Values in the Contemporary World
At the United Nations World Summit on Sustainable Development in Copenhagen in 1995, (UNWSSD), daily experiential workshops and seminars that framed global issues around underlying values were conducted by the Values Caucus on such topics as the new visionary leadership and humane values—to standing room only crowds.
In addition, the Values Caucus organized an extensive and intensive lobbying process to influence the documents of the UNWSSD. Daily interactions with governmental representatives and support from Ambassador Somavia (now Secretary General of the ILO) were successful in including the importance of values for the first time in the the final documents. The Values Caucus was invited to address all 184 governments in the plenary session. As representative of the Co-Chairs and the Caucus, Nancy Roof introduced the rationale for the fundamental need to address values in global affairs. In the year 2000 the New York Times headline announced that all governments declared values as fundamental to global policy.
The following is the talk given by Nancy Roof at UNWSSD in 1995.
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