YouSaid · the spoken record

Craig John Hawke

lines on the record: 26
first: 2017-09-24
most recent: 2020-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
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

“Nau te rourou, naku te rourou ka ora ai te iwi. That translates as “With your food basket and my food basket, the people will thrive.” Stay safe, everyone.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“As we will also emphasize in New Zealand’s statement to be delivered later this week on the International Day for the Total Elimination of Nuclear Weapons, it is time for global negotiations involving all nuclear-weapon possessors to take place in order to enable us to achieve nuclear zero. In conclusion, it was out of the devastation of the Second World War that nations pledged to save succeeding generations from the scourge of war. Now, in 2020 more than ever, the international community must step up collectively and in the common interest. Since 1945, New Zealand has championed the United Nations and the wider international system. Today we recommit to playing our part in ensuring that the multilateral system collectively responds to our shared and urgent challenges. New Zealand urges all other Member States to do the same.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“At recent events marking the seventy-fifth anniversary of the atomic bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, we recalled the catastrophic consequences of nuclear weapons. The testing of such weapons has also had a disastrous impact in the Pacific region. We know that no State or organization can prepare for the unimaginable suffering in the wake of a nuclear holocaust, and if we cannot prepare, we must prevent. That is why New Zealand signed the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. We urge all others to join that landmark treaty and we welcome its imminent entry into force. The Treaty’s global prohibition on nuclear weapons is a necessary step on the way towards their total elimination.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“Our top three constitutional positions are all held by women and we currently have our third woman Prime Minister. We are proud of our gains, but mindful of the continuing gap. On Thursday, we will celebrate the twenty- fifth anniversary of the fourth World Conference on Women. The Beijing Platform for Action remains as relevant today as it was 25 years ago, and we recommit to completing the unfinished work. To achieve the commitments set out in Beijing, we must protect the rights of all women and girls. Collectively, we need to do more to eliminate gender inequalities. Realizing gender equality is everyone’s responsibility. It is simply non-negotiable and we will not rest until it is achieved.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“The critical importance that biodiversity plays in ensuring the welfare of our people, the economy and the environment will be highlighted tomorrow in the high- level summit on biodiversity. Biodiversity all over the world is in serious decline. The time for action is now and New Zealand is stepping up. We have launched Te Mana o te Taiao, the Aotearoa New Zealand Biodiversity Strategy, to guide the way we protect and restore nature. We urge all others to join us in increasing our ambition on biodiversity protection. It is one of the best investments we have in our future. New Zealand will continue to advocate for advancing gender equality and women’s empowerment. We were the first country in the world in which women won the right to vote.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“The threat of climate change is more real in the Pacific than in any other region in the world. Some of the most climate-affected nations in the world sit within our region. Sea-level rise poses an extreme threat to many Pacific islands. They are paying the price for our collective inaction and their fate is in our hands. They rely on the United Nations and its Member States to make political decisions and commitments to protect their future. The full implementation of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change is critical. Moreover, it is time for a global reset aimed at a greener economy. We must stop fossil-fuel subsidies and divert those billions of dollars into transitioning to clean-energy generation. It is time to rethink how our societies can simultaneously focus on the well-being of our people and of our environment.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“The international community must ensure that appropriate concessional financing is available to small island developing States to support their response to this economic shock. New Zealand is committed to working with the international community and supporting Pacific island countries to withstand the most damaging effects of the pandemic. But in all crises there are opportunities. Our opportunity today is to build back better — to rethink how our economies can work for the many, not just the few, to better focus on the most vulnerable and to rebuild our societies to prioritize tackling the defining challenge of our generation — climate change. Many of the things I have said about COVID-19 apply equally to climate change, but there will be no vaccine against the latter.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“We must ensure that the recovery respects and promotes the human rights of all. We must recommit to the Sustainable Development Goals and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. And we should rally behind the Secretary-General’s call for a global ceasefire so we can all focus on prevention and recovery. Where we live, in the Pacific, the socioeconomic impacts of the pandemic have been and will continue to be particularly damaging. The outlook is challenging. Many small island developing States depend on tourism sectors that have been drastically affected by closed borders. Those countries also face significant constraints to ensuring economic resilience, and the pandemic has amplified those challenges.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“COVID-19 and its secondary impacts are having a disproportionate effect on the world’s most vulnerable groups. Millions of children are out of education with no ability to learn from home, and millions have missed life-saving vaccinations. Ethnic minorities are dying from COVID-19 at a disproportionately high rate. Many working in the informal economy, particularly women, lack access to social safety nets. And there has been a concerning increase in gender-based violence. While a vaccine would return some normality to our lives, it may take years to recover from the socioeconomic effects of the pandemic. But we have an opportunity to mitigate them. We must work together for a global economic recovery that protects the most vulnerable, creates jobs and maintains supply chains and open markets.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“The international system has responded well in addressing the early health, humanitarian and development effects of COVID-19, but the need for international cooperation goes beyond that. We must work together to develop and distribute a vaccine on an equitable basis. To achieve that, New Zealand has joined the COVAX Facility. This will ensure that COVID-19 vaccines can be equitably distributed to every country participating worldwide. By supporting COVAX, we also demonstrate our commitment to ensuring that vulnerable communities everywhere, including in the Pacific, receive the vaccines they need. No one is safe until we are all safe. We encourage other countries to support vaccine multilateralism and ensure the unimpeded, fair and equitable distribution of COVID-19 vaccines worldwide.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“New Zealanders believe in inclusiveness, equality and a sense of community, beliefs that shape our approach to tackling the pandemic. Our response has been science-based and precautionary. We responded rapidly to each outbreak and New Zealanders have played their part in preventing widespread community transmission. The management of the New Zealand border continues to be our key line of defence. While we are all learning to live with the impact of COVID-19 domestically, we must also focus on its impact globally. To defeat the virus globally, we will need to be at our collective best. We have to pool our best ideas, think innovatively and share our best people and resources. We need to invest in and trust each other. We support the World Health Organization and the role it played in coordinating an early response.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“We are a country founded on the Treaty of Waitangi — Te Tiriti o Waitangi — which requires a genuine and sustained partnership and a search for shared solutions. We still have work to do at home, but these values guide our approach to global cooperation. Our connectedness also means that New Zealand relies on global cooperation and on multilateralism. At the heart of that is the United Nations. We invest in this system not only because is it the right thing to do, but because it helps build a safer, more prosperous and more sustainable future. Our security and prosperity are the peace and prosperity of every other country. Our interdependence with other nations has never been more evident as our countries have tackled the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“E nga mana, e nga reo, Rau Rangatira ma o te Ao, Nga mangai o nga whenua ake, Huri rauna I te Ao, Tend koutou katoa mai Aotearoa. My opening remarks were in Te Reo Maori, an official language of New Zealand and the language of the indigenous people of Aotearoa New Zealand. While geographically remote, New Zealand is deeply connected to its region and to the rest of the world. That connectedness drives us to seek common purpose with the countries in the Assembly Hall — the common purpose of a more prosperous, sustainable and peaceful world for all. For New Zealanders, diversity is strength. We strive for a more equal society and value strong institutions that promote fairness and deliver for all people.”
2020-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 75 (2020)
“It is our sincere hope that reform can achieve our collective goal of better reflecting the ideals of the Charter of the United Nations and, ultimately, ensuring that the United Nations delivers better outcomes for our generation and those to come.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Such guarantees are also the best means of ensuring decent treatment and decent conditions for the world’s citizens, and thereby reducing conditions that can lead to unrest, conflict and misery. But we all recognize that the United Nations can do better, and to do so it must be more relevant, effective and fit for purpose. The Secretary-General’s reform agenda provides an opportunity for us to make that a reality. Important work lies ahead for us to reform the development, peace and security pillars. Another critical element of making the United Nations more effective is management reform, including strengthening and modernizing its recruitment and management processes to ensure that maximum benefit is derived from its people. New Zealand looks forward to working together with the Secretary-General and all Member States.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“New Zealand and was pleased with the outcomes of the recent Pacific Island Forum Leaders Meeting, which had a strong focus on fisheries and climate change issues. Pacific leaders also agreed on the importance of fully implementing the relevant Security Council resolutions on North Korea, including by de-registering any North Korean trading or fishing vessels currently flagged in Pacific States’ shipping registries. New Zealand places significant value on the international rules-based order. Widely recognized rules, buttressed by an effective United Nations, are the best guarantors of our security and our economic wellbeing, particularly for small States.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“We are exploiting alternative sources of development financing, including working with the private sector, tapping into the diaspora as a source of skills and investment, maximizing the value of remittances and increasing temporary labour market access. New Zealand is supporting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals in a wide range of areas, both domestically and internationally, including through our development assistance. We will continue to play our part in meeting the high level of ambition set out in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Pacific is an important part of how we define ourselves internationally. A strong and effective regional architecture, with the Pacific Islands Forum as the central regional body, is a key to Pacific success.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“They are also great- ocean States and stewards of considerable ocean resources. New Zealand wants to assist those States in the sustainable management of oceans to ensure that our oceans are healthy and productive. We are making substantial investments to improve sustainable fisheries management in the Pacific and to reduce illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. We are also propelling a major increase in renewable energy generation in our region and further afield. New Zealand has taken a lead role in advocating internationally for the reform of fossil-fuel subsidies, which lead to wasteful consumption, put renewable energy at a disadvantage and depress investment in energy efficiency.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Progressing the Paris work programme is essential so as to deliver a framework that will ensure that the Agreement is robust, effective and credible, and that collective ambition will increase over time. The Pacific is at the forefront of vulnerability to the effects of climate change. We are therefore pleased to support Fiji’s presidency of this year’s Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. It is a rare opportunity for the region to showcase its leadership in that area. We are an island nation within a vast Pacific Ocean. Our exclusive economic zone is 15 times larger than our land area. The sustainable management of our sea and our islands are of critical importance environmentally, economically and culturally. Small island developing States face unique challenges and vulnerabilities.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Ongoing support for Afghanistan from the international community is critical, given the scale and complexity of the challenges ahead, but history has demonstrated in Afghanistan that no amount of international support can by itself bring about lasting peace and security. Afghanistan’s future lies in the hands of its Government and people. We continue to call on the National Unity Government to prioritize the interests of the Afghan people above all else. The United Nations is unique in its ability to convene the world so as to tackle problems that require collective action. The speed with which parties ratified the Paris Agreement on Climate Change has demonstrated the strength of commitment to take meaningful action on climate change. New Zealand is among the many countries committed to the Paris Agreement.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“That was an admirable achievement, and we acknowledge the sacrifice and commitment of the Iraqi security forces and Government. We note that the influence of Da’esh is not limited to Iraq and Syria, and that the defeat of Da’esh there will not spell the end of that group. New Zealand is focused on working with others in our near region — the Asia-Pacific — to ensure that groups like Da’esh do not inflict suffering in the way they have elsewhere. In addition to security-based efforts, preventing and countering violent extremism in the first place is vital, and we are pleased to support international efforts in that regard. New Zealand has been contributing to Afghanistan’s stability since 2001. We remain a committed partner of Afghanistan including through the NATO Resolute Support Mission.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“On the Security Council, New Zealand made determined efforts to improve the humanitarian situation in Syria. Alongside Spain, Jordan and Egypt, we managed to renew and improve cross-border access arrangements. We consistently raised concerns about the Council’s failure to bring about a political solution. Unspeakable crimes continue to be committed against the civilian population, and humanitarian access remains fraught. Only a sustainable peace based on an inclusive longterm political settlement can bring that needless conflict to an end. In Iraq, New Zealand’s defence force personnel are working to strengthen the capacity of Iraqi forces in their battle against Da’esh. We welcome the liberation of Mosul, Tal Afar and Nineveh province.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Until then, we join the rest of the international community in calling on North Korea to undertake immediate actions to de-escalate tensions, improve its humanitarian situation and abide by its international obligations. The risks associated with nuclear weapons and nuclear proliferation have been a key factor in New Zealand’s long-standing commitment to international nuclear disarmament. Last week, we were pleased to sign the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. The Treaty represents an important step towards a nuclear-weapon-free world. New Zealand is committed to playing its part to address global threats to peace and security. We have a history of contributing to efforts to prevent and resolve conflict, including through the United Nations.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“Those provocative actions have directly undermined the nuclear non-proliferation regime, and that has serious wider implications. As we saw during our recent term on the Security Council, the Council works most effectively when it acts as one. New Zealand supports the strong, unified responses by the Security Council, and we stand ready to work with Member States on measures that will fully reflect the consequences of North Korea’s actions. We hope to see tensions defused and a path to dialogue developed. The goal of denuclearization requires eventual engagement with Pyongyang, but any dialogue must be meaningful and constructive, and must address the issues that most concern the international community.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“As a founding Member of the United Nations, New Zealand has always supported the leading role of the United Nations in a multilateral system, which fosters positive international relations. Given the significant ongoing challenges to peace and security, the role of the United Nations in preventing and resolving conflict is as relevant now as ever. Among those challenges, North Korea presents some of the most pressing threats to international security in our time. The North Korean regime has consistently disregarded Security Council resolutions, the wishes of the international community and the well-being of its own people. In this past month alone, it has conducted its sixth nuclear test, launched a ballistic missile over Japan and carried out other ballistic-missile tests.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)
“There is no greater demonstration of the ability of the United Nations to bring the world together than the opening of the General Assembly. The breadth of issues which are discussed in this Hall is immense. Often there are as many points of view as there are Member States, but ultimately we as an Organization share the common goal of making the world more peaceful and improving the lives of all of our peoples. New Zealand is approximately 1,000 kilometres removed from its nearest neighbour in the Pacific, but our international connections are an intrinsic part of our identity and the foundation of our prosperity. We are an outward-looking nation that relies on global stability for our trade and the safety of our people.”
2017-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 72 (2017)