I am pleased to be here to
address the General Assembly. Sixty-three years ago,
representatives from around the world gathered in San
Francisco to complete the founding of the Charter of
the United Nations. They met in the shadow of a
devastating war, with grave new dangers on the
horizon. They agreed on a historic pledge to reaffirm
faith in fundamental human rights and unite their
strength to maintain international peace and security.
That noble pledge has endured trying hours in United
Nations history, and it still guides our work today.
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Yet the ideals of the Charter are now facing a
challenge as serious as any since the United Nations
founding: a global movement of violent extremists. By
deliberately murdering the innocent to advance their
aims, those extremists defy the fundamental principles
of international order. They show contempt for all who
respect life and value human dignity. They reject the
words of the Bible, the Koran, the Torah or any
standard of conscience of morality. They imperil the
values of justice and human rights that gave birth to the
United Nations — values that have fuelled an
unprecedented expansion of freedom across the world.
To uphold the words of the Charter in the face of
this challenge, every nation in this Hall has
responsibilities. As sovereign States, we have an
obligation to govern responsibly and solve problems
before they spill across borders. We have an obligation
to prevent our territory from being used as a sanctuary
for terrorism, proliferation, human trafficking and
organized crime. We have an obligation to respect the
rights and respond to the needs of our people.
Multilateral organizations have responsibilities.
For eight years, the nations in this Assembly have
worked together to confront the extremist threat. We
have witnessed successes and setbacks, and through it
all a clear lesson has emerged. The United Nations and
other multilateral organizations are needed more
urgently than ever. To be successful, we must be
focused, resolute and effective.
Instead of only adopting resolutions decrying
terrorist acts after they occur, we must cooperate more
closely to keep terrorist attacks from happening in the
first place. Instead of treating all forms of Government
as equally tolerable, we must actively challenge the
conditions of tyranny and despair that allow terror and
extremists to thrive. By acting together to meet the
fundamental challenge of our time, we can lead
towards a world that is more secure, more prosperous
and more hopeful.
In the decades ahead, the United Nations and
other multilateral organizations must continually
confront terror. That mission requires clarity of vision.
We must see the terrorists for what they are: ruthless
extremists who exploit the desperate, subvert the tenets
of a great religion and seek to impose their will on as
many people as possible. Some suggest that those men
would pose less of a threat if we would only leave
them alone, yet their leaders make clear that no
concession could ever satisfy their ambitions. Bringing
the terrorists to justice does not create terrorism. It is
the best way to protect our people.
Multilateral organizations must respond by taking
an unequivocal moral stand against terrorism. No cause
can justify the deliberate taking of innocent life, and
the international community is nearing universal
agreement on this truth. The vast majority of nations in
this Assembly now agree that tactics like suicide
bombing, hostage-taking and hijacking are never
legitimate. The Security Council has adopted
resolutions declaring terror unlawful and requiring all
nations to crack down on terrorist financing. Earlier
this month, the Secretary-General held a conference to
highlight victims of terror, where he stated that
terrorism can never be justified.
Other multilateral organizations have spoken
clearly as well. The Group of 8 has declared that all
terrorist acts are criminal and must be universally
condemned. The Secretary-General of the Organization
of the Islamic Conference recently spoke out against
suicide bombing, which he said runs counter to the
teachings of Islam.
The message behind those statements is
resolutely clear. Like slavery and piracy, terrorism has
no place in the modern world. Around the globe,
nations are turning those words into action. Members
of the United Nations are sharing intelligence with one
another, conducting joint operations and freezing
terrorists’ finances. While terrorists continue to carry
out attacks like the terrible bombing in Islamabad last
week, our joint actions have spared our citizens from
many devastating blows.
The brutal nature of the extremists is increasingly
clear and the coalition of nations confronting terrorists
is growing stronger. Over the past seven years,
Afghanistan and Iraq have been transformed from
regimes that actively sponsor terror to democracies that
fight terror. Libya has renounced its support for terror
and its pursuit of nuclear weapons. Nations like Saudi
Arabia and Pakistan are actively pursuing the terrorists.
A few nations, regimes like Syria and Iran, continue to
sponsor terror, yet their numbers are growing fewer
and they are growing more isolated from the world.
As the twenty-first century unfolds, some may be
tempted to assume that the threat has receded. That
would be comforting. It would be wrong. The terrorists
believe time is on their side, so they have made waiting
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out civilized nations part of their strategy. We must not
allow them to succeed. The nations of this body must
stand united in the fight against terror. We must
continue working to deny the terrorists refuge
anywhere in the world, including ungoverned spaces.
We must remain vigilant against proliferation by fully
implementing the terms of resolution 1540 (2004) and
enforcing sanctions against North Korea and Iran. We
must not relent until our people are safe from this
threat to civilization.
To uphold the Charter’s promise of peace and
security in the twenty-first century, we must also
confront the ideology of the terrorists. At its core, the
struggle against extremists is a battle of ideas.
Terrorists envision a world in which religious freedom
is denied, women are oppressed and all dissent is
crushed. The nations represented in this Hall must
present a more hopeful alternative — a vision where
people can speak freely, worship as they choose and
pursue their dreams in liberty.
Advancing this vision of freedom serves our
highest ideals, as expressed in the United Nations
Charter’s commitment to the dignity and worth of the
human person. Advancing this vision also serves our
security interests. History shows that when citizens
have a voice in choosing their own leaders, they are
less likely to search for meaning in radical ideologies,
and when Governments respect the rights of their
people, they are more likely to respect the rights of
their neighbours.
For all these reasons, the nations of this body
must challenge tyranny as vigorously as we challenge
terror. Some question whether people in certain parts of
the world actually desire freedom. This self-serving
condescension has been disproved before our eyes.
From the voting booths of Afghanistan, Iraq and
Liberia to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the Rose
Revolution in Georgia, the Cedar Revolution in
Lebanon and the Tulip Revolution in Kyrgyzstan, we
have seen people consistently make the courageous
decision to demand their liberty.
For all the suggestions to the contrary, the truth is
that, whenever and wherever people are given the
choice, they choose freedom. Nations represented in
this Hall have supported the efforts of dissidents,
reformers and civil society advocates in newly free
societies through the new United Nations Democracy
Fund, and we appreciate those efforts. As young
democracies around the world continue to make brave
stands for liberty, multilateral organizations like the
United Nations must continue to stand with them.
In Afghanistan, a determined people are working
to overcome decades of tyranny and protect their newly
free society. They have strong support from all 26
nations of the NATO alliance. I appreciate the United
Nations decision this week to renew the mandate of the
International Security Assistance Force in Afghanistan.
The United Nations also has an active civilian presence
in Afghanistan, where experts are doing important
work helping to improve education, facilitate
humanitarian aid and protect human rights. We must
continue to help the Afghan people defend their young
democracy so that the Taliban does not return to power
and Afghanistan is never again a safe haven for terror.
In Iraq, the fight has been difficult, yet daily life
has improved dramatically over the past 20 months
thanks to the courage of the Iraqi people, a determined
coalition of nations and a surge of American troops.
The United Nations has provided the mandate for
multinational forces in Iraq through this December, and
the United Nations is carrying out an ambitious
strategy to strengthen Iraq’s democracy, including
helping Iraqis prepare for their next round of free
elections. Whatever disagreements our nations have
had on Iraq, we should all welcome this progress
towards stability and peace and we should stand united
in helping Iraq’s democracy succeed.
We must stand united in our support of other
young democracies, from the people of Lebanon
struggling to maintain their hard-won independence to
the people of the Palestinian territories, who deserve a
free and peaceful State of their own. We must stand
united in our support of the people of Georgia. The
United Nations Charter sets forth the equal rights of
nations large and small; Russia’s invasion of Georgia
was a violation of those rights. Young democracies
around the world are watching to see how we respond
to this test. The United States has worked with allies in
such multilateral institutions as the European Union
and NATO to uphold Georgia’s territorial integrity and
provide humanitarian relief. Our nations will continue
to support Georgia’s democracy.
In this Hall are representatives of Georgia,
Ukraine, Lebanon, Afghanistan, Liberia, Iraq and other
brave young democracies. We admire their courage, we
honour their sacrifices, and we thank them for their
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inspiring example. We will continue to stand with all
who stand for freedom. This noble goal is worthy of
the United Nations and it should have the support of
every member of this Assembly.
Extending the reach of political freedom is
essential to prevailing in the great struggle of our time,
but it is not enough. Many in this Hall have answered
the call to help their brothers and sisters in need by
working to alleviate hopelessness. Those efforts to
improve the human condition honour the highest ideals
of this institution. They also advance our security
interests. The extremists find their most fertile
recruiting grounds in societies trapped in chaos and
despair — places where people see no prospect of a
better life. In the shadows of hopelessness, radicalism
thrives. Eventually, that radicalism can boil over into
violence, cross borders and take innocent lives across
the world.
Overcoming hopelessness requires addressing its
causes: poverty, disease and ignorance. Challenging
these conditions is in the interest of every nation in this
Hall, and democracies are particularly well positioned
to carry out that work because we have experience
responding to the needs of our own people. We are
natural partners in helping other nations respond to the
needs of theirs. Together, we must commit our
resources and efforts to advancing education, health
and prosperity.
Over the years, many nations have made well-
intentioned efforts to promote these goals, but the
success of these efforts must be measured by more than
intentions. It must be measured by results. My nation is
placing insistence on results at the heart of our foreign
assistance programmes. We launched a new initiative,
called the Millennium Challenge Account, which
directs our help to countries that demonstrate their
ability to produce results by governing justly, fighting
corruption and pursuing market-based economic
policies, as well as investing in their people. Every
country and institution that provides foreign assistance,
including the United Nations, will be more effective by
showing faith in the people of the developing world
and insisting on performance in return for aid.
Experience also shows that, to be effective, we
must adopt a model of partnership, not paternalism.
This approach is based on our conviction that people in
the developing world have the capacity to improve
their own lives and will rise to meet high expectations
if we set them. America sought to apply this model in
our Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Every nation that
receives American support through this initiative
develops its own plan for fighting HIV/AIDS and
measures the results.
So far, these results are inspiring. Five years ago,
50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa were receiving
treatment for HIV/AIDS; today, that number is nearly
1.7 million. We are taking a similar approach to
fighting malaria, and so far we have supported local
efforts to protect more than 25 million Africans.
Multilateral organizations have made bold
commitments of their own to fight disease. The G-8
has pledged to match America’s efforts on malaria and
HIV/AIDS. Through the Global Fund, many countries
are working to fight HIV/AIDS, malaria and
tuberculosis. Lives in the developing world depend on
these programmes, and all who have made pledges to
fight disease have an obligation to follow through on
their commitments.
One of the most powerful engines of development
and prosperity are trade and investment, which create
new opportunities for entrepreneurs, help people rise
out of poverty and reinforce such fundamental values
as transparency and the rule of law. For all these
reasons, many represented in this Hall have conducted
free-trade agreements at the bilateral and regional
levels.
The most effective step of all would be an
agreement that tears down trade barriers at the global
level. The recent impasse in the Doha round is
disappointing, but that does not have to be the final
word. I urge every nation to seize this opportunity to
lift up economies around the world and reach a
successful Doha agreement as soon as possible.
Beyond Doha, our nations must renew our commitment
to open economies and stand firm against economic
isolationism. These objectives are being tested by
turbulence in the global financial markets.
Our economies are more closely connected than
ever before, and I know that many of you here are
watching how the United States Government will
address the problems in our financial system. In recent
weeks we have taken bold steps to prevent a severe
disruption of the American economy, which would
have a devastating effect on other economies around
the world. We promote stability in the markets by
preventing the disorderly failure of major companies.
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The Federal Reserve has injected urgently needed
liquidity into the system. Last week, I announced
decisive action by the federal Government to address
the root cause of much of the instability in our
financial markets by purchasing illiquid assets that are
weighing down balance sheets and restricting the flow
of credit. I can assure the Assembly that my
Administration and our Congress are working together
to quickly pass legislation approving this strategy. And
I am confident that we will act in the urgent time frame
required.
The objectives I have laid out for multilateral
institutions confronting terror, opposing tyranny and
promoting effective development are difficult, but they
are necessary tasks. To have maximum impact,
multilateral institutions must take on challenging
missions, and like all of us in this Hall they must work
towards measurable goals, be accountable for their
actions and hold true to their word.
In the twenty-first century, the world needs a
competent and effective United Nations. This unique
institution should build on its successes and improve
its performance. Where there is inefficiency and
corruption, that must be corrected. Where there are
bloated bureaucracies, they must be streamlined.
Where Members fail to uphold their obligations, there
must be strong action — for example, there should be
an immediate review of the Human Rights Council,
which has routinely protected violators of human
rights. There should be a stronger effort to help the
people of Burma live free of the repression they have
suffered for too long. All nations, especially members
of the Security Council, must act decisively to ensure
that the Government of the Sudan upholds its
commitment to address the violence in Darfur.
The United Nations is an Organization of
extraordinary potential. As it rebuilds its Headquarters,
it must also open the door to a new age of
transparency, accountability and seriousness of
purpose. With determination and clear purpose, the
United Nations can be a powerful force for good as we
head into the twenty-first century. It can affirm the
great promise of its founding.
In the final days of the San Francisco Conference,
the delegates negotiating the United Nations Charter
received a visit from President Harry Truman. He
acknowledged the enormous challenges they faced and
said that success was possible only because of what he
called an unshakable unity of determination. Today, the
world is engaged in another period of great challenge,
and by continuing to work together, that unshakable
unity of determination will be ours. Together we can
confront and defeat the evil of terrorism. Together we
can secure the Almighty’s gift of liberty and justice to
millions who have not known it. Together we can build
a world that is freer, safer and better for the
generations who follow.