Addresses delivered in the general policy debate by the Head of Delegation at the General Conference

37 session of the General Conference

His Excellency, Mr Paavo Arhinmäki, Minister of Culture and Sport of Finland

Speech delivered during the General Policy Debate of the 37th session of the General Conference - revised and corrected version of the verbatim records of plenary meetings

36 session of the General Conference

H.E. Mr Paavo Arhinmäki, Minister of Culture and Sport

Speech delivered during the General Policy Debate of the 36th session of the General Conference and posted as received

35 session of the General Conference

H.E. Mr Stefan Wallin, Minister of Culture and Sport

“Finland fully concurs with the statement made by Sweden, Minister Krantz, on behalf of the European Union.”
“Finland is a strong supporter of UNESCO and therefore expects a lot from the Organization. To that effect, our expectations and our vision for UNESCO's programmes extending to 2013 are, in brief, the following: within the US $653 million envelope, we would like to see a better balance between allocations for programmes and for administration. There is a need to make further savings on the cost of administration. We seek more focus and concentration for greater overall impact.”
“Finland recognizes UNESCO’s pro-active involvement in U.N. system-wide coherence and inter-agency consultations. Linked to this is a need for a clearer and more coherent decentralization structure. Institutes, such as the Institute for Statistics and the International Institute for Educational Planning, should get a bigger share from the regular budget (…).”
“We want to see a UNESCO that increasingly builds on strategic and thematic partnerships, including joint programming, implementation and fund mobilization. This includes relations with civil society.”
“(…) We want UNESCO to reduce its reliance on small-scale projects, to move away from piecemeal approaches, and instead to focus on upstream approaches for policy advice and capacity-building.”
“We place renewed emphasis on securing progress on the management reform and the internal oversight. We call for cost-effectiveness and improved results-based management and evaluation practices. Realities also require that we all together keep on rationalising the working methods of the three organs (…).”
“Climate change is not exclusively an environmental challenge. Cross-cutting areas of sustainable development, human rights, including freedom of expression and of the press and gender equality, need to be taken properly into account. (…) the promotion of gender equality and the safeguarding of human rights by women and girls are important goals in their own right. Here, UNESCO's Gender Equality Plan could be even bolder in setting benchmarks and indicators.”
“Heading towards the MDG Review Summit in 2010, we need to prioritize the internationally agreed development goals, the most disadvantaged and vulnerable, as well as gender equality and Africa.”
“Access to educational opportunities is a right; it’s not a privilege. UNESCO should work further on its global mandate to coordinate and develop quality education for all.”
“Culture is too often neglected in poverty-reduction strategies, although it is a key component of sustainable development. Here, a top priority is the implementation of the Convention on Cultural Diversity. UNESCO is also well-placed to take on a more active role in the intercultural dialogue.”
“We must assure that in the coming years UNESCO is in a position to provide: a systemic approach to responding to the global challenges and the financial crisis; a forum for dialogue and consensus-building; and a programme focused on policy advice, capacity-building and harnessing knowledge for development.”

34 session of the General Conference

H.E. Mr Stefan Wallin, Minister of Culture and Sport

“Finland concurs with the statement made by Portugal on behalf of the European Union and welcomes Singapore back to the fold of the Organization.”
“Finland places renewed emphasis on securing progress on the management reform. We welcome the establishment of the Ethics Office and acknowledge the work of International Oversight.”
“The drafts are ambitious. We need to be more realistic and narrow the gap between aspiration and achievement. […] We would like to see a better balance between allocations for programme and administration.”
“Activities of less relevance need to be dropped. In balancing between normative and operational activities, UNESCO should focus its action on policy advice and capacity building. UNESCO should help countries to translate objectives into effective policy recommendations and action in the field.”
Finland would like to ensure increased funding for top priorities such as Education for All, the Oceanographic Commission and the implementation of the Cultural Diversity Convention. Practical action steps in the framework of the Millennium Development Goals should be taken.
“Crosscutting areas of gender equality, sustainable development and human rights need to be taken properly into account. The promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms should remain a priority for action. Finland underlines the rights based approach in the programmes.”
Gender equality is a fundamental human right and a goal in itself and also a tool to achieve internationally agreed development goals. There are close links between sustainable achievements in development and the empowerment of women. UNESCO should also work further to coordinate and develop quality education for all.
Freedom of expression and free access to information are touchstones of human rights that have to be prior to all even the most advanced IC technologies. UNESCO should continue to secure the hard journalistic work all over the world.
UNESCO should ensure a sufficient budget to implement the Convention on Cultural Diversity and cooperate with the Alliance of Civilizations in this key area.
Finland has ratified the Convention against Doping in Sports and contributes regularly to the voluntary Fund in order to respond to the new WADA Anti-Doping Code.
UNESCO should be fully involved in the “One UN” policy with more unified approaches and enhanced cooperation, coherence and coordination among all relevant actors.

Celebration of anniversaries

150th anniversary of the birth of Jean Sibelius, composer (1865-1957) (2015)

Jean Sibelius 1865-1957) was a world renowned Finnish composer and is considered as
one of the most popular 20th century symphonists. Sibelius exerted considerable
influence on symphonic composers and musical life, at least in English-speaking and
Nordic countries. In addition to his seven symphonies, Sibelius has to his credit
several compositions, over 100 songs for voice and piano, operas, etc. His music
played an important role in the formation of the Finnish identity. His mastery of
the orchestra has been described as “prodigious.” While thematic variation played a
major role in his works Sibelius sought to slowly transform thematic elements; he
loved nature and used Finnish landscape as material for his works. He also used folk
music and literature in his compositions.