wfn.org | Bahá'í UN Representative Addresses the Millennium Summit

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Bahá'í World News Service
8 September 2000

Bahá'í United Nations Representative Addresses World Leaders at Millennium 
Summit

UNITED NATIONS (BWNS) ­ Speaking in his capacity as the Co-Chair of the
Millennium Forum, the principal representative of the Bahá'í International
Community to the United Nations today addressed world leaders gathered at
the Millennium Summit, urging them to join in a global partnership with
civil society to create a peaceful and more prosperous world.

“This historic Summit may well be remembered as having opened the door to a
long-awaited era of peace, justice and prosperity for all humanity,” said
Techeste Ahderom, who led the Millennium Forum, which brought together some
1,350 representatives of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) at the United
Nations last May to consult about humanity’s future in anticipation of this
week’s Millennium Summit of world leaders.

“This new era will, of course, require concrete deeds and not just words,”
Mr. Ahderom continued. “We in civil society stand ready to work with you and
your governments, side by side, in a strong new partnership to create this
new world. At the same time, civil society also stands ready to hold you to
your commitments if you do not deliver on your words.”

In his capacity as Co-Chair of the Millennium Forum, Mr. Ahderom was the
only Summit speaker who represented civil society at large. The Summit drew
more than 150 world leaders, making it the largest gathering of heads of
state and government ever held.

In his address, Mr. Ahderom said that the Millennium Forum, which was
organized by non-governmental organizations and held 22-26 May 2000 at the
United Nations, was one of the most diverse and significant gatherings of
civil society ever held.

“The Forum was significant for its attempt to accelerate the process among
NGOs of networking and coalition building across issue areas that has proved
to be such a powerful force for change and social action in today's world,”
said Mr. Ahderom. "The Forum’s focus was on six main issues: peace and
security, the eradication of poverty, human rights, sustainable development
and the environment, the challenges of globalization, and “strengthening and
democratizing the United Nations.”

Mr. Ahderom asked Summit leaders to carefully review the Millennium Forum
Declaration and Agenda for Action, a document that was drafted and adopted
by NGOs and civil society organizations gathered at the Forum last May, who
came from some 115 countries ­ including a large number from the developing
world.

The Forum’s Declaration, he said, “offers a bold vision for humanity's
future and outlines a series of concrete steps that the United Nations,
governments, and members of civil society themselves can take to address the
global problems facing humanity today.”

In particular, Mr. Ahderom told world leaders, the Forum’s Declaration
condemns global poverty as a “violation of human rights,” urges the
immediate cancellation of Third World debt, calls for a “strengthened and
democratized United Nations” with a reformed Security Council, invigorated
through an enlarged membership, more democratic procedures, and eventual
elimination of the veto.

Mr. Ahderom also explained that the Forum’s Declaration states that while
globalization offers “significant opportunities for people to connect, share
and learn from each other,” in its currently unregulated form it increases
“inequities between and within countries, undermines local traditions and
cultures, and escalates disparities between rich and poor, thereby
marginalizing large numbers of people in urban and rural areas.”

The Declaration, Mr. Ahderom said, urges governments to make serious
“commitments to restructure the global financial architecture based on
principles of equity, transparency, accountability, and democracy…,” stating
clearly that the United Nations should be the preeminent international
organization, overseeing the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO.

Mr. Aherdom was selected as the Co-Chair of the Forum early last year after
heading up an interim planning committee that emerged from the Task Force on
UN Reform of the Conference of Non-Governmental Organizations (CONGO). In
his position as Co-Chair of the Forum, he headed up the Forum’s Executive
Committee and directed the work of its Secretariat, all in the capacity of
an unpaid volunteer.

As the principal representative of the Bahá'í International Community to the
United Nations, Mr. Ahderom is mainly responsible for the Community’s work
on human rights issues at the United Nations.

The Bahá'í International Community was recognized as an international
non-governmental organization at the United Nations in 1948. It represents
the worldwide membership of the Bahá'í Faith at the United Nations and in
other fora. The Bahá'í Faith has some five million members and has
established communities in more than 235 countries and territories.
In addressing the Millennium Summit, Mr. Ahderom sought to tell world
leaders about the Millennium Forum and its results, emphasizing the
important role civil society has played in promoting positive social change.
“Throughout history, from the abolition of slavery to the recognition of the
equality of women and men, most great social movements have begun not with
governments but with ordinary people,” Mr. Ahderom said. “In 1945, civil
society again played an important role in shaping many of the key articles
found in the Charter of the United Nations, especially in the area of human
rights.”

“More recently,” he said, “NGOs have played a leading role in shaping and
supporting an International Criminal Court, in the movement for debt
cancellation, and in the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.”

Mr. Ahderom called on world leaders to grant NGOs and civil society groups
increased access to the UN General Assembly as a first step towards an
invigorated partnership for the new century.

Speakers at the Summit were limited to heads of state and government,
foreign ministers, along with a few leaders of international,
intergovernmental organizations, such as the League of Arab States and the
Commission of the European Community. A few international organizations with
observer status at the United Nations, such as the International Committee
of the Red Cross, also spoke. Mr. Ahderom, however, was the only
representative to speak who represented a wide association of civil society
and non-governmental organizations around the world.

- end -

For more information about the Millennium Forum, visit
http://www.millenniumforum.org
For more information about the Millennium Summit, visit http://www.un.org
For more information about the worldwide Bahá'í community, visit
www.bahai.org
For more information, contact Brad Pokorny at 212-803-2544 or by email at
bpokorny@bic.org