UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC
AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION (UNESCO)

Address by His Excellency: Professor Michael OMOLEWA
President of the UNESCO General Conference and
Permanent Delegate of Nigeria to UNESCO
At the 4th UNESCO Youth Forum held at
UNESCO Headquarters, Paris: France
30th September – 2nd October 2005

Mr. President of the 4th UNESCO Youth Forum

Mr. President of the Executive Board of UNESCO

Mr. Director-General of UNESCO

Your Excellencies

Esteemed Youth Delegates

Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen

Dear Friends and Colleagues:

It is, for me, a great honour and pleasure to welcome and address you, Young People, at this 4th UNESCO Youth Forum on a most topical and timely subject- matter: “Young People and the Dialogue among Civilizations, Cultures and Peoples – Ideas for action in education, the sciences, culture and communication”.

Let me commend UNESCO and its partners for the choice of this theme for this Forum; a theme that is very important as it expresses, perhaps, the greatest need of the international community at this time; the need to “Dialogue” in order to find solutions to the world’s pressing problems.

As we are all aware, the constitution of UNESCO, adopted in 1945, committed the Organisation to the promotion of dialogue, mutual knowledge and understanding in order to build peace in the minds of men. UNESCO has therefore actively addressed the issues and problems associated with a dialogue among civilizations, cultures and peoples and conducted a number of major programmes aimed at enhancing intercultural and inter-religious exchanges in its fields of competence – education, the sciences, culture and communication.

In this regard, UNESCO’s efforts are on record through its contribution to the rehabilitation of education in Europe, the East/West cultural programmes, the programmes and projects innovatively articulated for the benefit of the newly independent countries of Eastern Europe and the programmes in education and science directed to help the newly independent African, Asian and Caribbean countries in the 1960s. This is to mention a few as the list is long and the areas of interest are vast but the driving force of UNESCO’s action is the achievement of “international cooperation and solidarity”.

Perhaps the question we need to ask ourselves is, “To what extent has UNESCO succeeded in this task?” Without pre-empting your opinion on this, and considering the foregoing, I would submit that UNESCO has been quite successful in this task. I will also hasten to add that quite a great deal remains to be done in this area, hence it is generally agreed that UNESCO’s mandate is as valid today as it was at its foundation in 1945.

It is against this backdrop that I highly commend the great importance which UNESCO has always attached to Youth from the inception of the Organisation. Please let me recall the statement made by the delegate from South Africa at the 4th plenary meeting of the first Session of the General Conference of UNESCO on the afternoon of Thursday, 21 November 1946:

"I am satisfied that much injustice, fear and hatred in adults have been engendered by the harmful influence on their minds during childhood…. Wars have come because we have become conditioned to war from infancy. For God’s sake, let us condition our children to peace."

And today, Youth constitutes one of the mainstreaming issues of the Organisation and UNESCO’s strategy of action with and for Youth seeks to ensure that the concerns of Youth, their visions and contributions are fully taken into account and integrated into all its programmes and activities.

But, now, we need to go further than that in dealing with the Youth because when we talk of the future of our organisation, the future of our world and the role we must reserve for our Youth in the planning for that future, it is not enough for us to make plans for the integration of the Youth and their concerns into our thinking. We must endeavour to involve the young people themselves to bring their aspiration, concerns, and concept of that future to bear directly on our proposals and ideas for progress and well-being. For the world of the future is their world. And they must essentially contribute practically and meaningfully to its planning. We must treat young people as a resource, not a problem and they must be made partners in all efforts rather than be treated as a mere target group. We should even still go further and have a close look at the other side, that is, we should remain in contact with the world of work and those establishments that constitute the employers and end-users of the skills of the Youth and ensure that they provide the opportunities for self-fulfilment and satisfaction of the Youth in their services to their communities. The objective of UNESCO therefore should be, and really has been, to help empower young people; reaching out to them, responding to their expectations and ideas and fostering useful, long-lasting skills which ensure their participation in society as full and equal partners. The continuation and reinforcement of the Youth Forum during the General Conference must be seen as a positive and sensible contribution to this idea and task.

The great challenge facing us today is to determine how to enhance understanding and sharing within and between cultures. To achieve this, under the difficult circumstances existing in many parts of the world and on the international level, we must discover how best to promote the wider diffusion of information and knowledge about the realities of different cultures and how to promote the acceptance of, and respect for, other cultures, belief systems and visions for the future development of the world.

Allow me to quote Mr. Jiri Dienstbier, former Foreign Minister and Prime Minister of Czechoslavakia who summed this situation up when he said, Quote “Our village or district has become global, and we cannot choose our neighbours. May be we do not like some of these neighbours, but we need mechanisms of pacific cohabitation” Unquote.

I submit that one of these mechanisms is Dialogue. We must therefore look for solution to the problem of translating the many important declarations and statements resulting from a series of international and regional conferences on the “Dialogue among Civilizations” into reality through concrete action involving all parts of society. This challenge has occupied an important place in the debates of the previous sessions of the General Conference and will equally be a core theme of the 33rd Session starting next Monday.

UNESCO recognises that young people play a particularly critical role in all aspects of the dialogue among civilization. They are at the forefront of the dialogue because they are usually the most active and dynamic group of society; the group that is most receptive to ideas for positive change.

Indeed, Youth are not only the leaders of tomorrow, but already today can play a key role in all aspects of the dialogue through manifold youth-led initiatives for social change. Therefore, UNESCO is committed to learning from your ideas and proposals for action to bolster the dialogue.

Let me assure you that the delegates from UNESCO’s 191 Member States are eagerly expecting your contribution – the Youth Forum’s recommendations for concrete action with and by young people in education, the sciences, culture and communication – and that this recommendation will be seriously taken into account. Therefore, I encourage you to seize this opportunity with enthusiasm and ensure that the final report reflects your views as well as practical recommendations as to how UNESCO and young people can work together to achieve the desired goal.

Finally, let me remind you that this Youth Forum should not end on Sunday, with the adoption of your final report, after three days of intense debate in plenary and the three thematic working groups. As a matter of fact, it is only then that the commitment really starts. The follow-up is the crucial element of such an event as the Youth Forum, as mere declarations of good intentions have rarely, if ever, changed the world. Therefore, I urge you to consider in all your reflections which concrete forms this follow-up should take and how we can best proceed in the future to work together even more closely.

I would also very much like to encourage you to share your experiences here with friends and peers at home and to try to reflect on what you, as young people, can do in your own communities to enhance interaction and communication between people and to bring about positive change. Bringing together young delegates from different cultural backgrounds to exchange views, share experiences, reflect together and above all, to detect common preoccupations, the Youth Forum has become a unique opportunity for debate and reflection on how young people can take an active role in responding to the challenges surrounding them. The resolution adopted by the General Conference to make the Youth Forum an integral part of its sessions clearly reflects Member States’ recognition of its importance. And in this respect, it is satisfying to note that some 200 young delegates, representatives of more than 120 countries and about 40 Non-Governmental Youth Organisations are expected at the Forum. Observers from several intergovernmental organisations and several United Nations agencies will also attend the Forum. The theme for this Youth Forum, therefore, could not have come at a better time than now when the world is experiencing great turmoil in different spheres and direly therefore needs a dialogue among its peoples of different civilizations and belief systems. The role of young-people in that dialogue is, to my mind, very crucial.

Mr. Kofi Annan, the Secretary-General of the United Nations once said that he sees the “Dialogue among Civilizations” … “as a chance for people of different cultures and traditions to get to know each other better, whether they live on opposite sides of the world or on the same street.” Starting with your own “street” could indeed be a meaningful beginning for a gigantic endeavour.

I encourage all of you, young people, to start with the conclusions of this Youth Forum to begin to construct the defences of peace in your own minds and in the minds of other Youths, as this, to my mind, may lead us faster to the achievement of a peaceful world in which there is mutual respect, one for another.

I wish you a most successful and fruitful deliberation. God bless you all. Thank you for your attention.

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