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1995 - Address by Ms Sadako Ogata |
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| United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees | |
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Mr
President of the Republic of Senegal, It is a great privilege and a distinguished honour for the Office of the High Commissioner and myself to be awarded the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize today. In making this award, and being present in this eminent assembly, you are honouring the devotion and courage of more than 5,000 men and women working throughout the world for the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Still more, you are expressing your solidarity with seven million refugees and displaced persons, the victims of conflicts and mass violations of human rights. This is a symbolic gesture aimed at all those men and women whose lives have been disrupted by flight from danger and persecution. The refugee phenomenon is not a new one: history bears witness to this. But rarely in modern times has it been seen on such a scale. The major causes of this situation are well-known: the break-up of a bipolar world, the explosion of hitherto contained instances of tension throughout the world, and the convulsive movements of a world seeking a new order. In this arduous process we must bear in mind that the abiding principle and aim must be the service of humankind. Lasting collective security can be achieved only by adopting as our chief objective the guaranteed security of individuals over and above the security of States. In specific terms, this means the right for all human beings to live peacefully in their homes and to enjoy certain fundamental rights. The forcible displacement of entire civilian populations, this indignity inflicted by humankind on itself, is due to two main causes: on the one hand conflicts of an increasingly internal nature, and on the other, violations of human rights and the rights of ethnic or religious groups. Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, The ceremony we are attending today reminds me intensely of the ideal of peace which we all share and which was the founding principle of the Prize now being awarded. It is the Prize's initiator, President Félix Houphouët-Boigny, who can best come to our assistance on the difficult road to peace. In his ineffable wisdom, he used to say: ‘Peace is not a word, it is a way of life’. Giving a rare example of concordance between words and deeds, he succeeded despite all the difficulties in making his country a land of peace and relative prosperity in a region where conflicts bring in their wake devastation and misery. He found a way of surmounting tension so as to develop, on the basis of age-old African wisdom, the forces of tolerance and dialogue. Did you know that President Houphouët-Boigny did not like the word ‘refugee’? He preferred to speak of brothers and sisters in need, and moreover generously opened the doors of his country to all those seeking asylum. Today, Côte d'Ivoire still sets an example to the world of a country which is host to nearly 400,000 refugees without having set up a single camp on its territory. What a lesson this is to us all! Yet this hospitality constitutes a grievous burden for the limited resources and already threatened environment of host countries. Despite these problems and an economic context often fraught with difficulties, Africa has remained a land of welcome for refugees, and I should like to take this opportunity of expressing my most cordial thanks to its leaders and peoples. At the same time, I cannot hide my concern at the increasingly negative attitude towards refugees. The example of restrictive policies frequently comes from elsewhere. Today, I urge all Africans to remain proud of their tradition of hospitality. But to maintain and promote asylum, two basic ideas must be established. First, governments and refugees themselves must respect the humanitarian and neutral nature of asylum. Refugees fleeing a conflict should not cause another conflict, in their home country and still less in their host country. Second, the international community must preserve and even increase its solidarity with the developing countries which receive refugees. This solidarity is more vital than ever. Its defence and promotion are in my view one of the main tasks of the United Nations in the face of national preoccupations, isolationism and indifference. Helping the developing countries is not only a moral imperative, it is also a way of sharing their burden. It is likewise an act of justice conducive to peace, stability and development. Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Protecting and succouring victims and promoting solutions are crucial aspects of the search for peace. But they are not the only ones. The search for peace is also determined action to prevent or put an end to conflicts, to reconcile yesterday's antagonists and reconstruct shattered societies. Africa is today the region in the world in which we find the greatest number of refugees and displaced persons, the outcome of conflicts whose solution is still beyond our grasp. Political leaders are responsible for the fate of the peoples they govern. It is by ensuring their welfare that they deserve their trust. This responsibility implies a determination to overcome divergences by means of dialogue and reconciliation. I salute the courage of the leaders of South Africa, Mozambique, Mali, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Angola and Togo, who have succeeded in putting an end to strife. Their attitude has enabled hundreds of thousands of refugees to return to their countries. The international community also has a key role to play in making it easier to find solutions to conflicts. A humanitarian interest in victims is justified and desirable, but it should be accompanied by the political will to attack the causes of conflicts and help to set solutions in train. When men, women and children are dying and suffering, their human needs are the same wherever they are. The attention of the international community should reflect the needs of victims and not depend on their geographical localization or their appearance on television. In many cases, the prolonged stay of refugees is a factor in aggravating conflicts by intensifying the resulting opposition to it. There can be no lasting peace without the return of refugees and their reintegration in their national communities. It is therefore imperative that political negotiations designed to put an end to conflicts should include discussions of a humanitarian nature concerning the return of refugees and displaced persons. The Office of the High Commissioner is ready to play its part as an impartial promoter of dialogue between the parties concerned so that the solution of humanitarian problems can help to restore peace. For example, in close co-operation with OAU it helped to draw up the Bujumbura Plan of Action, which sets up a structure for dialogue and negotiation to deal with humanitarian issues in the region of the Great Lakes. In other regions of the world, it also gives active assistance to the reintegration of displaced populations. We negotiate guarantees of security and we back up their implementation in the field. We provide shelter, tools and seeds for planting. We help to rehabilitate communities which have been destroyed. In a word, we try to contribute to the re-establishment of trust between those repatriated, their governments and their compatriots who have stayed in their home country. Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, All these efforts are commendable and indispensable. But should we not also, and primarily, try to prevent the occurrence or repetition of human tragedies which in some cases we witness as helpless bystanders? Here there are two necessary if not sufficient conditions to be fulfilled: respect for the fundamental rights of the individual and the eradication of extreme poverty. In my view it is not by chance that we are meeting today in UNESCO, which is in the forefront of the struggle to promote human rights. It is by means of persevering action in the field of education that the values of tolerance and acceptance of the Other will help to make coexistence prevail over conflict. I have therefore decided to use this Prize awarded today to establish a Special Fund for Education on behalf of refugee children in Africa, mainly at secondary level. It is likewise through a more equitable distribution of wealth that the world will become a more peaceful place. The proliferation of humanitarian needs should not overshadow the overriding need to contribute to development through policies of enlightened aid and co-operation. Multilateral and bilateral action should work together in synergy to establish the bases of balanced development which will guarantee decent living conditions and hence civil peace. Your Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, There is no denying that a world in which forcible displacement is increasing is not a world at peace. It is only when we have reached the stage where the number of those repatriated exceeds those of the refugees that we shall progress towards peace. By attributing this prestigious Prize to the Office of the High Commissioner, your aim has been to underscore the real contribution that we try to make in the field of the search for peace. I thank you on behalf of all my colleagues: more than ever, we need your encouragement. More than once during my travels I have seen the dire distress in the eyes of those who have lost everything and face an uncertain future. The world of peace to whose construction President Houphouët-Boigny dedicated his efforts can no longer tolerate this anguish, created by the action of human beings. I am confident that together we shall succeed in bringing back a smile of hope to the face of a child traumatized by fear and exile, and that, thanks to our efforts, that child will be able to live and grow up in a somewhat more friendly world. Thank you. |
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