The 94th World Esperanto Congress, meeting in Bialystok (Poland) from 25 July to 1 August 2009 with almost 2 000 participants from 63 countries on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of the initiator of Esperanto, Lazar Ludwik Zamenhof, and also in the International Year of Reconciliation proclaimed by the United Nations,

having discussed the theme of the congress, "Building a bridge of peace between peoples: Zamenhof today", devoting particular attention to the life and work of Zamenhof,

noting that the City of Bialystok and its region are according increasing recognition to the outstanding role that Zamenhof has played and continues to play as a figure of worldwide importance in the moral development of humanity,

considering that among the concrete forms of that recognition are the opening by the City of Bialystok of a Zamenhof Centre and a proposal that the University of Bialystok should be named after Zamenhof;

recalling that on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the birth of Lazar Ludwik Zamenhof UNESCO recognised him as one of the leading world personalities and that over the years there have been many similar acknowledgements of the merits of Zamenhof as one of the world's great thinkers,

and congratulating the United Nations on its initiatives concerning the idea of reconciliation, which is so essential in a world divided by discord arising from prejudices and intolerance,

concludes as follows:

1. With the international language Esperanto, Zamenhof launched a uniquely effective tool for international communication on a basis of neutrality, without favouring one people over another or one national language over another, and in more than 120 years of use Esperanto has demonstrated its worth as a thoroughly adaptable international language suited to all communication needs.
2. At the same time, however, Zamenhof understood that a language belongs to a collective and entrusted the development of his language to the community of its users, so that Esperanto and its culture became essentially a collective creation developing in a spirit of linguistic democracy.
3. In so doing, Zamenhof also recognised that the use of a neutral language in international relations would help to preserve local and regional languages and cultures and the identities of the communities concerned.
4. Zamenhof also, through his deeds and his writings, made a significant contribution to efforts to eliminate enmity between the members of different religions, to dispel racial prejudices and to reject war as an acceptable means of resolving disputes - values that are as important in the world of today as they were in Zamenhof's time.
5. Accordingly, Zamenhof merits far more attention not only as the creator of a language but as a person who sought a genuine spirit of fraternity among all people on the basis of full mutual understanding.
6. Such fraternity can arise only when people understand and mutually respect each other - a process in which Esperanto can - and already does - play a unique part.
7. Mutual understanding is an essential step towards the profound and lasting reconciliation that is the ideal of the International Year of Reconciliation.
8. Reconciliation can come about only in situations where language differences do not form a barrier to egalitarian dialogue.
9. In this sense Esperanto is uniquely suited to form the basis for lasting reconciliation, and through the attention it also gives to moral values and respect for human rights the Universal Esperanto Association can play a significant part in realising the aims of the International Year of Reconciliation.
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