Page 329 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

Bringing the Concept to Life

War world, the strength of Geneva lies not only in its spirit but mainly in the
tremendous amount of international knowledge. To rephrase the famous
dictum of Francis Bacon “knowledge is the power of Geneva”.

The United Nations is not alone in its humanitarian efforts. An important
feature of Geneva is the excellent cooperation in the humanitarian field, not
only within the United Nations family but also between the United Nations
and the non-governmental organizations, such as the International Committee
of the Red Cross (ICRC), as well as with civil society in general. This
premiership is the main reason why humanitarian signals coming from Geneva
reach all the corners of the world.

I had a first-hand opportunity to appreciate the importance of NGOs in
the field of human rights while serving as the Executive Secretary of the
Conference on Security and Co-operation in Europe (CSCE) Conference on
the Human Dimension held in Moscow in 1992. This Conference discussed a
number of issues that are as important today as they were six years ago, for
example, the unacceptableness of the persecution of political opponents or
members of political organizations. The conference was accompanied by a
number of parallel events organized by NGOs and it was remarkable how these
organizations managed to raise public awareness and to shape policy aimed at
spreading high human rights standards within the whole CSCE space from
Vancouver to Vladivostok, from Murmansk to Malta, from Dublin to
Dushanbe. It is also remarkable that just as in non-Euclidean geometry where
the parallels meet, so too do the efforts of Governments and non-governmental
organizations that merge and mutually reinforce each other. In this context,
recent technological developments have served in the words of the Secretary-
General: “…to make any desktop a doorway to human decency. This is what
happens when individuals are united by an unbending conviction and weapons
as mighty as any we have seen this century: e-mail and the Internet”.

We have a long road ahead, but 1 believe that the day will come when no
one is tortured, abused or denied his/her dignity and that all human beings
enjoy their rights. This should be our challenge for the years to come. What is
needed today and in the future is action, action, and once more, action.

Thank you for your attention.

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