YouSaid · the spoken record

Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo,

lines on the record: 46
first: 2001-09-24
most recent: 2008-09-24
sittings or episodes: 4
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

“The Philippines will fully support you as you lead our General Assembly for the coming year. In conclusion, there are hundreds of millions of good people across this globe who are struggling as never before. We must hear their cry for help. It is within the collective power of the leaders at this United Nations General Assembly to fulfil the universal dream of better education, better health, food on the table and a dignified life.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“We are also pleased that the Secretary-General will join us in Manila during the second Global Forum on Migration and Development. Our overseas Filipino workers are true global pioneers. There is no ship abroad that does not have a Filipino crew or a nation that does not have highly skilled Filipino workers. The movement of people from one country to another will surely increase as globalization continues to erase borders. This fact should be recognized as having implications for the growth and development of both sending and receiving countries. In many troubled places of our world, the United Nations is the last great hope for peace and security. For this reason, the Philippines contributes one of the largest police contingents to United Nations peacekeeping operations. Mr. President, your leadership is more vital than ever.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“We will refocus the peace talks from an approach that is centred on dialogue with rebels to one of authentic dialogue with the communities. The context of our engagement with all armed groups will subscribe to the United Nations-recognized principle of disarmament, demobilization and reintegration. We maintain high hopes in interfaith dialogue as a means of building bridges rather than barriers between communities of different cultures and ethnicity. In furtherance of this effort, the Philippines will host the first-ever Special Ministerial Meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement on Interfaith Dialogue and Cooperation for Peace and Development in May next 08-51570 16 year. We will also cooperate with the Alliance of Civilizations.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“We will restart the dialogue when the area is secure, when our people are safe and when responsible elements in the MILF regain control. There is no alternative to peace. I stand before the Assembly today to declare loud and clear that we are committed to the process of peace in Mindanao. We gratefully acknowledge here today the central role of so many friends and allies, including the United Nations; Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Libya, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia and others in the Organization of the Islamic Conference; Australia, New Zealand, the United States and other bilateral partners supplying official development assistance; and the European Union and Sweden. All have played a big role in advancing peace and development in Mindanao.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“We see this approach as a way for countries to seek a sustainable balance between food and energy needs. For food self-sufficiency, our food baskets are North Luzon in our largest island and the southern island of Mindanao. Mindanao has fields of the highest productivity, yet also the majority of our poorest provinces. It is a sad irony that our food basket has some of the highest incidences of hunger in our nation. The prime reason is the endless Mindanao conflict. Our archipelago of 7,000 islands has had its share of religious strife, ethnic tension and violence. For years, we have worked to achieve peace in Mindanao. Much progress was made until violent elements within the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) decided to take the law into their own hands.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“We have reached out to neighbours such as Viet Nam and others in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and elsewhere to ensure a stable supply and affordable prices. We have clamped down on price gouging and invested additional billions in planting and agricultural modernization. We have increased our energy independence by 17 per cent through greater use of geothermal energy, biofuels and other renewable sources, and we expect to attain 60 per cent energy independence in two years. Biofuels have been cited as being a positive factor for clean energy. At the same time, they have also been cited as a negative factor that contributes to high food prices. We are pursuing a policy of using non-food biofuel sources planted on land unusable for food production purposes.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“It is therefore timely that the Secretary-General, Ban Ki-moon, has organized this year’s agenda around the impact of the global economy on the poor. He deserves our highest praise for his quick and decisive action on the global food crisis. His Comprehensive Framework for Action, involving the United Nations, donor countries, civil society and the private sector, seeks to achieve food security through the right combination of policies, technologies and investments. This is a model of the United Nations in action. Since the volatile global economic situation became apparent many months ago, in the Philippines we have increased and stabilized the supply of rice and delivered targeted subsidies to the poor.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“Economic uncertainty has moved like a tsunami around the globe, wiping away gains, erasing progress, not just here on Manhattan island, but also in the many islands of the Philippines. Just when we thought the worst had passed, the light at the end of the tunnel became an oncoming train hurtling forward with new shocks to the global financial system. The setbacks from these global shocks of the past year — and of the past weeks — are real and profound. It will take time and perseverance to put the pieces back together. To address these global challenges, we must go on building bridges among allies around the globe in order to bring the rice to where it is needed to feed the people, to make investments to create jobs, and to keep the peace and maintain stability in the world.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“We made tough and sometimes painful decisions to reset our economy: tax increases, banking reforms, a crackdown on smugglers and tough fiscal discipline, to name a few. Thankfully, these reforms have given us some running room to weather the first wave of global price shocks that reverberated across the world earlier this year. 15 08-51570 It has not been easy, but Filipinos are tough and resilient. We have pulled together. We have been able to draw on additional revenues to provide targeted investments in food and fuel to keep our poor afloat until a better day. But we are also realistic and know that we cannot do it alone. We need a strong United Nations as never before. We need rigorous international cooperation as never before.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“The developing world is at a tipping point. In the Philippines, we feel the pain of high prices of food, fuel and rice. Our people pursue the universal dream of a better life for themselves and their children: better education, better health care, higher wages, a dignified retirement. We are proving the value of a new paradigm for self-reliance through the use of, first, a targeted strategy with a set of precise prescriptions to ease our price challenges; secondly, food self-sufficiency and more energy independence; and thirdly, long-term reforms. This is a positive example that we wish to share with the rest of the world. Our gains over the past seven years were hard- earned.”
2008-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 63 (2008)
“The attention of the international community has been drawn, with great reason and justification, to the current situation in Myanmar. This is the time for Myanmar to return to the path of democracy, to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi now and to involve all the parties, including the National League for Democracy, in the democratization and constitutional processes. In conclusion, the number of globe-sized issues we will face in the twenty-first century will require globe-sized cooperation. We must build bridges of peace and prosperity, and the place to start is in building a stronger United Nations.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Closer to home, I have personally advanced the process of peace in Muslim and Christian Mindanao to a new level of engagement, focusing on interfaith dialogue, economic development and mutual security. We have done so with the largest possible international involvement, including that of the United Nations. Peace in Mindanao is very much an issue of human rights, as is poverty alleviation, our number-one issue. The Philippines is the most democratic country in our region. We have no tolerance for human rights violations at home or abroad. We support the effort to revitalize and refocus the work of the United Nations in human rights. For that reason, the Philippines sought and won a seat on the Human Rights Council.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“We believe that our ambitious economic reforms will increasingly keep our best and brightest right in the Philippines, closer to friends and families, helping to build our communities and provide the next generation of leadership. The United Nations is a pillar of security and human rights. It remains the central pillar underpinning conflict resolution. Our country is among the largest, if not the largest, contributor of police officers to United Nations peacekeeping missions. The Philippines has peacekeepers, both military and police, in Afghanistan, Côte d’Ivoire, Georgia, Haiti, Kosovo, Liberia, the Sudan and Timor-Leste. We will continue our participation to safeguard communities so that they may overcome conflict and regain the peace needed to pursue development.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“China’s rise is a significant opportunity for the Philippines. Our overall relations are now more confident and comprehensive. Relations are not just about trade. They are also about people, and this includes migration, a worldwide reality. We thank the Secretary-General for supporting the Philippine hosting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development next year, and we invite all Member States to participate. Overseas Filipino workers are honoured by the Government and the people for their sacrifice and dedication to work, family and nation. We welcome their contribution, but we are working towards the day when Filipinos no longer need to go abroad for a job, the day that overseas work is just another career option.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“That will complement efforts under the multilateral trading system. At a time of uncertainty, when the Doha Round is faltering, ASEAN has taken a bold step forward by drafting its Charter. That is our first step to creating a permanent sense of community. We are working towards a single market with free movement of goods, ideas and skilled talent. In APEC, the world’s largest economy, the United States, and the world’s fastest-growing economy, China, are active participants. We have a strong alliance with the United States, which remains our largest trading partner and our strongest strategic ally. We have stood shoulder to shoulder for many generations. We expect to continue building on our mature relationship with the United States. We have also forged a strong relationship with China.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“On the sidelines of the current session of the Assembly, we hope the contending countries can continue consulting to find the right formula of subsidy cuts and market access to break the Doha impasse. But let us be clear: even as the Philippines works tirelessly to move the talks forward, we are not going to stand by and do nothing. For us, it is full speed ahead; preferably with Doha, but full speed nevertheless. We recognize that if the multilateral trading system is fragmented into trading blocs, it will result in a more complex set of trade rules. That could incompatible with and detrimental to the interests of developing nations. In the meantime, while we are hoping for a successful conclusion to the Doha Round, we have to maximize the economic opportunities provided under bilateral and regional free trade agreements.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“As part of capacity-building, we call on the United Nations and our partners among developed nations to strengthen South-South cooperation, wherein developing nations with specific strengths can share with other developing nations in need of their strengths, funded by developed nations or multilaterals such as UNDP. The developed nations were the prime movers of global trade when it suited them; now some countries are slowing things down. That is not right, nor is it good for our respective economies. But there has been a ray of hope, with the developed countries declaring that they are willing to maximize flexibilities in exchange for greater market access.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“The multilateral trading system, through the Doha Round, remains the best option to address poverty and improve standards of living around the world through an agreed set of international trade rules. The Doha Development Agenda was launched with an emphasis on creating a developmental dimension and integrating it into all elements of the negotiations. To make the Doha Round truly a development round, there must be a greater coherence of policies among international development institutions, such as the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Trade Organization, so that trade is mainstreamed in the development agenda and capacity-building can be focused on trade competitiveness.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Too many nations, both developed and developing, believe the environment must be sacrificed at the altar of growth. We believe otherwise. We believe that we have a unique opportunity to get it right from day one: to introduce new industries that are clean and profitable. That includes a biofuels industry that helps our energy independence, creates jobs and keeps our nation clean for future generations. We are further developing our geothermal power, which is one of the two largest in the world. We reiterate our commitment to the global trading system and, when that fails us, to strengthening the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and regional relations in order to bolster our economy.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“It emphasizes a sustainable economic model that brings together economic opportunity and concern for our environment. At the Secretary-General’s High-level Event on Climate Change earlier this week, United Nations member nations focused on what the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and Kyoto Protocol meetings in Bali to be held in December 2007 should do. The Clean Development Mechanism under the Kyoto Protocol has allowed developing countries such as the Philippines to voluntarily reduce their greenhouse gas emissions through private sector initiatives. But there is a need to expand the carbon market and to expand international cooperation and financial support to promote strategies to adapt to climate change.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“That does not mean we believe that countries like the Philippines are ready to compete head-to-head today in every sector, but it does mean that we cannot afford to be afraid of globalization. By being increasingly connected to the world, the Philippine economy has reached a new level of maturity and stability, with some of the strongest macroeconomic fundamentals in 20 years. Six years ago, noone thought we could get more revenue, cut down on tax cheats, strengthen the peso and move the stock market. Noone thought we could bring our budget into balance, which we did last month, or prepay our debts and raise employment, but we have. We must both grow our economy and sustain our natural environment at the same time. We are developing and promoting our “Green Philippines” agenda.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Mr. President, congratulations on your election as President of the General Assembly. Congratulations also to our Secretary-General, His Excellency Ban Ki-moon, who was such a good friend of the Philippines when he was Foreign Minister of the Republic of Korea. We embrace his vow to focus on strengthening the three pillars of the United Nations: development, security and human rights. The United Nations is a pillar of development. It plays a major large role for the Philippines. Poverty alleviation is the most important part of our agenda and our vision of transforming the Philippines into a modernized nation in 20 years. We want to be actively engaged in local, regional and global affairs, because that is the future. We believe in the power of the global trading system to alleviate poverty and modernize nations through market forces.”
2007-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 62 (2007)
“Therefore, it behoves every Member of this Organization to make the United Nations increasingly relevant and to invigorate it to become a modern, nimble and determined agent for change, which benefits mankind's condition. We should instil the concept of strength and greatness, not in terms of the ability to achieve or maintain dominance over others, but in terms of the ability of nations to work with others in the interest of the international community as a whole. We favour the strength of consensus in which the future of world peace, security and prosperity lie.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“The United Nations was created 58 years ago to serve as the multilateral forum of the international community to join hands in confronting challenges. It is sobering to remember that no country, big or small, rich or poor, can feel safe or think that it can remain unaffected by violent conflicts, environmental degradation and human suffering. The United Nations must continue to adapt to changing conditions to fulfil its envisioned role, and we support the call of the Secretary-General for reforms in the structure of the United Nations. 10 The United Nations is a sui generis global institution that can play a catalytic role to confront all these challenges now and in the future.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“Meanwhile, the challenges posed by the global threat of terrorism are being effectively addressed through growing international coordination and cooperation, particularly in the exchange of information, best practices and lessons learned. We are actively assisting the work of the Security Council's Counter-Terrorism Committee in fighting the spectre of global terrorism, and we are in the process of ratifying the important international conventions on terrorism. At the same time, I am working with other heads of State to ensure continued cooperation in our battle to rid South-East Asia of the threat of terrorism. What is required of us today is to link up once more with the vision that our leaders charted at the Millennium Summit and other recent international conferences, and we should do this under the banner of the United Nations.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“As long as conflicts occur, there is a need to strengthen our capacities for peacekeeping, peacemaking, and peace-building. International security, which in recent experience is mostly threatened by imploding and failed States, must be animated by the need to protect individuals and communities from violence. It has also been amply demonstrated that democracy is the condition most conducive to a flourishing rule of law. Erecting mechanisms and infrastructure for the rule of law should be included as a key part of any exit strategy of United Nations peace operations. It is our view that the Security Council should provide the leadership in moving the United Nations to a stronger commitment to the rule of law in areas where the United Nations is conducting peace operations.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“The principle of collective security established under the Charter should be observed. The Security Council should maintain and pursue a multilateral approach towards the performance of its primary role of maintaining international peace and security. Observance of the rule of law is of paramount importance in the maintenance of international peace and security. I believe that there is a strong role for the United Nations to play in Iraq and welcome and encourage United Nations involvement to share the burden with other nations, like the Philippines, that are already participating in the reconstruction of Iraq. It is heartening that we adopted an important resolution on conflict prevention at the last session of the General Assembly.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“We wish to contribute our long experience in the United Nations system, as an original founding Member of the Organization. We have actively participated in the Council's initiatives towards the preservation of global peace and security throughout the past six decades, both as a past non-permanent member and as a contributor to United Nations peacekeeping operations and other Council activities. The Philippines has actively contributed military and police personnel to United Nations peacekeeping operations in Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East and Europe over the past half-century. We are now preparing to contribute a contingent to join the latest United Nations operation, the deployment to Liberia next month. Our guiding principles for our Council participation include the following.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“Nothing will do more to lift the Philippines out of poverty than peace itself. That is why we are negotiating peace with the MILF. The Government of Malaysia has been a prime mover in helping us negotiate peace, and I thank them. To complement these efforts, the Philippines has launched its bid for observer status in the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC). I will be attending the OIC conference next month in Malaysia and hope to use that time to advance the peace process in Mindanao and advance understanding among all faiths. I wish to take this opportunity to thank the United Nations community for its support for the Philippines as a non-permanent member of the Security Council for the term 2004-2005, and to ask for your continued support during the elections to the Council.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“In the three years since the millennium started, in the three years since the Millennium Summit, much has been done, though much remains to be accomplished to achieve the goals that the United Nations set for the twenty-first century. I am pleased to report that the vision of the Millennium Summit and pursuit of the Millennium Development Goals in my country have begun to bear fruit, as they have been applied in our peace process for the southern Philippines, in Mindanao. The Philippine Government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF), the Muslim separatist group in the southern Philippines, realize that the prescription of the United Nations is the only correct and viable one: that peace is an indispensable condition for 9 economic development, just as development is an essential component of peace.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“The interconnectedness of the global village continues to infringe upon traditional political boundaries. For instance, the tentacles of international terrorism have spread insidiously all over. These and current developments have displayed that without the centripetal pull provided by international cooperation and partnership through the United Nations, the world would tend to drift apart. The rich would become richer and the poor poorer. Conflict and disharmony would erupt along political, ethnic and even religious fissures. We face the paradox of a world contracting through advancing technology and, at the same time, drifting apart along the seams of inequality. Three years ago, 146 heads of State and Government and 189 Member States blazed the trail to the future by crafting the Millennium Declaration.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“On behalf of the Philippine delegation I would like to extend warmest congratulations to the President and the members of the Bureau on his election to the leadership of the fifty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. The past twelve months have been a most difficult and challenging period for the United Nations. A community of cynicism has formed regarding the ability of the United Nations to rise above the morass of disunity and disruptive competition among major Powers to fulfil its catalytic role in promoting international peace and security and development. But, while it is undeniable that the United Nations has struggled over the past twelve months, its predicted decline is greatly exaggerated. Economic linkages among nations have widened and deepened in many sectors.”
2003-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 58 (2003)
“We in the Philippines have been doing this in our region, in cooperation with our neighbours. The heightened virulence of terrorism, the renewed sense of insecurity among the world’s peoples and the alarming slowdown in the global economy have intensified the urgency and importance of our work. Together, let us get on with the job. It is serious. It is essential. It is urgent.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“The vision of nations where poverty is rapidly reduced cannot be attained in places where women and girls are mistreated and their rights trampled upon. As a woman head of State, woman head of Government and woman Commander-in-Chief of the world’s fourteenth largest nation, I say: we cannot conquer poverty without liberating women and girls where they are oppressed. The gender gap is a part of the development gap and must be addressed with equal vigour. The fight against terrorism, the struggle to eliminate poverty, the work on behalf of social and international justice, the strengthening of the rule of law, the promotion of tolerance and mutual respect, the practice of humanitarian compassion, the liberation of women, the never-ending quest for peace — these have long been on the United Nations agenda.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“To ensure that the WTO does not lose credibility at this crucial time, our top priority is to ensure that the Doha round is truly a development round. The effort to conquer poverty must embrace all cultures, all ethnic groups and all religious communities. Nations must allow all to preserve their own cultures. We must make political autonomy accessible to regions that want it. At the same time, no one must be allowed to resort to terrorism to further political aims. 10 Respect for culture and religion, resources for development, openness to political autonomy within the sovereignty of the nation and rejection of terrorism are the foundations of the Philippine approach to our ethnic diversity and to the uplifting of our Muslim and tribal minorities.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“But the most effective, and least costly, anti-poverty measure on a global scale is for developed countries to open their markets wider to the products of the developing countries, including in particular those products turned out by poor people in the poor countries — agricultural commodities, textiles, clothing and footwear, as well as electrical and electronic appliances and components. The global trading system cannot allow developed countries to subsidize heavily their agricultural exports while the developing countries are without the means to help their own farmers. The recent Ministerial Meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) decided to launch a new round of multilateral trade negotiations.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“We in the Philippines are addressing the affront of mass poverty through housing, education, lower medical costs, more efficient power, transportation and communications, infrastructure in the countryside, credit to small farmers and micro-industries, productivity, protection of the environment, and development of the areas farthest from our centre of political power and economic activity. The international community also has a responsibility in the elimination of poverty. Commitments to devote a certain percentage of gross domestic product to official development assistance have a place.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“No nation will indefinitely endure the yawning gap between rich and poor — a gap that is only growing bigger, not just within, but across the countries of the world. It is this growing disparity between the ever fewer rich and the ever-increasing poor that has given terrorism the freedom of movement and impunity from accountability that it has enjoyed. Poverty can be reduced partly by national economic growth. But, more than that, societies have to adopt deliberate policies to ensure that the income levels of the poor rise faster than those of the rich. Recent developments in the global economy have displayed the perils of overdependence on external markets. We must expand domestic demand and increase the purchasing power of the masses of our people. This is largely the responsibility of each nation.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“But while terrorism cannot be placated, and no terrorist should be appeased, there is no doubt in our minds, either, that we must address the concerns that they pretend are the inspiration for their terrible deeds. If the world can show that it will carry on, that it will persevere in creating a stronger, more just, more benevolent and more genuine international community across all lines of religion and race, then terrorism will have failed. No, terrorism will not stop, but it will have failed. To stop terrorism, the terrorists themselves will have to be stopped. What we can do, however, is to strip them of their moral pretensions and take upon ourselves the causes that they have perverted.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“In this fight, there is no side to choose but the one where the civilized nations of the world — long-time allies and former enemies — have chosen to stand united, not least here in this Hall. The Secretary-General has declared that the 11 September attacks struck at everything our Organization stands for: peace, freedom, tolerance, human rights, and the very idea of a united human family. I do not know if the future belongs to our side, but I am convinced that there will be no future if our side does not prevail in this fight — at least, no future that any of us would care to live in. In fact, it would not be a future in which most of us would be allowed to live. It would be a future where happiness was suspect, delight was blasphemy, beauty was a cause for shame and independent thought a capital crime.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“The attack on the World Trade Center, which aimed to take the lives of the 50,000 people who worked inside it, shows us an enemy without pity, without compunction and prepared to use any means to achieve the greatest destruction. The Philippines did not need to join the war on terrorism: it was in that war already, in the south- western part of our islands. The Philippines could not have done otherwise than to renew its commitment to fight terrorism in a wider field in the wake of 11 September. We know that this is an enemy that must be 9 fought everywhere so that it cannot again strike at will anywhere it pleases. This is a fight between tolerance and bigotry, between reason and fanaticism, between law and anarchy, between justice and murder pretending to be just.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“But we have thrown the full weight of the law, including the use of force, at those who have resorted to terrorism. We know the enemy, and we know that these are not people you talk to; these are people you fight. As the Secretary-General has pointed out, there are those who will hate and who will kill even if every injustice is ended. You must fight them in the field, when they take to the field and hunt them in cities when they hide inside. It was in the light of that experience in the south- western Philippines that we immediately condemned the terrorist attacks on the United States, for we recognized them immediately as desperate and despicable acts by that violent minority which seeks to enslave the world with fear. And indeed, they have given the world good reason to be afraid.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“It has destroyed our credit and has deterred investment. It has caused Asian Governments profound embarrassment at being caught flat-footed and unable to offer their citizens the most basic security. In the south-western part of the Philippines, it has taxed our resources and our patience to the limit, for terrorism is the argument of those who are not really interested in reasoning but only in getting whatever they want on their terms alone. We know terrorism. We are fighting it in the south-western Philippines. The perpetrators of the first attack on the World Trade Center were apprehended by our police. Rather than dismembering our country and dispossessing our people of their homes, we have been negotiating with secessionist groups.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Business activity stopped, investments were withdrawn, markets shrank, tourism dried up, more jobs were lost, living standards dropped even further, destitution spread and the very conditions that favour terrorism spread and deepened. Our misgivings about a world slowdown deepened into certainty about a recession that will be felt most deeply by those least able to endure it: not just classes but whole countries. The average growth rate in the gross domestic product of developing countries could fall from last year’s 5.5 per cent to 2.9 per cent. For most poor countries, that will translate to sub-zero growth. The face of terrorism that this city saw over a month ago is a familiar one to Asians. It has taken a terrible toll in terms of the lives of our people and the economies of the region.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“At the most elemental level, we feel most deeply the sad and tragic impact of the recent inhuman acts of terrorism: the lost lives, the orphaned children, the widowed spouses, the parents struck with the unimaginable grief of outliving their children and, worse yet, of watching them die. As we watched the horror unfold, we felt as though it were happening to us — as indeed it was, for the United Nations is in a sense one family. The blow that was struck at this international city of New York was felt as directly by the rest of the world. As people the world over stopped to watch in horror as the twin towers came down, the world’s economies ground to a virtual halt.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)
“Let me begin by congratulating Your Excellency, Mr. Han Seung-soo, on your election as President of the General Assembly. I am especially gratified to be addressing the Assembly when a distinguished Asian is again at its helm. I congratulate as well His Excellency Mr. Kofi Annan on the Nobel Prize that he, together with the United Nations, has received. That prize constitutes recognition by the international community of the indispensable role of the United Nations and of the necessary work it has done on the Secretary-General’s watch towards world peace and justice.”
2001-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 56 (2001)