Excellencies,

Distinguished guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dear friends,

 

Time has come to close The Stockholm International Forum on Truth, Justice and Reconciliation.

 

To all of you who have participated and contributed - invited speakers, moderators, panellists and distinguished delegates from 44 countries - my warmest thanks.

 

My deepest gratitude and appreciation to key note speakers Xanana Gusmao and Ester Mujawayo-Keiner for sharing with us their personal stories and insights.

 

My thanks to the excellent conference secretariat lead by Secretary-General Ambassador Krister Isaksson, and Ambassador Agneta Bohman, who have been responsible for the programme.

 

And finally, my thanks to the many others who have helped us turn this conference into a powerful platform and a source of inspiration for continued efforts to seek truth, justice and reconciliation.

* * *

Dear Friends,

 

Many delegates have told us how deeply moved they were by the testimony of Ester Mujawayo-Keiner yesterday.

 

When speaking of different - but also similar - atrocities at the Stockholm International Forum I said:

 

Every broken silence is a victory.

 

It deserves to be repeated.

 

Even if it hurts, we need the voices of the victims.

 

In the fate of the individual victim past and present meet.

 

The testimonies contains vital knowledge about the early warning signs and the mechanisms we need to watch closely in our present societies if we are ever to prevent atrocities in the future.

 

But, and this has become very clear during this conference, the testimonies also contains an agenda for practical action and reform!

 

Ester told us about Jean-Pierre, a 12 year old boy unable to sleep at night, because of his painful memories. But also of a reason well known to many adults in this world: will I have food enough for the little ones tomorrow?

 

In a radio programme some months ago there was an interview with a boy in Rwanda named Simon. At the age of five he witnessed the killing of his family. Until the age of 12 he was kept by the Hutu militia as a boy soldier. Today he lives at a school together with other boys in the same situation. Asked by a visiting Swedish reporter about his dreams for the future, he replied:

 

“I want to study. I want to be a minister.

 

”These boys are two out of thousands of children who have been deprived of their childhood. Deprived of the right to a childhood given to every single child in this world by the UN convention on the right of the child.

 

Let us support Professor Alexander Boraine when he urges us to put the victims first.

 

Let us work on reconciliation. Let us work on reparation.

 

And, wherever genocide or gross violations of human rights have taken place – please let us put the children first!

 

Because, within the thousands of children who are now bearing the burdens of an adult, both the threats and the possibilities of the future are growing.

 

They are the future.

 

As Olof Palme once said:

 

“Our children are the only tangible connection to the future that we have.

 

”Let us link our destinies to their destinies.

 

Let us work on institutional reforms, reforms of laws and rules so that they function as the driving force behind a change in attitude and behaviour.

 

Let us work on more and better schools, to help build bridges between ethnic, religious and other groups.

 

Let us work to achieve a wider distribution of adequate medication.

 

Let us work on economic assistance so that boys like Jean-Pierre do not have to worry about supporting the little ones.

* * *

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Revealing the truth takes time.

Bringing justice takes time.

Reconciliation is a process that can take a hundred years.

 

There is no right way and no wrong way.

There is no one single road, but many roads.

 

We who are gathered here share the ambition to do much - and we have the capacity to do much. But in the long term, it will be merely a fraction of all that needs to be done.

 

But the possibility of making even the slightest difference brings with it a moral obligation.

 

We must try.

 

And we shall.

 

With patience, with creativity and with reason. One step at a time.

* * *

Quoting the well-known Swedish author, Karin Boye. She wrote:

 

“Yes, there is goal and meaning in our journey,

but it is the road that is the effort worth.”

 

The goal for the Stockholm International Forum is to offer a road, a path.

 

A path where the traffic is lighter.

A path where there is time for thought and reflection.

A path that allows both distance and intimacy.

A path where different origins and backgrounds can meet.

 

I hope that we can maintain this open path.

 

I hope that we can continue to provide a meeting place for issues of democracy and human dignity.

 

I hope that some of us will meet again at a fourth conference on the theme “Conscience and Humanity”.

 

I am extremely glad for all good proposals. I will reflect upon them carefully. But – I need to be re-elected first.

* * *

We will now go our separate ways.

 

We do so - I am sure - with a greater fount of knowledge, a wider perspective and a greater network of friends.

 

No one can change the world alone.

 

We cannot take with us prefabricated models from this conference.

 

But we can take with us the strength to carry on.

 

Dear friends,

I have been talking about children.

Young people have a capacity that adults often lack - to speak out very clearly.

As I now send you on your way, I would like to do so with a short verse written by a young girl.

 

The Swedish author Per Wästberg once found it written on a blackboard in a school in Soweto, South Africa.

 

Apartheid is a rotten dish

Freedom is a tasty fish

Apartheid is a dirty heap

Freedom has the quickest leap

Apartheid makes you run and run

Freedom is as good as wind and sun

 

Thank you.