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Ian Martin Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Nepal: Speech at:South African Experience in Constitution Making Process and Federalism, an Interaction with Mac Maharaj, the Leader of South African National Congress (10 December 2008)
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It truly is a great privilege to share a platform with Mr. Mac Maharaj. The United Nations is an organization made up of governments, normally strictly neutral regarding the internal politics of member states. But above all it is bound by the principles of the United Nations Charter and the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights which was signed 60 years ago today. And those principles led the United Nations to work for an end to apartheid in South Africa, and I have UNMIN colleagues here who worked for years in UN Centre against Apartheid. That was before I worked for the United Nations but I am proud to have been a member of the Anti-Apartheid Movement in my own country.
In Nepal, as you know, the United Nations is strictly neutral and unbiased regarding internal politics. But we have the same commitment against ethnic and social discrimination in Nepal as in South Africa. And on this Human Rights Day I repeat that commitment on behalf of UNIMIN, on behalf of OHCHR, and on behalf of the whole United Nations system. First, Nepal’s peace process has come as far as it has because of the cooperation of major political actors across party political lines. Of course that has never been completely smooth and easy, but before the Constituent Assembly election the major political parties committed themselves to continue in cooperation after the CA election. They said that they would maintain cooperation in particular for the sake of completion of the peace process and the drafting of the new constitution. Today people at different ends of political spectrum are saying that that consensus has, to a significant extent, broken down. Of course there are very different perspectives as to why it has broken down and who is to be blamed for it having broken down, but my first question to Mr. Mac Maharaj is how in South Africa cooperation was maintained across very deep political and racial divisions, for the sake of a successful transition.
#HumanRights #Federalism #RacialDivisions
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Publisher:
UNMIN
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(2008
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Type / Script:
Press Release
in English
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Keywords:
CONSTITUTIONS, PEACE AGREEMENT, PEACE MAKING, ELECTIONS, POLITICAL CONDITIONS, POLITICAL SITUATION, POLITICAL PARTIES, POLITICAL PARTICIPATION, POLITICAL COOPERATION, HUMAN RIGHTS, FREEDOM, RIGHT TO INFORMATION, PEACE PROCESS, CIVIL SOCIETY, ARMIES, ARMED FORCES, CEASEFIRE, HUMAN RIGHTS, JUSTICE, FEDERALISM
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Thematic Group:
UNMIN
:
Peace and Conflict through Political Mission
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Thesaurus:
01.01.00
- Political Conditions, Institutions, Movements
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Reference Link:
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