Vienna, Austria
Good evening and thank you - Director Spradling, members of the faculty, alumni, family and friends of this graduating class, and especially the graduates of the American International School Vienna Class of 2003.
Let me begin by thanking you for the invitation to share this important occasion with you. In my work, I frequently speak with diplomats and statesmen about how we can make our world a better place for ‘future generations’ - but I don’t often get an opportunity like this one: to speak directly to you - the generation that holds the future in its hands.
And I feel particularly fortunate to be speaking to such an international graduating class. As an Egyptian educated in the US, working in Vienna, with my children living in London, and an entire career devoted to international co-operation, I can tell you that I consider myself primarily a global citizen. And for me, thinking globally is now almost a must. This is because the world we live in has become highly interdependent. Many aspects of our modern life - Internet communication, the global marketplace, global warming, even the fights against disease and terrorism - point to the fact that the human race has entered a new era - a global era - and there is no turning back.
To members of your generation, this might not seem like news. To your parents, the Internet feels like a new way of life (in fact - speaking for your parents, or perhaps your grandparents, we can still remember when television was a new and awesome thing!) - but to you, global interaction and communication is a natural part of life. In fact, you especially are well equipped for this interdependent world - because the development of a global perspective is an essential feature of your educational environment here at the American International School. So you are ‘ahead of the curve’ in this regard. Yes, you are Brazilian, you are Indian, you are Iranian, you are Austrian, you are Japanese - you are one of the fifty nationalities that make up the rich cultural fabric of the AIS - but you are also global citizens. You have learned from the classroom, and equally important you have also learned from each other. As a result, your perspective is wider, your tolerance is greater, your understanding is deeper, and your world is smaller. And you are precisely the type of young people that our planet needs.
Sure we all have differences, based on our cultural heritage, but what we choose to make of these differences can have a result that is crucial: either a harmonious and rich co-existence, or a planet marked by divergence and conflict. The European Union is a young but successful example of nations with different cultures, languages, and ethnic roots that have chosen to achieve strength through diversity. And over two hundred years ago, the United States was born with the same ideal - 13 colonies of immigrants coming from different backgrounds, who believed that by joining together they would be better able to go through the human journey.
But for your generation, the vision of unity through diversity must be more than regional or national; it must be global. If there is any lesson from recent history, it should be that a global approach to our problems and to our future is the only approach.
Nearly fifty years ago, after two devastating World Wars, the United Nations was created as a human project that aims to promote certain fundamental principles: respect for human rights and human dignity; the settlement of disputes through peaceful means; and economic and social development for all. During the Cold War the realization of this project was paralyzed in many ways. But the Cold War has been over for more than a decade, and still the international community is asking many of the same questions. How can we live in peace and harmony? How can we improve the living conditions for our neighbors around the globe? How can we learn to treat our differences with mutual respect?
With the recent threats surrounding us, ranging from international terrorism to the conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Congo, the Middle East and the Korean Peninsula - all in less time than it has taken for you to complete secondary school - you may feel that you are entering a world still fraught with danger, equal to or even more than what we had before.
But I think it is vital for your generation to understand the nature of the challenges you have to face to transform our world. The first is the most obvious: to work together on the burning issues of insecurity, such as the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and terrorism, issues that constitute a clear and present danger to modern life as we know it.
But the second challenge is equally if not more important: namely, to address the root causes of insecurity and instability throughout the world, and not simply the symptoms. Poverty, coupled with the brutal suppression of human rights, provides a devastating driver for conflicts and instability. You should know that, in the world you are entering, more than two billion people now live on less than two dollars per day, and millions lack access to adequate food, drinking water and health services. And many dictators continue to suppress the basic human rights of their people.
By now, we ought to be aware that human security is ‘indivisible’. We are all affected by both the causes and the symptoms of human insecurity. No nation, no individual is immune. Equally, no solution can be unilateral.
From a personal standpoint, I feel extremely fortunate that I have spent so much of my life with an organization that works hard to address both the causes and the symptoms of insecurity. The International Atomic Energy Agency has been in the news a lot lately because of its work as a fire brigade - in Iraq and elsewhere - trying to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons.
But we are also very heavily involved in using nuclear technologies to address the root causes of insecurity - foremost poverty. For example, in South America, we are using a scientific discipline called isotope hydrology to help people manage their water resources. We are working in Africa to eradicate insect pests that kill livestock and people through sleeping sickness. On every continent, we are helping to provide better radiotherapy services for treating cancer and other illnesses. We are developing new plant crops, combating malnutrition, improving food safety, and helping to clean up the environment.
So the IAEA has its feet in both camps - security and development - with full understanding of the symbiotic relationship between the causes and the symptoms of insecurity.
International institutions like the IAEA are, in some sense, the ‘home’ of global citizens. These institutions provide a forum for people from all parts of the globe to come together, to work towards common objectives. They are the community centres, if you will, for the global community.
I wish that I could offer you, as new graduates, a world in which international peace and security were already achieved - just as I wish I could offer such a world to my own children. And of course, I cannot do so. But what I can offer to you is a word of hope: in this interdependent world, your actions can make a difference as never before. The decisions you make - your career choices, your civic work - will be felt not only in your immediate neighborhood but in many parts of the globe. The world is full of diversity; but, as you have learned, what unites humankind is far, far greater than what divides us. Our different beliefs, customs and traditions, are differences in which we should take pride and which should not be scorned, but cherished. I should end by telling you that the main lesson of my own life experience is that there is only one human race, a race to which we all belong - so if we need to work in the world, we must also learn to work with the world.
I congratulate you on the hard work that has brought you this achievement; I congratulate the parents and teachers who have supported you - and perhaps pushed and pulled you - to this stage; and I ask you to take full advantage of the opportunities that life affords. And thank you once again for allowing me to share this happy day with you.