General Assembly Session 62 meeting 18

The President

Before giving floor to the first speaker, I would like to invite the attention of the General Assembly to document A/62/338/Add.1, containing a letter dated 4 October 2007 from the Chairman of the Committee on Conferences addressed to the President of the General Assembly.

Members are aware that, pursuant to section I, paragraph 7, of Assembly resolution 40/243 of 18 December 1985, no subsidiary organ of the General Assembly should be permitted to meet at United Nations Headquarters during the main part of the regular session of the Assembly unless explicitly authorized by the Assembly.

Members will recall that, at its 1st plenary meeting of the sixty-second session, held on 18 September 2007, the General Assembly authorized a number of subsidiary organs to meet during the main part of the regular session of the Assembly.

Authorization is now sought for the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Population Fund to hold one meeting during the main part of the sixty-second session of the General Assembly, on the strict understanding that the meeting would be accommodated within available facilities and services.

May I take it that it is the wish of the General Assembly to authorize the Executive Board of the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Population Fund to hold one meeting during the main part of the sixty-second session of the General Assembly?

The President

I give the floor to Mr. H.E. Seif Ali Iddi, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of the United Republic of Tanzania.

Mr. Iddi (Tanzania)

The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania is pleased to participate in this dialogue on interreligious and intercultural cooperation. This meeting has come at an opportune time, when we need to encourage new thinking and dialogue on making the world more peaceful by building bridges among interfaith and multicultural institutions and by strengthening shared similarities among different faiths.

We thank the Secretary-General for his informative reports on this agenda item. We welcome the civil society hearing, as we believe that the civil society is a key partner in our resolve to promote interreligious and intercultural cooperation for peace.

The importance of dialogue and tolerance between religions and cultures to achieve peace in this globalized world cannot be overemphasized at a time when there are extremists bent on exploiting cultural and religious differences. We are thus encouraged that various initiatives are being undertaken by various organizations to promote interreligious and intercultural cooperation. Furthermore we commend the efforts undertaken by the United Nations system and in particular the leading role provided by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in promoting interreligious and intercultural understanding and cooperation in their programmes. The United Nations should use its strategic convening advantage to lead the world in this endeavour.

The Government of the United Republic of Tanzania acknowledges the initiatives of the Governments of Spain and Turkey in the formation of the Alliance of Civilizations. We congratulate Mr. Jorge Sampaio on his appointment as the High Representative for the Alliance.

We support the Alliance of Civilizations as a credible and viable attempt to diminish the dangerous tensions between diverse societies and their threat to international stability. The recommendations contained in the report of the High-level Group for the Alliance of Civilizations warrant our serious consideration. We look forward to receiving the report on the work of the Alliance as well as to its first international forum, to be held in Spain in 2008.

In Tanzania interreligious and intercultural cooperation is integrally woven into the social fabric of our nation. Tanzania is home to different races, more than 100 ethnic groups and several religions which coexist in harmony, with full freedom to express their cultural and religious diversity. Long before our independence, in 1961 for Tanzania Mainland and in 1964 for Zanzibar, our founding fathers of the independence movement deliberately focused on national unity by highlighting the assets of unity, such as a common language.

After independence, there have been conscious efforts to nurture unity in diversity through innovative national policies that promote and encourage a culture of tolerance and peaceful coexistence among our people. Several measures were taken by the Government in that regard. The most effective measure to address and dampen the politicization of religious and other identities included policies that promoted the principle of equity, particularly through access to education.

The institutions responsible for administering justice were also reformed to ensure that they accommodated the needs and aspirations of diverse groups. Furthermore, legal provisions were instituted forbidding the formation of organizations, such as political parties, that foment and amplify divisions based on race, religion or tribe. That separation of religion, race and ethnicity from politics has enabled Tanzania to have peacefully held four presidential elections.

The Constitution of the United Republic of Tanzania pronounces Tanzania a secular State. The Constitution further provides for the right of every citizen to exercise the freedom of worship and to join or leave any religion of their choice. Moreover, religious tolerance is emphasized. Our penal code does not allow behaviour that is injurious to religious liberty. It should be underscored that the Government of Tanzania greatly values freedom of expression, but that freedom should be exercised with respect for other religions and cultures.

The Government has also undertaken measures to build a culture of peace and unity. That has been accomplished through many avenues, such as media messages, school curricula and our national unifying symbols and heritage, including our national heroes and youth movements. The Government has further encouraged and assisted religious organizations in holding dialogues amongst themselves. To this end, Muslim and Christian leaders in Tanzania have formed a joint Commission on Peace, Development and Reconciliation. It is a forum for dialogue and has contributed to engendering understanding and accommodation.

In addition, religious leaders and organizations have worked hand-in-hand with the Government in combating social problems that could be avenues for disenchantment and thus provide recruiting grounds for radical fringe elements in society, sowing seeds of misunderstanding and discord in society. We should not underestimate the capacity of those elements to develop divisive ideologies to incite and exploit social deprivation, poverty and religious differences in order to advocate violence. Those people and groups transcend national and international boundaries. We must endeavour to address the root causes of frustrations that could be the breeding ground for racial politics and ideologies in the name of religion.

Religious intolerance is fuelled by ignorance of what other faiths stand for. It is that ignorance that is exploited by those who have an agenda seeking to advance political goals through violence justified on religious grounds. Therefore, increased education and communication aimed at promoting better understanding and tolerance should be accorded a high priority by all of us.

Concerted efforts from all of us are needed as we deal with religiously motivated political violence and terrorism. The Government of Tanzania reiterates its readiness to share our national experience in order to further this dialogue, with a view to promoting understanding and tolerance among diverse cultures and religions in order to contribute towards world peace and security.

The President

I now call on H.E. Mr. Anton Niculescu, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Romania.

Mr. Niculescu (Romania)

I am deeply honoured to address the High-level Dialogue on Interreligious and Intercultural Understanding and Cooperation for Peace. I would like to begin by thanking the President of the General Assembly for organizing this Dialogue on one of the most important issues of our time.

Romania fully endorses the statement of the Portuguese presidency of the European Union, which was made yesterday.

In an increasingly globalized world, where we live together and interact with each other, intercultural dialogue will be a permanent process requiring worldwide participation at all levels. We must put intercultural and interreligious dialogue at the top of our political agenda, because no progress is possible without joint responsibility and a sharing of the task by all. We welcome foremost the interactive hearing involving representatives of civil society as an important part of our debate.

The rich cultural diversity of my country could not have been better illustrated than by the logo chosen for the city of Sibiu, which, along with Luxemburg, is the 2007 European Capital of Culture: "Sibiu -- City of Culture -- City of Cultures". The geographical position of Romania at the crossroads of Central and South-Eastern European cultures is reflected in both the variety and the richness of our cultural diversity. The social landscape is characterized by a variety of cultural traditions, including Hungarian, Roma, German, Ukrainian, Jewish, Turkish, Tartar, Russian, Serbian, Bulgarian, Slovak, Greek, Polish, Italian, Armenian and Croatian.

Romania is also a place of peaceful coexistence between different religions and confessions: Orthodox, Roman and Greek Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, Muslim and others. The churches and religious communities contribute to better harmony among people by promoting mutual respect within the framework of shared fundamental values. The Romanian Government is working closely with religious communities in promoting interreligious dialogue.

In this context, in September 2007, Romania hosted the Third European Ecumenical Assembly for the first time in a largely Orthodox country. The Assembly gathered a large number of representatives, not only from European institutions, countries and churches, but also representatives of Muslim and Jewish communities in Europe, as well as from churches in America, Asia and Africa. The Assembly's message, adopted in Sibiu, encourages peaceful dialogue between religions, better knowledge of all religions, and respect for freedom of religion, human dignity and human rights.

Romania welcomes the Alliance of Civilizations and expresses its full support and willingness to be associated with its activities, for we think the Alliance has great potential to promote peace by means of intercultural and interreligious dialogue. We are fully satisfied with the conclusions of the first ministerial meeting of the group of friends, which took place last week, and we consider the Alliance ready to make a major step forward in achieving tangible results.

As the Presidency of the European Union stated earlier, we think that Europe, along with other regions of the world, could play a key role in reaching the objectives of the Alliance of Civilizations. History has shaped Europe as a multicultural, multi-ethnic and multireligious continent. However, today's new realities, including migration and globalization, will enrich its physiognomy even more.

Romania, now at a happy turning point in its history, is changing even faster and becoming more urban, more open, deeply democratic and more multicultural. Thus, the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, to be organized by the European Union next year, represents a great opportunity for my country to deal with the more complex cultural environment and to acquire new intercultural dialoguing skills through contacts with other European countries and neighbouring regions. Yet, in my opinion, one of the most important results of the European Year will be the understanding of our unity in diversity and the awareness that different cultures, religions and beliefs are bound to enrich our lives and reflect the same universal values.

In that regard, Romania has already prepared a national strategy for intercultural dialogue with a special focus on the involvement of civil society, especially young people and children. Romania has also participated in the project of the Council of Europe, working on its white paper on intercultural dialogue, which seeks to develop a coherent policy aimed at promoting intercultural dialogue within Europe and with its neighbours.

I would like to refer to my own region, the Black Sea region, a distinct geographical area strategically located at the intersection of Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. This area, characterized by countries with very different histories and cultures, has many opportunities, but also faces challenges and difficulties that require a comprehensive response. In our view, given the confluence of cultures in the Black Sea area, intercultural and interreligious dialogue could play an increasingly important role in advancing regional cooperation and in solving some of the regional difficulties.

Therefore, we consider that international initiatives in the field of intercultural and interreligious dialogue, including those carried out under the aegis of the United Nations, can be beneficial. In this context, we intend to propose a project aiming to promote the intercultural and interreligious dialogue in the Black Sea region, which could be developed in cooperation with the Alliance of Civilizations.

The Universal Declaration on Cultural Diversity adopted by the heads of States from the South-East Europe region in Bucharest on 7 June 2007 describes multiculturalism as not only a multitude of cultures with equal status, but also a system based on common values and the development of peace, and interculturality as the constant interaction between cultures in the spirit of building bridges among peoples.

I hope that our debate will contribute to strengthening our commitment for peace, and that other similar initiatives will follow aimed at broadening our intercultural and interreligious dialogue.

The President

I give the floor to His Excellency Hans Winkler, State Secretary for European and International Affairs of Austria.

Mr. Winkler (Austria)

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