今日は「世界市民」として命を懸けてカンボジアの民主化に貢献した国連ボアランティアの中田厚仁さんが1993年4月8日に勤務地で現地人の助手と共に銃殺された日です。自国優先主義とナショナリズムが蔓延する世界で、私たちは人類が一体となって国際平和を達成すべきであるとの認識を再確認すべきです。
Former UN Volunteers share their memories and conveying their sincere thoughts to the family of UNV Atsuhito Nakata and Lek Sophiep killed 27 years ago in the service of peace and democracy in Cambodia.
The ambush that claimed Atsuhito Nakata`s life, and the life of a Cambodian interpreter working with him, Lek Sophiep, in the morning of 8 April 1993 was a decisive point in the history of the UN Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC). It was also a turning point in the life of several of the UN Volunteers who worked with them.
Although not completely unelucidated today, the incident highlighted the incredible complexity and the many challenges of organizing elections in Cambodia at the time, and the critical role played by, the dedication of 465 UN Volunteer District Electoral Supervisors and thousands of local electoral Cambodian personnel in the success of UNTAC.
A tremendous test to the international community’s resolve, it was also an opportunity, to demonstrate, by jointly continuing the work to the end, international cooperation at its best, in the spirit of the UN Charter.
