Page 456 - 100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International_V-Petrovsky_private special edition

100 Reflections that Crafted Geneva International

The United Nations itself is going through a period of considerable change
and reflection - the international context in which we operate is itself changing
so much - not least because of the current stage of globalization which is
challenging in some senses, not only political, economic and social
environment, but the tenets on which the United Nations was founded.

This meeting of today is taking place after the Millennium Summit in New
York. There, 147 Heads of States and Governments, as well as other heads of
delegations have come to the consensus that, in addition to the responsibilities
to their own societies and the sovereignties of their countries, they have a
collective responsibility to uphold the principles of human dignity, equality and
equity at the global level. They, therefore, reaffirmed their duty to all people of
the world, especially the most vulnerable and, in partlcu1ar, the children of the
world, to whom the future belongs.

This historic UN forum has also explicitly reaffirmed the immutable
significance of the UN Charter and the role of the global organizations as a
center for agreed actions of its 191 Member States in promoting a more
peaceful, more prosperous and more just world.

If in the past the Member States agreed on the question what is to be done
(peace, development, democracy and promotion of human rights), the major
issue today is how to accomplish these aims.

You cannot find the best answer but the one which the UN Charter
suggests: international cooperation and negotiations based on the good will. In
other words, multilateral diplomacy efforts.

At its essence, the United Nations is an organization of multilateral
diplomacy. It works through the agreement of its Member States; and
consensus required in a number of conferences can sometimes be allusive;
negotiations tense and difficult; but ultimately the belief of the Member States
in negotiation nearly always wins.

Of course, when one is talking about finding a collective response to such
diverse issues as HIV/AIDS; the Environment or Refugee Populations - nego-
tiations might seem to be made more complex by the vast range of political,
cultural and religious beliefs which exist in an organization as truly internation-
al as ours. But for us at the United Nations our wealth of culture and diversity is
the essence of our richness. This is something we are celebrating at the mo-

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