KOICHIRO MATSUURA: "FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION IS ESSENTIAL TO DEMOCRACY"
Paris, June 28 {No.2000-63} - UNESCO Director-General Koïchiro Matsuura highlighted the link between
democracy and freedom of expression in an address to the Ministerial Conference
“Towards a Community of Democracies” which took place in Warsaw, Poland, on
June 26 and 27, with the participation of representatives from 108 States.
The conference ended
yesterday with the endorsement of a Warsaw Declaration. It was convened jointly
by the governments of the host country, Poland, along with Chile, the Czech
Republic, India, Mali, the Republic of Korea and the United States of America.
In his address, Mr
Matsuura notably declared: “Democracy is a dynamic process, constantly
endangered by the slightest social disequilibrium, constantly nurtured by
effort, imagination and innovation. That is doubtless where its superiority lies
in relation to other forms of governance. It is the only political system that
is capable of correcting its own dysfunctions.
"Since the fall of
the Berlin Wall, and the new international context that momentous event created,
UNESCO has intensified its action in favour of democracy, seeking to create or
strengthen networks of researchers, civil society organisations, promoters and
educators of democracy and human rights. It has also increased its work in the
field of freedom of expression which is essential to democracy, guaranteeing the
legitimacy of the rule of law and the success and sustainability of development.
Men and women hitherto condemned to silence can thus express their aspirations
and opinions and participate in their own development", Mr Matsuura added.
He continued: “Democracy
is the affair of governments in terms of safeguarding the institutional
framework. But it cannot be confined simply to its functioning, or its
continuity through such mechanisms as elections, or multiparty politics.
Accomplishing your responsibilities as political leaders, you are thus here to
address the growing aspirations of your peoples to democracy. Your responses
will certainly have to give the increasingly powerful and international voices
of civil society their rightful place.”
The Director-General concluded by
pledging UNESCO’s support in the follow-up to the conference and to the Warsaw
Declaration.
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