YouSaid · the spoken record

Naledi Pandor

lines on the record: 38
first: 2019-09-24
most recent: 2022-09-24
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

“A rules-based international system, predicated on international law and strict adherence to the provisions of the United Nations Charter, is essential. Such a system should safeguard the interests of all, not only powerful countries. We acknowledge the efforts of the Secretary- General through his vision in Our Common Agenda (A/75/982), which we strongly support. We believe that he has provided us with options to put aside our differences, build trust and forge a world where future generations will prosper and thrive. That, and not a mandate of division and conflict, should be the mandate that we adopt.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“We now have an African Continental Free Trade Area agreement, and the countries of Africa are laying a firm foundation for a new era of trade, commerce and productivity. Our countries are establishing the conditions for the seamless flow of goods and services between African markets, as well as the growth of industry and the construction of the roads, bridges, railway lines, ports and power stations that will support growth. As we continue our efforts to end war, conflict and insurgency in several parts of our continent and prevent unconstitutional seizures of power, we will continue to seek greater alignment between our agenda and that of the United Nations and our own body, the African Union. To overcome all those acutely global challenges, we must agree to a common path out of an increasingly polarized world.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“The murder of Shireen Abu Akleh and others is a stark reminder of the danger that women in conflict situations face. We must do all we can to protect them and make every effort to hold those who harm them accountable. We must also strengthen the capacity of the African continent’s young people and draw on their voices. In that regard, we need to harness the demographic dividend by maximizing our investment in quality education as a means for addressing intergenerational poverty and ensuring inclusive economies. Africa is home to more than 1.3 billion people. It is fast emerging from centuries of colonialism, occupation and exploitation, as well as willful neglect and underdevelopment.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Our quest to build a better world will remain unfulfilled as long as people are still discriminated against on the basis of race, gender, sex, ethnic or social origin, colour, sexual orientation, age, disability, religion, conscience, belief, culture or language. We have a responsibility to make sure that every girl child receives an education and that every woman has an opportunity to work, study or start a business and has choice and control over her life and body. We must also ensure that more women speak at the General Assembly. We need to end the violence perpetrated against the most vulnerable, most often women and children. We have witnessed that women in conflict situations are particularly vulnerable, including women journalists.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Israel must be held accountable for its destructive actions, which have significantly impaired the possibility of a two-State solution. Similarly, we cannot ignore the decades-long struggle for self-determination of the people of Western Sahara. We must treat all conflicts across the globe with equal indignation, no matter the colour or creed of the people affected. South Africa also calls for an end to the embargo on Cuba, which continues to impede the right to development of its people. In the same vein, we call for an end to unilateral coercive measures against Zimbabwe, which have compounded the problems experienced by its people and have a detrimental effect on the broader Southern African region.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Instead, they have engendered strife, distrust among nations, divisions — as we are seeing this week — a perpetual misallocation of resources to weapons, and increased poverty and underdevelopment. Those are all features and effects of war. While we work to address contemporary clashes, we should not ignore long-standing conflicts such as that of the people of Palestine, which has been on the United Nations agenda throughout the seven decades of the Organization’s existence. We cannot ignore the words of Daniel Levy, the former Israeli negotiator at the Oslo talks, who addressed the Security Council recently (see S/PV.9116) and referred to the increasingly weighty body of scholarly, legal and public opinion that considers Israel to be perpetrating apartheid in the territories under its control.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“We have established a climate finance task team to lead and coordinate negotiations with international partner groups in order to give effect to the Just Energy Transition Partnership, which seeks to address South Africa’s investment needs in infrastructure with the aim of facilitating our phase-down of coal so as to ensure that no one is left behind. I do not need to reiterate that building a better world requires peace and stability. South Africa continues to believe that conflict resolution should not come through fuelling conflicts but through investing in efforts aimed at political dialogue. We should aspire to peace as a global public good. There have been no winners of the wars of the past seven decades.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“We should therefore emerge from the twenty-seventh Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 27), in Egypt, with an agreement that contains enhanced and balanced actions on adaptation, mitigation and financing. It must of course take into account our common but differentiated responsibilities and respective capabilities. In addition, we must agree at COP 27 on a mechanism for loss and change. In South Africa, our Cabinet has approved wide-ranging policies to ensure that we can meet our newly determined climate-change targets.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“It is unacceptable that 77 years after the establishment of the United Nations, five nations wield disproportionate decision-making power in the system as a whole. Its transformation must include more representative, transparent and accountable organs of global governance. In order for our Organization to be effective, the General Assembly must be revitalized and the Security Council reformed. Nor will we have a credible Organization if it cannot hold persistent transgressors of the Charter accountable. We believe we must act immediately to protect the environment and the world we live in, for ourselves and future generations. While Africa is the region least responsible for the climate crisis, it finds itself at the epicentre of its worst impacts.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Partnerships of that nature must be encouraged in order to leverage scientific breakthroughs for development purposes. We also believe that the multilateral trading system must be strengthened so that we can create an environment that is genuinely conducive to fair trade and provides opportunities for developing economies. If actionable steps such as those are not taken, developing countries will remain subject to an unbalanced global financial and trading system. Let us use this moment of renewal to reiterate our commitment to multilateralism as the only means for building a better world. The United Nations itself must of course be transformed so that it fulfils its role in a way that is cognizant of current global dynamics.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Education remains one of the most important drivers to end poverty and inequality, and we will work towards increasing access to education that is affordable as a country and as a continent. South Africa has no-fee schools at primary and secondary levels to allow the most vulnerable learners to access compulsory education. We also have a State bursary scheme for poor students who qualify for tertiary education. Over the years those measures have served to increase the enrolment of learners previously unable to access education. In the field of research and innovation, we believe we need more partnerships such as the Square Kilometre Array science infrastructure project hosted in South Africa and Australia, an international partnership that is one of the largest joint scientific endeavours in history.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“South Africa, like many other developing countries, faces huge development challenges, including in our energy sector. We need to collectively address global energy shortages, including by deploying innovative solutions that are cheaper, cleaner and more accessible. Working with international partners, South Africa is developing its Just Energy Transition Plan in order to significantly reduce harmful emissions in our country. We are working on an expanded green economy intervention that is gaining significant momentum in our country. I would like to commend the Secretary-General for focusing attention during this session of the General Assembly on transforming education.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“The mobilization of resources and capabilities to strengthen the pandemic response and the preparedness of all nations must be substantially increased. It would be a tragic indictment on all of us as leaders if future pandemics found the poorest as unprepared as many were for COVID-19. We need to strengthen the global health architecture in order to ensure that we are better able to meet the challenges of new pandemics and other infectious diseases of concern. South Africa is proud to be part of the solution to those problems through the recent establishment of the first mRNA global-technology transfer hubs, which will contribute to the security of supply of life-saving medication for African countries and other developing countries.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Up to now, instead of working collectively to address those challenges, we have grown further apart as geopolitical tensions and mistrust permeate our relations. We should, however, move forward in solidarity, united in efforts to address our common global challenges to ensure sustainable peace and development. One of the tasks we must successfully implement in order to ensure developing countries are not left behind when treatments are available is to create and support research and innovation capacity in Africa and other parts of the world for vaccine production, to invest in strengthened public-health systems and to produce thousands more qualified professional health workers. All of that requires sustainable investment in higher education research institutions and in global research cooperation.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“There were some noble initiatives, such as the Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), co-chaired by President Ramaphosa of South Africa, the African Union champion for the COVID-19 response, as well as the Prime Minister of Norway. The ACT-A initiative laid the basis for a fairer distribution of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. We would like today to thank all of the countries that have acted on their financial commitment to the ACT-A initiative. Global solidarity is also required if we are to meet other pressing challenges, such as energy and food insecurity, climate change and the devastation caused by conflicts, including the existential threat of nuclear weapons.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“The Charter of the United Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its human rights protocols all commit us to protecting all people without distinction of any kind. We must acknowledge that we face theses crises today because we have not always upheld those foundational principles consistently and fairly. We believe that international law matters when this one is affected, but does not matter when this other one is affected. That does not help to uphold international law. We have learned a great deal from the COVID-19 pandemic. It has provided us with a road map on what we should do as the global community and what we should not do in order to address global challenges. We need to use the lessons learned from the pandemic effectively.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Some have referred to this moment as a key turning point in history. The coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war strongly influence those attitudes today. However, for South Africa, the real inflection point will be a world attending fully to the needs of the marginalized and the forgotten. Our greatest global challenges are poverty, inequality joblessness and a feeling of being entirely ignored and excluded. Acting on the 2021 Our Common Agenda (A/75/982) vision of the Secretary-General should become the major objective of this time — because addressing poverty and underdevelopment will, in our view, be the beginnings of the real inflection point in human history.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“Allow me to join all speakers before me in congratulating the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-seventh session on his election and in wishing him well in his role. I also thank the President of the General Assembly at its seventy-sixth session for his excellent leadership. Finally, I thank Secretary-General Guterres and the Deputy Secretary-General for their ongoing leadership of our multilateral Organization. We meet at a time when the United Nations family is facing its greatest tests. The States Members of the United Nations have to work with the Organization to develop effective responses to the current challenges. As the theme of the General Assembly indicates, those challenges are diverse, immense, yet interconnected, and no country can respond alone.”
2022-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 77 (2022)
“I wish to conclude by affirming that South Africa stands ready to work with all Member States to promote the United Nations and its objectives of promoting international peace and security, development and human rights enjoyed by all, so that finally we can reach a point when all our people enjoy freedom, development and democracy.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“In the past year, that occupation has worsened, with continued illegal settlement activity and further insecurity for the peoples of Palestine and Israel. As the international community, we must continue to urge for a negotiated settlement to that long-standing conflict. The United Nations must remain seized by the issue of Western Sahara, for the benefit of its people and Africa’s aspirations to a truly free Africa, with no country under colonial and imperial control. We also reiterate our steadfast solidarity with the Government and people of Cuba, while condemning the continuation of unilateral sanctions against Cuba and Zimbabwe.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“The international community stands at a unique crossroads where the shifting international order has the ability to shape international peace and security for decades to come. It is therefore a great disappointment that we witnessed the demise of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in August. Furthermore, in the prevailing international climate, successes in the field of disarmament, particularly nuclear disarmament, are few and far between. The threats posed by those weapons are too great for the international community to ignore. We believe that only the complete, transparent, verifiable and irreversible dismantlement of such weapons and their means of delivery can prevent their use in an escalating conflict. We feel ashamed by the fact that for over 70 years, the people of Palestine have lived under occupation.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“It is a flagship imitative of the AU Agenda 2063, and the trade opportunities it creates must be taken up by all member States and our partners. We are ready to engage in active deliberations on that bold step. We wish to stress that Africa’s development cannot be addressed without responding to illicit financial flows. We believe that those debilitate our efforts to generate sufficient domestic resources to support our development. We propose that we work together as the international community to establish an intergovernmental framework that would have a universal political mandate, which would serve as a basis to address those illicit flows, including speeding up the return of assets.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We believe that the time has come for the broader membership to heed the overwhelming call for Africa to obtain at least two permanent seats, with all the prerogatives of permanent membership, as well as five non-permanent seats, as embodied in the Common African Position, adopted in the Ezulwini Consensus. In that regard, we must see an invigoration of the negotiations on reform at the intergovernmental negotiations, including by ensuring that we move to text-based negotiations. Our continent Africa has reached an important milestone with the adoption and launch of the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement. The agreement entered into force on 30 May, and we are confident that it will unleash Africa’s economic potential and consolidate its position as a new frontier of economic growth and development.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“The emphasis of the debate should be to ensure the implementation of the commitments that we have made to fully implementing the women and peace and security agenda. As we have consistently stated, South Africa is supportive of this global institution and a rules-based multilateral system, but we believe that the United Nations remains hamstrung by the fact that it continues to have structures that are undemocratic and anachronistic. We remain gravely concerned that 74 years after the founding of the United Nations, key decisions on peace and security are the de facto domain of only five countries. Twenty years of discussions on reform of the Security Council have yielded no movement towards a more representative and inclusive body.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We further emphasize the role of women in the resolution of conflict. We argue for a gender perspective to be mainstreamed into all Security Council resolutions, in line with Security Council resolution 1325 (2000), on women and peace and security, which was adopted at the initiative of our neighbour Namibia. Despite the commitments in the resolution, women remain excluded from peace processes, including in the drafting of peace agreements, and their involvement in United Nations peacekeeping is limited. We need to ensure that women are fully part of peacebuilding processes and form a part of the institutions that are established once conflict has been eradicated. In October, we will preside over the Security Council’s debate on that subject.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“In that regard, we welcome the United Nations efforts to address the plethora of challenges to peace and security that serve as a major obstacle to our efforts of the development of the continent. We are currently serving as a member of the Security Council. The theme for our term is “Continuing the legacy: working for a just and peaceful world”. That is the embodiment of the legacy of Nelson Mandela and furthers the objective of silencing the guns on the African continent by 2020. We are using our tenure to promote the maintenance of international peace and security and advocate for the peaceful settlement of disputes and inclusive dialogue. We continue to encourage closer cooperation between the Security Council and other regional and subregional organizations, particularly our African Union.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“South Africa therefore commits to use the Nelson Mandela Decade of Peace to promote the strengthening of multilateralism and diplomacy as effective tools for addressing the challenges facing the world today. We cannot decisively deal with the threats of poverty unless we transform the current structure of the global economy, which continues to perpetuate divisions between the global North and global South. While a few enjoy the benefits of globalization, the majority of the people of the world have not reaped those benefits. It is necessary for us all to work together and spare no effort in addressing the challenges brought by the impact of globalization and the untransformed structure of global economy. The issues of global peace and security continue to be one of our foremost priorities within the United Nations family.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We wish to reiterate that South Africa does not condone any form of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia or related intolerance. In fact, South Africa has embraced millions of migrants and refugees from all over the continent of Africa, and the majority of our people have warmly embraced their brothers and sisters from the continent. We are determined to ensure that it becomes a national embrace and is not a limited to some communities. It is an honour for us to address the General Assembly in the first year of the Nelson Mandela Decade of Peace, which the Assembly last year agreed would run from 2019 to 2028. The Decade calls on us to intensify our efforts to pursue international peace and security, development and human rights.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“I am pleased that I can honestly confirm to this important global body that South Africa has an unwavering commitment to our continent, Africa. We have made dedicated efforts to contribute positively in support of peace and development on our continent, and we will continue those efforts even as we work to address the inadequacies I have referred to. Our country, South Africa, has enjoyed democracy for 25 years, and in that time the leaders and the people of South Africa have consistently acknowledged the immeasurable contribution that the people of Africa rendered in support of the struggle against apartheid. Our neighbouring States in particular, and the rest of the countries of Africa made great sacrifices in support of the liberation movements and the oppressed citizens of South Africa.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We are working tirelessly to tackle crime and lawlessness and to ensure that the arrested criminals face the full might of the law. We are also committed to addressing the inadequacy of our immigration administration in order to curb illegal migration and to make sure that everyone who comes to South Africa is documented and safe. We plan to work with all countries of the continent to ensure that we implement our development strategies and use them to create greater economic opportunities for all our people so as to diminish feelings of resentment and antipathy. Working with civil society, we will build bridges allowing all who live in South Africa to reach out to each other in order to build bonds of friendship and pan-Africanism.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We must therefore use this opportunity to rally against intolerance of any kind so that nations can live in peace and respect each other irrespective of nationality, religion, ethnic or social origin, gender or any other status. It is through our differences that we should find strength and not division. Unfortunately, our country, South Africa, has not been immune from evidence of intolerance and division in some parts of our nation. The incidents of violence and looting that erupted in parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal provinces were regrettable and shameful for a nation with such a proud history of struggle and international solidarity and support. The Government of South Africa strongly condemned these tragic actions and is working hard to ensure we address the security lapses and intolerance that led to the violence.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“The Organization, however, is a manifestation of the rejection of intolerance. It was created in the aftermath of a devastating world war as a global forum where nations of the world can address differences and work together for the common good of all people. Our annual gathering here in the Assembly Hall should provide us an opportunity to recommit to these important values. I firmly believe that we are all here because we are committed to the ideal of multilateral solutions to the world’s problems, which draws on strength through diversity — diversity of perspective born from differences in upbringing and culture. By being here, therefore, we recognize that we need each other and that we need to work together.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“One of the greatest obstacles to building a world free of poverty and inequality is intolerance. This includes intolerance of other nations and intolerance of our fellow human beings, as well as inadequate care for the natural environment that sustains us all. Intolerance is exhibited most gruesomely by the evidence of gender-based violence and the exclusion of women from many sectors in society. Our country, South Africa, is taking urgent steps to address the scars of gender-based violence. All of us need to act urgently to ensure that we all enjoy full access to our human rights and that all our citizens, in particular, women, enjoy bodily security. We also face an existential threat due to our intolerance and the disrespect and veritable violence we inflict on the planet on which we all depend.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“As Government and civil society in South Africa, we respect and act on the decisions of the United Nations. This includes actions in response to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which articulate a transformative global development agenda. South Africa’s National Development Plan 2030 is the policy we have adopted to execute our commitment to achieving the SDGs. Our Plan complements our efforts to support peace, development and security on our continent and the aspirations contained in Agenda 2063 of the African Union (AU). We believe that, in order to achieve these goals, all Member States should establish partnerships, primarily with the private sector and civil society organizations, to ensure a joint commitment aimed at realizing a world free of poverty and underdevelopment.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“The principles that motivate our action derive from a firm belief in multilateralism, especially a global governance system that is fair, equitable and representative; the promotion of peace and security through global disarmament, the peaceful settlement of disputes and the promotion of good governance; the promotion of human rights; and the fight against poverty through the promotion of sustainable development. We strongly believe that a purposive system of multilateralism is necessary to deal with the global challenges we confront us. We are all interdependent in an ever more globalized world, and we can ill afford the pursuit of narrow self-interests. Today, South Africa is able to partner with the United Nations in addressing the injustice and imbalances that are a legacy of our past.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“We know from our experience and history that it will only be through the determined efforts of the United Nations family that freedom for the people of Palestine can be achieved and only through the United Nations family that the Sahrawi people can enjoy freedom. As early as 1946, shortly after the creation of the United Nations, the issue of apartheid South Africa’s discriminatory policies was included as an item on the agenda of the first session of the General Assembly. It was therefore with no great surprise that a democratic South Africa eagerly pursued its new international role and enthusiastically took up its responsibilities as an active Member of the United Nations. We have sought to participate in all aspects of the United Nations, including by serving in its principal organs.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“It is indeed timely and relevant, especially given the complex challenges facing the world today. Far too many of the world’s population remain poor, jobless and hopeless. It is imperative that we intensify efforts directed at fundamentally changing their lives. This debate holds special significance for South Africa as it coincides with the twenty-fifth anniversary of South Africa’s freedom and democracy. Our anniversary is due in large measure to the solidarity we enjoyed from most States Members of the United Nations, and it is because of this history that South Africa is also vested in the ideal of a robust and coherent United Nations as it is this Organization that has the ability to ensure that all who yearn for freedom achieve it.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)
“I stand here deeply moved at the coincidence that I should speak following my counterpart, the Foreign Minister of Botswana, given that my grandfather, Z. K. Matthews, stood here in 1966 as the first Ambassador of the newly independent Botswana. I represent the President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa as I stand here today. I wish on behalf of South Africa to congratulate you, Sir, on your leadership of the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session. We are pleased to see a leader from our sister country Nigeria preside over the Assembly at its seventy-fourth session. I assure you of South Africa’s full support as you implement your priorities and responsibilities during your term in office. We thoroughly welcome the theme that you have chosen.”
2019-09-24 · UN General Assembly · General Debate, Session 74 (2019)