H.E. Sir Daniel Williams GCMG QC
Governor-General of Grenada
Message
of
H.E. Sir Daniel Williams GCMG QC
Governor-General of Grenada
for the 3rd International Conference of the Chief Justice
of the World
6th to 8th December 2002
City Montessori School, Lucknow, India
Although I am addressing the City Montessori
School (CMS) from Grenada, a small island country in the
Caribbean which is very far from the city of Lucknow, as
a member of our global village, I feel close to you as I
contemplate the just demands by CMS for the safety of the
children of the world whether born or unborn. CMS has placed
great emphasis on world order and the security of the children
of the world; no commendation can be exaggerated for the
part the school has played and is playing for the future
of mankind by addressing the very important matter of the
future safety of the children in whom lies the future of
our world.
The demand for the safety of our children is as much adults’
as children’s concern. Science and Technology have
brought all countries within the borders of each other.
Unwelcome information, diseases and criminal activities
find their way across international borders; we are indeed
a global village. Any country rich or poor, big or small,
developed or underdeveloped can be affected by the activities
carried out by another. The problems of our children march
with us as adults every step of our way. Technology and
globalisation enable the youth to be always around us. If
we do not make our best efforts to secure our children they
will rightly blame us for the neglect. Even the unborn will
soon catch up with some of the present-day adult defaulters.
The feeling of insecurity to the children in our world will
continue unless world leaders seriously accept the responsibility
and challenge to channel the world in a safe direction.
Attention will be directed at our political leaders in this
context, but they seldom take initiatives unless they are
jolted into action. Proposals for reforms are generally
greeted with resistance. Initiatives must be taken to effect
reforms; for this reason the leaders of non-governmental
organisations (NGOs), churches and other world leaders must
lobby their political leaders to move in the direction of
ensuring a safe world for our children born and unborn.
Any action geared towards the safety of the children of
the world must be of a transnational nature. Technology
and transportation enable plunderers to operate successfully
within the states and across international borders. The
basic interest of the majority of countries are similar,
and the basic offences against the majority of countries
are similar. The global village can only be protected with
intelligence operated within a global setting. This protection
requires global laws with global enforceability.
The need for a world parliament to enact certain common
enforceable laws is beyond argument. The destruction of
the World Trade Centre in September, two thousand and one,
disclosed that the persons responsible for the destruction
planned the operation in different countries over a prolonged
period. An adequate international legal system which provided
for an efficient global intelligence, would have uncovered
the plot that destroyed the World Trade Centre. The major
difficult questions to be considered in relation to global
laws would be the constitution of the legislative body,
the particular matter to be brought within the ambit of
the laws and the enforceability of those laws.
It is my hope that the Third Conference of Chief Justices
of the World scheduled for Lucknow, India will make some
progress in persuading the leaders of the world that there
is an interdependency among all the countries of the world,
and those leaders must accept that there is the need for
enforceable international laws for the protection of the
global village and its inhabitants.
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