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2000 Address by Dr Henry A. Kissinger |
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| President of the Jury | |
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Ms Robinson, The Jury of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize has unanimously and enthusiastically voted that the Prize for the year 2000 go to Mary Robinson, in acknowledgement of her distinguished contribution to the cause of peace and of human rights. Previous speakers have recounted the extraordinary achievements of Ms Robinson. I would like to permit myself a few philosophical observations about her role in the present world. We live in a period of global revolutions of a magnitude never previously experienced. Never before have the different continents been in such constant communication with each other, or have been capable of impacting on each other simultaneously, most profoundly on the human level. Never has there existed such technical capacity to inflict suffering; never before has there existed such material capacity to improve the human condition. For the political leaders, this presents an overwhelming challenge. The day-to-day problems and activities are dominated by what is most urgent. As one who has been in that world, I can vouch how difficult it is not to marginalize the important things that do not make immediate demands. And while political objectives are achieved in stages, moral objectives make universal claims. How to balance these necessities is something philosophers of history have reflected on for centuries, but one thing is clear: any generation can count itself fortunate if its leaders serve to recall it to its duties and the permanent values that transcend the tactical requirements of the moment. I have read many of Mary Robinson’s pronouncements and I have been moved by them. There is one, in particular, that I think defines her well, when she said: “My mandate requires that I be a voice for those who do not have a voice, desperate people with no sense that the world cares enough. We have to show, yes we do, that we take seriously the drama of individual families”. To me, who as a child lived under a totalitarian dictatorship, this is a deeply moving and meaningful message. It is therefore no accident that Mary Robinson was the first Head of State to visit famine-stricken Somalia in 1992 and also the first to go to Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide there. She has given particular attention to the continent of Africa, a region where there is overwhelming suffering and a dire need for structure and purpose. We all care that the concern with Africa be lifted beyond the suffering alone and into a world in which suffering no longer occurs; and that it become a continent requiring not just a claim on our sympathies but a demand on our day-to-day political commitments. The role Mary Robinson has played – in her speeches and in the conferences she has organized to achieve this objective – is one of the significant contributions of our period. This is why, as President of the Jury of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize, I am honoured to participate in giving her this Prize and can speak with pride of that decision by our Jury. Thank you very much. |
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