Global Cultural Diversity Conference Proceedings, Sydney
Cultural Diversity: the United Nations' Role into the Future
His Excellency Dr Boutros Boutros-Ghali
Secretary-General, United Nations
I am delighted to be in Australia for this Conference on Cultural Diversity. This conference forms part of Australia's observance of the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations. As Secretary-General of the United Nations I thank Australia for taking this important initiative.
I have been close to the issue of cultural diversity all through my public life. This conference therefore is also of personal importance to me.
At first glance, the subject of global cultural diversity might seem far removed from the work of the United Nations. A wave of global emergencies has arisen in the wake of the Cold War. The United Nations is undertaking more activities for peace, development and democracy than ever before in its history and under conditions of far from adequate resources. Today the world is faced with terrible regional conflicts, with an urgent necessity to achieve sustainable development, and with an unprecedented range of political, social and economic concerns. Under such conditions, should not cultural diversity be left for some later generation to consider?
The answer unequivocally is no. Cultural diversity is a major and immediate concern of humanity today. This conference is timely. And this conference is of global significance.
As Secretary-General of the United Nations, one of my most important responsibilities is to look beyond the crises of the moment. The task is to help prepare the world Organization, and the world community, for the problems and opportunities of the future.
But my involvement with the issues this conference will consider began well before my time as Secretary-General. Years ago, in my role in Egypt's Foreign Ministry, I was privileged to help promote cultural and political dialogue among Arab, African and Latin American peoples. In preparation for the Afro-Arab Summit of March 1977, I helped achieve a rapprochement between Arab and African countries. I followed this by promoting contracts among Latin American, Arab and African cultures. I helped to organize seminars and conferences to be held alternately in Mexico City and in Cairo. In accordance with recommendations of the Bandung Conference, I worked to translate the ideals of the Non-Aligned Movement into the politics of global cultural cooperation.
From this background, I have emerged with some thoughts on the importance of cultural diversity for the work of the United Nations, now and in the years ahead. I would like to share these thoughts with you today. I approach this matter with the experience of five decades of work in politics and culture, with a vision for the better world we are committed to build, and with humility for I know that the issues before this conference are of great difficulty and enormous magnitude.
Let me start with some basic propositions. I shall not try to define culture, but to illustrate the importance of culture to the global mission of the United Nations today: maintaining international peace and security, pursuing development cooperation and, in a new initiative, supporting democratization in states that request our help, and throughout the international system in general.
The role of culture in the work of the United Nations is not recent. The right to live one's culture is among the most basic rights of life. But the forces of modernization put devastating pressure on traditional cultures. The forces of ideology in this century repeatedly sought to impose uniformity, across a range of differing cultures.
It was in response to these threats that the United Nations stressed the importance of culture in its founding instruments. Article I of the Charter, which defines the purposes of the United Nations, calls for "international cooperation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural or humanitarian character". Accordingly, the Economic and Social Council, in its first session, adopted resolutions to coordinate the work of the United Nations and the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations, with the strong support of Australia, proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. For the first time in history there came into existence a document, adopted by the international community, which provided for the respect of cultural rights. Article 22 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone is entitled to realization of the cultural rights indispensable for dignity and the free development of personality.
Thus the Charter and the Universal Declaration establish culture as a fundamental human right. These two great documents make cultural diversity a central issue in the work of the United Nations today.
This then is the fundamental approach to culture as found in basic documents of the United Nations: every person has a fundamental right to his or her culture; human rights, which are universal, in cultural rights; and international cooperation is required to solve problems of a cultural character.
From these axioms, it is clear that the issues of cultural diversity need to be integrated into all aspects of the work of the United Nations. But the central role of culture and cultural diversity does not emerge only from documents, important as they are. It emerges as well from the impact of history upon the diverse cultures of the world's peoples.
In the colonial era, culture was used as a tool of oppression and fragmentation. Colonized cultures were suppressed, disparaged, and some were shattered. In many cases, elite members of the colonized society were encouraged to adopt the culture, the language and the social aspirations of the metropolis. During the era of colonization the majority of the world's peoples faced a four-dimensional threat: foreign powers suppressed their traditional culture; colonial rulers sought to impose alien ways upon them; imperial rivalries made contacts between colonized peoples and their cultures almost impossible; and the relentless pressure of industrialization and urbanization pushed many traditional cultures to the brink of breakdown, or beyond.
As many cultures of the world finally began to emerge from the shadow of imperialism, a new and troubling phenomenon appeared. In reaction to the pressures of modernization, globalization and cross-cultural communication, an explosion of micronationalism took place.
Ethnic, religious and cultural separatism threatens a return of some of the worst problems of the past: intolerance or antagonism towards other cultures; opposition to practices unlike one's own; and an inability to conduct productive dialogue across the global range of diverse cultures. When a culture walls itself off from others, the only outcome can be sterility and antagonism. The cause of cooperation and progress on a global scale cannot but be set back by this phenomenon.
Today, as Secretary-General, it is clear to me that only in a healthy flowering of many cultures, cherished for their rich diversity, can a truly global culture of peace based on mutual respect and creative exchange take shape.
This purpose is at the heart of the great historical enterprise that is the United Nations. The raison d'etre of the United Nations is to foster the integrity of cultures, and upon this basis to promote information, dialogue, understanding and cooperation among the peoples of all the world's diverse cultures. Upon this foundation the United Nations can proceed towards the realization of the three pillars of a global culture: a culture of peace; a culture of development; a culture of democracy.
Building a culture of peace is perhaps the most urgent task facing us today. Soon after assuming office as Secretary-General, I outlined my proposals for peace in a report to the members of the Security Council in An Agenda for Peace. I defined a new task for the United Nations in the aftermath of conflict: "peacebuilding". At the heart of postconflict peacebuilding are "joint programmes through which barriers between nations are brought down by means of freer travel, cultural exchanges and mutually beneficial youth and educational projects". The essence of peacebuilding is the interaction of different cultures. Reducing hostile perceptions through educational exchanges and curriculum reform can be essential to preventing the reemergence of cultural and national tensions which could spark renewed hostilities.
The cultural dimension of peace was brought into operation, for the first time, in the case of ElSalvador. There, the United Nations Culture of Peace Programme sought to create a culture of peace through the values of education, social communication and cultural identity. The programme, under the responsibility of UNESCO, deals with three priority areas: democratic citizenship and human development; the recovery and development of national identity; and the learning and living of a culture of peace. Each of these priorities found expression through a variety of projects. This approach can be utilized wherever the imperative for postconflict peacebuilding exists.
A culture of development was called for in my companion report to An Agenda for Peace, entitled An Agenda for Development. There I stated: "in the past few years, near universal recognition has been achieved of the need for fresh consideration of ways in which the goals of peace, freedom, justice and progress may be pursued in a dramatically transformed global context. A culture of development can encompass these goals in a single, comprehensive vision and framework for action."
It is this premise of a culture of development which has led the United Nations to organize, since 1992, a unique continuum of conferences and summits. Their goal has been not only to produce national policies for development, but also to promote a wider culture of development for the entire international community.
Because of United Nations efforts, the culture of development has created a new awareness in several key areas: the links between the economy and the environment; preservation, respect and support for the contributions of indigenous peoples; and the importance of culture and education in development.
Cooperation in development leads to exchange between cultures through expert missions, scholarships and training programmes. Such cultural contacts are a critical part of development cooperation. The United Nations, through its awareness-raising conferences and summits, works to ensure that such cultural contacts are fruitful and mutually enriching. The recently concluded World Summit for Social Development held in Copenhagen in March 1995 took an important step in this regard. The participating states, including 103 Heads of State and Government committed themselves to "recognize and respect cultural, ethnic and religious diversity and promote and protect the rights of persons belonging to national or ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities.
Fostering a culture of democracy is a new role for the United Nations. As the United Nations enters its second half century, the task of assisting democratization in countries which request it, and of democratization for the international system itself is or paramount importance.
Democracy means more than free and fair elections. The key to a democratic transformation lies in respect for, and continual fostering of, a culture of democracy. This requires not only the creation of institutions and procedures of democracy, but also a commitment of both the heart and the mind to the values of democracy. This cannot succeed in the absence of a commitment to cultural diversity. While totalitarian and extremist regimes often base their hold on society on a negation of the culture of "the other", cultural diversity is at the heart of democratic pluralism. Democracies find enrichment through the meeting of proponents of different cultures, and through mutual cultural dialogue. And the recognition is growing that democratization and its culture is itself a contribution to a culture of peace.
In this spirit we can see that diversity and universality are not adversaries, but mutually necessary commitments. As the 1993 Vienna Declaration made clear, the significance of various cultural backgrounds must always be borne in mind. At the same time it is the duty of all states to promote and protect human rights, which are universal, indivisible, interdependent and interrelated.
It is in this sense that a diversity of cultures, expressing different visions of the world, lies at the heart of the work of the United Nations, the world Organization committed to universality. This creative juxtaposition is a reality which I encounter everyday, as part of the great privilege of serving the United Nations.
Today, I reaffirm my vision for the United Nations as a institution of democratization, where the voices of all cultures and peoples are heard with equal clarity; where no one culture should overshadow another; and where pride in one's culture only increases respect for the culture of others and for its contribution to the global culture we all must create.
We live in an age of unparalleled opportunity and promise. But it is also an age beset too often by aggression, despair and assertions that the idea of progress has proved to be false. We must cast aside these counsels. Instead let us promote the positive perceptions that we have achieved. Foremost among these are the conviction that differences can be good; that others need not be adversaries; and that pluralism produces benefits for all.
These are the great issues before this conference. They amount to nothing less than a mission for all the generations and peoples who will shape the coming century.
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