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94.

Prevention of Armed Conflict
a Prerequisite for Promoting Lasting Peace
and Stability in 21st Century

STATEMENT
BY VLADIMIR PETROVSKY
UNITED NATIONS UNDER-SECRETARY-GENERAL
DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA
AT THE 39th GENEVA GRADUATE STUDY PROGRAMME

Geneva, 25 June 2001

Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,

I t is my great pleasure to welcome you to the Palais des Nations

today
Programme. These
the
Geneva Graduate Study
for
gatherings have become an established tradition which provides
an open line of communication between graduates and the international
community. You are visiting the United Nations Office in Geneva, the second
largest headquarters of the UN, at a time of a growing number of challenges
facing humanity. Our major concern is that after the post-Cold War we still
continue to witness the persistence, and even the amplification, of local
conflicts, whether they be in Africa or in the Balkans. The international
community has yet to meet the challenge posed by the Charter’ of United
Nation “to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war.”

To achieve this supreme goal, the Secretary-General of the United Nation
and Member States have come to realize that sending peace-keeping forces to

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