We come together at a
crossroads between war and peace, between disorder
and integration, between fear and hope. Around the
globe, there are signposts of progress. The shadow of
the Second World War that existed at the founding of
this institution has been lifted, and the prospect of war
between major Powers reduced. The ranks of Member
States have more than tripled, and more people live
under Governments that they elected. Hundreds of
millions of human beings have been freed from the
prison of poverty, with the proportion of those living
in extreme poverty cut in half. And the world economy
continues to strengthen after the worst financial crisis
of our lives.
Today, whether you live in downtown Manhattan or
in my grandmother’s village more than 200 miles from
Nairobi, you can hold in your hand more information
than the world’s greatest libraries. Together, we have
learned how to cure disease and harness the power
of the wind and the sun. The very existence of this
Organization is a unique achievement, with the people
of the world committing to resolve their differences
peacefully and to solve their problems together. I often
tell young people in the United States that, despite
the headlines, this is the best time in human history
to be born, for you are more likely than ever before to
be literate, to be healthy and to be free to pursue your
dreams.
And yet there is a pervasive unease in our world — a
sense that the very forces that have brought us together
have created new dangers and made it difficult for any
single nation to insulate itself from global forces. As we
gather here, an outbreak of Ebola overwhelms public
health systems in West Africa and threatens to move
rapidly across borders. Russian aggression in Europe
recalls the days when large nations trampled small
ones in pursuit of territorial ambitions. The brutality
of terrorists in Syria and Iraq forces us to look into the
heart of darkness.
Each of those problems demands urgent attention.
But they are also symptoms of a broader problem:
the failure of our international system to keep pace
with an interconnected world. We, collectively, have
not invested adequately in the public health capacity
of developing countries. Too often, we have failed
to enforce international norms when it has been
inconvenient to do so. And we have not confronted
forcefully enough the intolerance, sectarianism and
hopelessness that feeds violent extremism in too many
parts of the globe.
Fellow representatives, we come together as
United Nations with a choice to make. We can renew
the international system that has enabled so much
progress, or we can allow ourselves to be pulled back
by an undertow of instability. We can reaffirm our
collective responsibility to confront global problems, or
be swamped by more and more outbreaks of instability.
And for America, the choice is clear — we choose hope
over fear. We see the future not as something out of our
control, but as something we can shape for the better
through concerted and collective effort. We reject
fatalism or cynicism when it comes to human affairs.
We choose to work for the world as it should be, as our
children deserve it to be.
There is much that must be done to meet the test
of this moment. But today I would like to focus on
two defining questions at the root of so many of our
challenges. Will the nations represented here today
be able to renew the purpose of the United Nations
founding, and will we come together to reject the cancer
of violent extremism?
First, all of us — big nations and small — must meet
our responsibility to observe and enforce international
norms. We are here because others realized that we
gain more from cooperation than from conquest. One
hundred years ago, a World War claimed the lives of
many millions, proving that with the terrible power of
modern weaponry, the cause of empire ultimately leads
to the graveyard. It would then take another World War
to roll back the forces of fascism, the notions of racial
supremacy, and form the United Nations to ensure that
no nation can subjugate its neighbours and claim their
territory.
Recently, Russia’s actions in Ukraine have
challenged that post-war order. Here are the facts. After
the people of Ukraine mobilized popular protests and
calls for reform, their corrupt President fled. Against
the will of the Government in Kyiv, Crimea was annexed
by Russia. Russia poured arms into eastern Ukraine,
fuelling violent separatists and a conflict that has killed
thousands. When a civilian airliner was shot down from
areas that those proxy forces controlled, those forces
refused to allow access to the crash site for days. When
Ukraine started to reassert control over its territory,
Russia gave up the pretence of merely supporting the
separatists and moved troops across the border.
That reflects a vision of a world in which might
makes right; a world in which one nation’s borders
can be redrawn by another and civilized people are
not allowed to recover the remains of their loved ones
because of the truth that might be revealed.
America stands for something different. We believe
that right makes might, that bigger nations should not
be able to bully smaller ones and that people should
be able to choose their own future. Those are simple
truths, but they must be defended. America and our
allies will support the people of Ukraine as they develop
their democracy and economy. We will reinforce our
NATO allies and uphold our commitment to collective
self-defence. We will impose a cost on Russia for its
aggression, and we will counter falsehoods with the
truth. And we call upon others to join us on the right
side of history, for while small gains can be won at the
barrel of a gun, they will ultimately be turned back if
enough voices support the freedom of nations and the
right of peoples to make their own decisions.
Moreover, a different path is available — the path of
diplomacy and peace, and the ideals that this institution
is designed to uphold. The recent ceasefire agreement in
Ukraine offers an opening to achieve those objectives.
If Russia takes that path — a path that for stretches of
the post-Cold War period resulted in prosperity for the
Russian people — then we will lift our sanctions and
welcome Russia’s role in addressing common challenges.
That is, after all, what the United States and Russia
have been able to do in past years — from reducing our
nuclear stockpiles to meeting our obligations under the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and to cooperating to
remove and destroy Syria’s declared chemical weapons.
That is the kind of cooperation we are prepared to
pursue again, if Russia changes course.
That speaks to a central question of our global
age — will we solve our problems together in a spirit of
mutual interest and mutual respect, or will we descend
into the destructive rivalries of the past? When nations
find common ground — not simply based on power, but
on principle — then we can make enormous progress.
And I stand before the Assembly today committed to
investing American strength and to working with all
nations to address the problems we face in the twenty-
first century.
As we speak, America is deploying our doctors and
scientists, supported by our military, to help contain
the outbreak of Ebola and pursue new treatments. But
we need a broader effort to stop a disease that could
kill hundreds of thousands, inflict horrific suffering,
destabilize economies and move rapidly across borders.
It is easy to see that problem as a distant problem,
until it is not. And that is why we will continue to
mobilize other countries to join us in making concrete
commitments, significant commitments to fight the
outbreak and enhance our system of global health
security for the long term.
America is pursuing a diplomatic resolution to the
Iranian nuclear issue, as part of our commitment to stop
the spread of nuclear weapons and pursue the peace
and security of a world without them. But that can take
place only if Iran seizes this historic opportunity. My
message to Iran’s leaders and people has been simple
and consistent: do not let this opportunity pass. We can
reach a solution that meets Iran’s energy needs while
assuring the world that Iran’s nuclear programme is
peaceful.
America is and will continue to be a Pacific
Power, promoting peace, stability, and the free flow
of commerce among nations. But we will insist that
all nations abide by the rules of the road and resolve
their territorial disputes peacefully, consistent with
international law. That is how the Asia-Pacific region
has grown. And that is the only way to protect the
progress going forward.
America is committed to a development agenda that
eradicates extreme poverty by 2030. We will do our part
to help people feed themselves, power their economies
and care for their sick. If the world acts together, we
can make sure that all of our children enjoy lives of
opportunity and dignity.
America is pursuing ambitious reductions in
its carbon emissions, and we have increased our
investments in clean energy. We will do our part and
help developing nations do theirs. But the science tells
us that we can succeed in combating climate change
only if we are joined in that effort by every other nation,
by every major Power. That is how we can protect the
planet for our children and our grandchildren.
In other words, on issue after issue, we cannot rely
on a rule book written for a different century. If we lift
our eyes beyond our borders, if we think globally and
if we act cooperatively, we can shape the course of this
century as our predecessors shaped the post-World War
Two age.
But as we look to the future, one issue risks starting
a cycle of conflict that could derail so much progress.
That is the cancer of violent extremism, which has
ravaged so many parts of the Muslim world. Of course,
terrorism is not new. Speaking before the Assembly,
President Kennedy put it well:
“Terror is not a new weapon. Throughout
history it has been used by those who could not
prevail either by persuasion or by example.”
(A/PV.1013, para. 96)
In the twentieth century, terror was used by all
manner of groups who failed to come to power through
public support. But in this century, we have faced a
more lethal and ideological brand of terrorists who have
perverted one of the world’s great religions. With access
to technology that allows small groups to do great harm,
they have embraced a nightmarish vision that would
divide the world into adherents and infidels — killing
as many innocent civilians as possible and employing
the most brutal methods to intimidate people within
their communities.
I have made it clear that America will not base its
entire foreign policy on reacting to terrorism. Instead,
we have waged a focused campaign against Al-Qaida
and its associated forces — taking out their leaders
and denying them the safe havens they rely on. At the
same time, we have reaffirmed again and again that the
United States is not and never will be at war with Islam.
Islam teaches peace. Muslims the world over aspire to
live with dignity and a sense of justice. And when it
comes to America and Islam, there is no us and them,
there is only us, because millions of Muslim Americans
are part of the fabric of our country.
So we reject any suggestion of a clash of
civilizations. Belief in permanent religious war is the
misguided refuge of extremists who cannot build or
create anything and therefore peddle only fanaticism
and hate. And it is no exaggeration to say that the future
of humankind depends on our uniting against those
who would divide us along the fault lines of tribe or
sect, race or religion.
But this is not simply a matter of words. Collectively,
we must take concrete steps to address the danger posed
by religiously motivated fanatics and the trends that
fuel their recruitment. Moreover, the campaign against
extremism goes beyond a narrow security challenge.
For while we have worked methodically to degrade
Al-Qaida at its core and have supported a transition to
a sovereign Afghan Government, extremist ideology
has shifted to other places, particularly in the Middle
East and North Africa, where a quarter of the young
people have no job, where food and water could grow
scarce, and where corruption is rampant and sectarian
conflicts have become increasingly hard to contain.
As an international community, we must meet this
challenge with a focus on four areas. First, the terrorist
group known as the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant
(ISIL) must be degraded and ultimately destroyed. It
has terrorized all those whom it has come across in Iraq
and Syria. Mothers, sisters and daughters have been
subjected to rape as a weapon of war. Innocent children
have been gunned down. Bodies have been dumped into
mass graves. Religious minorities have been starved to
death. In the most horrific crimes imaginable, innocent
human beings have been beheaded, with videos of
the atrocity distributed to shock the conscience of the
world.
No god condones such terror. No grievance
justifies such actions. There can be no reasoning or
negotiation with that brand of evil. The only language
understood by killers of that kind is the language of
force. So the United States of America will work with
a broad coalition to dismantle that network of death. In
this effort, we do not act alone, nor do we intend to send
United States troops to occupy foreign lands. Instead,
we will support Iraqis and Syrians fighting to reclaim
their communities. We will use our military might to
roll back ISIL in a campaign of air strikes. We will train
and equip forces fighting those terrorists on the ground.
We will work to cut off their financing and stop the flow
of fighters into and out of the region. And more than
40 nations have already offered to join the coalition.
Today, I ask the world to join in this effort. Those who
have joined ISIL should leave the battlefield while they
can. Those who continue to fight for a hateful cause
will find that they are increasingly alone. For we will
not succumb to threats, and we will demonstrate that
the future belongs to those who build, not to those who
destroy. So that is an immediate challenge, the first one
we must meet.
The second challenge is that it is time for the
world, especially Muslim communities, to explicitly,
forcefully and consistently reject the ideology of
organizations such as Al-Qaida and ISIL. It is one of
the tasks of all great religions to accommodate devout
faith with a modern, multicultural world. No children
are born hating, and no children anywhere should be
educated to hate other people. There should be no
further tolerance of so-called clerics who call on people
to harm innocents because they are Jewish or Christian
or Muslim. It is time for a new compact among the
civilized peoples of this world to eradicate war at its
most fundamental source, and that is the corruption of
young minds by violent ideology.
That means cutting off the funding that fuels such
hatred. It is time to end the hypocrisy of those who
accumulate wealth through the global economy and
then siphon funds to those who teach children to tear
it down. That means contesting the space that terrorists
occupy, including the Internet and social media. Their
propaganda has coerced young people to travel abroad
to fight their wars and has turned students — young
people full of potential — into suicide bombers. We
must offer an alternative vision. That means bringing
people of different faiths together. All religions have
been attacked by extremists from within at some point,
and all people of faith have a responsibility to lift up the
value at the heart of all great religions. Do unto your
neighbour as you would do — as you would have others
do — unto yourself.
The ideology of ISIL or Al-Qaida or Boko
Haram will wilt and die if it is consistently exposed
and confronted and refuted in the light of day. Look
at the new Forum for Promoting Peace in Muslim
Societies, whose purpose Sheikh Abdallah Bin Bayyah
has described as “We must declare war on war, so
the outcome will be peace upon peace”. Look at the
young British Muslims who have responded to terrorist
propaganda by starting the #notinmyname campaign,
declaring that ISIL is hiding behind a false Islam. Look
at the Christian and Muslim leaders who came together
in the Central African Republic to reject violence; listen
to the imam there who said that, while politics may try
to divide the religious in that country, religion should
not be a cause of hate, war, or strife.
Later today, the Security Council will adopt a
resolution that underscores the responsibility of States
to counter violent extremism. But resolutions must
be followed by tangible commitments, so that we are
accountable when we fall short. Next year, we should
all be prepared to announce the concrete steps that
we have taken to counter extremist ideologies in our
own countries — by getting intolerance out of schools,
stopping radicalization before it spreads and promoting
institutions and programmes that build new bridges of
understanding.
Thirdly, we must address the cycle of conflict,
especially sectarian conflict, that creates the conditions
that terrorists prey upon. There is nothing new about
wars within religions. Christianity endured centuries of
vicious sectarian conflict. Today it is violence within
Muslim communities that has become the source
of so much human misery. It is time to acknowledge
the destruction wrought by proxy wars and terror
campaigns between Sunni and Shia across the Middle
East. And it is time that political, civic and religious
leaders rejected sectarian strife. So let us be clear. This
is a fight that no one is winning. A brutal civil war in
Syria has already killed nearly 200,000 people and has
displaced millions. Iraq has come perilously close to
plunging back into the abyss. The conflict has created
a fertile recruiting ground for terrorists, who inevitably
export such violence.
The good news is that we also see signs that the tide
can be reversed. We have a new, inclusive Government
in Baghdad and a new Iraqi Prime Minister welcomed
by his neighbours; we see Lebanese factions that reject
those who try to provoke war. Such steps must be followed
by a broader truce. Nowhere is that more necessary
than in Syria. Together with our partners, America is
training and equipping the Syrian opposition to be a
counterweight to the terrorists of ISIL and the brutality
of the Al-Assad regime. But the only lasting solution
to Syria’s civil war is political — an inclusive political
transition that responds to the legitimate aspirations of
all Syrian citizens, regardless of ethnicity, regardless
of creed.
Cynics may argue that such an outcome can never
come to pass. But there is no other way for the madness
in Syria to end, whether one year from now or 10. And it
points to the fact that it is time for a broader negotiation
in the region, in which major Powers address their
differences directly, honestly and peacefully across
the table from one another, rather than through gun-
wielding proxies. I can promise the international
community that America will remain engaged in the
region, and we are prepared to engage in that effort.
My fourth and final point is a simple one. The
countries of the Arab and Muslim world must focus on
the extraordinary potential of their people, especially
the youth. And here I would like to speak directly to
young people across the Muslim world. You come
from a great tradition that stands for education, not
ignorance; innovation, not destruction; the dignity of
life, not murder. Those who call you away from that
path are betraying that tradition, not defending it. You
have demonstrated that when young people have the
tools to succeed — good schools, education in math
and science, an economy that nurtures creativity and
entrepreneurship — then societies will flourish. So,
America will partner with those who promote that
vision.
Where women are full participants in a country’s
politics or economy, societies are more likely to
succeed. And that is why we support the participation of
women in parliaments and peace processes, schools and
the economy. If young people live in places where the
only option is between the dictates of a State or the lure
of an extremist underground, then no counterterrorism
strategy can succeed. But where a genuine civil society
is allowed to flourish — where people can express their
views and organize peacefully for a better life — then
you dramatically expand the alternatives to terror.
And such positive change need not come at the
expense of tradition and faith. We see that in Iraq, where
a young man started a library for his peers. “We link
Iraq’s heritage to their hearts”, he said, and “give them
a reason to stay”. We see it in Tunisia, where secular
and Islamist parties worked together through a political
process to produce a new constitution. We see it in
Senegal, where civil society thrives alongside a strong
democratic Government. We see it in Malaysia, where
vibrant entrepreneurship is propelling a former colony
into the ranks of advanced economies. And we see it in
Indonesia, where what began as a violent transition has
evolved into a genuine democracy.
Ultimately the task of rejecting sectarianism and
rejecting extremism is a generational one, and a task
for the people of the Middle East themselves. No
external power can bring about a transformation of
hearts and minds. But America will be a respectful
and constructive partner. We will neither tolerate
terrorist safe havens nor act as an occupying Power.
We will take action against threats to our security and
our allies, while building an architecture of counter-
terrorism cooperation. We will increase efforts to lift
up those who counter extremist ideologies and who
seek to resolve sectarian conflict. And we will expand
our programmes to support entrepreneurship and civil
society, education and youth, because ultimately those
investments are the best antidote to violence.
We recognize as well that leadership will be
necessary to address the conflict between Palestinians
and Israelis. As bleak as the landscape appears, America
will not give up on the pursuit of peace. Understand that
the situation in Iraq and Syria and Libya should cure
anybody of the illusion that the Arab-Israeli conflict
is the main source of problems in the region. For far
too long that has been used as an excuse to distract
people from problems at home. The violence engulfing
the region today has made too many Israelis ready to
abandon the hard work of peace. And that is something
worthy of reflection within Israel. Because let us be
clear: the status quo in the West Bank and Gaza is not
sustainable. We cannot afford to turn away from that
effort — not when rockets are fired at innocent Israelis,
or when the lives of so many Palestinian children are
taken from us in Gaza. So long as I am President, we
will stand up for the principle that Israelis, Palestinians,
the region and the world will be more just and more
safe with two States living side by side, in peace and
security.
So this is what America is prepared to do: take
action against immediate threats, while pursuing a
world in which the need for such action is diminished.
The United States will never shy away from defending
our interests, but we will also not shy away from the
promise of this institution and its Universal Declaration
of Human Rights — the notion that peace is not merely
the absence of war, but the presence of a better life.
I realize that America’s critics will be quick to point
out that at times we too have failed to live up to our
ideals and that America has plenty of problems within
its own borders. That is true. In a summer marked by
instability in the Middle East and Eastern Europe, I
know the world also took notice of the small American
city of Ferguson, Missouri, where a young man was
killed and a community was divided. So, yes, we have
our own racial and ethnic tensions. And, like every
country, we continually wrestle with how to reconcile
the vast changes wrought by globalization and greater
diversity with the traditions that we hold dear.
But we welcome the scrutiny of the world, because
what you see in America is a country that has steadily
worked to address our problems, to make our union
more perfect, to bridge the divides that existed at the
founding of this nation. America is not the same as it
was 100 years ago or 50 years ago or even a decade ago.
We fight for our ideals and we are willing to criticize
ourselves when we fall short. We hold our leaders
accountable and insist on a free press and an independent
judiciary. We address our differences in the open space
of democracy, with respect for the rule of law, with a
place for people of every race and every religion and
with an unyielding belief in the ability of individual
men and women to change their communities and their
circumstances and their countries for the better.
After nearly six years as President, I believe that that
promise can help light the world. I have seen a longing
for positive change — for peace and for freedom and for
opportunity and for an end to bigotry — in the eyes of
young people whom I have met around the globe. They
remind me that no matter who you are or where you
come from or what you look like or what God you pray
to or whom you love, there is something fundamental
that we all share.
Eleanor Roosevelt, a champion of the United
Nations and America’s role in it, once asked,
“Where, after all, do universal human rights
begin? In small places, close to home — so close
and so small that they cannot be seen on any maps
of the world. Yet they are the world of the individual
person; the neighbourhood he lives in; the school or
college he attends; the factory, farm or office where
he works.”
Around the world, young people are moving forward,
hungry for a better world. Around the world, in small
places, they are overcoming hatred and bigotry and
sectarianism. And they are learning to respect each
other, despite differences.
The people of the world now look to us, here, to
be as decent and dignified and courageous as they are
trying to be in their daily lives. And at this crossroads,
I can promise the Assembly that the United States
of America will not be distracted or deterred from
what must be done. We are heirs to a proud legacy of
freedom, and we are prepared to do what is necessary
to secure that legacy for generations to come. I ask
that the Assembly join us in this common mission, for
today’s children and tomorrow’s.