大会第三十三届会议资料性文件 UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION

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1 U Conférence générale 33e session Document d information Генеральная конференция 33-я сессия Информационный документ inf Paris 2005 General Conference 33rd session Information document Conferencia General 33 a reunión Documento de información א א א א א 大会第三十三届会议资料性文件 33 C/INF October 2005 English & French only UNITED NATIONS EDUCATIONAL, SCIENTIFIC AND CULTURAL ORGANIZATION Address by His Excellency Mr Emomali Rakhmonov President of the Republic of Tajikistan on the occasion of his visit to the 33rd session of the General Conference of UNESCO 10 October 2005

2 33 C/INF.23 Mr President of the General Conference, Mr Director-General, Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear friends, The 33rd session of the General Conference of UNESCO is taking place at a crucial moment in the history of humanity, one in which the fate of countries and peoples is being in practice determined for a comparatively long period. The main focus of the Organization s activities is education for all. The level of education and spirituality is indeed what constitutes the true value of human beings. In this connection, the Government and people of Tajikistan attach great importance to this session, for our country has always considered culture, education and knowledge to be essential and eternal values. The fact that UNESCO is celebrating Tajikistan Day during this important event is highly symbolic. I should like on this occasion, on behalf of the Tajik people and in my own name, to thank the UNESCO governing bodies, its Director-General, Mr Koïchiro Matsuura, and the officials of this authoritative and influential international institution for their sustained and constructive contribution to the organization of this Day. I also wish to congratulate Mr Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Hassan on his election as President of the General Conference and to wish him every success. Finally, we note with satisfaction the productive work of the previous President of the Conference, Mr Omolewa. I hope that the current session will represent an important new historical step towards the attainment of UNESCO s noble goals. Dear friends, if we take a close look at the history of humanity, we see that it tends towards the shaping and improvement of the human mind and moral sense. It is essential to the nature of human beings to develop and extend the life of society, having assimilated creative and time-tested values and taking as a basis tradition, culture and the established social structures. History moreover shows that the cultivation of spiritual values, the search for intellectual perfection and the acquisition of the highest moral qualities are important activities. The attainment of this objective calls for sustained efforts from society. This daily task should be performed at all stages of life and be the concern of each and everyone. It is not by chance that the world s great sages and thinkers have always pointed out to humanity the path of peace and understanding, knowledge and education, love and pity, solidarity and cooperation, justice and purity of conscience. These noble ideals are clearly expressed in the life and actions of the great representatives of the peoples and nations of the world. It is precisely the basis on which have been shaped the most elevated human values, which have become the living axis of humanity as a whole. The main value of knowledge and universal education is that it gives human beings a heightened awareness of their estate and situation. The human being possesses innate and natural qualities as a free, responsible and creative being charged with a specific mission. Universal education has the potential to strengthen the awareness of that profound truth in the minds of people belonging to the most varied levels of society. Furthermore, we know that human beings, for historical and other reasons, have created numerous cultures. Each of these is a unique and precious phenomenon in history, but all together constitute a great and common achievement of humanity. This is why every culture has the right to live and to develop in sustainable fashion. UNESCO s programmes and plans focused on the protection and development of national cultures and on the conservation and promotion of the cultural heritage have a priceless historical and humanistic value. It is clear, however, that if we today take pride in our cultural heritage, if we preserve each object of ancient art in the great museums of the world, and if we promote the diversity of the languages and cultures of the peoples and regions of the world as a unique historical phenomenon, we have not yet discovered a universal

3 33 C/INF.23 page 2 means of defending the diversity of cultures in the age of globalization. This problem is of deep concern to countries and States possessing a rich and ancient civilization, who are currently making sustained efforts to give it prominence. In my view, UNESCO has a major role to play in efforts aimed at finding an appropriate solution to this vital problem, that is to say, creating conditions in which each national culture and civilization is able to develop. The relations between cultures, their interaction and their mingling are, it must be underlined, historical phenomena that are both inevitable and valuable. Today, given the practical situation in which we find ourselves and, above all, the nature of the threats to culture and the developments that run the risk of destroying it, it is vital that we strengthen in all fields collaboration between scientists, writers, personalities in the arts and culture, and all members of the global community, in order to defend cultures, broaden the dialogue between civilizations and forestall all risks of conflict between civilizations and cultures. In the interest of future generations, of our children and grandchildren, we should strengthen the culture of peace, instil a profound respect for cultural diversity and establish a dialogue between civilizations. This is an historical imperative. A conflict of civilizations would be disastrous for the life of the mind and for the culture of humanity. Currently, in the field of culture we need to create radically new relations and cooperation so that, at the highest level, there can emerge a constructive and respectful dialogue of civilizations that will enable cultures to be preserved and sustainable development to be achieved. At present, in several countries and regions, we can observe phenomena that are dangerous for culture, civilization and humankind s very existence: these are terrorism, fundamentalism, extremism and fanaticism. We must be aware of the seriousness of these threats and combat them. Having understood the complex and contradictory nature of these challenges and threats, we have devised and are now applying a coordinated strategy to fight them. We have endeavoured, by all effective means, to resolve the most important problems facing us in the social sphere and also in the spheres of education and culture, in particular those problems linked to the conception and introduction of a culture of peace. This strategy has been successful and is generally regarded as representing a unique and precious experience. Thanks to its contributions to the strengthening of peace, the capital of Tajikistan, Dushanbe, has been awarded the prestigious title of City for Peace by UNESCO, a source of great pride for the people of Tajikistan. To deal with threats and challenges, fanaticism, hatred and other negative phenomena, we must strive for universal education and social culture, an important condition for development in general. Some outstanding cultural actions, such as the widespread development of Shashmaqom music, the popularization of traditional Falak music, the celebration of anniversaries of outstanding scientists, writers and figures from the world of culture, festivities concerning ancient and historic towns (in particular the 2,700th anniversary of the city of Kuliab), which we have either carried out or will carry out in cooperation with UNESCO, are contributing to the fulfilment of this noble aim. In this regard, we must thank UNESCO for including Shashmaqom music on the list of Masterpieces of the Oral and Intangible Heritage of Humanity, for helping us to restore and safeguard the Buddha of Ajina Tepe, an historical monument of world importance, and for assisting our schools which were struck by natural disasters. In accordance with the decisions taken by UNESCO to implement the Education for All Programme, numerous measures have been adopted in our country and considerable financial resources have been earmarked for them out of the State budget and other sources. Education is one of our priorities. Our aim in this field is to raise the level of education and knowledge and enable each and every citizen to cultivate their mind. Raising the level of education of people in general and young people in particular, making them aware of the world s different cultures and countries, creating links of friendship among peoples, promoting high morals, educating people in a spirit of tradition and respect for others, are components of the noble task that should be of interest to everyone. I need not remind you that the worsening of economic disparities and in particular the opposing views and ways of thinking that divide the world s peoples only favour the emergence of

4 33 C/INF.23 page 3 contradiction and antagonism. This process has been observed for some years and seems to be accelerating. To fight it we should devise and implement a generalized programme for educating young people. Entitled Educating young people, our hope for preserving and developing humankind, its vocation would be, with the active participation of all countries, in particular their intellectual and cultural circles, to adopt a set of effective and creative measures with a universal scope. The successful implementation of such a programme would clearly highlight the vanity and illegitimacy of setting civilizations at loggerheads, while showing that all cultures and civilizations are a vital component of world civilization in the widest sense. The essential works on Islamic civilization and its rich human culture which have seen the light thanks to UNESCO are vital to an understanding of the essence of Islamic civilization and the historical and cultural dialogue. Islam, together with Christianity, Buddhism, Judaism, Shintoism, Zoroastrianism and other religions, is a most valuable component of the world s spiritual heritage. From this point of view there should be no contradiction between religions and civilizations. Terrorism and extremism should be excluded from political and religious life. I am convinced that it is entirely incorrect to associate extremism, terrorism and fundamentalism with any religion, including Islam. Moreover, the aims, content and thrust of these negative factors completely contradict the spirit and markedly humanist content of religions, including Islam. We are opposed in principle to the use of such terms as Islamic terrorism and Islamic extremism. Global civilization must be built on the solid foundations of a plurality of worldviews and universal values, taking account of the real nature of processes and current trends. No one worldview or ideology can lay claim to a dominant position or monopoly. It is essential to seek new ways of establishing agreement, cooperation and mutual understanding between civilizations. It is important to make use of the experience of countries big and small, to create a genuinely humanist culture of cooperation and understanding between civilizations. To those ends it is absolutely vital to increase the role and authority of the United Nations as an organization which functions on several levels, which represents the interests of all countries, promotes a policy of peace and serves as a means to prevent conflicts and wars. At the same time each Member State must pay serious attention to the specialized agencies of the United Nations system, first and foremost to UNESCO, which is responsible for the development and defence of the values of education, science and culture of the world s countries. Another theme to which attention should be drawn is the need to consolidate the scientific basis of the system of universal education. In this regard UNESCO has valuable experience: one need only mention such scientific programmes as that on East-West Intercultural Dialogue or the studies on civilizations in Central Asia and, more generally, the links between peoples, religions and cultures created by the intellectual communities of many countries. In order to pursue further UNESCO s creative cultural policy it is necessary to apply universally a particular code of political and social culture. The imperative requirements at the start of the twenty-first century are moral requirements. In a context of freedom of thought, speech and action, it seems to me that the valuable Avestan rule of good thoughts, good words, good behaviour are destined to become, at all levels, the pivot of the moral order. In mentioning the three-thousand-year-old tenet of Zoroastrian morality, it must be said at once that it has become even more significant in the age of the noosphere. In this context moral responsibility must cover all spheres including the social, political and cultural spheres. Here I should like to ask a question: Is it a good thing when, under the guise of establishing an open society, people openly promote moral depravity among the young? Thanks to free information we now have the opportunity to receive and watch all sorts of television programmes from all over the world. However, in many of them there are films broadcast which inculcate in the viewer ideas of violence, murder and cruelty. Are these broadcasts not spiritually damaging to the work of educating our children, the next

5 33 C/INF.23 page 4 generation? And is it not harmful to all peoples and countries to make all this into the universal principle of an information culture? In this connection I propose that UNESCO should develop and adopt a training programme for moral health. In the age of globalization the world is faced with an increasing threat of moral degradation, which could irremediably compromise the future of humanity. The time has come for the great powers, instead of producing new weapons, to engage seriously in the work of restoring and consolidating the great edifice of morality and the spiritual world of the next generation and of the entire human community. Since we are referring to the major ills of our time, mention must be made of controlling the research on and production of genetically modified organisms. Genetic terrorism is more dangerous than all the other forms of terrorism and extremism since it is difficult to predict its consequences. What I mean is that there is a need to control current science and research so as to foresee more accurately the consequences of biological and genetic experiments. The development of science should have as its sole aim a healthy mode of living, ecological security and the protection of future generations. It would be highly desirable if UNESCO were to proclaim in the near future a Year of Morality and to promote in this connection the highest principles of morality common to all humanity. The initiatives taken by Tajikistan in favour of the proclamation by the United Nations of the International Year of Freshwater 2003 and the International Decade for Action Water for Life were aimed at drawing the attention of the world community to the vital problem of water and the rational and moral use that should be made of this natural resource. We believe that culture and morality should be recognized as absolutely crucial elements in human activity in every domain. History shows that it is much easier to arouse distrust, hostility and suspicion than to inspire confidence, friendship, cooperation and belief in common happiness. This is why it is essential that every responsible and respectable individual should endeavour to draw the lessons from history, to live in our common terrestrial home in an atmosphere of peace, and to create conditions favourable to the development and improvement of all. Fortunately, the leaders and scientific and cultural personalities here present are wholly aware of their historic mission and practise good through education, science and culture in the interest of our common development. We support the reform steps taken by UNESCO and the adoption of a Convention for the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage. We also approve the draft international convention against doping in sport, which our Parliament will shortly be examining. Dear friends, the countries and peoples of the world are now so interdependent and inextricably linked that the sufferings of a people living on one side of the planet inevitably affect the situation and well-being of peoples living in opposite corners of the Earth. Catastrophes and problems, in particular those of a political and social nature, along with armed conflicts, inevitably have negative repercussions in the rest of the world. These repercussions above all affect children, the elderly and the representatives of culture. For precisely that reason we must, for the sake of humanity, promote a culture of peace and understanding among peoples. In the fulfilment of this noble and difficult task, UNESCO, the National Commissions of the Member States and the Organization s staff will be called upon to play a growing role. UNESCO today is distinguished by its level of excellence. With all my heart I hope that it will carry out its high mission with dignity and success. Ladies and Gentlemen, I wish you all happiness and success in your undertakings and thank you for your attention.