International Day for Tolerance Message from the Director-General

            Paris, November 13 (No.2001-125) – UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura has issued a message on the occasion of the International Day for Tolerance, celebrated on November 16, calling on the international community, on parents, teachers and the media, to put into practice, on a daily basis, the “ethic of dialogue, openness and mutual respect.”

            Here is the full text of the message:

            “A terrible threshold has been crossed this year in the escalation of violence. The terrorist outrages of 11 September last are, apart from an attack on the country concerned, an offence against human dignity, against the essential purposes of UNESCO and of the United Nations system.

            “This blind, criminal violence has been perpetrated in the very midst of the United Nations Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, itself following on from the International Year for the Culture of Peace. Are we to conclude that UNESCO’s efforts to promote an ideal of tolerance and non-violence, mutual understanding and solidarity are in vain and that our goal is unattainable? Certainly not.

            “It is all the more reason to step up our action to eradicate the deep-seated causes of violence. These include poverty and exclusion, ignorance and discrimination We must therefore more than ever work in close partnership to develop an overall preventive strategy encompassing the social, economic and cultural dimensions. This unwavering solidarity of thought and action is essential to counter injustice and the dangers of a certain form of globalization, thereby eliminating intolerance and fanaticism root and branch. There is a need to rethink globalization and give it a more human, more equitable face, espousing values other than those of the market place. The General Conference of UNESCO, at its 31st session, has just adopted unanimously the first Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity. The recognition by all of our creative diversity is a crucial step that affirms our adherence to common ethical values and principles.

            “This active stance has a name, which is tolerance. Prompted equally by respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms and openness towards others – recognized as both different from and similar to ourselves – tolerance is the very foundation of dialogue and pluralism. Today more than ever it needs to be put into practice, particularly through education. It is not only a requirement of the Year of Dialogue among Civilizations, which we are celebrating in 2001, but also a condition of the application of the Programme of Action of the World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance held this year in Durban, which has constituted a landmark in the struggle against racism and intolerance.

            “The Declaration on Principles of Tolerance was adopted by UNESCO in 1995 to address the widespread rise of violence, exclusion and discrimination against national, ethnic, religious and linguistic groups.

            “On the occasion of the International Day for Tolerance, I appeal to the international community, to governments, to parliamentarians, to parents, to teachers, to the media, to non-governmental organizations and to all branches of civil society to ensure that, in accordance with the principles set forth in the Declaration, they give expression in their everyday lives to an ethic of dialogue, openness and mutual respect.”

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