HAPPY NEW YEAR!

The Nobel Lecture of the UN

Secretary-General Kofi Annan

(extract)

Oslo, 10 December, 2001

Your Majesties,
Your Royal Highnesses,
Excellencies,
Members of the Norwegian
Nobel Committee,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today, in Afghanistan, a girl will be born. Her mother will hold her and feed her, comfort her and care for her – just as any mother would anywhere in the world. In these most basic acts of human nature, humanity knows no divisions. But to be born a girl in today’s Afghanistan is to begin life centuries away from the prosperity that one small part of humanity has achieved. It is to live under conditions that many of us in this hall would consider inhuman.

I speak of a girl in Afghanistan, but I might equally well have mentioned a baby boy or girl in Sierra Leone. No one today is unaware of this divide between the world’s rich and poor. Today’s real borders are not between nations, but between powerful and powerless, free and fettered, privileged and humiliated. Today, no walls can separate humanitarian or human rights crises in one part of the world from national security crises in another.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We have entered the third millennium through a gate of fire. If today, after the horror of 11 September, we see better, and we see further – we will realize that humanity is indivisible. New threats make no distinction between races, nations or regions. A new insecurity has entered every mind, regardless of wealth or status. A deeper awareness of the bonds that bind us all – in pain as in prosperity – has gripped young and old.

In the 21st Century I believe the mission of the United Nations will be defined by a new, more profound, awareness of the sanctity and dignity of every human life, regardless of race or religion. We must focus, as never before, on improving the conditions of the individual men and women who give the state or nation its richness and character. We must begin with the young Afghan girl, recognizing that saving that one life is to save humanity itself.

In this new century, we must start from the understanding that peace belongs not only to states or peoples, but to each and every member of those communities. The sovereignty of States must no longer be used as a shield for gross violations of human rights. Peace must be made real and tangible in the daily existence of every individual in need. Peace must be sought, above all, because it is the condition for every member of the human family to live a life of dignity and security.

From this vision of the role of the United Nations in the next century flow three key priorities for the future: eradicating poverty, preventing conflict, and promoting democracy. Only in a world that is rid of poverty can all men and women make the most of their abilities. Only where individual rights are respected can differences be channelled politically and resolved peacefully. Only in a democratic environment, based on respect for diversity and dialogue, can individual self-expression and self-government be secured, and freedom of association be upheld.

Your Majesties,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

You will recall that I began my address with a reference to the girl born in Afghanistan today. Even though her mother will do all in her power to protect and sustain her, there is a one-in-four risk that she will not live to see her fifth birthday. Whether she does is just one test of our common humanity – of our belief in our individual responsibility for our fellow men and women. But it is the only test that matters.

Remember this girl and then our larger aims – to fight poverty, prevent conflict, or cure disease – will not seem distant, or impossible. Indeed, those aims will seem very near, and very achievable — as they should. Because beneath the surface of states and nations, ideas and language, lies the fate of individual human beings in need. Answering their needs will be the mission of the United Nations in the century to come.

Thank you very much.

International Labor Organisation

Appointment

In November 2001 Pauline Barrett-Reid was appointed Director of International Labour Organization Regional Bureau in the Russian Federation and CIS.

From 1999–2001, Pauline Barrett-Reid was ILO Social Security Senior Specialist in the Ministry of Development and Trade, Harare, Zimbabwe.

From 1997–1999 she worked as Head of the United Kingdom Women’s Unit, then Policy Manager for War Pensions and Industrial Injuries Benefits Department of the Social Security.

From 1994–1997 Pauline Barrett-Reid was Visiting Expert in Social Protection of Social Security Department of International Labour Office, Geneva, Switzerland.

From 1993–1994 she worked as Expert Adviser on Social Protection of External Directorate of European Commission, Brussels, Belgium.

From 1970–1993 Pauline Barrett-Reid held different positions at the UK Department of the Social Security.

Pauline Barrett-Reid is fully fluent in English and French. She has an M.A. in Public Administration (Social Security).

Address of ILO Executive Director Kari Tapiola

to the Delegates of the IV Congress of the Federation of Independent Trade Unions

(excerpts)

Esteemed Mr. President of the Russian Federation; Mr. Chairman; dear colleagues and friends:

Many thanks for your kind invitation to take part in your Congress. It is a great honour for me to convey the warmest greetings from International Labour Organization on the occasion of this Congress, which is playing the most important role in determining the strategic orientation and activities of your organization in the future.

The trade unions' transition from a command-administrative structure to voluntary, democratic, mass organizations has been a difficult and, at times, painful process. At present, this process is still far from complete.

Today, however, one can in any case say that those who did not believe in the ability of the trade union leaders and members to build their work on a new foundation, after almost seventy years of the activities of Soviet trade unions, were mistaken. You have not merely survived. You have completely rebuilt yourselves, and you continue to change.

Russian trade unions have been creating their own structures throughout this difficult period. They have begun concluding collective labor agreements, and have helped in the creation of tripartite institutions. Russian trade unions have formed their own parliamentary group, and made new contacts with the international trade union movement. You are rightfully proud of this, and deserve heartfelt congratulations on this account.

At the end of May of this year, I took part, here in Moscow, in the International Conference on Freedom of Association. This conference was organized by Russian trade unions, the ILO, and the international trade union movement. At the conference we have discussed many problems and questions of realizing the right of freedom of association in the CIS countries, including the issues of elaboration of the Russian Federation's new Labour Code.

Elaboration of a new, comprehensive code of this kind is not an easy task. The ILO's experience was much in demand, and was used at various stages in the process. We are ready to continue our co-operation in this area.

Today, I would like to emphasize one of the most important conditions for draft of an effective labour legislation. The new Code will only be effective if employers and the trade unions are fully involved in its elaboration, and feel that this is a code that guarantees their basic rights and decent conditions for their work.

Since your previous Congress was held, the ILO has formed its own multidisciplinary group in Moscow, a group with wide-ranging powers. We began cooperating actively with the government of the RF, trade unions and employers' organizations. One of the major projects was our joint initiative in the matter of revising the system of trade-union education. The continuing process of training trade union members and leaders is a vitally important step in the creation of an active organization which they can trust, and of strong ties between the leaders and their rank-and-file members. This joint project has helped to create a group of active and inspired instructors. Hundreds of seminars have been organized and held. The broad participation of trade union members is the only way to guarantee the effectiveness of reforms.

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