YouSaid · the spoken record

Anna Lindh

lines on the record

53

first

1999-09-24

most recent

2002-09-24

sittings or episodes

3

sources

un-general-debate

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

1. “But it is for the Security Council to provide the legal foundation — the mandate — for such action, in particular when force has to be used. Without such a legal foundation, we run the risk of anarchy in international relations, and in fact we undermine the prospects for peace and security; and that long-term perspective must never be lost. Our responsibility for international peace and security implies that necessary action by the Security Council should not be hindered by a veto. If the Security Council in an urgent situation is paralysed by a veto or a threat of veto, this may undermine the authority and the relevance of the United Nations itself. It also presents the international community with a difficult dilemma. When human life is threatened on a massive scale, it is not possible to remain passive.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

2. “It is up to us, the Member States, to ensure that the United Nations and the Security Council are able to uphold international law and their responsibility for international peace and security. I would like to highlight four key areas that we, the United Nations and its Member States, need to address to make the United Nations truly relevant: the questions of intervention; early action and prevention; nuclear disarmament; and human rights. To succeed, the United Nations system also needs to be reformed, and I will come back to that. When it comes to intervention to secure peace, regional organizations and arrangements, as well as so- called coalitions of the willing, can have important roles, together with the United Nations, as we have just seen in East Timor.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)

3. “The past year has been a difficult one for the United Nations. Its principles have been challenged. Its relevance has been questioned. Still, at the end of the millennium, we have proved ourselves unable to prevent war between Ethiopia and Eritrea and unable to prevent genocide in Rwanda or ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. Still, we see flagrant disrespect for international law, humanitarian law and human rights. Children are used as soldiers in Sierra Leone, women are denied all rights in Afghanistan, fundamentalist forces have demonstrating students arrested and possibly sentenced to death in Iran. Other tragic examples can be found in almost all parts of the world. We can change all that, if only there is political will.”

   1999-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 54 (1999)