Acceptance speech Maurice Strong
May 5th, 2010
Acceptance Speech by
I am very moved and deeply honored to be receiving this award in the company of such distinguished laureates, so many of whom have inspired me in my own career.
It is especially meaningful in that I receive it in the Netherlands, the leading example of how a vigorous democracy combined with an enlightened monarchy led now by Her Majesty Queen Beatrix, can make such a disproportionate and distinguished contribution to advancing the four freedoms which President Franklin Roosevelt so memorably called for.
I grew up in
When I was still in my late teens in 1947 at the United Nations I had the privilege of meeting Eleanor Roosevelt herself a great champion of human rights.
The leadership of President Roosevelt in dismantling of colonial empires, giving developing countries their independence and the prospect of freedom for their people, profoundly changed the nature of our global community and the United Nations in which the developing countries became a majority.
In many ways there has been important progress towards the universal extension of the freedoms to which President Roosevelt was devoted. Yet many are still denied these freedoms and indeed subjected to repression for their attempts to exercise them.
It is in relieving freedom from want that we have progressed most. China’s continuing progress in freeing its people from want as well as in the freedom of expression and freedom of religion, is not sufficiently recognized or appreciated in the west.
The poor of other developing countries have also experienced benefits and enlarged opportunities as the result of the growth of the global economy. Despite this in both developing and more developed countries, the gap between rich and poor has been growing, giving rise to the ominous prospect of social unrest.
Another aspect of freedom from want is directly relevant to the economic crisis the world is now experiencing - that “wants” are not the same as “needs”. Many people want more than they need. We, who live in the most wasteful and indulgent economies are now challenged to bring our “wants” more into line with our “needs”.
Our unprecedented wealth and power give us the capacity to resolve these issues. Our failure to do so is an affront to the moral basis of our civilization. It constitutes a threat to our very survival. This is fundamentally a moral and ethical issue. An encouraging and growing response to this is the worldwide movement for commitment to the Earth Charter, a statement of moral and ethical principles designed to guide our conduct towards each other and to the Earth. Launched and strongly supported by the
To deal effectively and decisively with these challenges will require an unprecedented degree of international cooperation. The United Nations and other multilateral organizations which President Roosevelt was so instrumental in establishing, are not sufficiently equipped or mandated to deal with them. There is an urgent and compelling need to give high priority to re-inventing and strengthening this system. Yet a successor to the kind of leadership President Roosevelt gave the world has not yet emerged. Indeed in his promotion of the four freedoms he has left us the responsibility for this unfinished business and the best example ever of the leadership we celebrate here today.