Jordan Times
Monday, October 25, 1999
U.N. Day stresses international commitment towards
peace
By Ruba Saqr
AMMAN — The last United Nations Day of this century was celebrated here on Sunday with a call on people to discard war, hatred and intolerance in order to start a peaceful Millennium.
The ceremony, marked by planting of an olive tree at the United Nations Development Programme building premises, recollected the role of the U.N. in the past 50 years, from working to end wars to build a peaceful future through unified international standards.
“The sovereignty [of governments] is no more theirs alone. The international community has modified sovereignty that [it] has the right to judge, the right to measure and the right to ask questions,” UNDP Resident Coordinator in Jordan Jorgen Lissner said.
“We are developing the criteria for judging the performance of governments. We have international conventions. The rights of the child was the prime one, conventions against discrimination against women, labour standards, obligation safety... [and] the law of the sea,” Lissner said.
Moreover, UNESCO Representative Martin Hadlow said that life is “too short to destroy ourselves through war.”
He also stressed the necessity of building the concept of peace in the minds of the younger generations.
“Already, some practical initiatives are under way here in Jordan. We have established our first Peace Room at a school near Peace Street in the Jordan Valley... given that [it] has been fought over by armies for centuries,” Hadlow said.
The United Nations has committed itself in the 21st century to the cause of peace, he said.
In closing, the 10 representatives of the U.N. missions in Jordan watered the olive tree which symbolises the “living connection between the old millennium and the new one” — hopefully void of human conflict.