Page 356 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

64.

STATEMENT
BY MR. VLADIMIR PETROVSKY
UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL
DIRECTOR GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA
ON THE OCCASION OF THE “SCOURGE OF HYACINTHS” OPERA

Bâiment des Forces Motrices, Sunday, 17 January 1999

Madame President,
Madame President of the Geneva State Council,
Municipal Authorities,
Excellencies,
Members of the Diplomatic Community,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I t is a great pleasure for me to be with you this evening. I would
like to thank Le Cercle du Grand Theatre, Le Grand Theatre de
Genève and The Geneva Welcome Center for making this event
possible. Furthermore, I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the Swiss
Government and to the Geneva State Council for the wonderful hospitality
that the United Nations family has enjoyed in this beautiful city. We are also
uniquely privileged to have among us Mrs. Dreifuss, the newly
elected President of’ Switzerland and a good friend of the United Nations.

The production which is being performed here tonight is an important
event in the celebration surrounding the 50th Anniversary of the Universal
Declaration of Human Rights commemorated late last-year. The author of the
play on which this opera is based. Mr. Woke Soyinka, is an exceptional living
testament to the successful struggle for the protection of basic human rights. I
have had the rare pleasure of getting to know Mr. Soyinka on more than a few

334