Concluding remarks
by
His Excellency
KAY
RALA XANANA GUSMÃO
President of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste
‘Threats and Responsibilities’
Excellency,
Prime Minister Goran Persson,
Excellencies,
Distinguished
guests,
Ladies
and Gentlemen,
Nowadays, when humanity is
faced with sadness, with a climate of threats that do not recognize borders nor
choose victims, I am grateful for this opportunity which Your Excellency, Prime
Minister Goran Persson has given me to address this prestigious Forum. In April 2002, I had the privilege and honour
to participate in the Conference on Reconciliation, Truth and Justice, an
initiative of great importance to remind the peoples of the world that as we
advance towards the future, ideals cannot be extinguished, to remind all the
peoples of the world that peace - peace of mind and being at peace with others,
is the supreme legacy of anyone who is human and that we cannot allow similar
practices of the origins of humanity.
The beginning of the new
Millennium, instead of instilling a greater trust between humans, revealed the
brutal escalation of an irrationality, which is guiding the various actions of
destruction ravaging the contemporary world.
Hatred
and revenge have taken over the minds of the people and we are all witnessing a
limitless intolerance, in societies and in the community of nations.
And it is in this context
that the Stockholm International Forum, in its fourth and last series of Conferences, proposes to set a challenge to
rulers and to peoples, to seriously and profoundly reflect on the theme of
genocide, so as not to permit this to happen and prevent it from happening
again.
I apologize for not having
accompanied this Conference from the beginning, and hope that the reflections
that I now make are not off track with the analyses that the distinguished
entities have had the opportunity to debate here.
Ladies and gentlemen,
The genocide practiced
throughout history reveal three causes:
colonial expansionism, ethnic conflicts, including racism, and/or
dictatorial regimes, with power being the common base that sustains them.
When we speak of power, we
speak of politics, we speak of acts that politicians decide to take. Massive violations of human rights were
always the practice of regimes which imposed repression through the suppression
of freedoms.
In
today’s times, we see more violence in sovereign and independent
countries, where the conflicts are rooted in intolerance within communities or
societies.
In some countries these conflicts are a result of European
colonization which produced various independent but divided countries; these
were often dramatic divisions based on ethnic grounds and resulting in the
supremacy of some over others. Unfortunately, when this occurs, the most
privileged ethnic group guarantees itself the ability to improve its resources,
namely human resources, in order to remain in power and this has provoked social
discontentment, which is the ideal setting to practice massive violations of
human rights.
In
other places of the planet, however, because of
the division of the world
provoked by the Cold War, both blocks sustained unscrupulous fascists regimes which killed, out of the need to maintain
power and secure the systems in place.
Today, the accusations are directed towards criminals in developing or
under-developed countries, purely and simply neglecting the fact that they were
once privileged allies, both of the West as of the East, and to which aid was
given and guaranteed, as they were considered highly necessary.
It is within this basis of
analysis that we should look at genocide practiced in various parts of the
world.
It is within this basis of
analysis that we should understand the threats that still hover over some
peoples or ethnic groups. The new
millennium should be able to eliminate these threats. And this is the great challenge of the
future.
There is still little
commitment to democratic values from politicians and those governing developing
countries, so as to allow for societies to assume with responsibility the
principle of tolerance and mutual respect and owing respect to the primacy of
law.
Ladies and gentlemen,
What is important to stress
here at this Forum? It is the need to
prevent new genocide and new incidents of ethnic cleansing.
One
of the best ways to prevent future acts of mass killings is the enforcement of Justice to those who practiced
crimes against humanity. It becomes
necessary to correct and order the mentality of people and above all, of those
who hold power. We cannot allow those who usurp or acquire
power to look at other humans as animals for slaughter, as elements of the
lower class who have no right to enjoy freedom and above all, who have no right
to life.
Much is spoken about the
Millennium Goals, as a reason of being for the existence of nations in this era
of great advances in technology and science, in which we cannot allow that a
majority of the planet’s population continue to suffer from hunger,
misery and disease. Is this the idealism
of the globalization era? I think that
it is not.
I agree that some States,
Governments and politicians understand this great social injustice, but I
believe that there is a firm commitment on the part of business magnates to
look exclusively at gains, at money, and lose the notion that these profits
arise from the suffering of millions of people. There should be a better sense
of social responsibility, in the business field, and a moral responsibility to
contribute to the peaceful environment of countries in need of change or
recovery.
Many come to appeal also
for the need for world peace, precisely because it has still not been possible
to put an end to war or wars.
For all this, I firmly
believe that only when societies and peoples assume democratic principles and
make good use of democracy, will there be greater respect for Human
Rights. It is common to hear that
democracy and human rights are Western values, to which the peoples of
developing or under-developed countries are not obliged to accept. However, in
these very countries, imported luxurious cars and sophisticated weapons never
carry the label of western products for they would be shunned.
We live in an era of
consumerism, in which power and pomp blind the people, making them lose the
sense of humanity and of respect for other human beings. We live in an era in which egotism and
individualism have replaced solidarity and the social spirit, which the people
should feel an integral part of. In some
societies, to kill is a religious duty; to kill constitutes an ideal and it is
a pity that this continues to occur in this Millennium.
There is a need to look at
a Reconciliation of minds in the world, between societies, religions and
peoples. Hatred and the demands for
revenge cannot continue to escalate.
Reconciliation emerges as a pragmatic option, in divided societies as people
learn to accept each other and to
coexist.
There is a need to foster a
culture of tolerance at the heart of a society with differences, there is need
to pay attention to better social justice and to the distribution of national wealth, so that
everybody feels part of the development process of the country.
There is need for
strengthening civil society so that control can be exercised over those who are
in power. There is need to impress a
commitment for the rule of law so that justice becomes the element that inspires trust to all
society. There is need to achieve a good and clean governance, so that people
believe the democratic process.
The development of the
country should not be dictated by those in power, and must be a process with
the intervention and participation from everybody. To achieve this, there is a
need for people to feel they are included in the entire process. If the people were to be kept
apart of the processes, merely depending
on what those in power and magnates decide, sooner or later, the frustration
and discontentment gain ground and begin to manifest in acts of violence.
Only democratic systems can
make way for freedom of the press, freedom of
speech, organization and assembly.
The challenge placed here
is the effort that needs to be made from within societies to transform this
world. We all have this duty, from the
rich countries to the poorest.
Ladies and gentlemen
Meanwhile, learning from recent lessons, where the international community
was not able to prevent cases of ethnic cleansing from happening, I agree with
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s suggestion that we explore new ideas.
Although I see the importance of the need to form a Committee and Special
Rapporteur on the Prevention of Genocide, I believe that there must also be a
greater effort, on the part of all the nations, to undertake immediate
mediation in the sense of facilitating and stimulating dialogue and direct
contact between conflicting parties, where the objective is precisely to
prevent violence from escalating into genocide.
I believe that the International Community already has in its hands the
instrument to intervene in cases of mass murder, as it has already understood
the responsibility to protect fellow human beings. This is what occured in Timor-Leste in
September 1999, with the intervention of the multinational force, INTERFET.
We can change the
world. Peace is possible in the world!
If peace exists in the minds of the people, there will be no more conflicts; if
there is peace in societies there will be no more wars and if there is peace in
the world, we can be absolutely certain that there will be no more genocide!
Humanity needs peace and for this, humanity needs courage from the leaders of
the world to build peace. On behalf of
the people of Timor-Leste, I welcome and support the Forum 2004 Declaration presented
today, as a firm commitment towards concretely addressing this important global
concern and desire to prevent genocide.
Thank you very much.
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