United Nations Anniversary

I consider it a privilege to have been associated with the United Nations during a large part of my life. I also consider it a learning and rewarding experience to have been in a position of working together with persons, often close colleagues, coming from different ethnic, religious and cultural backgrounds.

De kracht van de VN ligt bij alle mensen die bij de organisatie betrokken zijn. Dat zijn de mensen die voor UNICEF geld inzamelen in Nederland, de vrijwilligers die met onze projecten samenwerken, de technici en experts, de ambtenaren en administrateurs en uiteindelijk de leiders zoals de Secretaris Generaal. Het Charter begint niet voor niets met “We, the Peoples of the United Nations …”

The main emphasis of my activities within the UN was on human rights. With hindsight, the past 35 years have seen great advances of the UN in this field. An impressive normative framework has been created; supervisory procedures have been developed. I was privileged to be involved in this development in various capacities: as a government delegate, as an expert within the UN Sub-Commission on the Protection of Minorities and the Prevention of Discrimination and later within the UN Commission on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the Human Rights Committee, and as a representative of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).