YouSaid · the spoken record

Theresa May

lines on the record: 72
first: 2016-09-24
most recent: 2018-09-24
sittings or episodes: 3
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

“As Kofi Annan said at the start of his second term as Secretary-General, “I have sought to turn an unflinching eye to the failures of our recent past, in order to assess more clearly what it will take for us to succeed in the future.” (A/55/PV.105, p.3) In that spirit, let us show unflinching resolve to renew the promise of freedom, opportunity and fairness, a promise that has delivered for more people, in more places, than at any other period in our history. Let us ensure that promise can be fulfilled for our children and grandchildren and for every generation to come.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“United Nations agencies must deliver the reforms that the Secretary-General has started to become more agile, more transparent and better coordinated on the ground. To support those reforms, we must also ensure proper funding is targeted specifically at those parts of the United Nations that deliver results. Seventy years ago, the General Assembly agreed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Today we must renew the ideals and values on which that Declaration was founded. In doing so, we must learn the lessons of the past and show through our actions how cooperation between strong and accountable States with open economies and inclusive societies can best deliver security and prosperity for all our people.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Similarly, we should gather evidence of Da’esh’s crimes worldwide, show ensuring justice for their victims and deterring those who might conduct such crimes in the future. But accountability alone is not enough. We must do more collectively to prevent such atrocities in the first place and address the causes of instability that can give rise to them. The United Nations has a critical role to play, and it has a wide range of levers to do so, from sanctions — which show the leaders of Iran and North Korea that they cannot act without consequence — to peacekeeping missions, such as that in South Sudan, which is helping to prevent suffering and the collapse of law and order. To be able to effectively use those levers, the Security Council must find the political will to act in our collective interest.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“When the Syrian regime used chemical weapons on its people again in April, it was Britain — together with France and America — that took military action to degrade the Syrian regime’s chemical-weapons capability and deter their use. Earlier this year, when Russia used a toxic nerve agent in a sickening attack on the streets of Salisbury, the United Kingdom, with our NATO, EU and other allies, took action, expelling over 150 Russian intelligence officers in the largest collective expulsion ever. In Burma, following the damning report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar, we should sow the same confidence to hold accountable those responsible for the appalling atrocities repeatedly inflicted by the Burmese military on the Rohingya, Shan and Kachin peoples since 2011.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“We should not allow those mistakes to paralyse the international community when its long-established norms are violated. We should not let our inability to prevent some of the worst conflicts today stop us from making every effort to ensure they do not happen again in future. If we stand back, we allow the world to become divided into spheres of influence in which the powerful dominate the weak and in which legitimate grievances go unaddressed. This is not just a moral imperative — it is also a matter of self-interest, for when barbarous acts and aggression go unchecked, dictators and terrorists are emboldened. We must therefore have the confidence to act.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“The vote by the British people to leave the European Union (EU) was not a rejection of multilateralism or international cooperation; it was a clear demand for decisions and accountability to lie closer to home. I believe the role of leadership in these circumstances is clear: it is delivering on the democratic wishes of our people and international cooperation, working with allies and partners in pursuit of our shared values. Thirdly, we must have the will and confidence to act when the fundamental rules that we live by are broken. This is not about repeating the mistakes of the past by trying to impose democracy on other countries through regime change, but we should not allow those mistakes to prevent us from protecting people in the face of the worst violations of human rights and human dignity.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Through our aid budget and commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals, we will not only protect the most vulnerable, but also bolster States under threat and help others sustain their progress. Through global campaigns, we will help countries to end scourges such as modern slavery and sexual violence in conflict, and we will mobilize wider support through our alliances and membership of multilateral organizations — not only the United Nations, but also international financial institutions, the G-7, the Group of 20 and NATO. Just as there is no single recipe for an inclusive society, so there is no single model for balancing the democratic demands of our public with the imperative to cooperate internationally.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“So, too, will I defend objectivity and impartiality in the face of those who treat truth as just another opinion to be manipulated. This challenge has only become more complex with the rise in social media and online information. That is why we agreed at the Group of Seven (G-7) Summit in June to step up our efforts to respond to disinformation and why, together with our partners and with technology companies, we are leading efforts to reclaim the Internet from terrorists and others who would do us harm. Just as we must stand up for the values that we adhere to, so we must support countries and leaders who choose to take the often difficult steps towards a more inclusive society. The United Kingdom will use all the levers at its disposal to do so.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“They also include freedom of expression, a right to redress, property rights that are reliably enforced, equality, freedom of thought, opinion, religion and conscience — all found in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed 70 years ago. Those of us who believe in those tenets must set an example in defending and strengthening them at home and abroad. That is why we must call out hate speech, anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and all forms of prejudice and discrimination against minorities wherever we find it. Like many leaders, I suspect, I do not always enjoy reading what the media in my country writes about me. But I will defend their right to say it, for the independence of our media is one of my country’s greatest achievements and it is the bedrock of our democracy.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Secondly, we must build countries, not only economies, that work for everyone: inclusive societies where every citizen has a stake in the future. Those are the firm foundations on which strong and accountable nations are built. History has consistently taught us that giving people a stake in society is the best way to ensure stability, security and economic growth. There is no one right way to do this. Every country must choose its own path, but the basic tenets are common across the world. They include a Government that is transparent and accountable, an independent judiciary to enforce the rule of law, free and fair elections and a free and open media.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“It is why at this General Assembly session I co-hosted an event with Prime Minister Trudeau, President Kagame and President Akufo-Addo, calling for more support for investment and job creation for young people on the continent. It is why the United Kingdom will maintain its commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on official development assistance and put our development budget at the heart of our international agenda. We will do more to create jobs, improve skills and increase investment in emerging economies — in both our interests and theirs, for the best way of resisting protectionism is to ensure that this century is defined by open markets that really deliver for all our people.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“It must address the areas where it is not functioning effectively, deal with issues that are not currently covered and maintain trust in a system that is critical to preventing a return to the failed protectionism of the past. Fair and respected rules are essential for business to flourish and drive growth. But recent history shows that that cannot be sustained without deeper partnerships among Governments, business, international financial institutions and civil society to ensure that growth delivers for everyone. That is why I recently visited Africa, along with British businesses, to promote trade and investment and encourage a new partnership based on shared prosperity and shared security.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“And we are making sure people play by the rules so that business and innovation is celebrated for creating jobs, not demonized because of grievances over tax not paid or rights not respected. While we strive to make our own economies work for all our people, we should do the same at a global level. In an increasingly global economy, it is not enough to ensure people play by the rules at home. We need global cooperation to set and enforce fair rules on trade, tax and the sharing of data. And those rules need to keep pace with the changing nature of trade and technology. We need to give the World Trade Organization a broad, ambitious and urgent mandate to reform.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“First, we must respond to those who feel that the global economy is not working for them; the pace of globalization that has left too many people behind; the fear that our children and grandchildren may lack the education and skills to secure the jobs of tomorrow; and the risk that technological change could become a source of inequality and division rather than the greatest opportunity in history. In the United Kingdom we are driving investment in industries of the future to create new jobs, from low-carbon technologies to artificial intelligence. We are investing in education and skills so that workers are ready to make the most of the opportunities that lie ahead.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“That commitment takes account of the special requirements of the least developed countries and of small and otherwise vulnerable economies and benefits all our citizens and the wider world. But it is not enough for us merely to make the case for cooperation. We need action, at home and in the community of nations, to show how our ideas and values can deliver practical benefits for all our people in all parts of the world. We must recognize the legitimacy of people’s concerns and act to build a global economy that works for everyone. We must invest in the patient work of building open societies in which everyone has a stake in the future. And we must act to uphold the international rules-based system and stand up for our values by protecting those who may suffer when it is violated. Let me take each in turn.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“It is only global cooperation that can harness legitimate self- interest towards common goals, producing agreements on global challenges, such as climate change and proliferation, and increasing inclusive economic growth. We see that cooperation here today at the United Nations, as we also saw it at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting earlier this year. And here today, as Chair-in-Office of the Commonwealth, I deliver a clear statement on behalf of the Heads of Government of its 53 equal and independent member States. We reaffirm our shared commitment to working together within a rules-based international system to address shared global challenges and foster a fairer, more secure, more sustainable and more prosperous future.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“It is a way that ensures that strong nation States provide the bonds that bring citizens together and that power remains accountable to those it is there to serve; that celebrates free markets and has the confidence to reform them when they need to work better; and that demonstrates that delivering for one’s citizens at home does not have to be at the expense of global cooperation and the values, rules and ideals that underpin that. Indeed, cooperation and competition are not mutually exclusive. Only global cooperation based on a set of agreed rules can ensure competition is fair and does not succumb to protectionism, with its certain path to lost jobs and international confrontation.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“We have seen what happens when the natural patriotism that is a cornerstone of a healthy society is warped into aggressive nationalism, exploiting fear and uncertainty to promote identity politics at home and belligerent confrontation abroad, while breaking rules and undermining institutions. We see what happens when States like Russia flagrantly breach international norms — from the seizing of sovereign territory to the reckless use of chemical weapons on the streets of Britain by agents of the Russian GRU. We have to show there is a better way to meet the concerns of our people. That way lies in global cooperation between strong and accountable States based on open economies and inclusive societies.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“In the last century, whether in the rise of fascism or the spread of communism, we have seen those on the extreme right and extreme left exploit people’s fears, stoke intolerance and racism, close down economies and societies and destroy the peace of nations. And today, once more, we see worrying trends in the rise of such movements in Europe and beyond. We have seen what happens when countries slide into authoritarianism, slowly crushing the basic freedoms and rights of their citizens. We have seen what happens when corrupt oligarchies rob their nations of the wealth, resources and human capital that are so vital to unlocking a brighter future for their citizens.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“And after the military interventionism at the beginning of the century, people question the rationale, and indeed legitimacy, of the use of force and involving ourselves in crises and conflicts that are not ours, while at the same time being repelled by the slaughter in Syria and our failure to end it. Such doubts are entirely understandable; so too is the demand for leadership. Those of us who believe in inclusive societies and open economies have a duty to respond, learn the lessons of the past, meet people’s concerns with practical actions, not beguiling illusions, and renew our confidence in the ideas and values that have done so much to benefit so many for so long. For be in no doubt, if we lack the confidence to step up, others will.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“For the end of the Cold War did not, as many once believed, lead to the inevitable supremacy of open economies and liberal democracies cooperating on the global stage for the common good. Today, instead, we face a loss of confidence in those very systems that have delivered so much. The belief in free markets has been challenged by the financial crisis of 2008, the concerns of those feeling left behind by globalization, the anxieties about the pace and scale of technological change and what that will mean for jobs and the unprecedented mass movements of people across borders, with all the pressures that can bring.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“Over the course of his lifetime he witnessed the extraordinary progress that we as a community of nations have made since the Organization was founded: progress in which we have more than halved the number of people living in extreme poverty in this century alone; progress in which the number of people killed in conflicts has fallen by three quarters in just over three decades; and progress in which millions of our citizens lead healthier and longer lives and where, thanks to advances in human knowledge, medicine, science and technology, we are presented with huge opportunities in the years ahead. Yet today many are concerned about whether or not that progress will continue and fearful about what the future holds.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“On behalf of the United Kingdom, let me begin by paying tribute to an outstanding leader of the United Nations, who, sadly, passed away this summer. Kofi Annan was one of the great Secretaries-General, a tireless campaigner for peace and progress and a champion of human rights and human dignity, whose influence will continue to be felt around the world for years to come.”
2018-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 73 (2018)
“As the world looks on, I am calling for further steps and for nations with that special responsibility to work together and exert the pressure we know is necessary to force Kim Jong Un to change his ways. Let us not fail this time. Let our message to North Korea be clear: our determination to uphold those rules is stronger by far than their determination to undermine them. Throughout the history of the United Nations, countries have shown time and time again that by being true to our values, rules and standards, it is possible to come together and to deliver in ways that have the most extraordinary impact on the lives of the people we serve. I believe we can do so again. We must do so again, and we will do so again.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“On that challenge, the United Nations in recent weeks has shown it can step up to the task, with last Monday’s Security Council resolution creating the biggest sanctions package of the twenty-first century. We have seen regional and global Powers coming together and, as in the founding Charter, putting aside limited self- interests to show leadership on behalf of the wider world. But despite those efforts, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea continues to defy and provoke the international community and threaten its neighbours. Unless all Security Council members continue to live up to the special responsibilities that are placed upon us and, in seeking to resolve that crisis, to be prepared to take on necessary measures to tackle that threat, we will not be able to bring stability to the Korean peninsula.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“One country in particular has used its veto as many times in the past five years as in the whole of the second half of the Cold War. In doing so they have prevented action against a despicable regime that has murdered its own people with chemical weapons. As a result, in Syria, the United Nations has been blocked. That has undermined the values that we hold dear and the international rules-based system that is the basis of security and prosperity around the world. Now we face an even more immediate, global danger in the activities of Kim Jong Un and his regime in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Time after time, he has shown contempt for the international community of law-abiding States, contempt for his neighbours and contempt for the institutions and rules that have preserved peace and security.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“But in recent weeks, the United Nations has also confirmed what we all knew, namely, that the Syrian regime has used chemical weapons on its own people. In the face of that fact, we have a responsibility to stand up, to hold the Syrian regime to account. That responsibility sits with us all, but a particular, special responsibility lies on the shoulders of the permanent members of the Security Council. As one of those five members, the United Kingdom takes our special responsibility seriously. I am proud that we have used the full weight of our diplomacy to ensure that we have not had to exercise our veto in a generation. We seek to foster international cooperation, not frustrate it. But others have not done so.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Just as it the responsibility of nations not to seek to advance their interests through terrorist or proxy groups, so it is also the responsibility of each of us to act together in the face of the most egregious violations of our common rules and standards. Clearly, responsibility for the chaos and tragedy that we see in Syria lies firmly at the door of Al-Assad. He and his backers have continually frustrated the efforts of the United Nations to act as the broker of peace through the Geneva process. As responsible States, we must not abandon our support for the United Nations attempts to secure peace and stability in Syria. Indeed, we must continue to call on all those with influence on the regime to bring them to the table.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“When countries back groups like Hizbullah to increase instability and conflict across the Middle East, support so-called separatists in Ukraine to create instability on Europe’s eastern borders, or give tacit support to criminal groups launching cyberattacks against our countries and institutions, they call into question the very rules and the international system that protect us. That is why, both globally but also in our own continent of Europe, the United Kingdom will remain steadfast in our commitment and responsibility to ensure the security and stability of our friends and allies as we have done for generations.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“It is strong nations that form strong institutions and that provide the basis of the international partnerships and cooperation that brings stability to our world. It falls to us all to decide whether we will honour the responsibilities that we have to one another. I have talked about the role of the United Nations in stepping up on counter-terrorism. But that is an area that we as States have critical responsibilities that the United Nations cannot itself address alone, for it is inescapable that the terrorism, conflict and instability that we see across the world are in many cases driven by the actions of States acting through proxies.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“As we look at the situation in northern Burma, I call on the Burmese authorities to put an end to the violence, allow humanitarian access and fully implement the recommendations of the Advisory Commission on Rakhine State. By reforming our multinational institutions, we can strengthen their ability to deliver for the people we serve, protect the vulnerable and fight injustice. We can enable multilateralism to multiply the effect of our individual commitments through its convening power and spending power, through the economies of scale it can bring, the standards it can set, the moral leadership it can harness and the legitimacy it can confer. But multilateralism can only reflect the values that individual States project and can only multiply the commitments that they are prepared to make.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“That is why today, as I talk about United Nations reform, I ask the Secretary-General to make the fight against terrorists and the ideologies that drive them a core part of his agenda, at the heart of our development, peacebuilding and conflict-prevention work. To give that effort the prominence it surely requires, I am calling on the Secretary-General to make that a theme of next year’s General Assembly and use it to harness the efforts of Governments, the private sector and civil society so that we can truly strike the generational blow against that vile evil in our world. As we do so, we must clearly strike the balance between protecting our people and protecting their freedoms. We must always guard against those who would use the fight against terrorism as a cover for oppression and the violation of human rights.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“It is the ideologies that preach hatred, sow division and undermine our common humanity. We must be far more robust in identifying those ideologies and defeating them across all parts of our societies. As I said in the aftermath of the attack on London Bridge this summer, we have to face the fact that this will require some difficult conversations. We all need to come together, to take on that extremism that lives among us and to nurture the common values that must ultimately win out. They are the values of the United Nations. And yet, despite our best efforts, we as nations and as a United Nations have not found the ways or the means to truly take on that threat.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“24/29 17-29395 We must also step up our efforts as never before to tackle the terrorist use of the Internet, for as the threat from terrorists evolves, so must our cooperation. That is why today, for the first time in the United Nations, Governments and industry through the Global Internet Forum to Counter Terrorism will be coming together to do just that. Tech companies have made significant progress on that issue, but we need to go further and faster to reduce the time it takes to remove terrorist content online and to increase significantly their efforts to stop it being uploaded in the first place. That is a major step in reclaiming the Internet from those who would use it to do us harm. But ultimately it is not just the terrorists themselves who we need to defeat, it is the extremist ideologies that fuel them.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Benazir Bhutto was brutally murdered by people who actively rejected the values that all of us here in the United Nations stand for, in a country that has suffered more than most at the hands of terrorists. She was murdered for standing up for democracy, murdered for espousing tolerance and murdered for being a woman. When I think of the hundreds of thousands of victims of terrorism in countries across the world, I think of their friends, their families, their communities, devastated by that evil, and I say, enough is enough. Of course, we must continue to take the fight to these terrorist groups on the battlefield. The United Kingdom will remain at the forefront of that effort, while also helping to build the capabilities of our alliances and our partners to better take on this challenge.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Our communities came together at the Finsbury Park mosque in North London, and Londoners got back on the Tube. The terrorists did not win, for we will never let anyone destroy our way of life. But defiance alone is not enough. As leaders, we have all visited too many hospitals and seen too many innocent people murdered in our countries. In the past decade, hundreds of thousands have been killed by terrorists across the world. That is a truly global tragedy that is increasingly touching the lives of us all. This year is the tenth anniversary of the death of the woman who introduced me to my husband and who was known well to many of us in the United Nations.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“As the United Nations and as Members, we must work harder to combine the efforts of our development programmes with the private sector and the international financial institutions to support the creation of jobs and livelihoods that will address not just the consequences but the causes of this great challenge of our time. The truth is that, despite our best efforts, we are not succeeding. We must do more. The same is true with terrorism, where again, the challenges we face today are vastly different from those of previous eras. When terrorists struck London and Manchester this year the world saw our cities come together in defiance. Our Parliament carries on. Ariana Grande came back to Manchester and sang again. London Bridge is bustling with people.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“On migration, our starting point must be that it can benefit both countries and migrants themselves, but only when it is safe, orderly, well managed and legal. If we do not manage that effectively, we will fail both our own citizens and those taking those dangerous journeys, and we will push more people into the curse of modern slavery at the hands of the human traffickers and organized criminal groups that drive that inhuman industry. But the steps we are agreeing through these compacts alone will not be enough. For if people cannot find jobs, opportunity and hope for themselves and their families where they live, they will continue to look elsewhere.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“It is also about reforms that enable the United Nations to truly respond to the global challenges of the twenty-first century. At last year’s General Assembly we undertook to do far more to resolve the challenges of refugee and migration flows. We agreed to develop global compacts to address the causes and the consequences of the mass movements of people we see today. That was an important step to elevate significantly our global response and enable us collectively to tackle this challenge of our times. In the year ahead, as well as agreeing the principles of those compacts, we must ensure they can be applied in practice. We must do more to identify, protect and support refugees and those hosting them near conflicts.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“As an outward-looking, global Britain and the second-biggest funder of the United Nations, the United Kingdom will remain committed to spending 0.7 per cent of gross national income on development and humanitarian support. We will use our military to support peacekeeping, and our diplomats will continue to work to tackle conflict and to support peacebuilding. In turn, the United Nations and its agencies must win our trust by proving to us and the people we represent that they can deliver. That is why we will remain generous in our funding but will set aside 30 per cent to be paid only to those parts of the United Nations that achieve sufficient results. But this is about more than technical reforms, important as they are.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We must begin by supporting the ambitious reform agenda that Secretary-General Guterres is now leading to create a more agile, transparent and joined-up Organization. Much of the work will be practical and unglamorous. It will require the United Nations to deliver better cooperation on the ground between agencies, remove competition for funding and improve gender equality. But it will also require real leadership to confront damaging issues that have beset the United Nations. I therefore welcome the Secretary- General’s new circle of leadership on preventing sexual exploitation and abuse in United Nations operations, and I am pleased to be part of that initiative. We, the nations of the United Nations, need to give the Secretary-General our backing for those reforms.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“That is why the United Kingdom has over 70 years been such a pioneering supporter of those organizations, and more. But we should also acknowledge that throughout its history the United Nations has suffered from a seemingly unbridgeable gap between the nobility of its purposes and the effectiveness of its delivery. When the need for multilateral action has never been greater, the shortcomings of the United Nations and its institutions risk undermining the confidence of States as Members and donors. Even more important, they risk the confidence and faith of those who rely on the Blue Helmets, who rely on that sign I stand in front of today to come to their aid in the darkest of hours.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“It also means ensuring that those who flout the rules and spirit of our international system are held to account, that nations honour their responsibilities and play their part in upholding and renewing a rules- based international order that can deliver prosperity and security for us all. First, we must insure that our multilateral institutions can deliver the aspirations on which they were founded. Think of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees looking after those who have been driven out of their homes; the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons striving for a world free of chemical weapons; the United Nations Children’s Fund helping children in danger. Those are all vital missions where the United Nations surely has a unique role to play.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“If the system we have created is found no longer to be capable of meeting the challenges of our time, then there will be a crisis of faith in multilateralism and global cooperation that will damage the interests of all our peoples. Those of us who hold true to our shared values, who hold true to that desire to defend the rules and high standards that have shaped and protected the world we live in, need to strive harder than ever to show that institutions like the United Nations can work for the countries that formed them and for the people who we represent. That means reforming the United Nations and the wider international system so it can prove its worth in helping us to meet the challenges of the twenty-first century.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Indeed, the defining purposes set out in the Charter of the United Nations are to maintain international peace and security, to develop friendly relations among nations, to achieve international cooperation in solving the problems of an economic, social, cultural and humanitarian character, and to be a centre for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of those common ends. I do not see those as vaunted ideals to be held to their own sake. Those values and the rules they imbue are central to our national interest, to our security and prosperity. The international system, with the United Nations at its heart, is the amplifying force that enables countries to cooperate and live up to those standards in word, spirit and deed, to our collective and individual benefit.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“I believe that the only way for us to respond to that vast array of challenges is to come together and defend the international order that we have worked so hard to create and the values by which we stand. For it is the fundamental values that we share, values of fairness, justice and human rights, that have created the common cause among nations to act together in our shared interests and form the multilateral system. It is that rules-based system that we have developed — including the institutions, the international frameworks of free and fair trade, agreements such as the Paris Climate Agreement, and laws and conventions like the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons — that enables a global cooperation through which we can protect those values.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Through that migration we also see the challenges of economic inequality, between countries and within them. That inequality, together with weaknesses in the global trading system, threatens to undermine support for the forces of liberalism and free trade that have done so much to propel global growth, and it is pushing some countries towards protectionism in the belief that that best defends the interests of their own people. As the global system struggles to adapt, we are confronted by States deliberately flouting, for their own gain, the rules and standards that have secured our collective prosperity and security — the unforgivable use of chemical weapons by the Syrian regime against its own people and, perhaps foremost in our minds today, the outrageous proliferation of nuclear weapons by North Korea and a threat to use them.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“I think, of course, of the terrorism that has struck so many of our countries — including my own, five times this year —and, fuelling that terrorist threat, of the increasing numbers being drawn to extremist ideologies, not only in places riven by conflict and instability but many online in their homes, thousands of miles away from those conflicts. I think of climate change, which is depleting and degrading the planet we leave to our children. And I think of the vast challenges that come from the mass displacement of people. Many are refugees fleeing conflict and persecution. Others are economic migrants prepared to risk everything on perilous sea crossings in the desperate search for a better life for themselves and their children.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“I would like to begin by expressing my sincere condolences to the Government and the people of Mexico following the devastating earthquake. I also want to reiterate my sympathies to those affected by the recent hurricanes in the Caribbean. Our thoughts are with them all at this time. As we meet at the General Assembly, we face challenges that go right to the heart of who we are as nations — challenges that test our values, our vision and our resolve to defend the rules and standards that underpin the security and prosperity of our fellow citizens. As I argued in my speech here last year, many of those challenges do not recognize or respect geographical boundaries.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“But that action must be more global, not less, because the biggest threats to our prosperity and security do not recognize or respect international borders. And if we focus only on what we do at home, the job is barely half done. This is not the time to turn away from our United Nations. It is the time to turn towards it. Only we, as members of this community of nations, can act to ensure that this great institution becomes as relevant for our future as it has been in our past. Let us therefore come together, true to our founding values but responsive to the challenges of today, and let us work together to build a safer, more prosperous and more humane world for generations to come.”
2016-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 71 (2016)