÏEFF (Canada):
Of course, as I said, Mr Chairperson, there are financial implications, but it is difficult to
really discuss them seriously without knowing the exact composition of the group. Our
- 101 approach to the draft decision was generally to encourage the participation of people who are
already in Paris, which would mean that the financial implications would not be the same. We
have examples of working groups - such as the working group which considered the
improvement of working methods of CRE - which, I think, did not incur very high costs. We
must therefore see who the members of the group are, and I refer here particularly to the
composition and the balance between persons already in Paris and those who may have to
travel.
541. The CHAIRPERSON:
I may add that this first meeting should be organized to fit in with the session of the
Executive Board, which would mean that if the Task Force included members who are already
attending the Board, there would be no extra travel costs for them. I should also like to give
you some very good news: the Director-General has assured me that an effort will be made to
obtain funds from the Organization’s regular budget, in view of the importance of the matter. I
give the floor to the representative of Uruguay.
542. Mr GUERRA CARABALLO (Uruguay):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. We all agree that this is an issue of great importance when
it comes to contributing to the future of the Organization, and we understand that efforts can
be made. It is also certain, Mr Chairperson, that there are other useful experiments that we can
call upon. Work has been done in the task force in which the permanent delegations have
taken part in order to avoid expenditure for the Organization. If the first meeting could be held
closer to the beginning of our 157th session, that would be a good solution. At that meeting,
we could continue to consider the desirability of entrusting a few tasks to the permanent
delegations or to people who are already in Paris, and we would identify the topics for the
second meeting with greater speed and dispatch. That is the proposal, Mr Chairperson.
543. The CHAIRPERSON:
We shall endeavour of course to organize this first meeting immediately before the
Executive Board session; this first meeting will provide an indication of the conditions to be
met to ensure the functioning of the Task Force. The representative of Senegal has the floor.
544. Mr NDIAYE (Senegal):
As a member of the drafting group, I support this proposal in a democratic spirit.
However, I should like to say that we expressed reservations concerning the dates of the
meeting. We think that it would have been better to inform the General Conference of this
major project and to take time to select the members of the Task Force carefully and to enlist
the help of experts to ensure that the work done matches the dimensions of this undertaking.
Furthermore, we thought that it would be most important to open it up; the Executive Board is
of course highly competent, and we are all experts, but there are top-ranking specialists who
could have helped us. The Analysis and Forecasting Unit has done an excellent job and could
provide us with valuable assistance. Time is short between now and the General Conference
and we wondered why there was such a hurry to set up a Task Force. That is the position of
Senegal.
545. Mr TIO-TOURÉ (Côte d’Ivoire):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. Mr Chairperson, I was going to make the comment which
you have already made and which was expanded by the Director-General, namely that there is
no longer any point in discussing the financial implications as the proposal to convene the
Task Force just before the next session of the Board solves the problem of travel costs and as
- 102 the effort which the Secretariat is prepared to make removes all cause for concern. In short,
we support the adoption of this draft decision. Thank you.
546. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much. The last speaker on my list is the representative of Guinea.
547. Mr CISSE (Guinea):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. I should like to say that it seems to me appropriate to give
some consideration to the financial aspects of such a decision and that the Executive Board
might do well to welcome immediately the Director-General’s promise to offer assistance
from the regular budget. In any case it is right that we should take the financial aspects of the
decision into account at the time we adopt it. Thank you.
548. The CHAIRPERSON:
I give the floor to the representative of the United Kingdom.
549. Mr STANTON (United Kingdom):
Let me just say that I’m sure that the frugality with which our Secretariat manages our
affairs will mean that there will be some surplus at the end of the biennium which can be used
for important purposes of this sort. I don’t think finance is a problem.
550. I just wanted to say a word about the timing. We, of course, subscribed to this draft. Our
name is at the top. I think there are two things that are important. The first is the date of the
first meeting which, as you will see, coincides, if you like, with the beginning of the next
Board but with a short interval so that the first meeting of the task force is able to report to the
Board meeting in the same way that the Special Committee whose session also ends on
30 September can report to the meeting. It is important, I think, that the first meeting of the
task force should be able to report to the next Board meeting.
551. And secondly, we have allowed two years for this work. I think that we might hope that
it will be done more quickly, although we cannot be sure. And if my Canadian colleague and
the other Members of the Board are agreeable, I wonder whether in paragraph 8, instead of
saying “present its final conclusions to the 161st session”, which is, of course, in two years’
time, we say “present its final conclusions no later than the 161st session”, which would mean
that we are allowing for the possibility that the work may be done more quickly. Thank you,
Mr Chairperson.
552. The CHAIRPERSON:
Yes, of course. I do not think that anyone will oppose this amendment which consists in
inserting “no later than” before the words “the 161st session” in paragraph 8 of the draft
decision. The amendment is adopted. I now give the floor to the Secretary, who wishes to give
you further details.
553. The SECRETARY:
Thank you, Sir. In fact, if the Executive Board approves the dates for its next session,
which as you have seen in document 156 EX/INF.13, the meetings of the various committees
are scheduled to start on Wednesday, 29 September. If this group were to meet on Monday
and Tuesday, 27 and 28 September, and it will consist of 18 Members of the Board, then the
cost would be far less than the normal cost because the travel would have already been
covered by their travel for participating in the 157th session. I was listening to Mr David
Stanton, and I am most grateful to him for his compliments that I do manage, I try to do my
best to manage, some people say that I manage more carefully the budget of the Board than
- 103 my own, and I think that’s an honour for me, Sir. The cost will not be more than $10,000,
meaning the per diem and that’s the maximum, because it could be between $6,000 and
$7,000, but the maximum will be $9,000 or $10,000 for the two days’ meeting. If, however,
this meeting will take place on two days, 27 and 28 September, and as the Director-General
said, the Secretariat will do everything possible to absorb it in the overall budget of UNESCO,
to cover this important endeavour of the Executive Board, I think you could rest assured that
the finances or the financial impact will not be a problem for the first meeting. I thank you,
Sir.
554. The CHAIRPERSON:
Thank you very much for that clarification. I think that the concerns expressed have now
been dissipated. I should like to add that, of course, when the draft decision says that the
Board “invites the Director-General to assist in this exercise” it is not only the financial aspect
which is referred to but also the theoretical aspect, namely that the Task Force will make use
of the work already done by the Analysis and Forecasting Unit, which will certainly be made
available to the Task Force, won’t it, Mr Director-General? Thank you very much. I see that
we are moving towards the adoption of the draft decision. Are there any more objections? I do
not see any. The draft decision is therefore adopted. I should like to thank the authors of the
text once again, and am delighted that this very important work can now go ahead. I give the
floor to the representative of Barbados.
555. Ms PHILLIPS (Barbados):
Thank you, Mr Chairperson. As you are aware, Barbados took part in the drafting of this
decision and we are very pleased to see that it has been adopted. However, my government
has asked me to make a statement following on from paragraph 5 of the decision we just
adopted and this is basically it:
556. My government considers that the selection process, within each electoral group, should
be such that a Board Member from the Caribbean community is represented on the task force.
I request, Mr Chairperson, that my comments be recorded in the minutes of this debate. Thank
you.
557. The CHAIRPERSON:
Your statement will be duly reflected in the summary record.