STATEMENT BY H.E. MR. MARC FORNE MOLNE Mr. President, Mr. Secretary General, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, During the past
two years the attacks of 9-11 and the wars in The United Nations
has never been more necessary, yet perhaps never has its efficacy been
so questioned nor until the bombings last month in In the Principality
of Andorra, encircled by the high mountains of the In the past half-century,
since the founding of the United Nations, the world has changed, and
The attack on
the First, can the United Nations effectively respond to threats to world stability? Second, to what degree will its member states be willing to work within the framework of the United Nations? Perhaps a cooling of passions will enable us to address these difficult issues clearly. We are all too aware of the difficulties and dangers that
beset both the citizens of these countries and the troops of member
states who are working to bring stability to these places. We hope for
a rapid solution to the myriad difficulties involved in ending the series
of sad and painful events that have taken place within these countries
over the past few years. The United Nations has a critical responsibility
in fostering a constructive outcome for the Afghan and Iraqi people
and resolving tension throughout the Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, As politicians, we pride ourselves on our knowledge of the needs of our citizens. We are students at the University of the National Will. The most successful among us have cultivated a second sense of everyday desires, frustrations, and goals that are important to our citizens. If we live in a democratic state, and ignore these needs, the voters will quickly look for others who do not. The United Nations is a different kind of university. Here the lessons of national self-interest must give way to an international understanding. In this University of the World, our previous studies, by which I mean our own political careers, can only help us in the short term. But what we study together here are long-term lessons that can ensure the long-term survival of the world we share. Although Legend has it that The Cathars are only a distant memory now. But I raise this question here because it points to the battleground of belief. Whereas once the Church summoned councils to struggle over the problems of heresy, we now gather at the United Nations not to insist on one form of belief, but to recognize and sustain the common ethical base that unites all beliefs, all ideologies, under the unshakable canopy of the 1948 declaration of Human Rights. We are now in the 21" Century and not the middle ages, but those who then were fundamentalist Christians and who resolved everything with anathemas, crusades and exiles, have given place to other forms of religious intolerance of different persuasions. It is shameful to see that even today people are being killed or kill in the name of their God. The work that the United Nations accomplishes, therefore, does not simply give lip-service to diversity. We need to advance, in all moral seriousness, an ethic of diversity that goes beyond recognizing the value of tolerance and multi-culturalism, and strives to implement shared ethical beliefs in the service of world understanding. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, In 1278, the strategic importance of In the center of that city, the Muslim rulers built
an astonishing mosque with a forest of columns made all the more beautiful
by the presence, within it, of a synagogue. Such was
its beauty that it was not destroyed when the
Christians captured the city but converted into a Cathedral, just as
the great basilicas of Constantinople,
became the great mosques of What if we could learn from the events that have marked history, making use of the lessons of peaceful coexistence, avoiding past mistakes and appreciating the moments of opening between cultures in previous centuries? Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, We live in a world of vast contrasts where the technological progress, used dangerously or simply without precautions has made life more dangerous and on a global scale. Where once the
great plague took years to make its way across Pollution and global warming concerns us all. The strange climactic shifts of recent years, the pollution of our great oceans and lakes, threaten our environment. And perhaps most dangerously, nuclear weapons threaten the life of everyone on the planet. All of these calamities, here already or forecast, demand international cooperation if we are to survive. It is most sad that some of those who can do most to avoid the degradation of life on earth, continue looking in another direction, at the balance sheets of the big companies who contaminate the earth most, and continue to apply an energy policy based on the uncontrolled exploitation and low cost of limited resources. Ladies and Gentlemen, We have become a little world. We have become like a small country, rather like We must learn to treat all members of the world as we would like to treat our own citizens. We need to insist on a decent life for everyone, for all of mankind. Ladies and Gentlemen The insignificant part in the Andorran budget devoted to the purchase of weapons, resulted in the composer and singer Pete Seeger dedicating us a song during the 1960's. His verses still echo today, just like when he made a whole generation sing "We will overcome". Many things have
happened since those days and With what is squandered in new and old weapons, the whole of mankind could live correctly. We could eliminate illness. Education and culture would be made available for all. This way we could end fanaticism, and all those who abuse the ignorance of the people, would end up with no victims nor lackeys. Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, Let us try and make some use of these long debates and speeches which we applaud with diplomatic courtesy, often without even hearing them. Too much is at stake for all of us. Thank you very much. |