Infoétique 97 a marqué un tournant important dans la vie de l'UNESCO. Ce Congrès était le résultat d'un grand changement parmi nos Etats membres qui s'est fait sentir dans un laps de temps relativement court. A la vingt-huitième session de la Conférence Générale en 1995, un certain nombre de pays membres, et particulièrement les pays en voie de développement, étaient de l'avis que les autoroutes de l'information n'étaient pas l'affaire de l'UNESCO. Ce point de vue a commencé à se modifier peu après et déjà en novembre 1996, le Conseil exécutif de l'UNESCO a invité le Directeur général inter alia à "faire en sorte que l'UNESCO joue un rôle moteur dans l'utilisation des autoroutes de l'information pour l'éducation, la science, la culture, la communication et l'information" et à "soutenir les efforts déployés par les milieux professionnels pour définir et promouvoir des principes éthiques applicables au cyberespace". Voilà pourquoi nous sommes ici aujourd'hui et pourquoi, mandaté par tous nos Etats membres, j'ai le plaisir tout particulier de vous accueillir au nom de Monsieur Federico Mayor, Directeur général de l'UNESCO, à Infoéthique 98. Permettez-moi d'exprimer notre grande reconnaissance à la Principauté de Monaco et aux Commissions nationales pour l'UNESCO qui nous ont aidé à organiser ce Congrès. Je voudrais mentionner en particulier la Commission nationale Allemande qui a organisé, conjointement avec l'UNESCO, comme préparatif du Congrès, un forum de discussion virtuelle sur l'Internet. J'aimerais aussi remercier l'Institut National de l'Audiovisuel Français pour sa contribution audiovisuelle et l'Agence de la Francophonie pour sa généreuse contribution financière. Enfin, permettez-moi de souhaiter la bienvenue à Madame Vigdís Finnbogadóttir, Présidente de la "Commission mondiale d'éthique des connaissances scientifiques et des technologies". Votre présence ici souligne les liens entre le travail de votre Commission et le nôtre.

De par son Acte Constitutif, l'UNESCO est appelée à "promouvoir la libre circulation de l'information par le mot et par l'image" et, dans le processus de globalisation qui nous mène vers une société d'information, l'Organisation défendra par tous les moyens mis à sa disposition l'égalité, la justice sociale, le multiculturalisme et le multilinguisme.

En tant qu'Organisation intellectuelle internationale, l'UNESCO offre un forum unique où la communauté internationale peut réunir ses efforts dans la recherche d'un bien-être commun à tous. Infoéthique 98 fait partie de ce processus.

A travers les âges, les développements technologiques ont sans cesse posé de nouveaux défis à la liberté d'expression, à l'accès à l'information, au droit à la vie privée, au droit d'auteur et à la diversité linguistique et culturelle. Les problèmes d'aujourd'hui semblent peut-être plus complexes que ceux du temps de Gutenberg, mais de tels problèmes existaient à ce moment là.

Les questions posées par l'explosion de l'utilisation de l'Internet ont lancé un grand débat partout dans le monde. L'on cherche à savoir où les autoroutes de l'information vont nous mener. Mais le poète espagnol Antonio Machado a écrit "Voyageur, il n'y a pas de route. C'est en marchant qu'on trace sa route".

Il est essentiel de garder à l'esprit, à chaque moment de notre discussion, que les technologies de la communication et l'information peuvent offrir à tous des occasions jamais rêvées à la veille du troisième millénaire. "Communication" signifie "participation" et la participation, c'est la démocratie.

This year, we are commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and UNESCO is the recognized leader in the UN System for promoting the implementation of Article 19 which states: "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers". It is clear that frontier-free information highways provide almost unlimited opportunities for the practical implementation of the Article 19. However, in the unconditional fight for the implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, we must strive for the whole and not just one part.

Nor must we forget Article 12 which states "No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family house or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks".

In the march towards the Information Society, we must not lose this human right which is important for every human being at whatever the level of social hierarchy they may be. Any neglect of this right can lead to the humiliation of minorities, majorities or even individuals.

The threat to privacy hangs over us all. We want security, but we also want privacy. How much are we ready to trade off? We are all in databases, and if we are lucky the information will be correct. If not, not. Our every movement is tracked by the use of credit card, highway tolls, telephone cards, hidden camera systems, etc. George Orwell's Big Brother had a much less sophisticated system. To take only one aspect, the right of individuals to withhold personal data concerning and to check that data is an acute problem which will not prove easy to solve.

One thing however is clear – we must seek to use the opportunities provided by the information and communication technologies. We must develop information highways and if we meet criminals on these highways we have to fight the criminals not with the highways. At the beginning of next year, UNESCO will convene a meeting of key non-governmental organizations, personalities, institutions and specialists in the fight against paedophilia, child pornography and child prostitution in the media and on the Internet.

The Director-General of UNESCO announced the meeting in the following way:

It is well known that hard cases make bad law and the Internet is indeed a hard case, in part because the concerns, which surround it, are so many and varied. There are worries about privacy, confidentiality of information, fears about national security and the anxiety of parents and teachers about their children. The situation can only get worse if we allow ourselves to be paralyzed rather than mobilized by these concerns.

UNESCO itself has indeed been pro-active and in the period which has elapsed since Infoethics 97, progress has been made in identifying and promoting structures for self-regulation with the minimum appropriate level of government intervention. For both, government and industry, there are of course contradictions between old rules and new realities, and new rules and new realities.

The industrial complex is increasingly adopting systems of self-regulation and in some cases is applying high ethical standards. It may be said that, in some cases, even our political institutions can learn from industry.

We must then devise ways to make cyberspace useful and interesting, to expand it so as to build bridges between people, businesses and nations.

The task of providing an adequate environment for creativity falls to the policy-makers who must understand that creativity cannot be checked, controlled or channeled. In his address to the Conference on Culture and Development in Stockholm, Federico Mayor said: "We will not invent a new future if we are too cautious, take too measured steps. It will take vision – unquantifiable, uncontainable vision. I like to repeat: risk without knowledge of dangerous, but knowledge without risk is useless".

"Globalization" is a buzz word today. But we also have to ask ourselves "globalization for whom"? Financial transactions of hundreds of millions of dollars including payments for drugs and illegal arms take place in nano seconds bypassing governments and crossing borders. Nevertheless, we ordinary human beings continue to exist in the real world of borders, passports, visas, customs, etc.

In the 19^th century, it took one week to travel from Moscow to the countries of Western Europe and you did not need a visa. Today, it is only a three-hour flight, but you need to apply three weeks in advance for a visa.

As we stand on the doorstep of what is often called the "Information Society", it is important to remember that information is not knowledge and knowledge is not wisdom. We shall need all the wisdom in the world to make the best use of the opportunities which the Information Society has to offer.

The title of our Congress also includes the societal challenges of information and communication technologies. We have however only scratched the surface here. It may be that there is not yet enough data available. However, it is already clear that there will be a "virtual" redistribution of the "educated" work force. Today, there are scientists from African universities or East/Central European institutions who work for Western companies via the Internet. They are paid less than their Western colleagues, but for the time being they are happy. Will they still be happy tomorrow? Can this redistribution one day threaten the industrialized countries?

UNESCO supports the creation of the virtual laboratories. In one such laboratory, scientists from Kazakhstan, USA and Germany work together on problems of radioactive contamination. In this project, the nuclear test site in Semipalatinsk, Kazakhstan provides data to be analyzed by the powerful tools available in the USA and Germany.

A meeting of legal experts took place just before this Congress. Normally surgeons suggest an operation, priests a prayer and legal experts a law. I was glad to find that in this case the legal experts resisted this temptation and behaved rather cautiously.

It is doubtful that, there will be a strict international law for cyberspace in the near future. However, a statement of principles encouraging self-regulation could calm the unnecessary fears of those who are in favour of srict regulation, and of those who believe that the Internet developed so successfully because governments did not understand what was happening and that when they did it was too late. It may be that some kind of international consensus about the appropriate use of cyberspace is within our reach.

UNESCO has 186 Member States and it would be very dangerous to try to impose the laws or rules of conduct of one nation or group of states on the entire cyberspace. There would be disproportionate negative resistance. We are all equal in cyberspace. Today you do not need powerful radio or television station to transmit a message. All you need is a laptop and a modem to link up to the Internet. The most important question, which is not new, is: "Do your have something interesting to say?". When Bell learned about the first transatlantic cable established between Berlin and New York, he asked "What do they have to say to each other?".

Today we have a lot to say to each other, and our children and grandchildren will have even more. Let us help ourselves and by doing so help them. That is why we are here. Good luck!