| The Nobel Lecture-Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei |
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The Nobel Lecture by IAEA Director General and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2005 Dr. Mohamed ElBaradei
"Today, with globalization bringing us ever closer together, if we choose to ignore the insecurities of some, they will soon become the insecurities of all."
In an acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2005, Dr Mohamed ElBaradei, Director General of the International Atomic Energy Association addressed the Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Poverty, Infectious Disease, and Environmental Degradation; Comparing the aims of the work of the IAEA to that of his sister-in-law's humanitarian aid work, as ensuring the security of the human family, Dr ElBaradei listed the five borderless threats identified by the UN High-Level Panel as: Armed Conflict - both within and among States; Organized Crime; Terrorism; and Weapons of Mass Destruction. "We cannot respond to these threats by building more walls, developing bigger weapons, or dispatching more troops. Quite to the contrary. By their very nature, these security threats require primarily multinational cooperation. But what is more important is that these are not separate or distinct threats. When we scratch the surface, we find them closely connected and interrelated. We are 1000 people here today in this august hall. Imagine for a moment that we represent the world's population. These 200 people on my left would be the wealthy of the world, who consume 80 per cent of the available resources. And these 400 people on my right would be living on an income of less than $2 per day. This underprivileged group of people on my right is no less intelligent or less worthy than their fellow human beings on the other side of the aisle. They were simply born into this fate. In the real world, this imbalance in living conditions inevitably leads to inequality of opportunity, and in many cases loss of hope. And what is worse, all too often the plight of the poor is compounded by and results in human rights abuses, a lack of good governance, and a deep sense of injustice. This combination naturally creates a most fertile breeding ground for civil wars, organized crime, and extremism in its different forms. In regions where conflicts have been left to fester for decades, countries continue to look for ways to offset their insecurities or project their "power". In some cases, they may be tempted to seek their own weapons of mass destruction, like others who have preceded them." Dr ElBaradei continued to urge his audience to refocus upon the goal of reaching a new world order, rooted in human solidarity, a world order that would be equitable, inclusive and effective ... we have yet to build the bridges between North and South - the rich and the poor. Consider our development aid record. Last year, the nations of the world spent over $1 trillion on armaments. But we contributed less than 10 per cent of that amount - a mere $80 billion - as official development assistance to the developing parts of the world, where 850 million people suffer from hunger. Quoting his friend James Morris (Head of the World Food Programme) Dr ElBaradei brought to his audience attention, "If I could have just 1 per cent of the money spent on global armaments, no one in this world would go to bed hungry." Highlighting the causal link between poverty and conflict, by drawing on examples from Africa where 13 million deaths occurred due to armed conflict in the last ten years, with 9 million occurring in sub-Saharan Africa, where the poorest live. Dr ElBaradei called on the world to take concrete steps towards nuclear disarmament, highlighting the need for a security system that does not rely on nuclear deterrence. He also put forward his ideas for creating an international reserve fuel bank which could end the need for nations to develop their own nulear power, as well as for accelerating disarmament efforts. However, Dr ElBaradei stated that this alone would not be sufficient for the desired goal of ending conflict around the world, and he warned that no civilization has ever willingly given up its most powerful weapons. We seem to agree today that we can share modern technology, but we still refuse to acknowledge that our values - at their very core - are shared values. I am an Egyptian Muslim, educated in Cairo and New York, and now living in Vienna. My wife and I have spent half our lives in the North, half in the South. And we have experienced first hand the unique nature of the human family and the common values we all share. Shakespeare speaks of every single member of that family in The Merchant of Venice, when he asks: "If you prick us, do we not bleed? If you tickle us, do we not laugh? If you poison us, do we not die? And if you wrong us, shall we not revenge? And lest we forget:There is no religion that was founded on intolerance - and no religion that does not value the sanctity of human life. Judaism asks that we value the beauty and joy of human existence. Christianity says we should treat our neighbours as we would be treated. Islam declares that killing one person unjustly is the same as killing all of humanity. Hinduism recognizes the entire universe as one family. Buddhism calls on us to cherish the oneness of all creation. Some would say that it is too idealistic to believe in a society based on tolerance and the sanctity of human life, where borders, nationalities and ideologies are of marginal importance. To those I say, this is not idealism, but rather realism, because history has taught us that war rarely resolves our differences. Force does not heal old wounds; it opens new ones. Dr ElBaradei went on to identify the positve benefits nuclear power has to offer a world thirsty for energy, "At the IAEA, we work daily on every continent to put nuclear and radiation techniques in the service of humankind. In Vietnam, farmers plant rice with greater nutritional value that was developed with IAEA assistance. Throughout Latin America, nuclear technology is being used to map underground aquifers, so that water supplies can be managed sustainably. In Ghana, a new radiotherapy machine is offering cancer treatment to thousands of patients. In the South Pacific, Japanese scientists are using nuclear techniques to study climate change. In India, eight new nuclear plants are under construction, to provide clean electricity for a growing nation - a case in point of the rising expectation for a surge in the use of nuclear energy worldwide...The Nobel Peace Prize is a powerful message for us - to endure in our efforts to work for security and development. A durable peace is not a single achievement, but an environment, a process and a commitment." Dr ElBaradei spoke with conviction about his belief in sharing the world’s values and resources, and he powerfully stated that this should be a goal within all of our sights. The picture I have painted today may have seemed somewhat grim. Let me conclude by telling you why I have hope. I have hope because the positive aspects of globalization are enabling nations and peoples to become politically, economically and socially interdependent, making war an increasingly unacceptable option. Among the 25 members of the European Union, the degree of economic and socio-political dependencies has made the prospect of the use of force to resolve differences almost absurd. The same is emerging with regard to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, with some 55 member countries from Europe, Central Asia and North America. Could these models be expanded to a world model, through the same creative multilateral engagement and active international cooperation, where the strong are just and the weak secure? I have hope because civil society is becoming better informed and more engaged. They are pressing their governments for change - to create democratic societies based on diversity, tolerance and equality. They are proposing creative solutions. They are raising awareness, donating funds, working to transform civic spirit from the local to the global. Working to bring the human family closer together. We now have the opportunity, more than at any time before, to give an affirmative answer to one of the oldest questions of all time: "Am I my brother´s keeper?" What is required is a new mindset and a change of heart, to be able to see the person across the ocean as our neighbour. Globalization, through travel, media and communication, can also help us - as it has with my children and many of their peers - to see each other simply as human beings. Imagine what would happen if the nations of the world spent as much on development as on building the machines of war. Imagine a world where every human being would live in freedom and dignity. Imagine a world in which we would shed the same tears when a child dies in Darfur or Vancouver. Imagine a world where we would settle our differences through diplomacy and dialogue and not through bombs or bullets. Imagine if the only nuclear weapons remaining were the relics in our museums. Imagine the legacy we could leave to our children. Imagine that such a world is within our grasp.â€Â Full transcript of the speech available at www.iaea.org/NewsCenter/ This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
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