Our Common Humanity in the Information Age. Principles and Values for Development

EXCERPT FROM THE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH BY HIS 
EXCELLENCY MR. BAN KI-MOON ON APPOINTMENT AS THE 
8TH SECRETARY-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS 
“The surge in demand for UN services attests not only to the UN's abiding relevance but 
also to its central place in advancing human dignity. The UN is needed now more than 
ever before. The UN's core mission in the previous century was to keep countries from 
fighting each other. In the new century, the defining mandate is to strengthen the inter-
state system so that humanity may be better served amidst new challenges. From the 
Balkans to Africa, from Asia to the Middle East, we have witnessed the weakening or 
absence of effective governance leading to the ravaging of human rights and the 
abandonment of longstanding humanitarian principles. We need competent and 
responsible states to meet the needs of "we the peoples" for whom the UN was created. 
And the world's peoples will not be fully served unless peace, development and human 
rights, the three pillars of the UN, are advanced together with equal vigor.
The road that we must pave toward a world of peace, prosperity and dignity for all has 
many pitfalls. As Secretary-General, I will make the most of the authority invested in my 
office by the Charter and the mandate you give me. I will work diligently to materialize 
our responsibility to protect the most vulnerable members of humanity and for the 
peaceful resolution of threats to international security and regional stability.”
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Delivered at the United Nations General Assembly, 3 October 2006. 

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FOREWORD 
José Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General, Department of 
Economic and Social Affairs, United Nations
The Millennium Declaration spoke of a common set of values and principles, including, 
among others, solidarity, tolerance, respect for nature and shared responsibility as 
fundamental values essential to international relations in the Twenty-first century. One of 
the central challenges of this new century, as defined by the Millennium Summit, is to 
ensure that globalization can be made fully inclusive and equitable. In this context, the 
Declaration calls for “broad and sustained efforts to create a shared future, based upon 
our common humanity in all its diversity”. These principles and values have found centre 
stage in the outcome document of the 2005 World Summit, emphasizing that our 
common fundamental values, including freedom, equality, solidarity, tolerance and 
respect for all human rights, respect for nature and shared responsibility, are essential to 
international relations. The Summit also emphasized that, more than ever before, we live 
in a global and interdependent world and acknowledged that collective security depends 
on effective cooperation.
In the context of the implementation of the 2005 World Summit outcome, there is a 
strong need to forge a strategy to create a coalition of all countries and peoples, who are 
determined to promote a new paradigm of international relations that recognizes the 
imperatives of diversity and the reality of continuous interaction among peoples and 
cultures in all realms of human endeavour and at all levels – local, national, regional and 
international. The overall objective would be to respond to the need and demand for an 
inclusive global forum and platform for cross-sectoral policy dialogue, conducted in an 
open multi-stakeholder and transparent manner, on the use of information and 
communication technologies (ICT) for enhancing the achievement of internationally 
agreed development goals, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), 
notably reduction of poverty. The common values of the Millennium Declaration provide 
the foundation for collective action by all stakeholders. 
Against this backdrop, a global forum was organized in the framework of the Global 
Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development (GAID), in 
partnership with interested initiatives, on the promotion and inculcation of these values 
and principles and lending them practical expressions in the actions of governments, civil 

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society, the private sector and individuals across the globe as a multi-stakeholder forum. 
The event on our Common Humanity in the Information Age strove to promote 
ownership of the Summit by people all over the world. The book is an attempt to raise 
awareness of the core values of the Millennium Declaration as they relate to the 
Millennium Development goals.

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