Interventions des Chefs des Délégations à la Conférence générale lors du débat de politique générale

37 session de la Conférence générale

His Excellency, the Honourable Mr Vasant Kumar Bunwaree, Minister of Education and Human Resources of Mauritius

Speech delivered during the General Policy Debate of the 37th session of the General Conference - revised and corrected version of the verbatim records of plenary meetings

36 session de la Conférence générale

Mr Roy BlSSOONDOYAL, Chargé d'Affaires to UNESCO

Speech delivered during the General Policy Debate of the 36th session of the General Conference and posted as received

35 session de la Conférence générale

H.E. Mr Vasant K. Bunwaree, Minister of Education, Culture and Human Resources

“(…) My warmest congratulations go to the Director-General elect, Her Excellency Mrs Irina Bokova.”
“(…) I would also wish to express my deepest appreciation to Mr Koïchiro Matsuura for his outstanding leadership, and for his relentless efforts to bring reforms in the management of the affairs of UNESCO through the notions of accountability and results-based management.”
“(…) UNESCO is the only organ of the UN System upon which is entrusted the immense responsibility to promote world peace, development and well-being through the promotion of Education, Science, Culture and Information and Communication. The holistic approach, the spirit of mutual cooperation and dialogue that has accompanied the Organisation over the years in accomplishing this formidable challenge adds to its pre-eminence and growing relevance to the family of nations.”
“(…) The world is undergoing rapid transformations and experiencing great progress in diverse fields of human activities. Meanwhile, the development deficit confronting the countries in the developing world, especially in Africa, makes of poverty, hunger and the denial of basic needs, further compounded by the global economic recession, a long enduring cause of great distress and suffering.”
“(…) The African Continent in general and sub-Saharan Africa in particular are among those that are most hardly hit. It is high time now for UNESCO and the international community to move forward and propose concrete measures to address this global agenda. Mauritius supports UNESCO in all such initiatives. ”
“(…) I wish to commend UNESCO Secretariat’s efforts to pursue the two priorities enunciated in the Medium-Term Strategy for 2008-2013; namely Africa and Gender Equality. We do however believe that UNESCO can do more and reach out to those countries and peoples that are the most in need of help, those that need to break the vicious cycle of poverty, those that need to see a brighter future for their children, free from scourges of war and disease. That is why Mauritius believes that UNESCO should insist on more efficient allocation of scarce resources to its priority objectives.”

34 session de la Conférence générale

H.E. Hon. Dharambeer Gokhool, Minister of Education and Human Resources

“I join the other speakers in welcoming the Republic of Montenegro, Singapore and Palestine.”
“As a small island State, we share many of the global concerns highlighted in the opening speeches, as well as during the addresses of the distinguished speakers: concerns like underdevelopment and poverty, global warming and environmental degradation, violence, the dangers of the digital and technological divide, the energy crunch and the erosion of values generally in many societies, among others. These are indeed challenging times and to deal with them we all agree that education and investment in human resources remain our best and most effective response. We also agree that we need to redouble our efforts and be more effective and result-oriented.”
“Despite all challenges we note some interesting progress in Africa: enrolment in the tertiary education sector has increased from 232 students per 100,000 inhabitants to 339 between 1990-1991 and 2002-2003. But the supply of educated people needed for African development is still lower than that in other regions of the world. […] On the other hand, the rural-urban divide in education has still to be bridged while school life expectancy in Africa (some 7.6 years) remains below the world average of 10.7 years…”
“Africa is also facing the problem of the digital divide and I take this opportunity to make a plea to the Director-General and UNESCO to develop focused policies and strategies to support initiatives in this sector.”
“It is encouraging to note that UNESCO is fully alive to those challenges and is pursuing a reform programme based on taking into consideration new priorities to meet international development goals as well as the Millennium Development Goals. The Medium-Term Strategy document is a clear indication that UNESCO wants to do more and better. The efforts of the Director-General in providing more funds for UNESCO’s programme activities are most welcome. […] I welcome the determination of UNESCO to be more in line with modern trends of accountability and transparency.”
“We are very proud of the Aapravasi Ghat World Heritage Site which bears testimony to the suffering endured by one segment of the rainbow nation. Likewise, Mauritius wishes to honour another segment of the Mauritian people with the nomination of Le Morne site for inscription to the World Heritage List. Le Morne site is a symbol of resistance to slavery and the fight for freedom, a symbol not only for Mauritius but also for the world at large. We would appreciate the support of all in order to commemorate that part of our history.”

Célébrations d'anniversaires

200e anniversaire de la création officielle des Archives nationales de la République de Maurice (1815) (2015)

Cette institution, qui renferme des archives comptant parmi les plus anciennes de l’hémisphère sud, et à vrai dire du reste du monde, continue à contribuer de manière significative à la promotion, à la protection et au stockage du patrimoine documentaire. Parmi les documents les plus importants qui y sont détenus figurent les Archives de l’occupation française de Maurice, inscrites en 1997 sur le Registre de la Mémoire du monde. En reconnaissant cet anniversaire, l’Organisation réaffirmerait sa volonté d’aider les Archives à partager ces documents précieux avec le reste du monde.

Centenaire de la mort de l'administrateur et homme de lettres mauricien sir Auguste Célicourt Antelme (6 juin 1999).

Centenaire de la naissance de l'homme de lettres mauricien Michel Arthur Martial (28 septembre 1999).