Speeches
- Written by: Tetsuya Endo, Former Acting Chairman of the Japan Atomic Energy Commission
Owing to the latest accident, people’s good faith in nuclear energy has been greatly reduced while trust in the public authorities and the electric companies has fallen to a rock-bottom low. It will not be easy to recover the lost credibility, requiring a long time and sincere efforts including transparency which is a very vital element. In a democratic nation, nuclear energy cannot be sustained without popular trust and support. At the same time, people should deal with matters related to energy and atomic power in more reasonable and cool-headed fashion.
- Written by: Armand P. La Barge, Chief of Police (Ret.), York, Ontario, Canada
From a policing perspective, families play integral role in community safety and crime prevention. Good child rearing stops crime from ever happening in the first place. But childrearing has always taken place within a group or village setting.
- Written by: Hon. David Kilgour, former MP, Canada
Character and sound values are best developed in home settings; the lack of those in young people is blamed often on lack of parental concern. "The irony is that we have the best group of educated parents in history doing the least for their own children," observed historian Maris Vinovskis of the University of Michigan.
- Written by: Ms. Almas Jiwani, President, UN Women Canada National Committee
Today’s occasion reminds us that the Canadian family is a basic and natural unit which plays a crucial role in nurturing and caring for individual family members, from children, to youth, to men and women. We are here today to remind all Canadians about the need for this unit to remain solid and for its members to work together in an effort to build strong and vibrant communities.
- Written by: Hon. Aloisea Inyumba, Minister of Gender and Family Promotion, Rwanda
“Promoting Strong Family Values” is one of the driving forces of the Rwandan society. I am here to share the experience of Rwanda and the lessons we can learn as global citizens on how we can restore a family and a society once it has been destroyed.
- Written by: Mr. Akan Rakhmetullin, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Kazakhstan to the UN
We have to meet the diverse needs of all people in present and future communities, promoting personal well-being, social cohesion, and inclusion, thus creating equal opportunity. This is a challenge and must translate into enlightened policies especially in the developed and developing countries.
- Written by: Mrs. Allia Syed Hoosen-Gooljar, Director of the Centre des Dames Mourides, Mauritius
Mauritius is often cited as a country where people of different faiths interact in peace and harmony. Although people of different faiths have been living in this island nation for centuries, it seems that they do not really know each other, according to research by Mrs. Allia Syed Hoosen-Gooljar, Director of the Centre des Dames Mourides.
- Written by: Dr. Walter Lichem, former Head, Department of International Organizations, Foreign Ministry, Austria
The response to the challenges of the 21st century of societal disintegration is not to be found in inter-civilizational “dialogues” but in the operationalisation of the development of a universally shared culture in all societies based on common values and behavioural patterns providing human dignity, freedom from marginalisation and exclusion, humiliation, hatred and consequent intra-societal violence.
- Written by: Laurent Ladouce, Director of the Center for Culture and Peace, Paris, France
Development should make our life more fully human. It should offer us new freedoms, not only more needs. Globalization most fundamentally offers a spiritual and moral opportunity for a broader love. In other words, what is at stake is not just the free circulation of commodities but the horizontal road map: the opportunity offered to all people to live for their family, for their nation, for the world, and for heaven, without restrictions.
- Written by: Ali Rastbeen, President, Academy of Geopolitics of Paris, France
At a time when the concentration of world population is reinforcing itself, when relations between men are becoming increasingly narrow, that distances separating countries are diminishing thanks to the technological miracle, it is natural that the question of peaceful coming together of thoughts, in the framework of mutual respect, is of crucial importance. Reason must win over fanaticism among the leaders and cultural actors of the different religions.
- Written by: Prof. Akiko Yamanaka, Former Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Japan
During the Cold War, security meant being “against” certain countries. However, the concept of security now should be “with” every nation /state that is a part of each region. This means that we must make efforts to establish trustworthy relations among countries so that peace and stability can be established in the each region on the globe. We must also recognize that security is increasingly complex and multifaceted.
- Written by: Dr. Willem F. van Eekelen, Former Minister of Defence, the Netherlands
The Council of Europe stated on October 31, 2008: “Diversity should not be perceived as a threat but as a source of enrichment, but can only succeed if based on social cohesion and human rights.”