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1992 - Address by Mr Federico Mayor |
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| Director-General of UNESCO | |
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Your
Majesty, It is an honour and a pleasure for me to welcome today at UNESCO, on the occasion of the presentation of the 1992 Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize to The Hague Academy of International Law, so many eminent persons whose names are linked with the defence of the ideals of justice, solidarity and respect for human rights which have guided UNESCO's action since its inception. I should like first of all to welcome H. M. Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands, who has been good enough to come here today to express her regard and esteem for the action of the prestigious institution that is the winner of the prize. I also wish to greet and to thank for his presence, Mr François Mitterrand, President of the French Republic, who has so often proved his concern to promote the rule of law and who has agreed once again to bear witness to the host country's support. I welcome Mr Mário Soares, President of the Portuguese Republic, whose perseverance in working for the negotiated settlement of conflicts places him naturally among the participants in this ceremony to honour the law in the service of peace. I should also like to greet Sir Robert Yewdall Jennings, President of the International Court of Justice, a special guest of the Jury, which expressed the hope that the award of the Prize this year would take the form of an event designed to highlight the place of international law in the settlement of international conflicts and wished to associate with it the institution of the United Nations system specializing in such matters. I should like to thank the President of the General Conference and the Chairperson and members of the Executive Board for having agreed to suspend the Board's work for a short time to enable them to take part in the ceremony. In addition, I wish to pay tribute to a brave activist in the cause of human rights, a woman who, by her action to promote democracy and freedom of expression, has exposed herself to ordeals which she is still enduring today, and whose determination was honoured in 1991 by the award of the Nobel Peace Prize. I am speaking of Ms Aung San Suu Kyi, whose inability to reply to my invitation I deeply regret. Wherever she may be, may she know that we are with her in spirit in her ordeals and that we hope to see her among us very soon. Finally, I am delighted to welcome the sponsor of the Prize, Mr Félix Houphouët-Boigny, President of the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, to this platform. Allow me, Mr President, to pay tribute once again to your action in the service of peace, justice and dialogue. As the mediator of many conflicts and the guarantor of peaceful coexistence on the African continent, you are indeed the Wise Man to whom many people turn for your opinions and counsel. Your Majesty, Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, I shall simply quote one sentence among many others from our Constitution - in which I often seek inspiration and which is remarkably topical. Since a peace based "exclusively upon the political and economic arrangements of governments would not be a peace… [it] must therefore be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind". In our troubled times, when landmarks are disappearing, when certainties are crumbling, when balances are tilting, how can we fail to understand that, if we are to take up the new vital challenges awaiting us, whose names are population, environment, poverty, famine and fanaticism, we have no choice but to found such solidarity? To save ourselves from "the end of hope", which, as General de Gaulle said, is "the beginning of death", we must redouble our efforts, in private as in public, to ensure that behaviour based on sharing, non-violence and respect for the law will prevail. It is this last pillar that The Hague Academy of International Law has been helping to consolidate since it was established in 1913: it teaches international public and private law in summer courses which many specialists attend in order to perfect their knowledge of the theory and practice of international law. In 1992, for example, more than six hundred people from nearly one hundred countries had the benefit of this teaching. In addition, the collection of the Academy's courses since their inception, running to more than two hundred and thirty volumes, is an invaluable reference source for legal experts the world over. Through a foreign programme which enables it to send ten or so professors to teach in the developing countries every year, the Academy also contributes to the sharing of high-level specialized knowledge, the lack of which is so keenly felt by the least favoured nations. Finally, this distinguished institution is a truly international network of eminent persons from the diplomatic and legal fields. Five judges or former judges of the International Court of Justice and the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr Boutros Boutros-Ghali, have been serving on the Curatorium of the Academy in a personal capacity for many years. It is therefore with great pleasure that I shall, in a few moments, beside the President of the Jury, present the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize to The Hague Academy of International Law. Ladies and Gentlemen, While reflecting on the "advantages", if one may call them thus, of war, Henry de Montherlant noted nevertheless that "one has to cope with peace". Yes, indeed, violence is certainly easier, more spectacular than self-control and respect for others. But humanity will owe its survival and its development to non-violence and peace. Peace is equity, justice and love. As Mr Houphouët-Boigny said in 1986 on the occasion of the fortieth anniversary of the African Democratic Rally: "Our fight is not over; it will never be over. The real fight goes on, and is the fight for peace". |
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