Press Release
Following is the text of Secretary-General Boutros Boutros- Ghali's remarks at the Open Air Theatre Ceremony on 2 June preceding the opening of the United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul:
We are in the last year of a remarkable quarter-century. Twenty-four years ago this month, the world gathered in Stockholm for the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment. For the first time, leaders of the United Nations Member States and the international community gathered together to discuss a specific, critical item upon the human agenda.
In doing so, they recognized that there is a whole range of issues that does not admit geographical separation. It transcends the borders of nations. Its resolution demands collective will, collective effort and collective realization. And in doing so, they recognized that the United Nations itself, in your phrase, Mr. President, must adapt to the new challenges and demands of our times.
Three years later, in Mexico, we held the First United Nations Conference on Women. In 1976, Habitat I convened in Vancouver. In 1984, the United Nations Conference on Population met in Mexico City. These deliberations were useful. Their conclusions were important. And yet, they met under a shadow. The shadow of the cold war. Results of these conferences were often seen as victory for East or West; defeat for North or South. The world had yet to assert it was one.
In 1990, the World Summit for Children was held at United Nations Headquarters. In its forty-fifth year, the United Nations consciously addressed its energies to the "succeeding generations" to which its Charter so eloquently dedicated itself. Defined, attainable and universally accepted goals were established for nations of the world to achieve. Platitude had yielded to practice.
A few months after I assumed office as Secretary-General, I was privileged to see this spirit manifest itself again. In Rio, in 1992, more than a hundred leaders participated in the Earth Summit.
- 2 - Press Release HAB/IST/2 2 June 1996
Agenda 21 defined a programme for action in the nascent century. A new cycle of conferences had begun. It was dedicated to the development which alone can sustain peace.
Then came the Vienna Conference on Human Rights in 1993. The Small Islands Conference in Barbados in 1994. The same year, the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo. The World Summit on Social Development in Copenhagen in 1995. The United Nations Conference on Women in Beijing later that year. And now, Habitat II.
We could not have hoped for a more gracious or more gentle venue for these deliberations than this great city. From the very edge of recorded history, it has seen the commerce of traders and traffic, ideals and ideas. It has been a bridge to the good, and effective barrier to the bad. It has drawn from the splendid benevolence of nature the sustenance to weather its journey into uncertain, sometimes perilous, times.
In that, it has only reflected the great nation to which it belongs. A nation that helped bring the United Nations into being. A nation that plays an active and responsible role in world affairs. A nation that has accepted and addressed international political and humanitarian responsibilities when called upon to do so.
And so, Mr. President, as we draw near to the end of this quarter-century of dialogue and debate, and approach a new millennium, we feel we are secure in our choice of place to meet, to think, to look back, to look ahead. To the Turkish Republic, the city of Istanbul and to you personally, our deepest gratitude.
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