General Assembly Session 50 meeting 67

The Acting President

I call on the representative of Tunisia.

Mr. Abdellah (Tunisia)

As we meet today to commemorate together the end of the United Nations Year for Tolerance, I am pleased to pay a tribute to the United Nations for its efforts, under the leadership of its Secretary-General, Mr. Boutros Boutros-Ghali, to disseminate the values of tolerance, peace, cooperation and human solidarity, noble values guaranteeing that civilizations will endure.

I am also pleased to pay a tribute to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and its Director-General, Mr. Federico Mayor, for their contribution to the success of the United Nations Year for Tolerance.

For years now, humanity has witnessed the spread of terrorism, violence, confrontation, hatred and horrors, bringing tragedy and suffering for millions of human beings. It is as if the universal conscience were no longer playing its role in shaping the behaviour of individuals, communities and States or in helping us learn the lessons of the past.

It is not our intention to portray the world as a place of chaos, nor do we consider this situation immutable. We are, rather, trying to describe a reality that should spur us to rouse the world's conscience, analyse the root causes of the situation more deeply and explore the means by which we can put an end to it.

The failure of ideologies and the values they promoted, and the way in which certain communities, groups and even peoples subsequently withdrew into themselves, can hardly explain the decline in the values of tolerance. The images of violence, genocide and various forms of terrorism and extremism, broadcast by the media with surprising frequency and with no thought whatsoever for the consequences, has in turn contributed to trivializing such images in the eyes of public opinion, resulting in a certain casualness about these grave occurrences.

Today more than ever, the world needs to consecrate the value of tolerance in the fight against selfishness and apathy, replace fear with serenity and exclusion and marginalization with solidarity, both within societies and at the level of the international community. Tolerance is one of the essential values of our Muslim faith and our social traditions. It typifies Tunisian history, which is a living example of how differences can be absorbed in a single system of civilization.

Just as our conception of this value in our country is global, so too have we based our political, economic, social, cultural and civilizational choices on concepts deeply steeped in tolerance. We have conceived and built up relations between our people's political and social components in a dynamic spirit of reconciliation and consensus, with a view to consolidating our country's progress on the path of democracy and human rights.

We have therefore drawn up a national covenant which sums up the constant values of our civilization, values which unite us and to which the parties, the organizations and the other component parts of our civilian society have subscribed. We have also assigned to the principle of equality the importance it deserves as a socio-cultural value. To do this, we have consolidated women's gains and further developed the legislation in this area.

Youth has also had a privileged place in the plan for society that we have been building. We have promulgated a special code for the protection of children, as an addition to the countless measures and mechanisms we have established to protect children and to give concrete form to those values and norms set down in the international Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Tolerance is also the spirit of solidarity that is deeply rooted in our culture and our traditions. We have established the National Solidarity Fund with a view to enabling the vulnerable sectors of our population to live in decent conditions.

With respect to the protection of religious minorities, Tunisia -- a country of openness, of civilization and of peaceful coexistence between its various minorities -- has enshrined the tradition of tolerance and respect for nationalities and other religions by guaranteeing the rights of religious minorities through legislation.

Strengthened by its geographical position and by the fact that it belongs to the Arab-Muslim, Mediterranean and African region, Tunisia has been at the forefront of the countries that have stood against the manifestations of intolerance in this region and elsewhere. In respect of racial discrimination on the African continent, the Middle East conflict or the tragedy of the Bosnian people, Tunisia has always strongly defended and upheld law, justice and peace. Because we have faith in the values of tolerance, cooperation and solidarity, we have engaged in many initiatives and activities to ensure that the Mediterranean remains a lake of peace and security, a bridge uniting the two shores for the strengthening of socio-cultural exchanges and shared development of the riparian countries.

In this connection, we are particularly happy to inform the General Assembly of the recent signing between Tunisia and the European Union of the first agreement of partnership and shared development, thereby opening the road to other, similar agreements that will give concrete form to our convictions regarding peace and tolerance.

In this context, Carthage, a city with a 3,000-year-old civilization whose achievements have enlightened three continents -- Africa, Europe and America -- last April hosted the Mediterranean symposium on the teaching of tolerance. This meeting, co-sponsored by the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Tunisian Government, brought together a great number of philosophers, historians, sociologists and religious leaders, and affirmed the role of religions, intellectuals and media in the promotion of tolerance. This meeting also resulted in the adoption of the Carthage charter, a document which reaffirms the role of democracy and political pluralism in promoting tolerance. The charter stipulates that tolerance can be fully promoted only if economic and social inequalities, inequalities within nations and economic policies imposed from outside are attacked. The charter holds that cultural diversity should be considered to be enriching and not divisive. Democracy and freedom of thought and expression should therefore be recognized as inalienable rights about which there should be no discrimination.

I shall conclude, by quoting Mr. Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, President of the Republic of Tunisia, who expressed the hope that

"above and beyond the ceremonial, academic debate, research, the dissemination of studies and the launching of appeals, the United Nations Year for Tolerance will offer an opportunity to work out clear approaches and useful proposals to enshrine tolerance at the level of ideals and practice, and to give it concrete form in relations among individuals, groups, races, States, civilizations, religions and cultures."

The Acting President

I now call on His Excellency Senator Dominic Foreman, M.P. of Australia.

Mr. Foreman (Australia)

Australia is one of the most multicultural of nations. We have a rich and linguistically diverse indigenous culture. Almost one-third of all Australians are themselves migrants, and they came from every continent. We have 240 different ethnic communities. Practically every modern language is spoken, and every known religion practised, in Australia.

To mark the United Nations Year for Tolerance and the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations, we hosted a Global Cultural Diversity Conference in Sydney in April this year. The purpose of the Conference was to consider the ways by which we might make cultural diversity less of an impediment to human progress, and more of a means to it. That is, how can different groups not merely tolerate but actually benefit from each other?

In his keynote speech at the Conference, Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali noted that both the United Nations Charter and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights established culture as a fundamental human right, and made cultural diversity a central issue in the work of the United Nations today.

The agenda for the Conference demonstrates that cultural diversity is itself a diverse concept. It calls to mind different preoccupations for different people, depending on their background. To mention a few examples, the Conference included presentations on: the international movement of labour in Asia; issues in native Canadian welfare; music as a force for social change; the intercultural nature of modern English; the competitive advantages of a culturally diverse workforce; alliances and allegiances: rebuilding South Africa; the Australian indigenous experience; building cohesion in the wake of conflict: the Palestinian perspective; biculturalism and bureaucracy in New Zealand; the lessons learned from Los Angeles; conservation of India's architectural heritage; constitutional change and political life of Fiji; diversity and domestic violence. Also, a paper entitled "And the wall came tumbling down: Berlin", was presented.

Given a Conference of this variety, the drawing of common threads must itself be hailed as an achievement in bridge-building. The Conference concluded that all societies stood to gain by being genuinely inclusive, open and progressive in their approach to cultural diversity.

National approaches to managing cultural diversity which nurtured the rich culture and linguistic traditions inherent in diverse communities would enhance the competitive position of national economies and increase international peace and security.

Government policies should facilitate access to national languages and provide equal access to education and training opportunities, the labour market and social services. Full justice for, and reconciliation with, indigenous peoples was seen as essential.

At the same time, the Conference acknowledged that diversity had to be reconciled with social cohesion -- shared values and mores should be promoted. The status of women in all cultures had to continue to be advanced.

Australia hopes the ideas and experiences aired at the Cultural Diversity Conference helped raise general awareness of the question of tolerance, thereby facilitating cooperation within societies and the work of the United Nations. We hope some of the specific proposals will be carried forward, including through the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's Management of Social Transformation programme.

The Sydney Conference pointed to the need for further discussion on the contribution of diversity to economic development and on the unique situation of indigenous peoples. The Australian Government is encouraging other countries to consider hosting a follow-up conference or a series of seminars to continue the discussion on cultural diversity and the sharing of information and practices.

Philosophers may argue over the location in the human psyche of the instinct of intolerance for, and violence towards, those who are different. At the social level it is indisputable that intolerance of racial, religious, ethnic, language and gender differences is exploited by groups which seek to attain or maintain economic and political power over others.

At the subtle end of the spectrum is the denial which effectively disadvantages people by imposing uniform expectations and offering uniform opportunities.

At the worst extreme, each generation since the start of the Second World War has been witness to cases of deliberate genocide or that cultivated anarchy in which vulnerable groups destroy each other. The work of States and the United Nations is to ensure through equitable development, education, and the rule of law that the pattern ceases.

Tolerance is a matter of peace and security, economic and social development and human rights. Instituting tolerance is therefore the task of a properly coordinated and reintegrated United Nations. It is thus very fitting that the conclusion of the Year be marked by the General Assembly in plenary.

Let the walls of intolerance tumble down.

The Acting President

I now call on the representative of Sudan.

Mr. Fad'Allah (Sudan)

It gives me pleasure to address the General Assembly on this very important occasion -- the Special Commemorative Meeting to mark the United Nations Year for Tolerance.

Tolerance, that concept which, of late, has been in the spotlight, did not emerge from a vacuum; rather, it is its antithesis, the phenomenon of intolerance, which is now rampant in the world, that makes us speak of tolerance. Our world is now in the grip of tensions and conflicts in all its parts and is, therefore, tortured by the manifestations of xenophobia, ethnic massacres and genocide, and disrespect for the cultures and religions of others. The blind fanaticism that is rampant in certain cultures and the attendant delusions of superiority, when added to these manifestations, underscore the vital importance of tolerance if the world is to be able to rid itself of these burning hot beds of hostility.

The world we all live in has been, from the very beginning, a world of diversity. Cultures, norms and religions have differed, from one place to the other, since time immemorial. So, what is new? What is it that makes the affliction of intolerance rampant in the world today?

The imbalance in the division of wealth, and the resultant prevalence of poverty, disease and social injustice are the principal factors that seduce certain Governments into looking down upon the peoples of other countries, seeking to impose their own cultures on other peoples and into striving, with the help of their abundant resources and might, to achieve that goal of imposing the way of life of their nations on others. In the process, peoples of different cultures or different religions or different customs and traditions are promptly branded as violators of human rights or even as terrorists or, sometimes, as fundamentalists whereas, in actual fact, it is the pressure that is brought to bear in imposing those Governments' conditions on other peoples that constitutes a flagrant violation of human rights.

Cultural differences and religious and ethnic diversity, in our view, are a source of enrichment and enlightenment for humanity as a whole.

The best example we can cite in this respect is Sudan with its head towards the North of Africa and with its South deep in the heart of Africa, with the Arab peninsula and Asia only a few steps from its East. Sudan is therefore African, Arabic, Muslim and Christian and we have a number of other local religions as well to which some of the inhabitants of our country belong. This is the best example we can use to illustrate diversity in any one country.

Sudan, throughout the ages, has remained an example of coexistence where mosques have been built alongside churches and where Moslems and Christians have worked together side by side and where tribes with their different ethnicities have lived in harmony and amity.

All those qualities have made Sudan well qualified to host two international conferences on dialogue between religions. Those conferences were held in Khartoum with the participation of religious leaders from various parts of the world. The conferences adopted recommendations that called for the peaceful coexistence of the adherents of the revealed religions which came from one and the same God.

In this respect I should like to refer to the fact that Sudan hosted a Papal visit by His Holiness Pope John Paul in 1992 and, that last October, Dr. George Kerry, the Archbishop of Canterbury, visited Sudan and toured many of its provinces. Sudan will continue to receive similar delegations and prominent personages in order for them to see at first-hand the Sudanese model.

It is also worth mentioning that the laws which prohibited proselytizing in the past have been repealed, so that all religions can proselytize freely. For the first time ever in the history of Sudan Bishop Gabriel Rusarik has been appointed Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry and our brethren, the Christians, hold very high posts such as the post of Vice-President of the Republic.

Whatever the circumstances, we now find ourselves today faced with this challenge which requires us all to transcend our differences and to broaden our horizons in order to encompass the cultures and religions of others. It is important for us all to realize that we cannot impose one culture on the whole world in complete disregard of the many other cultures that exist in that world.