inf Job: 202304400 General Conference 42nd session, Paris, 2023 Information document 42 C/INF.6 13 November 2023 English and French only Address by Ms Simona Mirela Miculescu President of the 42nd session of the General Conference at the opening ceremony of the 42nd session of the General Conference42 C/INF.6 Mr President of the 41st session of the General Conference, Madam Chairperson of the Executive Board, Madam Director-General, Honourable Ministers and Heads of Delegations, Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, Dear friends, dear family, I address you today with respect and solemnity, as I take up, moved yet thrilled, my duties as President of the 42nd session of the General Conference. It is an honour for me and for my country, Romania, which now presides over a UNESCO governing body for the first time since its accession to the Organization, 67 years ago. Besides being the first female Ambassador of Romania to UNESCO, I am proud to be the fifth woman to preside over the General Conference and the fourth from the Eastern Europe group, in the 78-year history of our Organization. It is a message of hope for women’s empowerment and gender equality – one of UNESCO’s global priorities – and an acknowledgement of the value of female leadership, which inherently involves listening with an understanding heart, then acting with a decisive mind. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to the Romanian authorities, who supported and promoted my candidacy from the very first day. I thank also the members of our electoral group and all the Member States for having unanimously placed their trust in me. It is an immense pleasure to be acclaimed and to enjoy the trust of one’s colleagues. A heartfelt thank you to my beloved family, who have always supported and enveloped me in love and patience and who are represented here by my mother, Sabina, and husband Ovidiu. I am proud of my roots in Satu Mare – a multicultural, multi-faith and multi-ethnic community in Transylvania – and salute its representatives here in this room. It is there that I was animated with the values that will guide me in the performance of my duties: dignity, devotion, tolerance, transparency and balance. The centuries-old and turbulent history of my Romanian people, too, has taught me an invaluable lesson: that to be respected one must, in turn, show respect. I wish to express my sincere gratitude to – and admiration for – my predecessor, President Santiago Irazabal Mourão, for his wise and enlightened presidency. I am steadfast in my determination to build on his successes while striving for continuity between our vision and actions. I want also to warmly commend the outstanding Chairperson of the Executive Board, Ms Tamara Rastovac Siamashvili, for her unique talent for bringing together and effectively reflecting the viewpoints of all the Board’s Members in the working documents listed in our General Conference agenda. Allow me to pay tribute to Director-General Audrey Azoulay for her superb leadership, for the passion with which she strives to show the world the meaning of “multilateralism in action” and for her tireless efforts, alongside her terrific UNESCO team, to advance the Organization’s programme. Ladies and gentlemen, We are here to open together a new chapter in the history of our Organization. I would like to warmly welcome the United States of America back into the fold of UNESCO’s community of nations. Welcome back! While the expanded multilateralism does indeed strengthen our ability to rise to the many complex, interdependent, challenges that we face, it also compels us to work together effectively to defend our common values and produce tangible results consistent with the mandate entrusted to us by our Constitution.42 C/INF.6 – page 2 Our Organization has been achieving crucial advances for nearly eight decades: from the promotion of access to quality education and lifelong learning opportunities for all to the safeguarding of our natural and intangible cultural heritage; from the promotion of cultural diversity to the protection of freedom of expression; and from encouraging international scientific cooperation to the raising of ethical standards and protection of human rights. In spite of our efforts and those of the entire United Nations system, the world in which we live appears to be crumbling: • progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals is slow; • divisions are on the increase; • conflicts are multiplying; • inequalities are growing; • the climate crisis is worsening; • vulnerabilities are increasing throughout the world, significantly affecting Africa – our global priority – and small island developing States; • too many girls and women are denied a quality education and underrepresented in the fields of science, technology, engineering and innovation; • disinformation and hate speech are polarizing our societies; • digital transformation, despite the potential for unbelievable opportunities, is triggering societal disruption and raising ethical issues, even going so far as to challenge the very nature of our future. That gives us some crucial questions to consider: – What do we need to do more or differently? – What lessons do we need to learn? – What paradigm shift is required? As we embark on the preparation of our next quadrennial programme for 2026-2029, and in anticipation of next year’s United Nations Summit of the Future, among other key moments for the international community, let us allow those questions to guide our collective thinking and decision- making for the future. Let us also keep in mind this year’s celebration of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, with emphasis on the promotion and preservation of fundamental rights and freedoms in every aspect of the Organization’s mandate. Ladies and gentlemen, The beauty of this House is that our take on the world and our solutions are as complex and as multidimensional as the challenges we face. Our solutions are fit to the problems. We catalyze research and innovation. We spread knowledge. We educate. We promote culture and reinforce dialogue and mutual understanding. We uphold freedom of expression. There is a reason to our broad mandate: it is comprehensive. Exactly 44 years ago, my country, Romania, introduced a landmark resolution at the 34th United Nations General Assembly on “The Right to Education.” UNESCO was entrusted to enhance its programmes and activities to ensure education networks at all levels. Since then, a lot has been done in terms of building the global education framework, and I am proud to see that our work has evolved into strong global ongoing efforts.42 C/INF.6 – page 3 Education is a fundamental human right, vital to personal dignity and empowerment, a catalyst for inclusion and the advancement of gender equality. The adoption of the revision of the 1974 Recommendation by this General Conference will bring us a step further in advancing quality education in the service of peace and human rights. The commitments many of us made at the Transforming Education Summit are clear. It is incumbent upon us to translate them into national policies and quality curricula, making them positive transformative forces of our societies. Together, we must work diligently to guarantee that the digital transformation will be based on agreed-upon ethical principles. It is our responsibility to foster a fair, equitable, and secure development of educational technologies that serve the cause of quality education for all. Responding to the global climate and environmental crisis has become an immediate imperative. So, we must ensure that the Greening Education Partnership will be a game changer for addressing climate change. It is also essential to guarantee – keeping in mind the UNESCO Recommendation on Open Science – that every researcher, scientist and knowledge holder has the necessary conditions for knowledge production, dissemination and sharing, enabling them to discover solutions to counteract climate change, and preserve the health of our ocean, freshwater sources and biodiversity. Ladies and gentlemen, dear colleagues, Culture, in all its dimensions, is the backbone of our identity. Building upon the milestones set by previous World Conferences, last year, at MONDIACULT, we set our sights on a compass for the future, meant to further unlock the transformative power of culture. As we elevated culture to the status of a global public good, we must ensure that its intrinsic value is propelled further to advance sustainable development, foster peace, bridge divides and reduce inequalities. We need to keep our promise of protecting the social and economic rights of artists and cultural professionals, facilitate their mobility, and implementing effective oversight of digital platforms. The upcoming World Conference on Culture and Arts Education and the World Forum on Cultural Policies will be key steps for our transformative cultural endeavours. We should focus ever more our policies and constructive solutions on the equation Culture – Education – Sciences – Sustainable Development, leveraging Communication and Information, within the Era of Artificial Intelligence whose ethical dimension remains a priority! Ladies and gentlemen, The global frameworks and normative instruments adopted by our Organization remain but blueprints unless we translate them into tangible actions on the ground, unless we ensure they become catalysts for new futures, and the bearers of fresh opportunities for girls and women, for our youth and those most in need. Take the recent adoption of the Global Convention on the Recognition of qualifications concerning Higher Education: its ratification means making academic mobility a reality for millions around the world, including migrants and refugees! This is powerful! By transforming our normative instruments into action, we can truly make a positive impact on the lives of many, paving the way for a more equitable and prosperous world.42 C/INF.6 – page 4 We have fantastic tools at our disposal: our UNESCO designated sites – natural and cultural World Heritage Sites, biosphere reserves and UNESCO Global Geoparks - the vast networks of category 1 and 2 centres and institutes, Associated Schools, Chairs, Cities, and experts! These are unique assets in the United Nations system! Together, we’ll have to mobilize their full potential to generate even more positive change on the ground to build inclusive and resilient societies. I stand, therefore, before you, with a vision. A vision of action. An invitation that together we keep sight of the fundamentals of our Constitution that says: “Peace must… be founded, if it is not to fail, upon the intellectual and moral solidarity of mankind.” We stand on the cusp of transformative change, and the responsibility rests with each of us, Member States and the Secretariat alike, to drive this change in the right direction. In an increasingly fragmented global landscape, let’s face its multiple challenges together, as a global community. Let’s overcome boundaries. Let’s defy divisions. Let’s unleash the phenomenal potential of youth, of girls and women in order to achieve all this! Together let’s engage in an open and honest dialogue, let’s be ready for compromise and for finding the fine balance, when our collective goals demand it. In these troubled times, let’s continue to build the defenses of peace in the minds of men and women. Let's inspire one another in this laboratory of ideas that is UNESCO. Together, we can create a symphony of unity that will resonate with the world. As the great Romanian diplomat Nicolae Titulescu, former president of the League of Nations, once said: “Everyone has their own mission. All united, how could we doubt success?” I am committed to fulfil this role with responsibility, unwavering dedication and action-driven enthusiasm. I am a firm believer in the power of dialogue and common action, therefore, my door will always be open to all of you. I will work together, both with the Members States and the Director- General, to promote our shared values. I count on you, on your wisdom. Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, A few days ago, we had the pleasure of unveiling, alongside the Director-General, the magnificent tapestry by the artist Mircea Cantor entitled “Airplanes and Angels”, which Romania has donated to UNESCO. You can admire it in the foyer on the way out of our meeting room. We hope that the message of peace conveyed by this work of art can guide and inspire us in our approach and decision-making throughout this session of the General Conference. Before we begin our work, I have a little surprise for you. I have invited to Paris three young stars of the Romanian musical scene – Nadia Trohin, Sorina Rotaru et Cătălin Răducanu – who are going to perform a few pieces of jazz inspired by traditional Romanian music. I thank them in advance for the ethno jazz sounds that will bring a thrill to the House that gave birth to International Jazz Day.42 C/INF.6 – page 5 Before I make way for the music, I would like to conclude with a few words from the great Romanian composer Georges Enesco that particularly resonate with our mission: “Culture will endure. The heritage amassed over so many centuries of labour and faith is too great to suddenly make a clean break with all that we have amassed and assimilated. Humanity has already had experience of impasses. And it overcome them with heroic vitality. It will not lack the courage to do so this time either. We must believe and, in so doing, we shall overcome”. ENSEMBLE POUR LA PAIX TOGETHER FOR PEACE معاً من أجل السالم [maaan min ajl al-salam] 共促和平 [gòng cù hé píng] Выступим же все вместе за мир [Vystupim zhe vse vmeste za mir] JUNTOS POR LA PAZ Printed on recycled paper