UN conference on culture of peace kicks off

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 12 (Chinese media) -- The two-day UN

conference on culture of peace kicked off at the United Nations headquarters

Wednesday, with President of the UN General Assembly Miguel d'Escoto Brockmann

calling for morals and ethics in all human activity.

"Our world is experiencing an extremely difficult period, the worst since the founding of the United Nations," said d'Escoto in his opening remarks. "It is a time of numerous bankruptcies, but the worst is the moral bankruptcy of humankind's self-proclaimed 'more advanced societies,' which has spread throughout the world."

(Chinese media/Hou Jun)
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"It is not only Wall Street that needs to be bailed

out. We need to bail out all of humankind from its social insensitivity," he

added.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said that

globalization can be a great force of progress, adding that as economies merge,

as cultural boundaries disappear, as new media bring human societies closer

together than ever before, "new fault lines can emerge."

"One of the great challenges of our time must now

surely be to ensure that our rich cultural diversity makes us more secure -- not

less," he said. "For peace to endure, individuals, groups and nations must come

to respect and understand each other."

The secretary-general also commended the various interfaith initiatives including the World Conference on Dialogue held in Madrid this past July at the invitation of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, who asked the UN General Assembly to hold Wednesday's conference as a follow-up to the July meeting.

The U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice (1st, L) attends the UN conference on culture of peace at the United Nations headquarters on Nov. 12, 2008.(Chinese media/Hou Jun)
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Speaking at the conference, King Abdullah said that

throughout history, preoccupation with differences between the followers of

religions and cultures has engendered intolerance, causing devastating wars and

considerable bloodshed without any sound logical or ideological justification.

"Every tragedy suffered in today's world is

ultimately a result of the abandonment of the paramount principle enunciated by

all religions and cultures: the roots of all global crises can be found in human

denial of the eternal principle of justice," the king said.

The Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, Amir of the State of Kuwait Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah, Israeli President Shimon Peres, King Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain, King Abdullah II bin Al Hussein of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, the President of Finland Tarja Halonen, Lebanese President Michel Sleiman, Afghan President HamidKarzai, and other heads of state and high-level officials also spoke at the meeting.

U.S. President George W. Bush is expected to attend the meeting on Thursday.

UN report: Cultural sensitivity critical to development strategies


LONDON, Nov. 12 (Chinese media) -- Development strategies that are sensitive to cultural values can reduce harmful practices against women and promote human rights, says a new report from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) launched here on Wednesday.

The State of World Population 2008 report says that culture is a central component of successful development of poor countries, and must be integrated into development policy and programming. Full story

Afghan President Hamid Karzai delivers a speech during the UN conference on culture of peace at the United Nations headquarters on Nov. 12, 2008. (Chinese media/Hou Jun)
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