In extending the
Holy See’s congratulations to Mr. Sam Kutesa on his
election to the presidency of the General Assembly
at its sixty-ninth session, I wish to convey the cordial
greetings of His Holiness Pope Francis to him and to all
participating delegations. He assures the President of his
closeness and prayers for the Assembly’s work during
this session with the hope that it will be carried out in
an atmosphere of productive collaboration, working for
a more fraternal and united world by identifying ways
to resolve the serious problems that beset the whole
human family today.
In continuity with his predecessors, Pope Francis
recently reiterated the Holy See’s esteem and
appreciation for the United Nations as an indispensable
means of building an authentic family of peoples. The
Holy See values the efforts of this institution to ensure
world peace, respect for human dignity, the protection
of persons, especially the poorest and most vulnerable,
and harmonious economic and social development.
Although mindful of the human person’s gifts and
abilities, Pope Francis observes that today there is the
danger of widespread indifference. To the extent that
indifference concerns the field of politics, it also affects
economic and social sectors, since an important part
of humanity does not share in the benefits of progress
and is in fact relegated to the status of second-class
citizens. At times, such apathy is synonymous with
irresponsibility.
I also recall the words of His Holiness to the
Secretary-General at the beginning of August: “It is with
a heavy and anguished heart that I have been following
the dramatic events in northern Iraq”. He was thinking
of the tears, the suffering and the heartfelt cries of
despair of Christians and other religious minorities of
that beloved land. In that same letter the Pope renewed
his urgent appeal to the international community to
take action to end the humanitarian tragedy now under
way. He further encouraged all the competent organs
of the United Nations, in particular those responsible
for security, peace, humanitarian law and assistance to
refugees, to continue their efforts in accordance with
the Preamble and relevant Articles of the Charter of the
United Nations.
Today, I am compelled to repeat the heartfelt appeal
of His Holiness and to propose to the General Assembly
and to the other competent organs of the United Nations
that they deepen their understanding of the difficult
and complex time in which we are now living.
With the dramatic situation in northern Iraq
and some parts of Syria, we are seeing a totally new
phenomenon — the existence of a terrorist organization
that threatens all States, vowing to dissolve them
and to replace them with a pseudo-religious world
government. Unfortunately, as the Holy Father recently
said, even today there are those who would presume to
wield power by coercing consciences and taking lives,
persecuting and murdering in the name of God. Those
actions bring injury to entire ethnic groups, populations
and ancient cultures. It must be remembered that
such violence is borne out of a disregard for God and
falsifies religion itself, since religion aims instead at
reconciling men and women with God, at illuminating
and purifying consciences and at making it clear that
each human being is the image of the Creator.
In a world of global communications, that new
phenomenon has found followers in numerous places
and has succeeded in attracting from around the
world young people who are often disillusioned by
widespread indifference and a dearth of values in
wealthier societies. That challenge, in all its tragic
aspects, should compel the international community
to promote a unified response, based on solid juridical
criteria and a collective willingness to cooperate for the
common good.
To that end, the Holy See considers it useful to focus
attention on two major areas. The first is to address
the cultural and political origins of contemporary
challenges, acknowledging the need for innovative
strategies to confront those international problems in
which cultural factors play a fundamental role. The
second area for consideration is further study of the
effectiveness of international law today, namely, its
successful implementation by those mechanisms used
by the United Nations to prevent war, stop aggressors,
protect populations and help victims.
Following the attacks of 9/11, when the world woke
up to the reality of a new form of terrorism, some media
and think tanks oversimplified the tragic moment by
interpreting all subsequent and problematic situations
in terms of a clash of civilizations. That view ignored
long-standing and profound experiences of good
relations between cultures, ethnic groups and religions
and interpreted other complex situations through that
lens, situations such as the Middle East question and
civil conflicts occurring elsewhere.
What, then, are the paths open to us?
First and foremost, there is the path of promoting
dialogue and understanding among cultures, which is
implicit in the Preamble and Article 1 of the Charter of
the United Nations. That path must become an ever more
explicit objective of the international community and of
Governments if we are truly committed to peace in the
world. The natural growth and enrichment of culture
is the fruit of all components of civil society working
together. International organizations and States have
the task of promoting and supporting, in a decisive
way and with the necessary financial means, those
initiatives and movements that promote dialogue and
understanding among cultures, religions and peoples.
Peace, after all, is not the fruit of a balance of powers,
but rather the result of justice at every level and, most
importantly, is the shared responsibility of individuals,
civil institutions and Governments.
And yet, we do not face the challenges of terrorism
and violence with cultural openness alone. The
important path of international law is also available
to us. The situation today requires a more incisive
understanding of international law, with particular
attention to the responsibility to protect. One of the
characteristics of the recent terrorist phenomenon is
that it disregards the existence of the State and, in fact,
the entire international order. Terrorism aims not only
to bring change to Governments, to damage economic
structures or simply to commit common crimes, it
seeks also to directly control areas within one or more
States and to impose its own laws, which are distinct
and opposed to those of the sovereign State. It also
undermines and rejects all existing juridical systems,
in an attempt to impose dominion over consciences and
complete control over persons.
The global nature of this phenomenon, which
knows no borders, is precisely why the framework of
international law offers the only viable way of dealing
with this urgent challenge. This reality requires a
renewed United Nations that undertakes to foster and
preserve peace.
Given that the new forms of terrorism are
transnational, they no longer fall under the competence
of the security forces of any one State. The territories
of several States are involved. Therefore, the combined
forces of a number of nations will be required to
guarantee the defence of unarmed citizens. Since
there is no juridical norm justifying unilateral policing
actions beyond one’s own borders, there is no doubt that
that area of competence lies with the Security Council.
My delegation wishes to recall that it is both licit and
urgent to stop aggression through multilateral action
and a proportionate use of force. As the representative
body of a worldwide religious community that embraces
different nations, cultures and ethnicities, the Holy See
earnestly hopes that the international community will
assume responsibility in considering the best means to
stop all aggression and prevent the perpetration of new
and even graver injustices.
It is paramount that there be a unity of action for
the common good, while avoiding the crossfire of
vetoes. As His Holiness wrote to the Secretary-General
on 9 August,
“the most basic understanding of human dignity
compels the international community, particularly
through the norms and mechanisms of international
law, to do all that it can to stop and to prevent
further systematic violence against ethnic and
religious minorities”.
While the concept of the responsibility to protect is
implicit in the constitutional principles of the Charter of
the United Nations and of humanitarian law, it does not
specifically favour a recourse to arms; it asserts, rather,
the responsibility of the entire international community,
in a spirit of solidarity, to confront heinous crimes such
as genocide, ethnic cleansing and religiously motivated
persecution. Today, I cannot fail to mention the many
Christians and ethnic minorities who in recent months
have endured atrocious persecution and suffering in
Iraq and Syria.
In its resolution 68/6, the General Assembly
decided that it would at the present session discuss the
post-2015 development agenda, which would then be
formally adopted at its seventieth session, in September
2015. The President aptly chose the main theme of the
present session to be “Delivering on and implementing
a transformative post-2015 development agenda”. In
a communication to the recent meeting of the Chief
Executives of the agencies, funds and programmes of
the United Nations, His Holiness requested that future
objectives for sustainable development be formulated
“with generosity and courage, so that they can have
a real impact on the structural causes of poverty and
hunger, attain more substantial results in protecting
the environment, ensure dignified and productive
labour for all and provide appropriate protection
for the family, which is an essential element
in sustainable human and social development.
Specifically, this involves challenging all forms of
injustice and resisting the economy of exclusion,
the throwaway culture and the culture of death”.
In that regard, the Holy See welcomes the
17 sustainable development goals proposed by the
Open Working Group of the General Assembly on
Sustainable Development Goals, which seek to address
the structural causes of poverty by promoting dignified
labour for everyone. Equally, the Holy See appreciates
that the goals and targets do not, for the most part,
echo wealthy populations’ fears regarding population
growth in poorer countries. It also welcomes the fact
that the goals and targets do not impose on poorer States
lifestyles that are typically associated with advanced
economies and which tend to show a disregard for
human dignity.
As stated earlier, the responsibility to protect is
relevant to cases of extreme aggressions against human
rights and cases of serious contempt of humanitarian
law or grave natural catastrophes. In a similar way,
there is a need to make legal provision for protecting
people against other forms of aggression that are less
evident but just as serious and real. For example, a
financial system governed only by speculation and the
maximization of profits, or one in which individual
persons are regarded as disposable items in a culture of
waste, could be tantamount, in certain circumstances, to
an offence against human dignity. It follows, therefore,
that the United Nations and its Member States have an
urgent and grave responsibility for the poor and the
excluded, mindful always that social and economic
justice is an essential condition for peace.
Each day of the sixty-ninth session of the General
Assembly, and indeed of its next four sessions, until
November 2018, will bear the sad and painful memory
of the futile and inhumane tragedy of the First World
War — a senseless slaughter, as Pope Benedict XV
referred to it, with its millions of victims and untold
destruction. Marking the centenary of the start of the
conflict, His Holiness Pope Francis expressed his
desire that
“the mistakes of the past are not repeated, that the
lessons of history are acknowledged, and that the
cause of peace may always prevail through patient
and courageous dialogue”.
In making my own the sentiments of the Holy
Father, I fervently hope that they may be shared by all
present here. I offer to all members of the Assembly my
best wishes in their work. I trust that this session will
spare no effort to put to an end the clamour of weapons
that marks existing conflicts and that it will continue
to foster the development of the entire human race, in
particular the poorest among us.