UK

It is a great honour to make my first speech to the General Assembly. The United Nations has a duty to lead the world in addressing the shared threats and opportunities that dominate our age, and it must do so in deed as well as in word. That is why I want to use this platform to express my admiration and support for United Nations missions around the world, from Lebanon to Liberia, from Congo and Haiti to East Timor, which, even as we meet in New York this week, are saving lives and spreading hope. Since 1946, when the first meeting of the General Assembly took place in London, the United Kingdom has been determined to fulfil its international responsibilities through the United Nations. The new Government in the United Kingdom, under the leadership of Gordon Brown, is proud to continue that tradition, and I reaffirm our commitment today. The focus at this session has been on immediate and pressing issues. In the Middle East, we need urgent action towards a two-State solution that addresses the security of Israelis and the rights of Palestinians at the same time. In Iraq, recent security gains can only be sustained through continued support for the development of the Iraqi security forces, through national reconciliation and through political support from the whole region. Our international community depends on responsibilities as well as rights. If Iran wants to be a leading and respected country, it must cease its support for terrorist groups in Iraq and Afghanistan and end its defiance of three Security Council resolutions in respect of its nuclear programme. In Zimbabwe, we need United Nations action to support African leadership to reverse the vicious cycle of economic and social devastation that now afflicts the country. We have all seen the extraordinary scenes in Burma. I call on the regime to allow peaceful protest, encourage national dialogue and promote genuine reconciliation. Let us today send a message to the monks on the streets of Burma: we support your demand for a democratic Burma. And let us take a message from the monks on the streets of Burma: the human desire for freedom knows no bounds of race or religion or region. It is good that the Burmese Government has allowed Ambassador Gambari into the country, but it is now vital that they use his presence there to start the process of reconciliation. But as well as addressing the traumas of our fellow citizens around the world, the United Nations must be the place where we address the longer-term threats. Today, I devote my speech to one of the great threats to stability and prosperity in the world: the threat of global inequality. I do so because inequalities are not just morally offensive; they are also dangerous. Inequality fuels extremism. It undermines support for an open, global economy. It corrodes trust and respect and reciprocity between nations. The United Nations Charter talks of the “sovereign equality of States”, and it also talks of the “equal rights and dignity of men and women and of nations large and small”. The principle of equality is nowhere more evident than in the General Assembly where all States have an equal voice. But in the world outside this Hall, economic, social and political inequalities within and between States persist and worsen. We cannot stand united against the shared threats and opportunities in our world when we are so divided by economic and political disparities. So the need for Governments and international institutions to reduce inequalities and promote our common humanity is stark. Traditionally, we have focused on the divide between developed and developing nations. However, the growth rates in many developing countries are faster than in developed economies. That is the good news. But there remain around a billion people in the world one sixth of its population living in 58 countries, who have been left out of the story of human progress. This “bottom billion” have an average life expectancy of 50 years. Fourteen per cent of the children in the bottom billion die before their fifth birthday, and more than a third suffer malnutrition. The countries that are home to the bottom billion saw their national incomes fall each year during the 1980s and 1990s. Even where inequalities are narrowing between nations, they are widening within them. According to the United Nations Development Programme, in 73 countries containing 80 per cent of the world’s population economic inequality has risen in recent years. Every nation represented here has responsibilities to its own people. The drive to tackle poverty needs open markets. It needs the empowerment of citizens through democratic and transparent institutions, free from corruption. It needs strong and effective education and health services open to all. But national action is not enough. Because the causes of inequality cross national boundaries, we need cooperation between nations, bilateral and multilateral, led by the United Nations. First, three quarters of the countries where the bottom billion citizens reside have recent or current experience of civil war. Conflict is the trapdoor to extreme poverty. Look at Darfur: more than 200,000 people are dead, 2 million are displaced and 4 million are on food aid. As the international community, we decided on a course of action in Security Council resolution 1769 (2007). Now we need to get on with it: an agreement on force composition, swift deployment, effective protection of civilians on the ground and a political process in which the legitimate grievance of the Darfur people is addressed through negotiation. In Afghanistan, one of the five poorest countries in the world, we need to back up military efforts to secure safe space with economic, social and political reconstruction. Beyond those crises, we also need to improve our capacity to prevent the emergence of conflict. That is our vision of the responsibility to protect. A critical dimension is controlling the spread of weapons whose easy availability makes it so simple to set up militias and provoke violence and mayhem. Last year, the Assembly voted overwhelmingly to take forward United Nations work towards an arms trade treaty (see resolution 61/89). The Government of the United Kingdom will continue to press for the achievement of that goal. Secondly, freedom from conflict is the platform for progress, but the battle against disease and illiteracy is the second stage. Despite progress in some countries, the world is off track to meet the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). That is why, in July here at the United Nations, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom launched a call for action: to honour our own commitments and go further, to build a truly global partnership with the private sector, trade unions, faith groups, civil society and cities that can meet the 2015 MDG targets. That requires the developed world to meets its commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of its national incomes on development. The United Kingdom will meet that commitment by 2013. But that requires shared responsibility. Poor governance and corruption are the enemies of development. Thirdly, progress on aid needs to be combined with a new global trade deal that opens up economies on a fair basis. Western producers continue to benefit from subsidies and tariffs, particularly for agriculture. Higher tariffs for processed goods prevent poor countries from diversifying their economies. That is a bad deal for Western consumers, and it squeezes out the livelihoods of producers in poor countries. Neither is it in rich countries’ financial self-interest, nor is it fair. The Government of the United Kingdom believes that concluding the Doha trade round this year is not just necessary, but also possible, and we will work to achieve that goal. Finally, we must address the greatest long-term threat to our aspirations to tackle inequality: climate change. Climate change affects all countries, but the poorest countries and the poorest people within those countries will suffer the most disruption and devastation. I congratulate the President of the General Assembly on choosing climate change as a central theme of this general debate. And I congratulate the Secretary-General on his leadership on this issue. But we need more than debate. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is the only body that can conclude a global agreement on climate change. Therefore, in the next two months we need an urgent agreement on the steps towards progress to be taken at the December meeting in Bali. Beyond that, we need a road map to the 15th conference of parties to the Convention, to be held at Copenhagen in two years’ time, and agreement on a global deal that succeeds the end of the first commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol. At the heart of such an agreement must be the principle of common but differentiated responsibilities: all countries taking on responsibilities, but making sure that they are equitably distributed, with the greatest action taken by the richest countries. The United Kingdom stands ready to play its part. This year, our climate change bill will be enacted into law in the next session of Parliament to place on a statutory footing our commitment to cut carbon emissions by at least 60 per cent from 1990 levels by the year 2050. But we need similar binding commitments from all rich countries. The challenges are therefore immense. Crisis resolution and conflict prevention, the Millennium Development Goals, a new trade deal, climate change they call for all our resources. Military intervention is never the whole solution, but sometimes a solution cannot be found without armed force. Development budgets are necessary, but the developing world needs a growth plan, not just an aid plan. Diplomacy needs to bridge differences between nations, but also to reach out to civil society and business. The United Kingdom is proud not just of its bilateral relations with the countries represented in the Assembly, but also of its commitment to multilateral institutions, which can be a force for good in the world. But international institutions need to reflect the world as it is, not the world as it was. The United Kingdom therefore welcomes the prospect of intergovernmental negotiations at this session to achieve agreement on reform of the Security Council. We support permanent membership for Germany, Japan, India and Brazil and permanent representation for Africa. We are not wedded to a single model of reform. Achieving effective change is what matters. In a world where more than a billion people are online, where companies have bigger turnovers than countries and where global non-governmental organizations have memberships that are bigger than national populations, our international institutions must look inwards to internal reform, but also outwards to broader popular movements for change. In the last phase of globalization, in the nineteenth century, the emergence of new Powers and the breakdown of the international order resulted in conflict that scarred the whole of the twentieth century. Unless we can build trust and reciprocity between nations and embody them in durable and robust international institutions that reconcile differences and nurture common values, the latest phase of globalization could be another false dawn. Globalization is not just something to which we must adapt; it is something that we can and must shape for the achievement of our own goals. It must be put to use spreading power, wealth and opportunity. For my Government, this mission is driven by both moral purpose and national interest. We must address the insecurity and inequality that exist beyond our borders if we are to enhance security and prosperity within our borders. We live in a more prosperous, more peaceful and more democratic world than ever before. Let us commit ourselves to living in a more equal world.