YouSaid · the spoken record

Emmanuel Macron

lines on the record: 205
first: 2017-09-24
most recent: 2022-09-24
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

“In my view, that is the heart of our problem today. What awakens nationalism? What gives rise to doubt in our Assembly? What gives rise crises everywhere? It is those deep inequalities that we have failed to address. Ten years ago, when the international financial crisis hit, we took emergency action, but we did not solve the root cause. We did not curb the trend of hyperconcentration of wealth on our planet, and we did not truly provide a response to all those left behind by globalization. All those who were marginalized now hold a grudge because of the humiliations they suffered or have been plunged into despair, for which we are now collectively paying the price. We owe all those people a response.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“That is the reality, and I will in no way leave the principle of the sovereignty of peoples in the hands of nationalists or those who today, before the international community, advocate withdrawal and wish to exploit the sovereignty of peoples to challenge the universality and strength of our values, thanks to which we are all gathered here together in this Hall. All of us here, even those who criticize it, have benefited from the structuring of the international order that has accompanied globalization. We have enjoyed a period of humanism and have all played a role in making it happen. Today, we must tackle the root causes of our imbalances. Together, we must face the weaknesses of our international order and, beyond the crises I have just mentioned, consider the deep inequalities that have taken root.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“We will win that fight in the twenty- first century only by restoring a robust multilateralism that is truly capable not only of resolving conflicts pragmatically but, also and more broadly, of addressing their causes. To tell the truth, I do not believe in one great globalized people. That is an illusion. It does not exist. But I do believe in universal values, and on that point we must not compromise. It is not the same thing. I believe in the non-negotiable defence of our values: human rights, the dignity of individuals and gender equality. I believe in our ability to strike a balance that respects peoples and cultures by refusing to negotiate those universal values.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Even those who have challenged that reality suffer its consequences like everyone else. Extreme weather events are now a daily occurrence. And by weakening collective action, some only expose themselves further. As for the great digital transformation, here too our duty is to stand together to build modern rules that will allow us to reconcile the development of artificial intelligence with our ethical rules in order to support the digital transformation of our societies. I firmly believe in the sovereignty of peoples, which today is strong and demanded by all our peoples in the international arena. It also enjoys enhanced cooperation in many forms and a renewed legitimacy of international commitment. The great fight of our elders was achieving peace, and this remains one of our responsibilities.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“The only effective way to manage the migratory flows affecting all our continents in an organized and controlled manner is to create the conditions for elective rather than forced international mobility, to work together — countries of origin, transit and destination — to address the root causes of migration, especially for its victims, to dismantle trafficking networks that are the worst scourge of this phenomenon, and to protect our borders in a respectful manner while ensuring compliance with international law and, in particular, the unconditional protection of those who are entitled to asylum. That is what we have decided to do together through the United Nations pact that is to be adopted in Marrakech in December, which I support. With regard to climate change, too, there are no free rides or easy solutions either.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Confronted with the great challenges posed by migration, I do not believe in talk of unconditional openness, which only sparks concern and stokes intolerance. Nor do I believe in the misleading speeches of those who claim, for example, in Europe as elsewhere, that they will be safer behind the protection of a closed border. That is not true.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Some $7.5 billion has already been committed to 500 projects defined jointly with all the States concerned and the partners of the Alliance for the Sahel. We must consolidate those initial results. As is evident from each of these crises, the answer has not been to leave States alone, to act for them or to proclaim from here the law or solution to be applied, but to know how to conscientiously articulate the principles of the sovereignty of peoples, regional cooperation and the real commitment of the international community. Those three principles form the basis for modern solutions. Only collective action can preserve the sovereignty and equality of the peoples that have given us a mandate. We also need collective action in the face of the demographic, climate and digital challenges before us, which none of us can face alone.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“That was also the essence of the process launched by the African Union to better assume its responsibilities by deploying African peacekeeping operations. That is the essence of the initiatives undertaken in the Lake Chad region, together with Nigeria, Chad and Cameroon, with the support of the African Union. That is why we must support the African Union’s initiative and push for better coordination between the African Union and the United Nations. I hope that, by the end of the year, a resolution can be adopted to that effect. We are strong in the face of terrorism when we take joint responsibility to fight all its forms of financing, and when, as we do in the Alliance for the Sahel, we act together for development, agriculture and education, and against the root causes of despair that have allowed terrorists to win hearts and minds.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Those commitments must be fulfilled under the auspices of the United Nations and in close cooperation with the African Union. Yesterday, an important step was taken that I wish to commend here. It is in the interests of Libyans, their neighbours, Europeans and the international community, who must be united around those objectives to move forward in that way. We are all strong together in the face of terrorism when States are able to count on their own forces to ensure their security and when such security is based on regional and international solutions, in accordance with the principle I have justset out. That is the decision taken by the States of the Sahel, acting together in the Joint Force of the Group of Five for the Sahel.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“It is neither a substitute for the Syrian people in deciding who should be their leader nor an agreement to cover all crimes by accepting that this leader will remain until the end of time, considering that all principles and, ultimately, all law have been cast aside. In Libya, too, it is that new method that should enable us to achieve a lasting solution. The current status quo allows militias and traffickers to gain ground, which destabilizes the entire region. We will not give the Libyans a way out of the crisis if we remain divided and if Libya becomes a stage, as it still is too often, for confrontations among foreign influences. In Paris, the Libyans recently pledged to hold early elections, which will make it possible to reunify State institutions.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“We cannot decide for the Syrian people, but we must rather build the ways and means of the method that I have just defined and thereby build a solution supported not only by the Astana guarantors, but also by other States of the region and the international community through the Small Group on Syria, under the coordination of the United Nations and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General, in order to create the means both to resolve the humanitarian crisis and to build an inclusive, lasting political solution through constitutional reform and the holding of free elections. That is what it means to truly respect Syrian sovereignty.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“The third is the provision of more robust international guarantees or safeguards. It is through that method, and on the basis of those three principles, that we must manage contemporary crisis situations. In Syria, we are pursuing the fight against Islamist terrorism. The military engagements of some countries have allowed the regime to recover at the expense of crimes for which those responsible will one day have to account. The Syrian people have, tragically, paid the price, and there will be no winners in a Syria in ruins. What is needed now is to win peace under the auspices of the United Nations.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“I believe that there is a third possible path ahead of us, probably the most difficult and the most demanding, which requires us to forge a new model and to find a new global balance together. After the Second World War, a balance was built bloc by bloc over the course of decades. Then there was the emergence of a model based on hyperpower. For several years now, we have witnessed a new global instability characterized by the return of multiple centres of power. The new balance that we must create must be based on new forms of regional and international cooperation and will, in my opinion, be structured around three principles. The first is respect for sovereignty, which is at the very heart of the Charter of the United Nations. The second is the strengthening of our regional cooperation.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Israel knows that France is unwavering in its friendship, and it is in the name of that friendship that I call for a quick end to the policy of faits accomplis that threaten the very possibility of reaching a peace agreement. Continuing along that path would be a mistake. On that issue, I am ready, and we must all stand ready, to move beyond dogmas and historical positions in order to take new initiatives, on the condition that it leads to positive changes on the ground. There too, the law of the strongest will only exacerbate frustration and violence. As the Assembly has seen, in the face of contemporary imbalances, I do not believe in the law of the strongest, even if it is masked in a form of legitimacy where it has actually lost all claims to legality.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“We must do so through dialogue and multilateralism, without naivety or complacency, but also without posturing, which would be pointless. The problem of trade imbalances and their consequences for our societies will be solved by common rules adapted to today’s reality that make it possible to ensure fair competition on an equal footing, and under no circumstances will a bilateral approach to all our trade disputes or new protectionism do so. What will resolve the crisis between Israel and Palestine is definitely not unilateral initiatives, or ignoring Palestinians’ legitimate right to lasting peace, or underestimating Israelis’ legitimate right to their security. There is no credible alternative to two States living side by side in peace and security, with Jerusalem as their capital.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“The responsibility for peace cannot be delegated; it cannot be refused; it cannot be pre-empted. It must be exercised collectively. The law of the strongest does not protect any people from any threat, be it chemical or nuclear. What will truly resolve the situation in Iran and what has already begun to stabilize it? Was it the law of the strongest, the pressure of one individual? No. We know that Iran was on the path to military nuclear power, but what stopped it was the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed in Vienna in 2015. Today, as I said a year ago (see A/72/PV.4), we must not exacerbate regional tensions, but rather put forth a broader agenda that addresses all the nuclear, ballistic and regional concerns caused by Iranian policies.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“The first path is to think that this is just a passing moment, a historical parenthesis before we return to life as normal. I do not believe that to be the case. I do not believe it because we are going through a crisis of effectiveness and principles in our contemporary world order, which will not be able to restore its previous landmarks and modes of functioning. This moment in time is not a parenthesis; it is a manifestation of our own failures of the past. The second path would be that of the law of the strongest. Everyone is tempted to follow their own law. That path — the path of unilateralism — leads directly to isolation and conflict, to widespread clashes with everyone pitted against each other, to the detriment of all, even ultimately those who believe themselves to be the strongest.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Secondly, it is because our collective capacity to respond to crises too often continues to be hindered by divisions within the Security Council. Our Organization is too often reduced to deploring the violations of rights that it has pledged to guarantee. Seventy years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the General Assembly in Paris, a cultural, historical and religious relativism is now challenging the foundations of their universality. Born of hope, the United Nations can become, like the League of Nations that preceded it, the symbol of powerlessness. We need not look far to see who is responsible for that crime. They are in this Assembly Hall. They are speaking today. We, the leaders, are responsible. On that basis, I see three main paths for us to follow.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“All of us here are heirs to the great hope to save future generations from the scourge of war, to build an international order based on law and respect for one’s word, and to lead humankind towards economic, social and moral progress in increasingly secure freedom. We have seen results. The enjoyment of human rights has spread, trade and prosperity have grown, and poverty has declined. That has been our achievement of the past several decades. We must, however, look honestly at the moment in which we are living. We are experiencing today a deep crisis in the liberal Westphalian international order, which we have known. First, that is because, in part, it has failed to regulate itself, and to date no solution commensurate with the task of meeting its economic, financial, environmental and climatic failures has been found.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“We must be constantly aware that we must work to reconcile our interests and our values. Our security is the common good of our planet. Our generation has no choice. It must speak for today and for tomorrow.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We will be watching fires burn that history will blow back on our own children tomorrow. Today, more than ever, those shared benefits, our common goods, represent our shared interests. Our security is their security, and there are no sides, no division between those who believe in the rule of law and multilateralism and those who believe in a pragmatic unilateralism. That is a false notion. Our real effectiveness is playing out in this struggle right here. That is why I want to join with everyone here today, united in a belief in a strong, responsible multilateralism. That is our generation’s responsibility, if we do not want to abandon ourselves to fatalism. There is only one kind of courage we need, which is to listen to those voices and not to deviate from the mark we wish to leave on history.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“A refusal to listen to those who call for help means believing that walls and borders will protect us. But it is not walls that protect us, it is our willingness to act and to change the course of history and our refusal to allow history to be written without us even as we imagine we are safe. It is our sovereignty and our sovereign use of force in the service of progress that protects us. A nation’s independence lies in its interdependence. A refusal to listen to those voices would mean believing that their despair is not ours, that we will always enjoy benefits that they can only dream of. But what if those benefits are our whole planet — what if they are peace, justice and freedom? Do we believe that we are the only ones who should enjoy them, tucked away in some corner? If we do not defend those shared benefits, we will all be doomed.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“In conclusion, I would like to say that it is only in a stronghold such as this that the forgotten voices that I wanted to bring here today can be heard, a stronghold where there is a place for everyone and where everyone can be heard even by those who do not wish to hear. To them I say that a refusal to listen to the oppressed, to victims, allows their miseries to grow and prosper until the day when they overwhelm all the rest of us as well. A refusal to listen means forgetting that at one time or another in our history, we were the oppressed, and others heard our voices. It means forgetting that our safety and security is theirs too, that their lives are connected to ours, and we cannot remain unscathed in a world that is going up in flames.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We need to get out of our offices and away from meetings with States and Governments and to seek new resources, so that we can see the world as it really is and reconsider some of the dogmas to which we have sometimes clung. We need a Security Council that can make effective decisions, without walling itself off through its right to the veto when mass atrocities are being committed. We need better representation for everyone here and for every continent. We need to coordinate crisis management better with the European Union, the African Union and the key subregional organizations. That is why France will stand beside the United Nations as it implements reform.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Today we need multilateralism more than ever, not because it is a comforting notion, and not because it is somewhere for thinking people to take shelter, but because it is about the rule of law, about interaction between peoples and about equality for us all. It is what will enable us to achieve peace and overcome our challenges. And the United Nations is indeed the Organization that can act in full legitimacy to preserve global equilibrium. That is why I want a more responsible, effective and agile United Nations, and why I fully support the Secretary-General’s plans for the Organization and his ambition and commitment to making it equal to the challenges facing our world.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Every time we give up on an idea — for example, that the situation of women concerns some people in parts of the world but not others, or that equality is an issue for one civilization but not others — we are abandoning the universality of the values that have brought us together in this Organization. In some countries we have already ceded the race to the strong. And that is because, every time, the great Powers, seated around the Security Council table, have ceded the race to the strong and to unilateralism, and have failed to live up to agreements they signed themselves. They have failed to uphold the glue that keeps multilateralism together — the rule of law. That is what has got us this far and can build sustainable peace.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“The challenge that our generation faces today is to be able to get our faith back and to show that in today’s world, nothing is more effective than multilateralism. And why? Because every one of our challenges is global — terrorism, immigration, climate change, the regulation of the digital world. They all have to be addressed multilaterally and on a global scale. Every time we turn away from multilateralism, the loudest voice wins. But it is only through multilateralism that we can achieve our vision of the world, because it is universal, not regional.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Because we have allowed the idea to take root that multilateralism is a kind of convenient game for diplomats around a table, a tool of the weak. That has gone on for years, because we let ourselves believe that our efforts were stronger and more convincing when we acted unilaterally. But it is not true. Because, sometimes out of cynicism, we let ourselves believe that multilateralism could not fix everything, and so we let deregulation of the world take over. We have been slow to address climate change and the new inequalities that unregulated capitalism creates. We have let the voices of discord shout the loudest. And in that game, the loudest voices win. Time and fading memory have made us forget the history that moulded us and allowed the belief to take root that we are stronger without multilateralism.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“What I want for all of us is a world where dialogue, controls and multilateralism provide us with effective, useful weapons. I do not know whether, 70 years from now, a future successor of mine will have the privilege of addressing the Assembly. Will multilateralism survive the time of doubt and change that we are going through? The fact is that we should be remembering the state that the world was in 70 years ago, shattered by war and stunned by genocides. Right now we need to rediscover the optimism, ambition and courage with which we met those reasons to doubt and the faith in what unites us. We must restore our trust in the universal founding principles of the United Nations, which protect all of us and guarantee our dignity, all over the world. But why have we ended up where we are?”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“To denounce that now without proposing anything in its place would be a serious mistake, and failing to uphold it would be irresponsible, because it is a helpful agreement that is vital to keeping the peace at a time when the risk of a collapse into a death spiral is genuine. That is what I told the United States and Iran yesterday. For my part, I hope that we will be able to fulfil the agreement, by working to contain Iran’s ballistic activity and manage the situation after 2020, which the 2015 agreement does not cover. Let us by all means be more demanding, but certainly not by unwinding the results that previous agreements have already achieved. Look at the mess we are in today. Has the lack of dialogue done anything to contain the situation in North Korea for even a moment?”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Our responsibility, together with all of our partners, including China and Russia, is, through resolve, to bring North Korea to the negotiating table for a political settlement to this conflict. France rejects escalation and will not close any door to dialogue, provided that the conditions are met for such a dialogue to promote peace. It is that same goal that impels me to defend the nuclear agreement with Iran. Our commitment to nuclear non-proliferation enabled us to reach a solid, robust and verifiable agreement on 14 July 2015 and to ensure that Iran will not be able to acquire nuclear weapons.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We must give no ground to the dictatorial trends that we see today. In Ukraine, too, we must tirelessly work to ensure the upholding of the commitments undertaken, bring about an effective ceasefire and work together with our partners, particularly Germany, to ensure that the parties to the conflict respect international law and end the conflict. Multilateralism is facing the challenge of nuclear proliferation, unable to ward off threats that we believed to be past but that have re-emerged today. Pyongyang has crossed a major threshold in terms of military escalation. This is an urgent, collective existential threat. North Korea has not to date given any sign of wishing to negotiate. Its authorities are determined to raise the stakes.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Our collective action is coming up against obstacles stemming from State instability. In Libya, six years after the military intervention there, I acknowledge, before the Assembly, France’s particular responsibility to ensure that the country regains its stability. The meeting held in La Celle-Saint-Cloud on 25 July enabled us to make progress on the reconciliation necessary for the success of the political process under the auspices of the United Nations. Together with the Secretary-General and his Special Representative, we must succeed in 2018 in organizing elections that will mark the restoration of effective State authority. I will do my utmost to achieve that. Concerning Venezuela, collective action must enable the upholding of democracy and respect for all political movements.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Our duty of solidarity and humanity will continue. Behind every one of our decisions are the voices and lives of the invisible masses whom we must defend, because we in turn were defended in the past. Why do we not heed those voices? Why are we not focusing on what 70 years ago gave humankind the strength to believe in itself: planetary responsibility, the desire for mutual assistance and faith in progress? When I speak of Bana, Ousman, Kouamé and Jules, I speak about all my compatriots and everyone else’s compatriots, because our security is their security. We are inextricably linked in a community of fate, today and tomorrow. Global balances have changed radically in recent years and the world has become multipolar once again, so we must learn anew the complexity of dialogue as well as the riches it can bring to us.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We will build such a world right now by making our national contributions, as France has done by adopting its climate plan, which places us on the road to carbon neutrality. On 12 December, we will be meeting in Paris with those who wish to move forward with real solutions by mobilizing public and private funding. Here I confirm that France will play its full role in this respect by allocating €5 billion per year to climate action between now and 2020. Our unfolding ambition is reflected in the fact that this very afternoon we will be introducing a global pact for the environment aimed at shaping international law for the coming century, with the support of the United Nations agencies. At a time when some would wish us to stop, we must continue to advance, because climate change and extreme weather events will not stop.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“That we did and signed it in this very Hall. That agreement is not up for renegotiation. It binds us and rallies us together. To take it apart would mean unraveling a pact not just between States but also between generations. It can be improved; we can have new contributions and fresh input, but we will not backtrack. I fully respect the decision of the United States. The door will always be open to it. However, we will continue our work, along with all Governments, local governments, cities, businesses, non-governmental organizations and citizens of the world. We have the strength of pioneers, endurance and the certainty and energy of those who wish to build a better world. That better world will lead to innovation and job creation, despite the beliefs of those who see the future only in terms of the past.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“I am thinking of his house, which lies in ruins, and of his fear that this may happen again because of climate change, which is leading to an increasing number of disasters. The future of the world is that of our planet, which is now taking revenge for the folly of humankind. Nature is calling us to task to shoulder our responsibility of humanity and solidarity. It will not negotiate with us, and humankind must defend itself by protecting it. Extreme weather events are exploding the traditional differences between the North and the South. The most fragile are always the principal victims, swept up in a whirlwind of injustice. We are all affected by climatic changes, from China to the Caribbean, in Russia and in the Horn of Africa. My country promised, before the Assembly, that we would achieve a universal agreement in Paris.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We are fighting so that all cultures and languages can be preserved and so that progress can continue to be made. Freedom of expression, too, is a most urgent issue. The United Nations must protect the freedom of those who think, reflect and express themselves, in particular the freedom of the press. For that reason, I call for the appointment of a Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the protection of journalists throughout the world; neither the fight against terrorism nor the more demanding world we are living in can justify any inroads upon that freedom. Finally, I wish to speak on behalf of my fellow Frenchman Jules, who lives on the island of St. Martin.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“In this fight for development, we must also support the role of women, culture and freedom of expression. Wherever the role of women is undermined, there, too, development is undermined, as is a society’s ability to assume its rightful place in the world. These are not trivial issues; this is a deep-seated civilizational struggle. It is our struggle and these are our values, which are not relative but universal on all continents and at all latitudes. Wherever culture is undermined, there, too, our collective ability to rise to challenges is undermined. That is why UNESCO is today such an important organization and has such a key role to play with respect to ensuring a human face for the world at a time when widespread obscurantism seeks to eradicate its unbelievable diversity.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“The first is investing in education, because it is education that will help us win the fight against the obscurantism that is bringing down entire countries and regions today, both in Africa and the Middle East. I urge the international community to step up in February 2018 in Dakar when we re-establish the World Partnership for Education, which France will co-chair with Senegal. This is a key struggle for us all. We must give girls and boys the opportunity to escape obscurantism and to choose their own future, not the future imposed upon them or the one that we in this Hall would choose for them. Our second priority is to invest in health and combat major pandemics and malnutrition, because without education or health there can be no hope.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Of course, I want France to do its part with development aid, but what I really want is for us to bring more innovation and intelligence to our aid, using different methods and taking on greater responsibility on the ground. That is what I want. The challenge we have today is in ensuring that development aid actually reaches the areas where it is needed, simply and efficiently, calculated correctly and for the purpose it was designed for. That was what we wanted to do with the Alliance for the Sahel, for example, which we launched with the European Union, the World Bank and the United Nations Development Programme. We also have to set clear priorities.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“If we are to overcome such moral and civilizational challenges, it will be by pursuing a true policy of development, which is why I have decided that France should play its part by devoting 0.55 per cent of national revenue to public development aid for the next five years. I am grateful for the applause, but I have to temper it somewhat — first, because I know that some people were expecting more, that such aid is never enough, and that France’s response is still not enough, but mainly because it is not money that is the real issue; it is how effectively that money is used. It is what we spend the money on. It is about how we can be better at evaluating and taking responsibility for the money that we all contribute.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We must put an end to these intolerable violations of fundamental human rights by working with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration to establish a humanitarian infrastructure and by helping countries of origin and transit to better control migration flows. But while short-term responses are a necessity for managing crises when we are dealing with terrorism and migration, what is at stake today is our ability to muster the political will to address the underlying causes of these sources of instability. Migration and terrorism represent the biggest political challenges that all of us may ever face.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Protecting refugees is a moral and political duty and one in which France is resolved to play its part, by supporting the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees wherever he has to intervene; by opening legal paths to resettlement in areas closest to the conflict zones in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey as well as in the Niger and Chad; and by defending the right to asylum and unequivocal respect for the Geneva Conventions. In Paris on 28 August, we brought together the African and European countries that have been most directly affected by the migration flows along the central Mediterranean route. We adopted a road map whose priority is combating the smugglers who traffic in despair.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“The military operations there must cease, access to humanitarian aid must be provided and the rule of law must be re-established because, as we know, what is going on is ethnic cleansing. France will take the initiative on this issue in the Security Council. Necessity means leaving to save one’s family when war is raging and when international humanitarian law is no longer respected but becomes a tool to be exploited in the warring parties’ strategy of violence, as it is in Syria. It means exile when the defenders of freedom are the first to be targeted by the powers that be.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Left on the roadside, he crossed Africa before putting his fate in the hands of smugglers in Libya. He crossed the Mediterranean and came safely to port when so many others perished at sea. The refugee, the displaced person and the person to whom we give the sad name of migrant has truly become the symbol of our age, of a world where we will never be able to halt the march of despair if we cannot turn the roads of necessity into roads of liberty. Such migrations are the result of politics, climate change or ethnic conflict. They are always the roads taken by necessity. Today necessity is a flight from the persecution of which the Rohingya — more than 400,000 refugees, most of them children — are victims.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“That is why I have supported the deployment of the Force conjointe du G5 Sahel since my first day in office, and I urge everyone here to mobilize collectively to that end, too. This is also why I want to invest in strengthening our support to African peacekeeping missions, because that is the future. We must all give new thought to the links between peacekeeping, regional organizations and host countries. Our capacity to respond to our peoples’ aspirations for peace depends on it. Certainly, a military response can never be the only response. Here I would like to emphasize the importance of a political response, and in that regard I have in mind the implementation of the Algiers Agreement for Peace and Reconciliation in Mali and our development policy. I have also listened to Kouamé, and I want to bring his voice in here today.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We are now all engaged in the Sahel — the United Nations, the countries of the region that are participating in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali and the Force conjointe du G5 Sahel, and the European Union and its member States. And I would like to pay tribute to all stakeholders by acknowledging that it is an extremely difficult challenge with a high cost in human lives. Our challenge there is, again, eliminating terrorism and, in order to do that, building national capacities so that States can take charge of their security themselves. Regardless of the resources we put there, our collective effort will not succeed if the countries that are most affected are unable to take on their own responsibilities in that regard.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“It is also the focus of the military action that France has undertaken as part of the coalition in Syria and Iraq, in accordance with international law. We are fighting terrorism not only on the military and diplomatic fronts but on the educational, cultural and moral fronts, too. It is part of our efforts in Asia as well as in the Middle East and Africa. And it must bring all of us together. I have listened to Ousman, a schoolboy in Gao, and I would like to bring his voice in here today. Ousman is growing up in Mali under constant threat from indiscriminate attacks, and yet his only dream is to be able to go to school without risking his life.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“When we act to achieve peace in Syria we are acting for the Syrian people, but we are also doing it to protect all of us against Islamist terrorism, because what we are primarily fighting in Syria and in Iraq is terrorism. We are acting for all who perished in attacks in recent months, because jihadi terrorism has struck our fellow citizens across all continents, regardless of religion. We must therefore protect ourselves by joining forces, and security must become our first priority. That is the focus of the initiatives that France has launched for combating terrorists’ use of the Internet and all their financing sources. That is why I hope we can organize a conference in 2018 on this effort, which I urge everyone here to become involved in.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)