YouSaid · the spoken record

Andrzej Duda

lines on the record: 193
first: 2015-09-24
most recent: 2023-09-24
sittings or episodes: 9
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

“Poland wants cooperation. Poland wants solidarity. Poland wants peace.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“On behalf of Poland, a neighbour of attacked Ukraine and a country that has taken in millions of refugees. I emphatically answer: yes. The United Nations is very much needed. No better system for international cooperation has been invented. The United Nations best justifies its existence not in New York or Geneva, but by bringing aid and assistance to those most in need: children, victims of war. the persecuted and the hungry, every day. all over the world. In 2025. the United Nations will celebrate 80 years of existence. We remember why it was founded. Today, in these dangerous times, we need a return to the thinking and actions of the founding fathers of the United Nations. There will be no lasting peace without cooperation, without solidarity between richer and poorer countries and. ultimately, without respect for international law.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Time is running out to achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sustainable Development Goals, and there are still many challenges ahead, so we must unite and intensify our efforts to accelerate the implementation of the individual tasks. Today the United Nations measures its strength against various challenges. With regard to the decision-making impasse in the Security Council, the situation in which Russia, one of the permanent members of the Council, is deliberately violating the Charter of the United Nations, the lengthy debates are considered a symptom of the weakness of both the Organization and its constituent States. There are some people who ask whether the United Nations is needed at all. whether it fits the times.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“We are ready to share with our partners from around the world not only our experience in the process of economic transformation but also specific technologies that many Polish companies have available. Poland is proud to have been elected a member of the Economic and Social Council for the 2024- 2026 term. A key priority of our Economic and Social Council membership will be to draw the international community’s attention to the impact of global crises, such as armed conflicts, the energy crisis, the coronavirus disease pandemic and climate change, and their impact on socioeconomic development.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Without solidarity there will be no lasting peace. The world today needs more solidarity. We believe that the idea of solidarity-based development, which we hold so dear, is a beacon for security and prosperity. Poland is ready to take on concrete measures to support the United Nations operations undertaken to confront the most fundamental global challenges and threats and social and economic crises. We wish to support the idea of just transition, of economic and social changes that will not lose sight of the human dimension so that nobody is left behind. We believe that our experience as the leader of Central Europe, the fifth-largest economy in the European Union and the largest State in the Three Seas Initiative can prove valuable to many countries with varying degrees of economic and social development.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“With regard to the Russian aggression against Ukraine, the Poles have once again illustrated that solidarity is not only a great part of their history, but that solidarity lives in us. Millions of my compatriots committed themselves to bringing aid to people fleeing the nightmare of war. In the very first days of the war. many journalists were coming to Poland and invariably asked me. “Where are the refugee camps?” And my response was. “There are not any. There are none.” There was no talk about camps. We hosted our guests in our own homes. We also had the honour of hosting many world leaders who came bringing humanitarian aid. including the Secretary-General and other United Nations high-ranking officials. I thank them for their support and their presence. Greater solidarity must come as a response to evil, war and aggression.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Poland fully recognizes the ambitions of the African Union to play an even more active role on the global stage, ensuring peace and development in Africa will be facilitated by good and cost-effective governance and the development of democracy on the continent. We respect the principle of African solutions to African problems and stand ready to share the experience we have gained in the difficult but successful transformation of our economy. Poland is a country of freedom and solidarity. It is known worldwide for the great Solidarity movement which not only stood for workers’ rights but also for freedom and fundamental values. The movement brought together millions of people, courageously defied evil and changed the course of modern history, bringing about the fall of communism. We are extremely proud of our solidarity.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Poland will also continue its humanitarian support. Many places around the world are facing worsening food crises. The situation is most difficult in Africa, where one in five people is suffering from hunger. Also, the population suffering from hunger is increasing in West Asia and the Caribbean. Today an estimated 2.4 billion people lack sustainable regular access to food, of which some 900 million face severe food insecurity. Therefore, in 2022. we in Poland have supported the World Food Programme’s activities in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, including in Lebanon. Afghanistan. Tajikistan and Syria. We fund our activities mainly through multilateral channels, as well as through Polish non-governmental organizations and their local partners.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Instead, my home country many times was brutally attacked, destroyed and used by neighbours to advance their imperial ambitions. For 123 years. Poland disappeared from the maps of the world. That is why we understand very well the countries that suffered colonialism and the challenges they need to confront. Wherever the international community is in need. Poland is always ready to respond to its call and does so without any hesitation. We provide assistance in many corners of the world. Despite the war in our immediate neighbourhood, we will continue our support to the Eastern Partnership countries. We continue to focus on the countries of the sub-Saharan region. We are present in the Middle East. Given the refugee crisis caused by the war in Syria. Poland’s assistance to Iraq. Lebanon. Palestine and Jordan will be maintained.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Without the United States support, neither the United Kingdom nor the Soviet Union would have been able to resist Hitler. Finally, the United States was instrumental in the reconstruction of Western Europe in the aftermath of war and in fending off the threat posed by the Soviet Union throughout the Cold War. Too often. Europe tends to forget that it owes its security and prosperity to the United States’ commitment and presence. In Poland, we recall that very well, that is why Poland’s top priority for its presidency of the European Union, in the first half of 2025. will be enhancing transatlantic relations and cooperation between the European Union and the United States of America. Poland has never had colonies, a fact of which we are proud. We emphasize it on every occasion.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“If one’s household is attacked, one has the right to defend it — and one’s neighbours should not stay indifferent. Ukraine would not be able to resist the aggression and effectively stand up for its independence if it were not for the assistance of other countries and. primarily, on the biggest scale, the United States of America. It is the United States that has been playing a pivotal role in assuring security in Europe for more than a century. I say that as the President of a European country that has been plagued by the experience of war on many occasions. It must be remembered that the engagement of the United States in the First World War led to its end. as well as to the restoration of independence in Poland and other countries in Central and Eastern Europe. The United States played a pivotal role in defeating Nazi Germany.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Poland, which has been libelled in many various ways. That is because we have consistently opposed Russia’s imperialist and neocolonialist policy and have supported Ukraine in its defence from the outset. We. as the international community, must draw conclusions from the situation. We must confront manipulation and disinformation. We must fight against the hypocrisy of history and the reversal of the roles of henchman and victim. What is evil should be called evil. A crime should be called a crime. These days, many States are being blamed for prolonging the war as they supply necessary weapons to Ukraine in its war of defence. That is a completely false logic, akin to putting the blame on a neighbour who comes to the aid of the people next door defending their home against a burglar.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“We support the work of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry under the Human Rights Council to investigate violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in the context of the Russian aggression and to collect, verify and preserve evidence. We support the idea of establishing an ad hoc special tribunal. Crimes must be accounted for and their perpetrators punished. Information warfare goes on. Lies are used to cover up and justify Russian crimes against the civilian population. Russia continually tries to shape international public opinion by building a false vision of reality. In Poland that comes as no surprise to us. but the world is just about to discover the scale of the manipulation and disinformation. The spearhead is often directed also at my country.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Forgotten and unpunished war crimes and crimes against humanity build a sense of impunity among the perpetrators. Such crimes give permission to those perpetrators’ successors and imitators, who. following suit, commit similar crimes when they want to dominate and determine the fate of other States and nations. The crimes committed during the war in Ukraine are living proof thereof. That is why we are engaged in an initiative to hold Russia accountable for gross violations of the fundamental norms of international law. We strongly support the work of the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“The logic of conquest, changing borders by force, disregarding the law and denying the Ukrainian people their right to exist must be stopped. The brutal war must end; it must not be converted into a frozen war. That can be done only by restoring the full territorial integrity of Ukraine within its internationally recognized borders. Poland’s position in the face of any war is clear and straightforward. We demand absolute respect for internationally recognized national borders. The inviolability of those borders is a fundamental element of the world order. Today the victim is Ukraine; tomorrow it could be any one of us if we do not follow those iron-clad rules and if we do not insistently enforce compliance with international law.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“was trying to shake consciences, appeal to politicians and warn of the imperialist policy of Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Let me recall, at this point. Lech Kaczynski’s seminal words spoken in Tbilisi at the height of the Russian aggression on Georgia in 2008: “For the first time in a long time. Russians have shown the face we have known for hundreds of years. They believe that the nations around them should be subjected to them. We say no. Russia believes that the old days of the empire that collapsed less than 20 years ago are coming back and that domination will again be a feature of our region. Well, it will not. Those days are over, once and for all.” Yes: today, in this very place, at United Nations Headquarters. I wish to reiterate that those days can never return.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“And yet our history stands as a testament to the fact that even crimes and persecution are not able to suppress the true spirit of freedom, and freedom will finally prevail. Enslavement, imperialism and neocolonialism are as much a denial of freedom as insane dreams of dominating others. When unleashing the war in Ukraine. Vladimir Putin wanted to restore the Russian empire, to divide the world and to make Europe systematically dependent on his raw materials. He has not succeeded. It is my firm belief that he will no longer succeed. Today the world needs courageous and visionary leaders. The late President of Poland. Lech Kaczynski, with whom I had the honour to cooperate, was such a leader. He was a leader who. a dozen years ago.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Nazi Germany invaded my homeland. Poland. The Second World War broke out. On 17 September 1939. we received a blow from another direction: the Soviet Union also made an onslaught on Poland. In the wake of the alliance between Hitler and Stalin — Nazi Germany and Soviet Russia — Poland lost its independence, was wiped off the world map and subjected to an extremely brutal occupation. That is precisely why we understand the tragedy of Ukraine, as well as the tragedy of other countries experiencing the pandemonium of war. better than any other country in the world. During the Second World War. 6 million of our citizens perished, including 3 million Polish Jews. Warsaw, the capital of Poland, was razed to the ground.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Today it has once again befallen us to live in dangerous times. As a result of Russia’s full-scale aggression against Ukraine, hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives or been injured. Millions have been forced to flee their home country and hundreds of millions worldwide are facing the spectre of famine and serious economic disruptions. Russia’s brutal aggression has brought immense global problems in its aftermath. It has put the international world order to the test. The cost of those barbarian actions — humanitarian, material and environmental — are incalculable and still growing. For a long time, world peace has never been as threatened as it is today. We Poles know full well that peace is not to be taken for granted. September, in the history of my home country, is a special month. On 1 September 1939.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“We are here because of the courageous and forward-looking decisions made by the leaders of the Western world during the darkest days of the Second World War. At the time, they pondered how to avoid similar tragedies in the future. The leaders of the United States and Great Britain. President Roosevelt and Prime Minister Churchill, and soon the other countries of the anti-Hitler coalition, including Poland, signed the Atlantic Charter. It contained the most important principles on which the post-war world order was to be based — the self- determination of nations, the inviolability of borders, the renunciation of violence, economic cooperation and human rights. The Atlantic Charter, together with the Washington Declaration, was the cornerstone in the building of the United Nations Organization.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“I would like to congratulate you. Sir. on your election to the honourable function of the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-eighth session, and to express Poland’s full support for your mission and wishes for your every success in its fulfilment. At the same time, my thanks go to His Excellency Mr. Csaba Korosi. in recognition of his active engagement while presiding over the work of the Assembly at its seventy-seventh session. The representatives of 193 countries from every continent have gathered in New York at United Nations Headquarters to discuss the most important threats and challenges facing the world today. The Assembly’s general debate is an extremely important event. It is the only place and our only opportunity to discuss in person the crucial problems that affect us all.”
2023-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 78 (2023)
“Let us not allow any tragedies such as those that the world experienced in the twentieth century happen in the future.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Let us never show indifference to any nation that defends itself against tyranny and contempt for humankind, for, by doing so, it always defends all humankind against such tyranny and contempt. The vision of a world in which only naked and brutal power wins is not only wrong and immoral, but it can also lead to a conflagration, engulfing the entire world. I am convinced that it is no different on this occasion. I say that in the forum of an organization that was formed in the wake of the greatest such conflagration following the Second World War. It was not without reason that in 1945 the leaders of our countries, the founding members of the United Nations, declared their intent to build a world based on dialogue, opposing the use of naked and brutal force. Let us not forget that legacy.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“I think that that is an obligation derived not only from the harsh laws of politics; it lies at the very foundation of human nature, for, as Pericles put it in his famous Athenian funeral oration: “Happiness is the fruit of freedom and freedom the fruit of valour.” A person and nation can pay any price for freedom and fight for it to the very end. People rebel against slavery, colonialism and oppression because it is their nature and law — the inalienable right of everyone to freedom and respect for their human dignity. For months, Ukraine has been demonstrating almost unbelievable valour to us. Therefore, in conclusion, from this rostrum I appeal to all those present the following. Let us not be indifferent to the heroism and complete determination of the struggle for freedom.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“It always begins with a cult of strength and a belief in one’s superiority, racial or ideological, over another human being, be it a person of another nationality from another country or sometimes from their own nation and country. However, people have always pitched themselves against the aggressor and the genocidaire — free people. Aggression stirs in people the will to resist, courage, fortitude, solidarity and the desire to support victims of injustice. We therefore continue to exist as humankind.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“This war must be resolved in such a way that the aggressor pays for the losses and damage caused. It will pay for every murdered human being in Ukraine. It will pay for every ruined house and every destroyed school building, plant and hospital. That must happen. Let us use all our powers and capabilities to ensure that the culprits are tried and punished. We are already cooperating with the International Criminal Court and the International Court of Justice to find the most effective ways to identify and prosecute the perpetrators. On many occasions in its history, the free world has faced partition wars, caused by enemies of freedom, driven by sick ambitions or the desire for total domination. From the genocidaires of the most ancient times to Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin and Pol Pot, the essence of such wars has not changed in any way.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Tomorrow it may be any one of us unless we respect those iron-clad rules and do not compel that international law be respected. There is no hiding the fact that Russia owes Ukraine war reparations, which it will have to pay. There is no justice without reparations. That applies to any country plundering another country. It applies today, but it also applies to unsettled issues from the past. I say that as the President of Poland, which was horrifically affected by the Second World War, a large part of it being ruined and destroyed, and which lost 6 million citizens, including 3 million Polish citizens of Jewish origin and nationality. That is why Poland will not cease its efforts to hold Russia accountable for its violations of international law, both at the State level and individually.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“If the United Nations is to truly be united, every response to violations of international law should be identical — decisive and principled — because the world is a system of communicating vessels. Today the victim is Ukraine, but, if Russian imperialism succeeds, tomorrow it could be any country in the world and someone else will plunder someone else’s fields. They will turn civilians out of doors and murder them. We must not allow that to happen. Poland’s position in the face of any war is clear and unambiguous. We demand absolute respect for internationally recognized borders. The inviolability of those borders is a fundamental element of the global order, and that is the precondition for peace in every single case. Today Ukraine is the victim.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“It knows that Russia is the aggressor and that Ukraine is suffering. It is positive that there is a clear distinction. But let us not become complacent. My recent visit to Africa made me even more aware of something that I myself had previously thought about for a long time. Were we equally resolute during the tragedies of Syria, Libya and Yemen? Did we not return to business as usual after the two tragedies of the Democratic Republic of Congo and the wars in the Horn of Africa? While condemning the invasion of Ukraine, do we give equal weight to fighting mercenaries who seek to destabilize the Sahel and threaten many other States in Africa? I think that the lesson learned from this war is the following.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“We should work together on such a road map for economic and social development to give people hope that the world can be a better and more supportive place in which to live despite being so scarred today by wars, the effects of pandemics and natural disasters. Poland wants to jointly create such a programme, including here at the United Nations — for example, as part of the work of the Economic and Social Council. Still, I owe a few words of truth to us — the leaders of the rich North, or, as others may like to put it, the West, including Western Europe. It is very positive that we have risen to the challenge on the issue of Ukraine, that we have preserved our unity and rallied to support the victim, not the aggressor, and that Western Europe today can clearly distinguish between who attacked whom.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“People spontaneously went to the border in order to help and to take Ukrainians fleeing the Russian aggression to their homes. That is the reality — the reality of Central Europe. We must not forget those who are suffering. Let us remember that six months of Russian aggression in Ukraine has brought about the biggest humanitarian crisis in Europe since the Second World War. I appeal for an increase in aid to the Ukrainian civilian population, whose humanitarian needs are far greater than the funds currently being provided. Winter is approaching, which, exacerbated by the war and energy prices, will be the hardest winter in years. As humankind, we have no right to turn our backs on those most in need. We, the international community, must not show any war fatigue. We must help and support.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“In 1939, right after Nazi Germany’s invasion of Poland, the country that invaded the Republic of Poland and destroyed my country, together with Nazi Germany, a Nazi State, on the basis of the Hitler-Stalin Pact, which was entered into on 23 August 1939, was precisely Soviet Russia. It was Soviet Russia that occupied 50 per cent of my country and, at that time, nearly 2 million people were deported to the Far East and the depths of Siberia. Twenty-two thousand Polish officers and policemen were brutally murdered by the Soviets. They were shot down in Katyn, Mednoye, Kharkiv and Tver. We know what Russian terror and Russian occupation mean. That is why Poles went to help Ukrainian refugees without asking questions. Neither the Government nor I, the President of Poland, had to call on them to do that. We did not have to appeal to them.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Everyone found dignified accommodation in dignified conditions in homes and in places specifically prepared for them — hotels, boarding houses and other temporary locations. There are no tent camps in Poland where people are living, sheltering themselves from war. Everyone found dignified accommodation. Every Polish man and every Polish woman is familiar with the situation in Ukraine. Every Polish man and every Polish woman vividly remembers what Russian occupation means, what Russian invasion of a State means and what Russian terror means — because Polish families lived through that terror after the Second World War, when the Russians occupied Poland, when the country was behind the Iron Curtain, when patriots were trying to shake off the Russian yoke and were fighting and when many people were imprisoned and murdered.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“I say that here today before Member States during the General Assembly of the United Nations as the leader of a State whose borders have been crossed by almost 6 million Ukrainian refugees since the start of the Russian aggression. Today our children go to school together with Ukrainian children, those Ukrainians who came to us, saving their lives by fleeing, Our citizens took hundreds of thousands of refugees into their homes. It is perhaps hard for many here to believe that, despite the fact that 6 million Ukrainian refugees came to our country and, according to our estimates, approximately 2 million are currently in Poland, we did not have to build a single refugee camp. There was no such necessity. No one is living in a tent in Poland.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“I say that as a man who visited Kyiv on 23 February and who has been to Ukraine three times since the beginning of the war, right after the Russian aggression, who saw damaged Borodyanka, near Kyiv, the destroyed houses and the suffering of the civilian population in Ukraine and who saw the repercussions of the brutal Russian aggression and blood on the street where Russian soldiers were shooting families driving in cars fleeing the war. It is hard to imagine that, but I saw it with my own eyes. I saw the enormity of their bestiality, and I know what the Russian aggression in Ukraine means and what it means when President Volodymyr Zelenskyy talks about Russian brutality and the deaths of thousands of Ukrainians murdered by the Russians.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“It is necessary to step up pressure on Russia and its accomplice, Aleksandr Lukashenko’s regime in Belarus. The advisability of continuing cooperation with those Governments should be deeply reassessed, including by international organizations. There is no longer room for business as usual with Russia. The time for business as usual has definitely come to an end and was finished by Russia through its bestial aggression against Ukraine, its violations of the principles of international law and a lack of respect for people and human lives.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“In that context, I see the need to develop penalization mechanisms to be able in the future to bring to justice the perpetrators responsible for violating international law. Those who knowingly destroy crops in the breadbasket of the world must know that they will be pursued in order to be prosecuted as long as they live. From this rostrum, I would like to pledge our support for all existing and new initiatives so that those who deprive millions of people of their right to food and destroy the environment will no longer go unpunished. Poland wants to actively participate in that work. The Russian aggression on Ukraine constitutes no less than aggression against the whole world. Every act of aggression requires a multidimensional international response, with determination and without hesitation.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“In addition, the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, of 8 June 1977, in article 54, prohibits, among other things, attacking, destroying, removing or rendering useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population, such as foodstuffs and agricultural areas. In turn, article 55 of the Protocol obliges States to protect the natural environment from damage during hostilities. That Russia is deliberately destroying Ukraine’s agriculture in breach of international law is probably no great surprise to anyone here. But, in the face of a barbaric war, are international legal regulations a sufficient response to the enormity of the damage to the environment and the world’s food supply? I have strong doubts about that.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“We will go to great lengths to make sure that those consignments reach those who are most in need, especially in Africa, Asia, Latin America and everywhere that it is needed, so that people can survive. Given Russia’s unlawful actions, we should learn a lesson for the future. We should also keep in mind the provisions of international law and the possibility of holding perpetrators accountable. A number of regulations exist in international law on the protection of food resources and the natural environment during conflicts. Inter alia, one can cite the provisions of article 11 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which recognizes the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, and by which States pledged to distribute the world’s food supplies equitably.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“I am all the more concerned by the increasingly frequent statements from the Russian side undermining the accord, as well as by acts that deserve to be condemned in the strongest terms, such as the shelling of the Odesa seaport by the Russian army, which took place within less than 24 hours of the signing of the documents. As the international community, we must immediately respond to such incidents by imposing further sanctions and providing more aid packages to Ukraine, which is defending itself. For my part, I would like to affirm that, as a neighbour of Ukraine, Poland, together with its European Union partners, remains steadfastly committed to facilitating Ukrainian grain exports, including by land.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“In that context, it is of key importance that, on 22 July in Istanbul, Russia and Ukraine signed separate agreements with Turkey and the United Nations. Those documents are aimed at unblocking the sea route through the Black Sea for the export of millions of tons of Ukrainian grain. Once again, I would like to personally acknowledge the significant role played by Secretary-General, Guterres in the conclusion of that accord. That is a great success of the United Nations and the Secretary-General in this extremely difficult situation. Now we all have to be vigilant about the parties’ compliance with the agreements and their commitments.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“I have been in politics long enough not to be naive in that regard. This is a deliberate policy by Russia. It is estimated that, in the aftermath of the war in Ukraine, the number of people suffering from chronic hunger this year will increase by about 47 million people, again especially in Africa and the Middle East. It is there that this catastrophe of famine, provoked by Russia as a result of its aggression against Ukraine, will be most visible. As the international community, we are obliged to prevent anyone in the twenty-first century from knowingly and cynically causing an artificial famine in the name of achieving their political goals, the way in which Stalin did back in the 1930s.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Land that produces nearly 30 per cent of winter crops has suddenly failed to produce any crops this season, or its harvest has been looted. Speaking in this forum, I do not need to recall that Ukraine is one of the most important food producers in the world. It is the breadbasket not only of Europe, but also the world. Conservative estimates indicate that this year alone Ukraine’s harvest will be 35 per cent smaller in the aftermath of war, and I emphasize a 35 per cent smaller harvest in Ukraine. More than one third of the breadbasket of large parts of the world has been eliminated by the Russian aggression. Who will suffer from that? It will be those who are most in need. It is an economic weapon; it is the weaponization of food, hitting Africa and the Middle East the hardest.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Antonio Guterres, late at night in Rzeszow when he was on his way to Ukraine to discuss and address food-related problems. I thank the Secretary-General for his energy, commitment, resolve and courage, which was, and is, much needed at this difficult time in order to represent the international community gathered in the largest organization in the world with dignity. From the very beginning of the invasion, Russia has been deliberately and cynically destroying new crops and farming equipment, and the invasion itself has drastically reduced Ukrainian harvests. The data that we obtained makes it clear: Russia has seized farmland representing 22 per cent of all agricultural land in Ukraine, that is, a fifth of the land that is the breadbasket of many non-European countries.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“This war will bear on our and their countries if that has not already happened. One of the most dramatic global effects of the Russian aggression is the food crisis and the spectre of famine looming over large parts of the world. I had lengthy discussions on the subject during my recent trip to countries of West Africa — Nigeria, Cote d’Ivoire and Senegal. In all those countries, I spoke with their leaders about food security and the potential impacts of further restrictions on grain and fertilizer exports from Ukraine and Russia. The topic also featured in previous discussions that we had with fellow Presidents from Central and Eastern Europe and with leaders from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. I also vividly recall a conversation that I had with the Secretary-General, Mr.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Today I am convinced that Ukraine will prevail, that the refugees will return to their homes, that Ukraine will be rebuilt and that its internationally recognized borders will be restored. My country, Poland, joining forces with its allies, will do its utmost to make that happen. But there are other facets to this war. It has economic repercussions in many areas — a parallel war unleashed by Russia and the war against our common principles and values and against all humankind. I also want to talk about that today because in this Hall I can see representatives of many familiar countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia, with whose leaders I spoke just before or during the war. This is not a regional conflict. This war by Russia against Ukraine is fuelling a global fire.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Moreover, the aggressor has in a sense already lost because it failed to subdue a free nation, break the spirit of the Ukrainian nation and disperse the Ukrainian army. Today it has against it not the Ukrainian State itself, but a nation of many millions of people, the vast majority of whom do not want any negotiations whatsoever with the invader until he withdraws his forces from the occupied lands of Ukraine. It is at odds with a large part of the nations of the world, which have very clearly spoken their minds, including in resolutions adopted here at the United Nations. It has against it my country, Poland, on which — and I say this here and now — Ukraine can always count. I was one of those politicians who, even before the war, believed that Ukraine would successfully defend itself.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“The decision to wage this horrible war was made in Russia by people prompted by an imperial sentiment and colonial, nationalist Russian hubris, exalting their own people and denying their sovereign neighbours the right to self-determination. They managed to obsess the nation of one of the United Nations founding States with that thought — a nation that had a chance to protest against the insanity of its leaders. Unfortunately, only a few Russian people, the most courageous, stood up against this war. They dared to stand on the side of justice and honesty. This war, started by Russia in Ukraine, like all other conflicts going on in the world today, must be lost by the aggressor. Let me reiterate that, in this case, it is the Russian State.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“The war, provoked by Russian aggression, is a war in which Russia is not limiting itself to fighting the Ukrainian army. Russian troops are killing civilians and forcibly relocating them to their territory. Russia is destroying Ukrainian cities, monuments, schools, kindergartens and hospitals. It destroys agricultural crops and devastates the environment in Ukraine. It destroys literally everything that it cannot seize or loot. Recently, it has been threatening not only Ukraine but the entire world with a nuclear catastrophe by attacking and causing the failure of nuclear power plants, particularly the Zaporizhzhya nuclear power plant.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“A year ago, I delivered my address at this very place as the President of a country of 38 million people (see A/76/PV.4). Today I stand at this rostrum with the awareness that, according to various statistics, more than 40 million people — and, according to some voices, as many as 41 million people — are living in my country, Poland. The additional 2 or 3 million people are predominantly refugees from Ukraine and are our neighbours. Some of them are our permanent guests, while others travel between Poland and Ukraine. However, there is one thing that they all have in common: they are sheltering in our country from war. They are taking refuge in our country from death and from slavery under the Russian occupation after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The war has been continuing for seven months.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)