YouSaid · the spoken record

Joschka Fischer

lines on the record

103

first

1999-09-24

most recent

2004-09-24

sittings or episodes

5

sources

un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

1. “Despite all its efforts, the international community has not yet succeeded in ridding our planet of war, oppression, tyranny, expulsion and grave human rights violations, including genocide. At the close of this century, the United Nations and its Member States are unable to fully master their core task, namely, safeguarding peace and security. The great hope that following the end of the East-West conflict the era of multilateral cooperation and worldwide rule of law would dawn has not yet come to fruition. Today the question of peacekeeping must be considered under conditions very different to those during the United Nations early years. First, most conflicts today are internal rather than international, as in earlier times.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

2. “Since its foundation, the United Nations has greatly enhanced relations between peoples. The development of international law, protection of human rights, decolonization, worldwide humanitarian and disaster aid, arousing awareness of the great problems facing mankind, such as population growth, poverty and the global environmental crisis — all of this would be inconceivable without the United Nations. There is no alternative to the United Nations objectives and values — peace, human rights, freedom, justice and development — and they have gained worldwide recognition, even if, unfortunately, they are not always respected everywhere. Nevertheless, even after more than 50 years, there is still a long way to go before they are universally respected and implemented.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

3. “First of all, I would like to warmly congratulate you, Sir, on your election to the presidency of the fifty-fourth session of the General Assembly and to wish you every success in this difficult office. I should also like to thank Foreign Minister Opertti for his tireless dedication in successfully presiding over the fifty-third session of the General Assembly. I welcome Kiribati, Nauru and Tonga, with which Germany has long enjoyed friendly ties, as new Members of the world Organization. I endorse the statement of my Finnish colleague, Tarja Halonen, on behalf of the European Union. This session of the General Assembly is the last in this “century of extremes”, as the British historian Eric Hobsbawm called the century now drawing to a close. That is reason enough to take stock.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)