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INTERNATIONAL

Special Envoy for Road Safety. First, polluted our lakes and forests. That is
what was it like to meet the Pope, when cooperation started under the
and secondly why is road safety an auspices of UNECE to reduce the level
interest for UNECE? of sulphur in the air. Since then - pol-
lutant by pollutant - we have man-
It was very special meeting the Pope aged to reduce the level of pollution.
with his charisma, his strong social Right now we are dealing with black
drive towards combating poverty and carbon, which is extremely dangerous
standing by those in need. He is one of because small particles can penetrate
our most prominent world leaders and into your lungs and body and trigger
it was a true privilege to meet him. respiratory diseases and even cancer.
Air pollution is one of the most sig-
It was very important that he sup- nificant killers - 6 to 8 million people
ported our road safety cause. Every AGC ALJTOM0TvF a year are considered to die from air
43R-0004a
/ 00124 24187 ASI
year 1.25 million people are hit by a LOG 74W0 s a pollution. Environmental issues are
) EOoo25 200
car; one dies every twenty-five sec- also important to us; it is something
onds and many millions more - 30 we work on every day.
to 50 million - are injured in traffic
accidents with severe impact on their Q: The LW has just published the
health. Many are crippled. So road 2030 Agenda on Sustainable De-
safety is an extremely large problem. velopment Goals. You have been
It's the biggest killer of young people involved in Danish Church Aid. Do
and an area where we need to scale you really think these goals work
up our efforts significantly. That was and what can be done to improve
why it was so important that the Pope development assistance?
expressed his strong support.
I am a strong believer in what is called
It is a key issue for UNECE because a human rights approach to develop-
"All over your car there are "E" numbers
we host fifty-eight inland transport and E stands for ECE. Today we say it's for ment and development assistance,
conventions and agreements. In excellence but the vehicle regulations are which means that instead of seeing
many ways, we are the inland trans- negotiated here in UNECE in the World development aid as charity that you
port organization of the United Na- Forum for Vehicle Regulations." give to poor people as a gift, you see
tions. We also host all the UN Road it as something that people should
Safety Conventions, for instance instruments on road safety. That is enjoy in order to obtain the strong
those concerning all the vehicle the reason why it is so important for and coherent rights to which they are
standards in cars on safety, efficiency, us. In the Sustainable Development entitled. This ranks from the right
seat belts, seats for children, helmets Goals, we have promised to halve the to food, to shelter, education, water,
for motor cyclists ... All over your number of deaths and injuries from freedom of speech - to participate
car there are "E" numbers and E road accidents. We are determined to in the societies where they live. I be-
stands for ECE. Today we say it's for scale up our efforts by working with lieve that if you adopt this approach
excellence but the vehicle regulations all partners to achieve this. to development aid, you really turn it
are negotiated here in UNECE in the upside down. It becomes something
World Forum for Vehicle Regula- Q: Another issue on everybody's that can engage and enable people to
tions. We have adopted conventions mind is the environment and the obtain something that is available to
to deal with everything concerning quality of the air. What is UNECE all the citizens of the world. This has
road traffic - traffic rules, traffic doing in this field? lot to do with how you implement
signs, road markings, rest breaks for development aid, based upon strong
professional drivers - everything We host the air convention, which is principles of accountability, transpar-
you see on the road is basically ne- the most successful convention in the ency, the participation of the people
gotiated and determined by conven- world between countries to clean up who receive the aid, and equal par-
tions developed here at UNECE. We the air and reduce air pollution. It's ticipation between men and women
also host conventions that have to a significant success story. It started - equality in all aspects.
do with the transport of dangerous thirty-five years ago with sulphur in
goods. If you take a global view, UN- particular in the Nordic countries So I think this approach is the way
ECE is the custodian of the UN legal where we suffered from acid rain that we should go. Today, many coun-

8 DIVA - INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMAT