YouSaid · the spoken record

Walid AL-MOUALEM

lines on the record: 283
first: 2006-09-24
most recent: 2020-09-24
sittings or episodes: 15
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

“Now that Syria has acceded to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons and on Their Destruction, my country renews its call on the international community to work to establish a zone free of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. In that regard, we would remind the international community of Syria’s initiative, taken at the end of its non-permanent membership of the Security Council in 2003, and call on the Security Council to adopt it.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“The Syrian Arab Republic affirms its natural right to full sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan up to the line of 4 June 1967, and emphasizes its rejection of all measures taken by Israel, the occupying Power, to change its natural demographic and geographic features in clear violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions, particularly resolution 497 (1981). Syria also reaffirms its support for the legitimate and inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, particularly their rights of return and of self-determination, and to establish an independent State on their land, with Jerusalem as its capital.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“From this rostrum, I appeal to Syrian citizens to return to their towns and villages, where the State will guarantee their safe return and dignified livelihood, far from the inhumane conditions in such camps. I assure the Assembly of our readiness to make every effort to deliver aid from international organizations to all Syrian citizens without discrimination, wherever they are, in compliance with resolution 46/182, while respecting Syria’s sovereignty and independence. The developments in my country should not make us lose sight of Palestine and the Syrian Golan.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“The immoral, inhumane and unilateral sanctions imposed by the United States and the European Union have worsened Syrian citizens’ living conditions at a time when my Government is working with the United Nations and international organizations within the framework of a response plan to meet the basic needs of citizens, particularly those who have been forced to leave their homes. It should be noted that many of our people have been forced to flee to neighbouring countries in great numbers owing to the activities of armed terrorist groups in border areas. Regrettably, in some of those countries displaced Syrians have been put in military training camps and places resembling detention centres.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Do those representing the Member States in the Assembly know that terrorists from more than 83 countries are engaged in killing our people and our army in the name of global takfiri jihad? Furthermore, are some Member States entitled to demand that the Syrian State ignore its constitutional responsibilities to protect its citizens and preserve its unity, sovereignty and independence? The war on terror is not only Syria’s war. One day, those terrorists will return to their countries, and then no country in the world will be safe from that terrorism that recognizes no borders or geography. The events in Syria have created humanitarian needs that continue to grow in several key sectors.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Ballot boxes for free and fair elections remain the only way for the Syrian people to determine their own future, free from the pressures of terrorism and foreign control. There remain those who do not want a political solution and always resort to aggression, either directly or through their agents on the ground. That is what is happening in Syria. As I mentioned, Syria is committed to a political solution, but that does not mean allowing terrorists to attack innocent civilians. It does not mean watching our mosques and churches be destroyed, as has happened in Homs and Aleppo and is happening now in the town of Malula, the only place in the world whose people still speak the language of Jesus Christ. What is happening to the churches and mosques is also affecting the entire historical and cultural heritage of Syria and humankind.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“It is now up to those who claim to support a political solution for Syria to halt all practices and policies hostile to Syria and head to Geneva without preconditions. On the basis of their national right to self- determination, the Syrian people have the exclusive authority to choose their leadership, their representatives, their future and a political system that will accommodate every sector of Syrian society, including those who have been deceived and beguiled onto the wrong path. We in Syria place no bets on any party but the Syrian people, all of whom are determined to reject all foreign interference in their domestic affairs and to defeat the advocates of sectarianism, extremism and terrorism. In my country, State policies are firmly tied to the aspirations of the people.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“One challenge that we all still face is not knowing whether those who are supplying terrorists with such weapons will abide by their legal commitments, since the terrorists who used poisonous gas in my country received chemical agents from countries of the region and the West that are well known to all of us. They are the ones using poisonous gas on our military and innocent civilians alike. Ending aggressive policies towards Syria is the first appropriate step on the road to a solution in my country. In the light of the continuing support being given to terrorism, whether in the form of arms, funding or training, any political solution will be misleading and a mere illusion. Syria has repeatedly stated that it is open to a political solution to its crisis.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“When it arrived, it was withdrawn before the completion of its task as certain States had begun to beat the drums of war against Syria. My country has accepted the praiseworthy initiative launched by Mr. Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation. By acceding to the Chemical Weapons Convention, Syria has proved its commitment against the use of such weapons. Syria also calls on the international community to shoulder its responsibility against the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction in the Middle East. Syria is known for fulfilling its obligations and commitments. Therefore, I assure the Assembly of Syria’s commitment to fully implementing the provisions of the Convention and to cooperating with the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons as a State party to the Convention.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“What should we call those who kidnap children in order to sell their body organs outside the country? How should we describe those who recruit children and prevent them from going to school and instead train them to shoot and kill? How would one describe those who spread perverted fatwas concerning sexual or incest-related jihad? We were the ones targeted by poisonous gases in Khan al-Assal. We asked for an investigative mission and demanded that its mandate include the ability to determine who had used chemical weapons. However, the United States of America and its friends the United Kingdom and France prevented that and insisted that the mission be limited to deciding whether or not chemical weapons had been used. In Syria, we waited five months for the mission to come.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“It must take all necessary and immediate measures to compel those countries that are known to finance, arm, train and provide safe haven and passage to terrorists from different countries to stop doing so. The city of New York and its people have witnessed the devastations of terrorism. They were burned by the fires of extremists and suffered bloodshed, just as we are suffering now in Syria. How can countries hit by the same terrorism that we now suffer in Syria claim to be fighting terrorism throughout the world while supporting it in my country? Claims of the existence of moderate militants and extremist militants have become a bad and senseless joke. Terrorism means only terrorism. It cannot be classified as moderate terrorism and extremist terrorism.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“In Syria — as in those countries that daily violate basic human rights to life, livelihood and their own religious beliefs and political affiliations — any Syrian citizen who does not belong to that obscurantist takfiri ideology is doomed to be killed or maimed or to witness female relatives taken as captives on the basis of perverted concepts of religion that have nothing to do with Islam. There is no civil war in Syria. It is a war against terror, which does not recognize values, justice or equality and disregards all human rights and laws. Therefore, confronting terrorism in my country requires the international community to act in accordance with the relevant resolutions on counter-terrorism, particularly Security Council resolution 1373 (2001).”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“While scenes of murder, manslaughter and even the eating of human hearts were seen on television screens worldwide, that did not affect the conscience of those who chose to turn a blind eye. In my country, the heads of innocent civilians have been grilled because they violated some extremist ideology and held views that deviate from those of Al-Qaida. In my country, murderers have dismembered human bodies while the victims were still alive and sent their limbs to their families because those citizens were defending a unified and secular Syria.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Worst of all, those countries have launched major, destructive wars under the pretext of combating terrorism, even as they support terrorism in my country, in contravention of all United Nations resolutions and all human and moral values. I ask the same question I posed last year: Is the international consensus on combating terrorism a serious commitment undertaken by States Member of the Organization, or is it mere rhetoric, written down but not put into effect by certain countries? What is happening in my country has become clear to everyone. Yet some countries do not want to recognize that Al-Qaida, the most dangerous terrorist organization in the world, and its many offshoots — including Jabhat Al-Nusra, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the Islamic Brigade and many others — are fighting in Syria.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Political hypocrisy allows them to intervene in the domestic affairs of States under the pretext of humanitarian intervention or the responsibility to protect. When such aggressive policies do not prove beneficial for the countries subjected, including my own country, Syria, those well-known States reveal their true beliefs and threaten blatant military aggression outside the mandates of the Security Council and certainly well beyond any international consensus. Those same countries impose immoral, illegal and unilaterally coercive economic measures. In addition, they maintain paranoid policies aimed at spreading sedition and turmoil within pluralistic, harmonious national communities that had previously lived for hundreds of years in harmony, unity and understanding.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Many countries continue to face political, economic and financial crises that exceed their ability to tackle them on their own. While the international community looked forward to effective international efforts to overcome those crises, today we bear witness to exacerbated and intensified problems. That exacerbation is due to the hegemony and dominion that thwart peoples’ capabilities. Such domination has escalated in a way that blatantly contradicts the principles of the Charter of the United Nations and the norms of international law. Instead of settling regional and international conflicts by peaceful means, some well-known countries continue to pursue aggressive policies against certain nations.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“I would like to congratulate Mr. Ashe, the President of the General Assembly, and his friendly country, Antigua and Barbuda, on his election as President at the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly. I wish him every success in conducting our work through his major and neutral role as President of the Assembly, like that of his predecessor, who avoided engaging the presidency in special political agendas. Last year when I addressed the Assembly (see A/67/PV.19), we were compelled to address many events that had ravaged our country and our world. We were full of hope that the scene would change for the better this year. Unfortunately, the situation remains the same, and in some parts of the world has even deteriorated.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“We hope that the United Nations can take the peoples of the world to a better future that fulfils their aspirations for life, coexistence, development and food sufficiency, free from all forms of tension, confrontation and war, in accordance with the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations, which seek to preserve the sovereignty and equality of States in rights and duties.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“On that basis, we call for the lifting of the embargo that the United States has imposed against Cuba for decades. We also renew our call for ending all unilateral coercive measures imposed on the peoples of other countries, such as the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Belarus, the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Syrian Arab Republic and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Our aspiration to achieve a positive reform of this international Organization stems from our desire to create a world based on justice, security and prosperity for all the peoples of the world, free from the colonial and hegemonic tendencies of some countries that seek to exploit the United Nations to achieve their own interests at the expense of other countries.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Syria stresses that ridding the region of all weapons of mass destruction cannot be achieved without forcing Israel, the only nuclear Power in the region, to adhere to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons and to place its nuclear facilities under the comprehensive inspections regime of the International Atomic Energy Agency. At the same time, we emphasize the Treaty’s provisions guaranteeing the right of every State to acquire nuclear technology for peaceful purposes. The insistence of the United States and countries of the European Union and others to impose unilateral economic measures violates the rules and norms of international law and the principles of free trade. It also raises questions about the legality and morality of such practices.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“As everyone knows, the failure of efforts to achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East on the basis of the international terms of reference endorsed by the international community as a basis for peace between Palestinians and Israelis is due to the unilateral positions and actions of Israel, especially Israel’s insistence on continuing its settlement policy and its evasion of the requirements of peace. My country renews its call for the international community to work to rid the Middle East of all weapons of mass destruction. In that context, we recall the initiative put forward by Syria in late 2003, during its tenure as a non-permanent member in the Security Council for the period 2002 to 2003, and we call on the Council to adopt it.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“The Syrian Arab Republic therefore reaffirms its natural right to recover all of the occupied Syrian Golan up to the 4 June 1967 borders. Syria underscores its rejection of all measures taken by Israel, the occupying Power, to change the natural geographic and other aspects of the Golan, in clear violation of the resolution 497 (1981). Syria renews its support for the legitimate call on the international community to recognize a free and independent Palestinian State on the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“I also wonder if the legitimate public demands of our citizens, to which the Syrian leadership has responded transparently and sincerely, justify their being used by some as an excuse to continue providing every kind of military, financial and media support to those who are killing innocent people in Syria — who include journalists, doctors, university professors and even religious figures. Or is this simply another practical interpretation of the concept of creative chaos, which contributes only to strengthening Western hegemony over Mediterranean countries, and serves only Israel’s expansionist interests? What is happening in my country must not lead us to lose our basic focus, which is Palestine and the Syrian Golan.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“At this point, I would like to ask a legitimate question about the credibility of those who claim to care about providing humanitarian assistance in response to Syrian citizens’ needs, and about how such claims correspond with a policy of tightening unilateral economic sanctions that have a severe effect on those same citizens’ living conditions, whose interests those imposing the sanctions claim to serve. How can imposing sanctions on the banking, health, transport and other sectors be consistent with caring for Syrians’ best interests?”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“While my Government is working hard to meet the basic needs of citizens who have been forced to f lee their homes by the violence of armed groups, some have sought to fabricate a refugee crisis in neighbouring countries by inciting armed groups to intimidate Syrian civilians in border areas, forcing them to f lee to those countries. There they are accommodated in military training bases or camps that resemble places of detention, in arid or rugged regions. Their plight is being exploited in order to secure aid that is mostly spent on things that have nothing to do with humanitarian purposes. I appeal to those Syrian citizens from this rostrum to return to their towns and villages, where the State will guarantee their safe return and dignified lives, free from the inhuman conditions they are enduring in those camps.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“To that end, I call on all countries represented in the General Assembly to exert pressure to end the violence in my country by putting a stop to the arming, financing, harbouring and training of armed terrorist groups. Secondly, the results of that national dialogue, after being agreed on by all parties, will determine the map and future direction of the country towards establishing a more pluralistic and democratic Syria. The events in Syria have produced a surge in humanitarian needs in several key sectors in areas affected by takfiri terrorist groups, which has led to deteriorating living conditions for Syrian citizens who live there.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“We are not betting on any party or faction apart from the Syrian people, who are uniformly determined to reject all forms of foreign interference in their domestic affairs and to defeat the advocates of sectarianism, extremism and terrorism, because in my country the links between State policies and the aspirations of the people are very strong. Despite everything I have described about what my country is experiencing, we still believe in a political solution as the essential way out of this crisis. From this rostrum I call, first, on all parties and political groups and factions, inside and outside Syria, to engage in a constructive dialogue under the aegis of our homeland. The doors of Syria, like its heart, are open to anyone who wants constructive dialogue.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“If some of the countries that are interfering in Syria’s internal affairs are proud of their democracy and their people’s freedom to choose, it would be better for them to support us on our democratic path and leave the Syrian people to choose their leaders through elections, whose form has been set by the new Constitution and the relevant legislation, after which the ballot box will have the final say. I say to those countries that we have had enough of illusions, and I invite the national opposition to work together to stop the shedding of Syrian blood, to sit at the negotiation table and to participate in building the present and future.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“There have been calls from this rostrum and at other forums asking the President of the Syrian Arab Republic to step down, made by people who are ignorant of or ignore the facts, or who have a stake in distorting them. That is blatant interference in the domestic affairs of Syria, which undermines the unity of its people and the sovereignty of its decision-making. Only the people of Syria have the right to choose their own future and the form of their State — one that accommodates all groups and parties covering the entire spectrum of the Syrian people, including those who have been deceived and misled. It is the Syrian people who will choose their leadership through the ballot box, which is the most important tool of democracy and democratic expression.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“I have returned today to tell the Assembly that the Syrian Government has taken serious and important steps towards reform, culminating in a new Constitution that embraces political pluralism and that has been adopted by popular referendum. As a result, parliamentary elections open to multiple political parties were held. I can also say that Syria is continuing to work with patriotic members of the opposition to build a new and pluralist Syria that is responsive to its people’s aspirations. At the same time, Syria is determined to fulfil its duty to protect its people from jihadist and takfiri terrorism, which armed terrorist groups are using to spread chaos and sedition among Syrians, threatening their peaceful coexistence.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“For more than a year now, we have said that what my country is witnessing is a two-sided problem: one side is based on the need for the political, economic and social reforms that the public demands; the other is based on the exploitation of those public needs and demands in the service of goals that are completely unconnected to the demands of the Syrian people and their interests, and for which those peaceful demands are being used as a vehicle for armed groups working to sow sedition and undermine security in my country. I referred to that in my statement from this rostrum last year (see A/66/PV.25).”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“I should point out that, in addition to the commitment of the Syrian Government, the success of any international effort requires that the States supporting armed groups in my country — in particular Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Libya, among others — stop arming, funding, training and harbouring armed terrorist groups, and instead encourage dialogue and renounce violence.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“It also welcomed the Geneva communiqué (A/66/865, annex) that stressed the need for the implementation of those provisions. However, the armed groups sought to exploit the Syrian Government’s commitment to the plan and the Geneva communiqué in order to make gains on the ground and expand the area of their presence. In addition, the statements issued by some Western and Arab countries exposed the actors and States working to thwart these initiatives. Syria welcomed the appointment of Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi as the Joint Special Representative, succeeding Mr. Annan, and stressed its willingness to cooperate fully with him based on the principles agreed on by the international community, in particular the six-point plan and the Geneva final communiqué (S/2012/523, annex).”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“We did so despite the conviction of the Syrian leadership that there are no sincere intentions on the part of certain regional and international parties who push for the escalation of the Syrian crisis, fuel its fire and prolong it by thwarting all attempts for dialogue, and insist on creating a state of instability to ensure the need for foreign interference. Syria, on the basis of its principled position, received the United Nations Supervision Mission in the Syrian Arab Republic (UNSMIS), and furnished it with all the facilities needed to enable it to deploy in record time. The Syrian leadership also announced its full commitment to the implementation of the six-point plan presented by Mr. Annan and started the practical implementation of its provisions.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“This is the price that Syria has paid for its efforts to defend the integrity of the Syrian State and its citizens in the face of that global terrorist campaign. The Syrian Government called for dialogue at the beginning of the events in my country, but there was no positive response from most opposition parties. Moreover, my Government responded positively throughout the crisis to each and every sincere initiative aimed at finding a peaceful solution based on national dialogue among Syrians, rejecting external manipulation, stopping the shedding of Syrian blood and preserving the unity of Syria and its future. Based on this principled position, Syria cooperated with the Arab observer mission and the subsequent international initiatives linked to the work of the Joint Special Envoy, Kofi Annan.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“We also wonder about the statements by Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, the United States, France and others who explicitly induce and support terrorism in Syria with money, weapons and foreign fighters. To what extent are those statements in line with those countries’ international responsibility to combat terrorism? One of the ironies that we face today is evident in the efforts to encourage extremists in countries within and outside our region to go to the Syrian border and enter the country to carry out terrorist acts under the banner of jihad, in collaboration with terrorists from within the country. This is a fact that has been confirmed by reports by both international and Arab observers. To this very day, and as a result of this terrorism, Syria has lost thousands of martyrs from among its military ranks and its civilians.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“This terrorism is externally supported and is accompanied by unprecedented media incitement seeking to ignite religious extremism sponsored by well-known States in the region. Those States facilitate the f low of arms, money and fighters through the borders of some neighbouring countries. They also turn a blind eye to the activities of terrorist groups crossing their borders, while others provide active material and logistical support from their territory for such groups. These facts lead me to question whether the international consensus among Member States on combating terrorism was serious or merely ink on paper. How should we understand the explicit request by the United States to the armed terrorist groups not to surrender their arms in response to amnesty decrees and decisions issued by the Syrian leadership?”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“For over a year now, my country has faced organized terrorism that has affected our citizens, our human and scientific cadres, our national institutions and many of Syria’s historic and archeological landmarks through terrorist bombings, assassinations, massacres, looting and acts of sabotage that have horrified citizens in many parts of the country. The most recent example is the terrorist bombing that took place in Damascus on 26 September. A terrorist group under the name of the Al-Nusra Front, one of Al-Qaida’s affiliates, took responsibility for that attack. It is no surprise that the Security Council has failed to condemn this and other terrorist bombings, as some of its members support such acts.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Under the pretext of humanitarian intervention, these countries interfere in the domestic affairs of States and impose unilateral economic sanctions that lack any moral or legal basis. Under the pretext of concepts such as the responsibility to protect, the drums of war are beaten and the seeds of sedition and unrest are sown to damage the structure of national societies. Perhaps worse of all, permanent members of the Security Council, who have launched wars under the pretext of combating terrorism, now support terrorism in my country, without any regard for United Nations resolutions that established the regulations and mechanisms for concerted international efforts to fight this scourge without political polarization or double standards.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“Many countries are facing political, economic and financial crises, whose their negative consequences exceed the capacity of States to cope with them individually. While the peoples of the world await effective and coordinated international efforts to overcome those crises, the situation indicates instead an escalation of hegemony and domination over the fortunes and potentials of nations and peoples in a way that contradicts the principles and purposes enshrined in the Charter and the norms of international law. Instead of seeking to contribute to the settlement of regional and international disputes by peaceful means, some well-known countries continue to pursue new colonial policies based on political hypocrisy in dealing with those crises.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“I would like to congratulate Mr. Vuk Jeremić and his friendly country, the Republic of Serbia, on his election as President of the General Assembly at its sixty-seventh session and to wish him every success in conducting our work in a way that restores to the Assembly President his important and neutral role in fulfilling his duties without regard for any political, national or international agendas that violate the rules of international law and contradict efforts to achieve security and stability in the world. We also wish the Secretary-General every success in carrying out his duties and enhancing the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. Our world today faces many events that are affecting its States and continue to cast their shadow on the international arena.”
2012-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 67 (2012)
“It can do so more competently if some powerful States gave up attempts to further their own agendas. Nevertheless, we still hope that the international community, through this Organization, will be able to follow the right course so as to bring about a better world, to which our peoples aspire.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“We continue to call for bringing pressure to bear on Israel to implement international resolutions that have called on it to accede to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and to submit its nuclear facilities to the International Atomic Energy Agency’s comprehensive safeguards regime. This measure is of extreme importance to the security and stability of our region. At the same time, we stress that all States have the right to acquire nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes. That right is guaranteed under the NPT. We strongly renew the call to lift the embargo that has been enforced against Cuba for decades. We all aspire to a more just and secure world. This international Organization has a major role to play in that regard.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Therefore, the international community’s pursuit of the recognition of a Palestinian State on the Palestinian territories occupied in 1967, with Jerusalem as its capital, is legitimate. It is a positive step towards restoring all Palestinian rights. Syria calls on the international community to support that request. We also condemn the Israeli blockade of Gaza and call on the international community to shoulder its responsibility and force Israel to lift the blockade. Our position on declaring the Middle East a nuclear-weapon-free zone is well established and well known.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“From this rostrum, I call on the States that have participated in the unjust campaign against Syria to reconsider their positions. To them I say, “Our people will not let you implement your plans and will foil your schemes”. I also express our appreciation to the countries that have stood by our people’s side in this crisis, pre-empting any harm that could have befallen their interests and encouraging them to pursue their aspirations. For many years, the international community has considered the two-State solution as the basis for establishing peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The negotiations between the two sides that have continued for years have failed to achieve any progress towards a solution owing to Israel’s well- known positions and measures.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“What purpose could that serve other than total chaos, which would dismember Syria — and 11-51384 54 consequently adversely affect its neighbours? What else could this course of action achieve other than to spread Western hegemony throughout the countries of the Mediterranean and to serve Israel’s expansionist interests? I assure the Assembly that our people are determined to reject all forms of foreign intervention in their internal affairs. We shall continue to achieve security and stability and to implement the comprehensive programme of reform through national dialogue so that, within months, Syria will become a model of political pluralism and an oasis for peaceful coexistence among the different segments of its population.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Syria provided our region with a model of peaceful coexistence among the different segments of the Syrian population, a model which deserves to be emulated. Syria opted for secularism to promote its national unity in view of the religious and ethnic diversity of the region to which it belongs, a region that is the cradle of divine religions and the birthplace of human civilization. Any objective and realistic analysis of the events in and around Syria will demonstrate clearly that one of the purposes of the unjust anti-Syria campaign currently under way is to attack this model of coexistence, which has been a source of pride to our people. How can we otherwise explain media provocations of financing and arming religious extremism?”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“Armed violence has surged in tandem with multiple economic sanctions. By targeting the Syrian economy with sanctions, the United States and the European Union have jeopardized the interests and basic daily subsistence needs of the Syrian people. This course of action cannot in any way be reconciled with pronouncements about concern for the interests, security and rights of the Syrian people. Furthermore, it runs counter to the basic principles of human rights, in defence of which those States base their interference in our internal affairs. It must be recalled that the Charter of our Organization states that “Nothing contained in the present Charter shall authorize the United Nations to intervene in matters which are essentially within the domestic jurisdiction of any state”.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“A comprehensive dialogue started a few weeks ago in various Syrian governorates. Representatives of various sectors of Syrian society, including opposition figures, are participating in the process to examine the comprehensive political, economic and social components of the proposed reform package. We deeply regret the surge in foreign-inspired activities of armed groups in Syria, which have not waned and have instead continued to gain momentum. That is the other side of the coin. We would have liked for those countries that advocated the need for reform and change to have supported the official Syrian position instead of having opted for incitement and defiance. In fact, the more ground we have covered towards stability and reform, the stronger the foreign incitement has become.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)
“The review could eliminate certain articles to allow for political pluralism and democratic practices. It could even lead to the framing of a new Constitution that would guarantee all of these things. The constitution is the backbone of the political, economic and social life of all States. That reform measure will definitely respond to popular demands and needs. Furthermore, the President left the door open to different views and proposals on the reform effort in general. In the televised interview that followed, the President announced that a timeline had been set to agree on and implement the proposed reforms in no more than six months. That is an extremely important position that requires a serious, in- depth national dialogue in order to achieve the desired mechanisms and results.”
2011-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 66 (2011)