Award Ceremony of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize UNESCO, 18 May Address by Mr Jean Foyer Vice-President of the Jury

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1 ODG/CRP/1993/ PI/2 UNESCO, Paris, May 1993 Original: French Award Ceremony of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize UNESCO, 18 May 1993 Address by Mr Jean Foyer Vice-President of the Jury Madam, Mr President of the French Republic, Mr President of the Portuguese Republic, Mr President of the Republic of Côte d'ivoire, Mr Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr President of the International Court of Justice, Mr Director-General, Mr President of The Hague Academy of International Law, Ladies, Gentlemen, Before proceeding with my duties, I would like to read out the message which I received yesterday evening from His Excellency Mr Abdou Diouf, President of the Republic of Senegal, Acting President of the Organization for African Unity (O.A.U) and Acting President of the Islamic Conference, on this occasion of the award of the 1992 Félix Houphouët-Boigny Prize. Here is the text: "Mr President of the Jury, On the occasion of the ceremony for the award of the 1992 Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize, which is now being held at the Headquarters of UNESCO, it is with great pleasure that I extend my warmest congratulations to The Hague Academy of International Law, whose exemplary role in the building of a world governed by law and devoted to peace is, on this 18 May, being acknowledged here. Mr President, I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm Africa's support for those values which are the basis of international law, and the high esteem in which we place the UNESCO Peace Prize bearing the name of Félix Houphouët-Boigny, this tireless champion 1

2 of dialogue and tolerance who has devoted his whole life to promoting peace, brotherhood and solidarity among men. My warmest congratulations go to Mr Federico Mayor, who, with the unanimous support of the General Conference, has instituted and set in motion this international instrument for the promotion of peace, which increases the effectiveness of UNESCO and illustrates the ideals and the aspirations of the founding fathers of the Organization. Furthermore, I would like to once more assure the Director-General of the full support of Africa and, especially, of the Government of Senegal, which, in agreement with many other friendly countries, hopes that he will carry on with the remarkable work which he is doing at the head of UNESCO. It is also my pleasure to congratulate the Jury of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize, its President, Mr Henry Kissinger, and its eminent members who, through their personal prestige and the pertinence of their choices, have from the outset, raised the Prize to the highest international level, in close cooperation with the Director-General Mr Mayor and his colleague Mr Traoré, the Executive Secretary of the Prize and worthy representative of Africa, to whose discreet and effective action in the service of international cooperation we pay tribute. Lastly, I would like to greet the eminent figures who are present in this room, and the many famous people who have come to pay homage to The Hague Academy of International Law and to President Felix Houphouët-Boigny. Signed, Abdou Diouf In the absence of the President of the International Jury, Dr Kissinger, who is currently performing a peace mission in the Far East, it is my honour to outline to Your Majesty and Your Excellencies the reason for which the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize has been awarded to The Hague Academy of International Law. I am all the more touched by this honour tonight because you, Mr President of the Republic of Côte d'ivoire, the founder of the Prize, are with us here to attend the award ceremony. Thirty-five years ago, you were a Minister of State in the Government of General De Gaulle, with special responsibility for defining France's new relationships with the countries which you had so skilfully led to political independence. You then did me the great honour of inviting me to work with you as legal counsellor, and I shall never forget your personal example and what I learned from you. May I take this occasion to publicly express to you my respect, my admiration and my attachment. These were your words, Mr President, in Abidjan in 1973, when you opened the Sixth Conference of World Peace through Law: "In our opinion, there is one requirement which stands above all others in wisdom and good sense, this being that a sincere and lasting PEACE, as a necessary condition for any action for progress and well-being, must be based on LAW in other words, in the definition and the setting in motion of standards of harmony and reason which govern the 2

3 relationships between States and men and which contribute to the promotion of more equitable communities." The International Jury drew inspiration from your thoughts by awarding your Prize to the prestigious institution that is The Hague Academy of International Law. This year, 1993, the Academy will celebrate its seventieth anniversary. However, although the first session, chaired by Charles Lyon-Caen, was held in 1923, the founding charter itself was drawn up in 1913 its implementation having been delayed by the First World War - and the birth of the actual idea of the foundation goes back to the beginning of the century. Madam, when Your Majesty's capital hosted the first Peace Conference, the then unprecedented developments in weapons technology, and the means for slaughter which it created, made all wise and humane men aware of the urgent need for substituting peaceful settlements of international disputes - and above all settlements by the application of law for settlements by force. Since then, this lofty hope has been cruelly disappointed, time and time again. The development and spread of international law were felt to be complementary to the creation of arbitral and jurisdictional institutions. It seemed appropriate to establish the headquarters of an establishment for higher studies in international law in the same country as these institutions, in the land of Erasmus whose words are inscribed in the Peace Palace reminding each generation of jurists that war is only sweet for those who have no experience of it, Bellum dulce inexpertis - and of Grotius, perhaps the greatest of the founders of international law. Under the scientific direction of a Curatorium, composed of 17 eminent figures, academics and world-renowned practitioners, chaired with such distinction by Judge Roberto Ago, supported by the Secretary General of the United Nations and five judges or former judges or vice-presidents of the International Court of Justice, the Academy performs an educational mission, organizing sessions each year which lead to the award of an official diploma which is as rightfully prized as it is difficult to obtain. The Academy organizes research through study and research centres, each one welcoming 25 young academics and diplomats, whose work is published in a special volume. One of the centres, which has become permanent, deals with matters related to human rights. Also, for a quarter century now, the Academy has been organizing external sessions and symposia. The courses which have been given at the Academy fill more than 230 volumes. These courses, the work of the study and research centres and the records of the symposia have now become vital sources for all scientific work in international law. Some 35,000 jurists from every continent, men and women, have studied at the Academy. But the Academy does not only have an academic aim. It is also a meeting place for the future practitioners and teachers of international law throughout the world. All its work is done in an atmosphere of impartiality and objectivity. It has neither an official nor a political doctrine. The Academy strives to give room to the representatives of the great families of law among which mankind is divided. There are no established teaching staffs the professors, diplomats and academics change every year. They bring to The Hague - with the fullest 3

4 possible freedom the fruits of their experience and research in every area of public and private international law. When presenting his summary of the Academy's first half-century of activities, my associate, colleague and friend, Professor René-Jean Dupuy, then Secretary-General and currently a member of the Curatorium, said that the functions of The Hague Academy could basically be divided into "functions of revelation" or "functions of anticipation". The function of revelation concerns the revelation of juridical standards, aimed chiefly at three fundamental objectives: peace, justice and development. International development law is playing an increasingly important role in the work of the Academy, which is welcoming increasing numbers of observers from developing countries, and decentralizing its activities by holding external regional-level sessions in Africa, Latin America and Asia. The function of anticipation concerns the current rapid evolution of international law. International natural law evolved from the law of the community of States into the law of the international community, and is now increasingly becoming the law of mankind. De facto world unification, and the necessary solidarity which it has created, make the intervention of the law of nations in ever new fields a necessity. Beyond States, this law is or should be aimed, in today's world, at individual men and women as the final beneficiaries, or more exactly as the owners and subjects of the rights which it guarantees. At the present time, we would do well to read and take heed of, on a planetary scale the famous sentence with which the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen begins: "Ignorance, forgetfulness of and contempt for Human Rights are the only causes of the misfortunes of peoples and the corruption of Governments". Let us add here that they are the main cause of the chief of public misfortunes, which is war. After witnessing the atrocities which shall be its shame forever and which, sadly, have not been eradicated everywhere, our century experienced a confrontation between two blocs which were only kept from direct conflict by the balance of terror. On the other hand, local conflicts continued to break out around the world, since the antagonism of the superpowers paralysed and inhibited the international organization in charge of keeping the peace. However, the end of the cold war has not brought with it the end of local conflicts tragically, it has actually given rise to new ones. Can the use of force, even when justified by law and for the application of the law, restore a real peace? The answer is certainly no. In today's world, more than ever before, we are seeing with our own eyes that international peace is not just non-war, the otium of the ancient Romans; rather, real pax means agreement, harmony, understanding and voluntary submission to the demands of justice, as they are expressed in law. UNESCO's Constitution nobly states this idea in a solemn declaration : "Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed." The Hague Academy of International Law is successfully contributing to constructing the defences of peace. It is devoted to rooting in the minds and in the hearts of 4

5 men the conviction that peace, real peace, can only be achieved by justice. Opus justitiae pax. These, then, are the reasons for the Jury's decision. With your permission, Mr Director- General, we will now ask Mr Roberto Ago, President of the Curatorium of The Hague Academy of International Law, to come forward and receive the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize. 5