Noeleen Heyzer
Dr. Noeleen Heyzer is a United Nations Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and Special Adviser of the Secretary General for Timor-Leste. A Nobel Peace Prize Nominee, Dr Heyzer has greatly contributed to upholding women’s rights in the world.
Q: Why do you want to start working with the United Nations and what drew you to this field of work?
A: Well the United Nations has one of the best principles everywhere. Its charter is very inspiring. It starts with “we the peoples” and it holds the member states of the United Nations accountable to make sure that “we the peoples” live in larger freedoms — freedom from want, freedom from fear, and freedom from all forms of discrimination. Actually the charter and these principles obviously came out of a very hard period of human history, after the Second World War. And there were people who suffered so much and they thought of the next generation — they were beyond themselves. They did not think of just the current, their generation, but of the future and how they ensure that there will be a world where people could build on their commonalities, where there would be shared values, and what are some of these shared values, and what type of a vision and principles that will keep society more intact so that we don’t experience the same type of suffering, that they and their generation went through. So I’ve always been inspired. Inspired by the principles, inspired by the leaders who brought these principles about, inspired by the generosity of thinking of the next generation. So a lot of things brought me into the United Nations!
Q: What are some of the most memorable moments you’ve had in your astonishing career?
A: Well I think, so many actually… Of course when Security Council passed that resolution and then I was able to go to the conflict zones to share that, and then to actually mobilise around that, that was really something. And then to see the difference that it made, I mean like throwing up the first women president, making sure that there are more women in parliament, making sure that you know, issues that we never talked of, or that were taboo-ed were all suddenly being discussed. For example, you know I remembered in Calabria, I went to the DDR (Disarmament Demobilisation and Reintegration) camp and there was a young girl, she was very young, but she was captures as a child soldier and obviously she was raped and she had a baby, and i still remembered her basically saying, you know they will send all the girls but they will not send me because I have a child. So you know, this whole idea of married girls and girls with babies and so on… and I was very pleased to be able to tell her because you spoke. And because you dared to approach me, I will make sure that this issue is immediately addressed. And of course I went back, and this is the thing, I mean the ability to bridge different worlds to be able to reach the ground to witness things, but also to bring it out for a solution and to make part of the global conscience-ness and the awareness so that people can actually act on it — not just act on it like by an individual, but act on it as something that should be addressed because we want to ensure there is human dignity in the world.
Q: And is that what you love most about your job?
A: I think I love to see that change is possible and very deep social transformation is possible, so it gives a lot of hope. Because even in the most difficult situation, what I’ve found is that it is possible to make a difference, and that is what has given me a lot of hope, a lot of energy because I think the main strength is to be able to build alliances and i have build many alliances that have survived and have continued whether i’m in it or i’m not. so the idea that human beings have … are at the end of the day, good.
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