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 Message by

the Chairperson of the Executive Board

H.E. Ms. Eleonora Valentinovna Mitrofanova

On the occasion of the “Harmony for Peace” concert

New York, 16 May 2010

Dear friends of Euterpe, the Muse of lyric poetry and music

Dear members of the Harmony for Peace movement,

Dear performers and participants in the 2010 World Peace event,

I am happy to be associated with today’s collective call for world peace, a notion to be constantly cherished in pursuit of harmonious coexistence among individuals, peoples, nations, humankind and nature.

This year marks the sixty-fifth anniversary of the victory that liberated the world from the most dramatic war in the history of humankind. The most deadly and devastating consequences of this universal trauma had to be obliterated from people’s minds forever. In the aftermath of the war, the United nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was created in order to bring harmony back into people’s lives and rebuild dialogue among nations through education and culture.

In 2010, on the sixty-fi fth anniversary of the founding of UNESCO, the preamble to its Constitution, declaring that “since wars begin in the minds of men it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed”, is still relevant.

At UNESCO Headquarters in Paris there is a statue called “The Nagasaki Angel”, which is the only miraculously spared part from the façade of Urakami Church in Nagasaki, destroyed by the atomic bomb explosion in 1945. Such testimonies of our inglorious past should be an encouragement to us to constantly take signifi cant steps for the further peaceful development of humankind, examples of which are the two important events that have taken place in the past month - the new treaty on nuclear weapons reduction, signed in Prague by the Russian Federation and the United States, and Washington International Security Summit.

This special concert to promote world peace being held on 16 May 2010, helps further intercultural dialogue by bringing artists from different parts of the world together on so well-known an international stage, with its long tradition of hosting musical evenings, as New York’s Carnegie Hall, and remind people of the fundamental importance of music as a prime constituent of human civilization.

Music, it is my profound belief, is a genuinely universal language which cuts across religious, social, gender and intergenerational barriers and serves as a perfect bridge between communities. It is one of the most signifi cant components of the world’s intangible heritage, of which UNESCO is an initiator and recognized promoter. Intercultural events involving musical performances could indeed provide valuable momentum for the 2010 International Year for the Rapprochement of Cultures, in which UNESCO is to play a leading role within the United Nations system.

Let me conclude with the words of my illustrious compatriot Fyodor Dostoyevsky, who said “Beauty wills save the world”. In the Russian language, the word for “world” also means “peace”. So may music
save peace!

I wish you every success in the undertaking.

Eleonora V. Mitrofanova