| Date | 10 December 1999 |
|---|---|
| Started | 15:00 |
| Ended | 19:25 |
Instructions
Click on the Link to this button beside the speech or paragraph to expand it to a useful panel containing:
- The date of the speech
- A link to the original page of the PDF document
- A URL that can be used in most blogs
- A structured Citation template suitable for use in a Wikipedia article.
Those last two rows ("URL" and "wiki") use textboxes to hide most of the text.
To access this text, right-click in the textbox with your mouse and choose "Select All", then right-click again and choose "Copy". Now you can right-click into another window and choose "Paste" to get the text.
Agenda item 34 (continued)
Dialogue among civilizations
Report of the Secretary-General (A/54/546)
Draft resolution (A/54/L.60)
Mr. Widodo (Indonesia)
It is indeed a pleasure for me to speak on behalf of the Indonesian delegation on agenda item 34 on "Dialogue among Civilizations". Let me begin by expressing our deepest congratulations to the delegation of the Islamic Republic of Iran for its timely initiative on this subject and for the considerable efforts that have been made to begin the dialogue. We believe that it is timely not only because of the significance of a new millennium and the beginning a new era of greater awareness and understanding, but also because of the backdrop of violence which rages throughout the world as we close this chapter of our history. It is also auspicious that we are undertaking our deliberations today, which is Human Rights Day.
Throughout time, mankind has only benefited from increased communication and an improved knowledge of concepts and practices that are initially perceived to be foreign or different. For through that process of inquiry, study and exchange of ideas, real and lasting change has been made and peace has been achieved. We are today uniquely positioned to expand the dialogue to one among civilizations spread across the globe. The information technology that is available and the advances in communication and in travel not only facilitate such a dialogue among civilizations but make it an imperative. Globalization will become a positive and welcome process when peoples and civilizations meet in dialogue and not in conflict.
The end of the cold war shattered the old paradigm of international relations. With the end of the decades-long struggle between East and West, there were some who held that new alliances needed to be formed to protect the gains that had been made and to preserve traditional values and cultural heritages from potential new threats. It was predicted that the East-West contest would be replaced by one between North and South, between privileged and impoverished, with a religious and racial dimension superimposed. A clash among civilizations needed to be averted, and like-minded countries banded together in new alliances.
At a more local level, this could be seen as sheer bigotry and ignorance. At the international level, it is an injustice to humanity and stifles the very progress we all pursue. It closes the door on enlightenment and hobbles any hope of achieving global tolerance and common values. A dialogue among civilizations is essential if we are to achieve our long-sought goals of ending racism and racial discrimination and of advancing human rights through cooperation and understanding. I would recall that Iran's promotion of a dialogue among civilizations was based on the premise that the diversity of humankind was a source of strength and not a cause for division. Rather than closing doors and defending against a phantom enemy, the dialogue is inclusive and allows all to contribute to a global culture.
In that regard, in my own country of Indonesia our national motto is Bhineka Tunggal Ika, which means "unity in diversity". It is from the hundreds of different ethnic groups that compose the nation of Indonesia that we draw our strength. As our people profess the world's major religions, come from diverse backgrounds with distinct languages and hold dear their varied heritage, we look to a future of prosperity that will be possible only as a consequence of tolerance and respect.
It is from our experience at the national level, and with a sincere recognition of the important need to create such a climate at the international level, that Indonesia supports the notion of a dialogue among civilizations and is therefore a sponsor of draft resolution A/54/L.60.
In the same vein, Indonesia welcomes the substantive activities being undertaken by the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and others to promote dialogue and to facilitate an exchange of views among policy makers and within society. My delegation commends the proposal by the OIC to prepare a draft universal declaration of dialogue among civilizations and a 10-year programme of action. Likewise, the proclamation by resolution 52/15 of the year 2000 as the International Year for the Culture of Peace should complement the goals of the dialogue.
The success of a dialogue among civilizations would validate the principles and goals of the United Nations Charter and would greatly strengthen the deliberations undertaken in this forum. It would enable us to move forward in such areas as human rights, social development and on environmental and numerous other issues. Indonesia therefore strongly supports a dialogue and looks forward to its successful undertaking.
Mr. Kafando (Burkina Faso)
The creation of the United Nations, following the upheaval of two World Wars, was guided by a spirit of tolerance, concord and solidarity, with the goal of building a world free of hatred and enmity. That altruistic spirit made possible what was then called peaceful coexistence, which is nothing more than a dialogue between two worlds that differ in every way, beginning with their ideology and political systems.
This experience of universal coexistence is a clear example of the symbiosis that can bring together people from all races, languages and cultures.
In its mission to safeguard international peace, the United Nations must therefore make dialogue among civilizations its principal weapon, because only such a dialogue will be able to overcome the numerous conflicts, confrontations and antagonisms among people. It is therefore no surprise that the General Assembly proclaimed the year 2000 the International Year for the Culture of Peace and 2001 the International Year for Dialogue among Civilizations. This is, in fact, a symbolic reminder that peace and dialogue are closely linked and work in unison in the search for a universal civilization.
In assuming the chairmanship of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) group at the United Nations, my country cannot remain silent on the subject of the important Tehran Declaration on the Dialogue among Civilizations, adopted in May 1999, or the resolution on dialogue among contemporary civilizations, which resulted from the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of Ministers for Foreign Affairs of the countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference in Ouagadougou. Furthermore, various speakers have recalled the crucial role played by President Mohammad Khatami of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the current Chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, in taking the decision to proclaim the United Nations International Year of Dialogue among Civilizations. We are convinced that in this area, cooperation between the OIC, the United Nations and other international organizations will ensure the success of this exceptional world event.
That is why my delegation would like most sincerely to commend the Secretary-General for his efforts, and in particular for appointing a Personal Representative to deal with the issue and to work in close cooperation with Governments and certain regional groups in the implementation of the initiative. The provisional report submitted to us in this regard reflects the seriousness of his approach and the determination with which he intends to carry out his mission. That is also why we ask the Assembly to support massively, by consensus, draft resolution A/54/L.60, which is now before it. This enormous enterprise naturally requires all States to participate, because it is a collective endeavour to give our world a more human face. Governments, organizations, institutions, researchers, politicians, religious leaders and others are all invited to carry out appropriate educational, social and cultural programmes so as to promote dialogue among peoples and civilization.
We are not far from an event that will surely be one of the greatest examples of dialogue between cultures and religions: Bethlehem 2000. As I have already said, celebrating the birth of Christ in the land of Islam is a proof of tolerance and an unprecedented example of brotherhood, for which credit must go to the cooperation between the Palestinian Authority, the Holy See and Italy.
May that concrete action, based on a spirit of friendship, agreement and perfect understanding, inspire and guide the international community so that we can truly make 2001 the Year of Dialogue among Civilizations.
Mr. Sadasivan (Singapore)
--> -->
| <type 'exceptions.UnicodeEncodeError'> | Python 2.6.6: /usr/bin/python Fri May 24 18:40:23 2013 |
A problem occurred in a Python script. Here is the sequence of function calls leading up to the error, in the order they occurred.
| /data/vhost/www.undemocracy.com/docs/trunk.py in |
| 194 if __name__ == "__main__": |
| 195 pathpart = os.getenv("PATH_INFO") |
| 196 maintrunk(pathpart) |
| 197 |
| 198 |
| maintrunk = <function maintrunk>, pathpart = '/generalassembly_54/meeting_78/highlight_A-54-546' |
| /data/vhost/www.undemocracy.com/docs/trunk.py in maintrunk(pathpart='/generalassembly_54/meeting_78/highlight_A-54-546') |
| 131 elif pagefunc == "gameeting": |
| 132 LogIncomingDB(hmap["docid"], hmap["gadice"] or "0", referrer, ipaddress, useragent, remadeurl) |
| 133 WriteHTML(hmap["htmlfile"], hmap["pdfinfo"], hmap["gadice"], hmap["highlightdoclink"]) |
| 134 elif pagefunc == "agendanumexpanded": |
| 135 LogIncomingDB(pagefunc, hmap["agendanum"], referrer, ipaddress, useragent, remadeurl) |
| global WriteHTML = <function WriteHTML>, hmap = {'docid': 'A-54-PV.78', 'gadice': '', 'gameeting': 78, 'gasession': 54, 'highlightdoclink': 'A-54-546', 'htmlfile': '/home/undemocracy/undata/html/A-54-PV.78.html', 'pagefunc': 'gameeting', 'pdfinfo': <pdfinfo.PdfInfo instance>} |
| /home/undemocracy/unparse-live/web2/unpvmeeting.py in WriteHTML(fhtml='/home/undemocracy/undata/html/A-54-PV.78.html', pdfinfo=<pdfinfo.PdfInfo instance>, gadice='', highlightth='A-54-546') |
| 322 if dclass == "spoken": |
| 323 if not gadice or agendagidcurrent == gadice: |
| 324 WriteSpoken(gid, dtextmu, councilpresidentnation) |
| 325 elif dclass == "subheading": |
| 326 if agendagidcurrent and (not gadice or agendagidcurrent == gadice): |
| global WriteSpoken = <function WriteSpoken>, gid = u'pg003-bk01', dtextmu = u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Mr. Sada...ks forward to working closely with Mr. Picco.</p>', councilpresidentnation = None |
| /home/undemocracy/unparse-live/web2/unpvmeeting.py in WriteSpoken(gid=u'pg003-bk01', dtext=u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Mr. Sada...ks forward to working closely with Mr. Picco.</p>', councilpresidentnation=None) |
| 69 print '</cite>' |
| 70 |
| 71 print dtext[mspek.end(0):] |
| 72 |
| 73 print '</div>' |
| dtext = u'<h3 class="speaker"> <span class="name">Mr. Sada...ks forward to working closely with Mr. Picco.</p>', mspek = <_sre.SRE_Match object>, mspek.end = <built-in method end of _sre.SRE_Match object> |
<type 'exceptions.UnicodeEncodeError'>: 'ascii' codec can't encode character u'\xe9' in position 3338: ordinal not in range(128)
args =
('ascii', u'\n\t<p id="pg003-bk01-pa01">First, let me say that...ks forward to working closely with Mr. Picco.</p>', 3338, 3339, 'ordinal not in range(128)')
encoding =
'ascii'
end =
3339
message =
''
object =
u'\n\t<p id="pg003-bk01-pa01">First, let me say that...ks forward to working closely with Mr. Picco.</p>'
reason =
'ordinal not in range(128)'
start =
3338