|
Dedication:
Voices For Peace
A
Matter of Responsibility:
Reflecting
on the 58th Conference for
Non-Governmental Organizations Associated
with United Nations Department of Public
Information
by
Akif KIREÇÇI
Yesterday (September
9, 2005) I asked my sophomore
students if they knew how many people
died that day. Some of them cited casualties
from the earthquake in South East Asia,
some cited deadly attacks in Iraq, and
some tried to calculate casualties in
traffic accidents across the United States.
Not one of them included the 25,000 children
who died from hunger that day--and every
day--in the poor countries of the world.
They did not even know hunger could be
a reason for dying or why those children
did not have anything to eat. I asked
the question and now they know the answer.
Hunger was just one of the issues addressed
at the 58th Annual Non-Governmental
Organizations (NGO) Conference, held in
New York and hosted by the United Nations
earlier this year. The conference, "Our
Challenge: Voices for Peace, Partnership,
and Renewal," rightly identified
the challenges ahead in the global era.
More than 3,000 representatives
from more than 1,500 NGOs worldwide participated
in the conference, held September 7-9,
2005, and attempted to enlighten the leaders
and people of the world about a range
of issues including hunger, peace, security,
development, lack of education, poverty,
gender inequality, violence, pandemics,
diseases, violations of human rights and
dignity, and environmental disasters awaiting
our planet. NGO leaders and representatives
mingled with peers from around the world,
exchanged ideas and information, and tried
to mobilize to create a better future
for the generations to come.
The main objective
of the conference was to provide participants
with an unofficial forum to discuss the
UN’s Millennium Development Goals
(MDG). NGOs came to raise their voices--the
voices of the silent masses--about issues
governments and leaders mostly do not
pay enough attention to. Whether they
were able to get their message through
and how much attention their voices will
win will be seen in the months and years
ahead.
Two major issues came
to my mind when participating in the meetings.
The first is the misconception about the
UN and its perceived power over governments
that are not willing to invest to solve
the problems confronting our world. The
UN is an institution--a collective body
that consists of 191 member countries.
What makes governments and organizations
such as the UN, is people. People make
institutions, not the other way around.
Therefore, people "leaders first"
should take the initiative in bringing
the MDG objectives to life and make them
a reality rather than dream. However,
political leaders sometimes fall short
of idealistic visions. Therefore, it would
be a good idea to put some of the burden
on the shoulders of business leaders.
Business leaders should be invited to
events such as this conference and encouraged
to take part in making real changes in
the lives of the World's poor and unfortunate.
I believe business
leaders could prove as important as political
leaders, if not more so, in realizing
the UN Millennium Development Goals. Since
they can easily cross national borders
when it comes to business, they are able
and should be willing to reach out to
people around the world when it comes
to issues of peace, educating the underprivileged,
eradicating poverty, and so on. Eliminating
these problems benefits humanity at large
and the global culture--which in return
would foster global business.
This brings me to the
second issue: responsibility. Most of the problems discussed at the conference--most
of the problems the world currently faces--are
somehow related to a lack of responsibility.
About this, I think the burden falls on
the shoulders of the people of the rich
countries. It is natural to expect developed
countries to take the lead in providing
a responsible model for the rest of the
world. We are living on one and the same
planet. We are breathing the same air
and walking the same earth. We are, rich
or poor, not only responsible for each
other as fellow human beings, but also
to the planet that we live on and the
ecosystem that we are part of.
As I mentioned above,
my students did not know about the 25,000
children who, because of a lack of sufficient
food and water, die every day. Now they
do. The 58th Annual NGO Conference
raised this and other issues and raised
the voices of the silent masses. What
next, then?
What is needed next,
in my opinion, is to gain a perspective
towards our individual responsibilities.
We "the rich people of the rich countries"
need to use the resources of our ecosystem
more responsibly, we need to be considerate
of others and their needs, we need not
to exploit everything in the ecosystem
simply because we can, we need to consider,
if not worry, about our children and future
generations. If we, the people, acknowledge
our individual responsibilities and live
by them, then governments will follow.
E-mail:
akifkirecci@lightmillennium.org
|
