Canada, 2012

It is an

honour to address the opening of the sixty-seventh

regular session of the General Assembly.

First of all, allow me to begin with a moment of

silence in tribute to all the diplomats, from so many

countries, who have lost their lives in the service of

our common humanity and in the pursuit of deeper

understanding among countries.

With the opening of this session, the General

Assembly has passed an important milestone. Since the

first session was convened in Central Hall Westminster

in London in January 1946 until the calling to order of

this new session, precisely 66 years and eight months

have elapsed. The General Assembly is now two thirds

of a century old — two thirds of a century during which

the Assembly and the planet have been witness to both

great achievements and grave injustices and have seen

both human triumphs and human tragedies.

It has been two thirds of a century during which

the peoples of the world made powerful progress. We

have launched humans into orbit. We have mapped the

human genome and unlocked various mysteries of life

and science. We have pulled hundreds of millions of

people out of abject poverty. And yet it has also been

two thirds of a century during which we suffered deep

disappointment — the worst incidents of terrorism

in the world’s history, including the largest terror

attack ever, here in New York on 11 September 2001;

the failure to anticipate and prevent genocide in

Cambodia and Rwanda; and the stubborn persistence

of totalitarianism and despotism. Some developments

were predictable. Others no one foresaw, and nobody

could have scripted.

As we stand on the threshold of the next third of a

century, we are reminded of that old adage, “the only analogy. At one time, sailors would navigate by the

North Star. Winds and currents would shift, storms

would blow, ships might even veer off course, but the

North Star remained fixed — as a guide and as a goal.

In the same way, the only way for us to navigate the

seas of change is to follow fixed principles and chart a

course for immutable goals. In our opinion, those goals

are the well-being, prosperity, security and dignity of

humankind, objectives that are reflected in the purposes

inscribed in Article 1 of the United Nations Charter.

We owe it to those we serve — to the people of this

planet — to maintain consistent effort in that direction.

They will judge our success by how well we further

the ends of prosperity, security, and human dignity. One

measures results by measuring the results themselves,

not by weighing best efforts, not by counting good

intentions, and not by calculating inputs. I do not

propose, therefore, to dwell extensively on reform of

the United Nations. This Organization is not a goal; it

is merely the means to accomplish goals. However, the

United Nations must spend less time looking at itself,

and more time focused on the problems that demand its

attention. I make that observation in a constructive and

positive spirit.

Canada was an original signatory to the Charter,

and is today the seventh-largest contributor to the

budget of this important Organization. Our commitment

to the United Nations has been tested and is proven.

Our commitment to the United Nations is important.

Nevertheless, because of our commitment to this body,

we cannot and will not participate in endless, fruitless

inward-looking exercises.

Canada’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations

will henceforth devote primary attention to what the

United Nations is achieving, not to how the United

Nations arranges its affairs. The United Nations spends

too much time on itself. It must now look outward. The

preoccupation with procedure and process must yield

to substance and results. If the United Nations focuses

on the achievement of goals — such as prosperity,

security and human dignity — then reform will take

care of itself. As the international community sets its

sights on a post-2015 development framework, it should

not forget the work that remains to be done and the

commitments it has made.

The United Nations Commission on Information

and Accountability for Women’s and Children’s Health,

co-chaired by Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen

Harper, and President Jakaya Kikwete of the United

Republic of Tanzania, is the type of initiative that

Canada would like to see more of in the future, and its

recommendations need to be integrated into a post-2015

framework.

The Preamble to the Charter of the United Nations

reflects our collective determination to achieve “better

standards of life” for all humankind. It sets as a goal

“the economic and social advancement of all peoples”.

That is no mean ambition. Those of us who recognize

a Creator accept the responsibility to use the Creator’s

gifts to improve the well-being of all. Openness and

engagement are vital to progress and prosperity. Since

before recorded history, societies have reached out to

their neighbours and beyond. As soon as human beings

invented transport, we invented trade, exchanging not

just the fruits of the Earth, but also goods, practices and

ideas. Informed by our successes and failures — that

is, having benefited from engagement and having paid

the price of isolation — humankind has learned several

lessons. We cannot develop understanding by building

walls between cultures. We cannot achieve prosperity

by erecting walls between economies. And we cannot

advance a people by putting walls between them and

the State.

It is no longer necessary for humankind to endlessly

debate how to make people better off. There is no

special alchemy required. Blessed with the benefit of

human experience, we know what produces prosperity:

free trade among open societies operating under

transparent, consistent and fair rules. As Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon recently wrote, “engaging in the

world is the best path to a better future”.

The fight for the economic and social advancement

of all peoples is manifested in the struggle for open

markets, open society and open-mindedness. It is a

struggle in which Canada is decidedly not neutral. We

recognize that the well-being of Canadians depends

both on openness at home and on openness to the world.

Canadians know, from experience, the connection

between trade and prosperity. After all, in order to

support the world’s tenth-largest economy with only

the world’s thirty-sixth-largest population, we must be

a trading nation. We are expanding trade at a rate of

unparalleled ambition, and consequently we are looking

for partners. But we fully recognize that sustained trade

requires stability and security.

The United Nations will also be judged by how

well it advances the security of humankind. The goal of

security is not separate from the objective of well-being. Security is, after all, a vital part of people’s well-being.

Once again, openness and engagement are important

means of achieving that goal. While there may at times

be tension in the means of execution, there exists no

fundamental conflict between national security and the

open society; both seek to protect the same values, the

same rights and the same freedoms.

It is not enough for a society to protect its own

security. Global security affects all of us as members

of the global community. Or, as Nelson Mandela

eloquently put it, “freedom would be meaningless

without security in the home and in the streets”. Thus,

our freedom is strengthened when others are free, and

our liberty is diminished so long as any of our brothers

or sisters are imprisoned by fear. Because a threat to

one is a threat to all, our security is enhanced when we

cooperate to protect fragile democracies or to block the

forces of instability.

The crisis in Syria is a test of this Organization’s

ability to achieve results. While the brutal and repressive

regime of Bashar Al-Assad continues the slaughter of

its own people, the United Nations continues to fail to

impose binding sanctions that would stem the crimson

tide of that bloody assault. Until the last moment of

recorded time, the world will remember and history will

judge Member States that are allowing the atrocities to

continue.

Many people of the planet, including many of the

citizens whom we represent, cannot understand why

this Organization — despite the sound and fury of

debate in this great Assembly — has been unable to

take concrete steps. Some ask, “What business is it

of ours?” Our citizens would argue that the business

is our common humanity, and our mandate is the

strengthening of humanity’s bonds. It is difficult

to fault their logic. The late Martin Luther King Jr.

once said: “He who passively accepts evil is as much

involved in it as he who helps to perpetrate it. He who

accepts evil without protesting against it is really

cooperating with it”. And if the collective interest in

our shared humanity does not motivate us to act, then

the self-interest of our own security should. After all,

a stockpile of chemical and biological weapons does

not respect national sovereignty or recognize territorial

integrity. Who among us would be secure if the

chemical and biological weapons of another Member

State fell into the wrong hands? That is why Canada

calls on the Syrian regime to ensure that its stockpile of chemical weapons remains secure against possible use

or proliferation by those who would do evil.

When the post-Al-Qadhafi Libya declared its

willingness to destroy previously unknown stockpiles,

Canada stepped in and provided $6 million to the

Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons

in order to achieve that vital objective. Until such an

opportunity arises in Syria, Canada stands ready

to assist neighbouring States in taking measures to

reduce the threat of the proliferation of those terrible

weapons. Until that time, Canada continues to call for

an immediate end to the violence. Al-Assad must be

replaced by a new order that protects Syria’s territorial

integrity and all the rights of each and every citizen.

I have seen the despair of the Syrian people first

hand on the Jordanian border, where a little girl heart-

wrenchingly told me that all she wanted to do was to go

home. That experience will no doubt leave a lasting scar

on the children caught in the middle of the tragedy. We

must ensure that they have the opportunity for a better

life — for a life free of fear and full of opportunity.

I pledge that Canada will work to address the urgent

humanitarian crises wrought by the violence of the past

18 months. It behoves all Member States in a position

to do so to improve conditions for the Syrian civilians

affected by their great struggle against tyranny in

pursuit of dignity.

Today, the most significant threat to global peace

and security remains the regime in Iran. It refuses to

comply with Security Council resolutions. It routinely

threatens the very existence of the State of Israel. It

foments hatred against the Jewish people and incites

genocide. It provides aid, comfort and support to

terrorist groups. It is guilty of the widespread and

massive repression of the human rights of its own people,

including gays, lesbians and religious minorities.

A nuclear Iran would embolden an already reckless

regime and would perpetuate a very destabilizing

factor not just for an already fragile region, but also

for the entire planet. The Government of Canada has

not only formally listed the Iranian regime as a State

sponsor of terrorism under Canadian law, but we have

also suspended diplomatic relations. Some may ask

why a country committed to openness and engagement

would suspend relations. We do not take such decisions

lightly.

On a practical level, the regime’s blatant disregard

for the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations created real and legitimate concern for the safety and

security of our civilian diplomats. But there is also a great

principle at stake. While Canada prizes engagement

and open relations, there can be no open engagement

with a regime that dishonours its word, repudiates

its commitments and threatens to perpetuate crimes

against humanity. Canada’s philosophy is captured in

the wisdom of Dag Hammarskjöld, the second United

Nations Secretary-General, killed 51 years ago while

fighting for peace and justice. He advised: “Never, for

the sake of peace and quiet, deny your own experience

or convictions”. That is why Canada has imposed some

of the toughest economic sanctions against the Iranian

regime.

However, let me be absolutely clear. Our quarrel

is not with the people of Iran, but with the regime,

which aims to silence their voices. Canada urges Iran

to comply with its international nuclear obligations and

to cease sensitive enrichment activities. We support

the process of the five plus one group of countries.

Iran needs to seize the opportunity provided by the

international community and negotiate in good faith

by showing demonstrable progress and by meeting its

nuclear obligations.

The Iranian regime still has the chance to redeem

itself. In fact, I encourage Iran to follow the example

of some of its neighbours, some of whom Canada has

supported in building nuclear energy programmes for

peaceful purposes. We will continue to work closely

with the United States, the European Union and

other allies to put pressure on Iran to comply with its

important international nuclear obligations. Rather than

accept as inevitable the conflict that Iran seems intent

on provoking, Canada seeks a peaceful alternative. Iran

must act immediately to stop all enrichment and must

abandon technology that could be used for weapons.

Iran is testing the will of the international community

to its utmost. That, too, must end.

The world’s security is closely linked to the third

goal that should animate this Organization, namely,

protecting the dignity and worth of every person by

upholding and protecting fundamental freedoms. The

great poet Kahlil Gibran inspired us to remember that

safeguarding the rights of others is the most noble and

beautiful goal of a human being.

That principle is not simply a question of beliefs and

values. It includes a requirement for action. Protecting

human rights and human dignity is an obligation that

each State owes its citizens. It is a mutual obligation that all members of the international community must

share. History teaches us that an open society that is

tolerant, pluralistic and free is the best guarantor of

human rights and dignity.

A threat to the security of humankind is often

coupled with the crushing of human rights. Yet human

rights abuses that do not threaten security still concern

us. The enslavement of others is a vicious human rights

abuse. It takes many forms, such as the notorious

political prisoner camps of North Korea, the forcible

recruitment by the Mouvement du 23 mars group

in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and the early

and forced marriage of young girls, which is a truly

barbaric form of slavery. Another despicable type of

enslavement is the criminalization of sexuality: jailing,

torturing and killing people for who they are and whom

they love. Other abuses enslave the soul by suppressing,

sometimes with brutal force, the right to worship

freely, to practise a faith and to hold religious beliefs.

Assaults on human dignity, wherever they occur, are

unacceptable.

At the start of my address, I observed that results

matter. This Organization was created to achieve

certain goals, and it will be measured by its success

in doing so. No one ever said that it would be easy to

make real progress in advancing the prosperity, well-

being, security and dignity of humankind. It is not easy

but it is essential. Despite the challenges, the frequent

setbacks and the cost, which is often heavy, we know

that the nations and peoples of the world are up to the

challenge. As we celebrate Mohandas Gandhi’s birthday

tomorrow, let us be inspired by his words: “You must

not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a

few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not

become dirty.”

Emboldened and bolstered by our faith in humanity,

let us move forward together to secure the results that

this Organization was established to achieve.

constant is change”.

The only constant is change. Indeed, our world

continues to change and at a rapid pace in all domains.

At the geopolitical level, change means a rebalancing

of power and new opportunities. Not since the Cold

War has so much change occurred so quickly. In

these turbulent times, when change can be swift and

unexpected, it is all the more important that we focus

with precision on the constants that remain true.

Canada is a maritime nation bordered by three

oceans. Please allow me, then, to use a nautical