(Ce discours est partiellement en anglais) (This statement is partly in French)
20 October 2014: Statement of His Excellency Mr Kenjiro Monji, Representative of Japan to the Executive Board, on the occasion of the 195th session of the Executive Board
Merci Monsieur le Président,
Madame la Directrice générale,
Excellences,
Chers Collègues,
Je souhaite débuter mon discours en faisant référence à l’idéal fondateur de cette Organisation, la paix, un mot qu’il est, plus que jamais, important de garder présent à l’esprit dans un monde où l’insécurité, l’instabilité et l’incertitude sont notre lot quotidien.
Un monde où la phrase « La plume est plus forte que l’épée » prononcée par Malala Yousafzaï, qui vient de se voir attribuer le Prix Nobel de la Paix, prend une résonance toute particulière face aux extrémistes qui veulent éradiquer les livres et les stylos.
Le Japon est pleinement convaincu de l’importance de l’éducation. Laissez-moi, à cet égard, citer les mots de notre Premier Ministre, Shinzo Abe, qui a déclaré en septembre dernier devant l’Assemblée générale des Nations Unies que « le Japon s’engage à éliminer « la culture de la guerre » de l’esprit des hommes ».
Il est également important de rappeler le rôle primordial joué par l’éducation dans l’établissement d’une société durable. Nous devons être conscients que c’est grâce à l’éducation que nous montrerons aux générations futures le chemin vers le développement durable.
C’est sur la base de cette forte conviction que le Japon co-organisera en Novembre prochain à Aichi-Nagoya et Okayama la Conférence mondiale de l’UNESCO sur l’éducation en vue du développement durable (EDD). Cette conférence discutera la feuille de route visant à la mise en œuvre du Programme d’action globale pour l’EDD et adoptera la Déclaration d’Aichi-Nagoya. Au nom du Gouvernement japonais, je tiens à remercier les Etats Membres qui participeront à cette conférence, au niveau ministériel pour plus de 90 d’entre eux, et à réaffirmer notre volonté d’œuvrer pour la pleine réussite de cet évènement.
Mr. Chair,
Now, I would like to touch upon three cross-cutting issues. First, while fully appreciating the active roles played by UENSCO, Japan encourages UNESCO to continue to play a bridging role to ensure the consistency between the post-2015 development agenda and the post-2015 education agenda. Japan also acknowledges the important role of culture, as well as education and science, in sustainable development, including in the area of disaster risk reduction.
Second, Japan attaches great importance to the empowerment of women under Prime Minister Abe’s initiative to create “a society in which women shine.” In this regard, Japan strongly supports UNESCO’s Gender Equality Action Plan.
Third, Japan strongly supports Global Priority Africa. Japan welcomes UNESCO’s further engagement in areas of its comparative advantage, such as education, science and technology and water management. Japan continues its contribution in these areas through the TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) process.
Mr. Chair,
I now turn to the programs. In the area of science, I would like to draw your attention to the spreading use of LED bulbs which is revolutionarily increasing the efficiency of the world’s lighting electricity consumption, not because my fellow countrymen have just won Nobel Prize for its basis invention, but because it tells us how science can contribute to sustainable development. With this in mind, Japan reiterates its strong support to the concept of “Sustainability Science”.
UNESCO should also strengthen programs in areas of its comparative advantage, including water, oceanology, bioethics and management of social transformations. In this connection, Japan has effectively contributed to UNESCO’s programs, financially, and through its institutes and experts, in such areas as the flood risk management and the tsunami warning system.
In the field of culture, Japan welcomes UNESCO’s active engagement in the implementation of the cultural conventions. Japan will continue its contribution in the area including extrabudgetary support for the conservation of cultural heritage. Regarding the 1972 Convention, the States Parties need to take up such issues as increased transparency in the nomination process, enhanced dialogue between Advisory Bodies and the submitting States, and introduction of an evaluation system which accommodates cultural diversity.
Finally, on finance and administration.
As a strong supporter of Madame Bokova’s reform efforts, Japan highly commends the Director-General’s strong leadership to implement staff redeployment plan and cost savings. For the 38 C/5, the introduction of the Results-based Management (RBM) must be accompanied by substantive improvement of budget planning process and its techniques. Reforms to further improve its efficiency and structure should also be undertaken by the top management. Lastly, Japan urges the Secretariat to develop a resource mobilization strategy with funding targets and priority programs for each expected result.
In this session of Executive Board, we look forward to fruitful discussions to ensure that each program will be managed efficiently and effectively, thus enabling UNESCO to fulfill its mandate in the international community.
Thank you for your attention.
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