YouSaid · the spoken record

Mohamed Moncef Marzouki

lines on the record: 23
first: 2013-09-24
most recent: 2014-09-24
sittings or episodes: 2
sources: un-general-debate

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

“I hope that establishing such a court will not require the decades that it took to bring about the birth of the ICC, and we hope that Tunis, our capital, can have the honour of hosting one of the United Nations institutions that have so far been the preserve of the advanced countries of the northern hemisphere. It is high time to give some thought to allowing the liberated cities of the South to host such institutions.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Tunisia has therefore proposed establishing an international constitutional court that could advise all liberated peoples and hand down decisions on illegitimate, bogus elections that lead to Government by force, which clearly runs contrary to international legitimacy and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This idea has been well received in academic circles and international symposiums. We reiterate our call for support for such democratic institutions so that this proposal can be presented to the Legal Committee. We hope that an international court such as this can be realized and could enable us to deter despots, support freedom and democracy and eradicate the sources of violence and conflicts among peoples.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“That war ended with the defeat of fascism, dictatorship and Nazism and, eventually, Communist totalitarianism. While so much of today’s world has been democratizing so rapidly, it is now threatened with climate, economic and political problems. To deal with them, every country must preserve its gains and create the machinery needed for prevention, protection and commitment. It is good that we have the International Criminal Court (ICC) for punishing despots who abuse their peoples’ rights; we should also have a tool that prevents them from surviving and staying in power.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“The Gazans who are living without shelter are pleading to our consciences for the reconstruction of Gaza and return children to their destroyed schools’ classrooms and playgrounds. We pray to God to end the nightmare engulfing the people of Syria through the banishment of its dictator and the formation of a Government of national unity. Tunisia, as a Member of the United Nations, understands how important it is that the Organization be capable of dealing with such huge global changes. We support the granting of permanent membership in the Security Council to Brazil, Germany, Japan and India, to be followed by permanent-member status for an African country, to enable it to deal with the world of today, which is no longer that which existed at the end of the Second World War.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Our people yearn to improve their standard of living and to broaden the vistas for future generations. For many decades, some of the major Powers supported despotic regimes in our country on the pretext of maintaining stability. If the same problems are not to be repeated, they must help to achieve internal reconciliation. Resorting to military solutions may lead to meaningless wars that could endanger the whole world. We therefore strongly call for the blockade of Gaza to be lifted in order to enable it to build a port and airport, and not just to open the border crossings but also to fulfil the political right of the Palestinian people to a geographically contiguous, secure, independent State, with East Jerusalem as its capital.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Such policies, which have exploited religion in the service of politics, are like magic that has now turned against the magician. They run counter to Arab and Islamic civilization. The problem cannot be solved by entrusting it to the police and army. The situation demands bold policies that take into account all those levels and that establishes regimes that are in harmony with their people. All political prisoners should be released and there should be an ongoing national dialogue with the participation of all moderate political sectors that are committed to peace. The economy needs to serve the interests of the majority, with an emphasis on advanced education under the banner of freedom and respect for the values of the Arab and Muslim countries. Only such policies will lead to united, peace-abiding societies.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“According to the Koran, whoever kills an innocent soul kills all humankind, and whoever gives a new life to such a person saves all humankind. That has happened all too frequently of late. Nothing can justify the indiscriminate violence at such unprecedented and horrific levels. We condemn the execution of prisoners, be they Arab, Muslim, French, American or British. We are all human beings and belong to one human family. We seek to understand this phenomenon so as to be able to address its root causes. The violence and counter-violence we are witnessing today are the cumulative result of five decades of misguided policies of despotism that denied people their rights and basic freedoms, distributed wealth to some and consigned others to poverty.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We encourage the wise men of Libya, both within and outside that country, to preserve broad national consensus and the security, unity, stability and prosperity of their country through a peaceful, political solution. We hope from the bottom of our hearts that our brothers will manage to achieve that. We are concerned by the spread of violence on the eastern front of the Arab world, which has reached unprecedented levels of brutality, including decapitation, the chopping off of hands and the execution of prisoners. We are appalled by such violence and attacks on our Christian brothers and other religious minorities, who form an integral part of our Arab and Islamic heritage and culture. We are ashamed of such practices in the name of our Allah, who defines himself as the compassionate and the merciful.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Tunisia’s development process is unfolding in the heart of a region that is currently witnessing political upheavals that, in some cases, have had painful consequences for us too. Transnational radical armed groups have since the beginning of the revolution been targeting us and have killed many of our soldiers and security personnel, hindering our security apparatus in an attempt to abort the drive for democracy and to impose alternatives rejected by the majority of our people. The volatile situation in Libya is cause for concern because the stability of that sister neighbouring country affects our own stability. We hope that the Libyans will, through national dialogue, achieve an advanced, democratic stable State without outside military intervention, which would only add insult to injury.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We are using moderation to grapple with the counter-revolution and to eliminate the residues of despotism through a just transition. We are also testing new socioeconomic approaches. We are promoting comprehensive development initiatives that will combat poverty and that will be in harmony with the environment. We have a broader social vision in line with the policies and vision of the United Nations with regard to addressing global warming, climate change and the post-2015 sustainable development agenda, as well as the Secretary-General’s Global Education First Initiative. We are also committed to our own policies that aim to achieve world peace, especially within the Arab world to which we belong, and on the African continent, where we seek to definitively overcome the past and look to the future.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“We are now preparing for legislative and presidential elections to be held before the end of the year in order to transform Tunisia into a stable, democratic, forward- looking State. Internal and external forces continue to undermine our democratic, peaceful transition through terrorist acts and political assassinations. However, our people are resolved to pursue their efforts to achieve success, despite the aggression of diabolical forces. Tunisia today is a test for a peaceful democratic transition in an Arab country that lived for too long under despotism. We are attempting to reconcile democracy and political Islam. We are pursuing an ongoing national dialogue. We are distributing authority between secular modernists and Islamists.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“At the outset, I would like to extend my warm congratulations to Mr. Sam Kahamba Kutesa, representative of the friendly nation of Uganda, on his election to the presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-ninth session. I would also like to express my thanks and appreciation to Mr. John Ashe and his team, as well as to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In this world, where a surfeit of bad news overshadows the good work of creativity, reform and recovery, we continue our peaceful transition to democracy. We have managed to eliminate a dictatorial regime at the least possible human cost. We have begun a difficult transitional stage with a comprehensive national dialogue, and we have written a consensual constitution and built democratic State institutions.”
2014-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 69 (2014)
“Dictatorships, climate change and poverty must be thwarted internally and among peoples. In facing such epidemics, we must have preventive policies that save humankind. We hope to God that there is enough time for us to quickly take such a direction before it is too late.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Regimes like that of Syria cannot last long against internal democratic opposition and the lack of international recognition. Tunisia therefore calls on all democratic States that wish to build institutions that counter the rise of dictatorships to support our project. We believe that such a constitutional court would be the expression of a new spirit needed by the international community. We are meeting in this place with all the nations of the world to review the world’s problems, many of which are foreseeable and bring great pain to people. We would have been able to avoid such situations had we adopted the slogan “Think globally and act locally.” As a medical doctor, I would recall that we were able to conquer epidemics that raged against humankind through efforts at prevention.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“What if the Court had been able to pursue a course in favour of human rights? Imagine how we could have avoided the nightmare that the Syrian people has been going through — 100,000 dead and 7 million displaced persons, with a regime killing men, women and children with all the weapons at its disposal, including chemical weapons. Have we ever seen such a brutal regime by an individual person who came to power through force and falsification and who is fighting a barbarous civil war that has set the stage for ugly scenes beyond any ever seen in the history of the region? The regime ought to be brought to the ICC. Justice delayed still cannot bring millions of dead back to life. There have to be preventive bodies that can take up such situations from their very beginning.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“We have never seen such a pitch of brutality and barbarity. A political solution to end the nightmare is desperately needed. However, what we also need is the support of the General Assembly for prosecuting the case through the International Criminal Court (ICC). That would be a contribution to international law that could contribute to protecting people against dictatorships, particularly the Syrian dictatorship, which is an extreme example of how immorally a regime can behave. We are fully confident that had the Court been able to act, the Syrian regime would not have attempted to turn the presidency of the country into rule-by-heredity, limiting ruling to one party only. It would not have dared to convict members of opposition political parties and sentence them to death. Imagine if the Court had been able to act in such cases.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“We supported the the struggle of the Syrian opposition and expelled the regime’s ambassador from our country. We have been warning for a long time now about the problems of the militarization of the events, of factionalism, sectarianism and outside intervention, whether by States or so-called jihadi groups, including some from Tunisia, which we know will be a danger to us when they return from that suffering country. We have always called for a peaceful solution and have gone so far as to say that life is more important than justice, and if it is necessary not to prosecute the Syrian dictators — and if they leave the scene — we should accept that situation, however bitter. Our fears have become reality, however, and we continue to live with this nightmare that is afflicting the valiant Syrian people, as well as our conscience.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“It is not merely about the rights of those winning 51 per cent of the vote, and ignoring those who won 49 per cent. We want coalition Governments that take into consideration the fact that society is made up of many parts. We want to learn from one another. Our success or failure will have consequences that will reach far beyond our borders. Hence the importance of solidarity among peoples, so that we can ensure success for this unique experiment. Today the Arab Spring has encountered the ultimate expression of suffering in Syria. The violence that has faced peaceful demonstrations has shocked us from the beginning. It is escalating day after day, and is now brutal on a scale that history has seldom seen before. In Tunisia we have taken a strong position against the dictatorship in Syria.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“I would like to assure the Assembly that the Arab Spring in Tunisia will continue and succeed. We will set a date for elections and will agree on a just Government. Those elections will be supervised by the United Nations, the League of Arab States, the African Union and all other relevant international and local organizations and civil society groups. God willing, they will be held next spring. We are aware that the forces of terrorism and chaos will try to destabilize them as much as possible. Tunisia is undertaking this experiment both for itself and for the rest of the world. We want our revolution to be peaceful. We want justice to play its role in the transitional period. We also want to expand the concept of democracy.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“That of terrorism, as exemplified by the killing of the two martyrs, Shukri Belaid on 6 February and Mohamed Brahimi on 25 July, is a major political challenge that has impeded the work on the Constitutional Council. The second is the fact of slowing domestic and foreign investment. The third is that we are having to learn democracy at the same time that we are building and defending it. It has not yet taken root in our political and social traditions or our general culture. In Tunisia we have many of the elements necessary for success — a responsible and conscious political class that has continued to pursue dialogue, a legitimate, disciplined and professional army and a people who are peaceful and politically aware and who understand what is in their own interests.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“Those difficulties do indeed reveal that political, social and ideological forces are pushing countries this way and that; building democracy and civil institutions is replete with difficulties in all Arab Spring countries. From this rostrum, I would like to speak to the current authorities in Egypt and call on them to release President Mohammed Morsi and all political detainees. Only a bold initiative such as that has the potential to end the political tensions, stop the violence and bring all the parties back to a dialogue as the only means to solve all the difficult problems caused by the current transitional phase. The restriction of movement of goods and persons is increasing the difficulties faced by the struggling people of Gaza under Israeli occupation and colonization. Tunisia is dealing with three challenges.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“It is, rather, just the beginning of a liberation journey and a future project leading towards further horizons. What we must take into consideration is the element of time. Nations require decades to gain control of their revolutions and achieve their success or failure. We must remember that the Arab Spring, like all human projects, may stumble or come to a standstill — indeed, may fail. Our duty — the duty of those here — is to persist in support of that journey and to begin afresh after each obstacle. We believe that the difficulties involved in building democracy in the Arab Spring countries are only natural and will be overcome. Our peoples will never accept regimes that shackle them. We want to fight extremism cloaked in religion, not replace it with dictatorship cloaked in nationalism or patriotism.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)
“On behalf of my country, Tunisia, and the Tunisian people, I greet the Assembly and all those around the world represented here. On 17 December 2010, Tunisia, as the Assembly knows, was the first country to experience the Arab Spring, the peaceful revolutions of Arab peoples aimed at ridding themselves of corrupt dictatorships hampering the economic, political and social progress of their countries. Such dictatorships had imposed with brutal force corrupt regimes that had swept away basic human civilization. What has now been seen in some Arab Spring countries may lead some to believe that those efforts at liberation have failed and that the dream has become a nightmare. What we must remember is that the Arab Spring is not a final stage, something that can be achieved overnight.”
2013-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 68 (2013)