Format: Real

Duration: 4:38 mins

Inter Press Service International Achievement Award
United Nations, New York, 17 September 1998

REMARKS BY DR. ROBERTO SAVIO
Director-General, Inter Press Service
(Edited transcript)

I think it is important to say that in the committee which decides the award, we went over an important consideration. The agenda of the UN as an intergovernmental mechanism looks more and more defenseless against global issues which are now creating crises worldwide. The two main engines of globalisation - finance and trade - are not any longer dealt with by the United Nations. And the United Nations is less and less able to play a role in solving the structural problems which have been brewing in the world since the end of the Cold War.

What has been the most significant new element in our view in the last few years has been the emergence of the role of actors which, besides the intergovernmental system, were able to create a process which would then become part of the machinery of the United Nations system.

Without them, we would have no landmines treaty; we would have no International Criminal Court; we would not have the activities that you have undertaken as part of the agenda of implementation of the United Nations system. In other words, it is because persons like you are able, through their sacrifice and their commitment, to shape an international awareness to do what Stephen Lewis was saying before, that a canvas of activities and support is created to push forward an issue which was not in the international intergovernmental agenda before, so that something new becomes part of it.

I think that osmosis, which we have more and more, that incorporates the capability of expressing the ideals, the commitment and the effort of people worldwide, and permeates the established mechanisms of the United Nations is the best hope for a future - a future in which that osmosis will create more participation, more commitment and more ideals. So the jury looked at you as the symbol of the process and thinks that the work that you have been doing, besides being a splendid result of your personal qualities that many friends in this room can depict better than me, is in a sense a symbol of the process through which the United Nations is becoming more and more an organization of peoples, not just governments.

It is in that view of a future world where people can shape a better system in the present international crisis that IPS considered you a symbol for this year and a fitting recipient of our recognition and our award. So the award is given to Graça Machel for her dedication to the cause of education in Mozambique and her strong commitment in saving the lives of children in many conflicts worldwide.

I have to say that this award usually comes in the form of a globe made in crystal representing the world, which is not yet linked to the plaque because the postal system delivered it a few seconds ago; therefore it is very unclear if the postal system of industrialised countries is catching up with the South or vice versa. We just received the award a few minutes ago, and I am presenting a disassembled award which will be promptly assembled immediately afterward.