United Kingdom, 2007

It is a great honour to make my first speech to the General

Assembly.

The United Nations has a duty to lead the world

in addressing the shared threats and opportunities that

dominate our age, and it must do so in deed as well as

in word. That is why I want to use this platform to

express my admiration and support for United Nations

missions around the world, from Lebanon to Liberia,

from Congo and Haiti to East Timor, which, even as we

meet in New York this week, are saving lives and

spreading hope.

Since 1946, when the first meeting of the General

Assembly took place in London, the United Kingdom

has been determined to fulfil its international

responsibilities through the United Nations. The new

Government in the United Kingdom, under the

leadership of Gordon Brown, is proud to continue that

tradition, and I reaffirm our commitment today.

The focus at this session has been on immediate

and pressing issues. In the Middle East, we need urgent

action towards a two-State solution that addresses the

security of Israelis and the rights of Palestinians at the

same time.

In Iraq, recent security gains can only be

sustained through continued support for the

development of the Iraqi security forces, through

national reconciliation and through political support

from the whole region.

Our international community depends on

responsibilities as well as rights. If Iran wants to be a

leading and respected country, it must cease its support

for terrorist groups in Iraq and Afghanistan and end its

defiance of three Security Council resolutions in

respect of its nuclear programme.

In Zimbabwe, we need United Nations action to

support African leadership to reverse the vicious cycle

of economic and social devastation that now afflicts

the country.

We have all seen the extraordinary scenes in

Burma. I call on the regime to allow peaceful protest,

encourage national dialogue and promote genuine

reconciliation. Let us today send a message to the

monks on the streets of Burma: we support your

demand for a democratic Burma. And let us take a

message from the monks on the streets of Burma: the

human desire for freedom knows no bounds of race or

religion or region. It is good that the Burmese

Government has allowed Ambassador Gambari into the

country, but it is now vital that they use his presence

there to start the process of reconciliation.

But as well as addressing the traumas of our

fellow citizens around the world, the United Nations

must be the place where we address the longer-term

threats. Today, I devote my speech to one of the great

threats to stability and prosperity in the world: the

threat of global inequality. I do so because inequalities

are not just morally offensive; they are also dangerous.

Inequality fuels extremism. It undermines support for

an open, global economy. It corrodes trust and respect

and reciprocity between nations.

The United Nations Charter talks of the

“sovereign equality of States”, and it also talks of the

“equal rights and dignity of men and women and of

nations large and small”. The principle of equality is

nowhere more evident than in the General Assembly

where all States have an equal voice. But in the world

outside this Hall, economic, social and political

inequalities within and between States persist and

worsen. We cannot stand united against the shared

threats and opportunities in our world when we are so

divided by economic and political disparities. So the

need for Governments and international institutions to

reduce inequalities and promote our common humanity

is stark.

Traditionally, we have focused on the divide

between developed and developing nations. However,

the growth rates in many developing countries are

faster than in developed economies. That is the good

news. But there remain around a billion people in the

world one sixth of its population living in 58

countries, who have been left out of the story of human

progress. This “bottom billion” have an average life

expectancy of 50 years. Fourteen per cent of the

children in the bottom billion die before their fifth

birthday, and more than a third suffer malnutrition. The

countries that are home to the bottom billion saw their

national incomes fall each year during the 1980s and

1990s.

Even where inequalities are narrowing between

nations, they are widening within them. According to

the United Nations Development Programme, in 73

countries containing 80 per cent of the world’s

population economic inequality has risen in recent

years.

Every nation represented here has responsibilities

to its own people. The drive to tackle poverty needs

open markets. It needs the empowerment of citizens

through democratic and transparent institutions, free

from corruption. It needs strong and effective

education and health services open to all.

But national action is not enough. Because the

causes of inequality cross national boundaries, we need

cooperation between nations, bilateral and multilateral,

led by the United Nations.

First, three quarters of the countries where the

bottom billion citizens reside have recent or current

experience of civil war. Conflict is the trapdoor to

extreme poverty. Look at Darfur: more than 200,000

people are dead, 2 million are displaced and 4 million

are on food aid. As the international community, we

decided on a course of action in Security Council

resolution 1769 (2007). Now we need to get on with it:

an agreement on force composition, swift deployment,

effective protection of civilians on the ground and a

political process in which the legitimate grievance of

the Darfur people is addressed through negotiation. In

Afghanistan, one of the five poorest countries in the

world, we need to back up military efforts to secure

safe space with economic, social and political

reconstruction.

Beyond those crises, we also need to improve our

capacity to prevent the emergence of conflict. That is

our vision of the responsibility to protect. A critical

dimension is controlling the spread of weapons whose

easy availability makes it so simple to set up militias

and provoke violence and mayhem. Last year, the

Assembly voted overwhelmingly to take forward

United Nations work towards an arms trade treaty (see

resolution 61/89). The Government of the United

Kingdom will continue to press for the achievement of

that goal.

Secondly, freedom from conflict is the platform

for progress, but the battle against disease and

illiteracy is the second stage. Despite progress in some

countries, the world is off track to meet the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs). That is why, in July here

at the United Nations, the Prime Minister of the United

Kingdom launched a call for action: to honour our own

commitments and go further, to build a truly global

partnership with the private sector, trade unions,

faith groups, civil society and cities that can meet

the 2015 MDG targets. That requires the developed

world to meets its commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of

its national incomes on development. The United

Kingdom will meet that commitment by 2013. But that

requires shared responsibility. Poor governance and

corruption are the enemies of development.

Thirdly, progress on aid needs to be combined

with a new global trade deal that opens up economies

on a fair basis. Western producers continue to benefit

from subsidies and tariffs, particularly for agriculture.

Higher tariffs for processed goods prevent poor

countries from diversifying their economies. That is a

bad deal for Western consumers, and it squeezes out

the livelihoods of producers in poor countries. Neither

is it in rich countries’ financial self-interest, nor is it

fair. The Government of the United Kingdom believes

that concluding the Doha trade round this year is not

just necessary, but also possible, and we will work to

achieve that goal.

Finally, we must address the greatest long-term

threat to our aspirations to tackle inequality: climate

change. Climate change affects all countries, but the

poorest countries and the poorest people within

those countries will suffer the most disruption and

devastation. I congratulate the President of the General

Assembly on choosing climate change as a central

theme of this general debate. And I congratulate the

Secretary-General on his leadership on this issue. But

we need more than debate.

The United Nations Framework Convention on

Climate Change is the only body that can conclude a

global agreement on climate change. Therefore, in the

next two months we need an urgent agreement on the

steps towards progress to be taken at the December

meeting in Bali. Beyond that, we need a road map to

the 15th conference of parties to the Convention, to be

held at Copenhagen in two years’ time, and agreement

on a global deal that succeeds the end of the first

commitment period of the Kyoto Protocol.

At the heart of such an agreement must be the

principle of common but differentiated responsibilities:

all countries taking on responsibilities, but making sure

that they are equitably distributed, with the greatest

action taken by the richest countries. The United

Kingdom stands ready to play its part. This year, our

climate change bill will be enacted into law in the next

session of Parliament to place on a statutory footing

our commitment to cut carbon emissions by at least 60

per cent from 1990 levels by the year 2050. But we

need similar binding commitments from all rich

countries.

The challenges are therefore immense. Crisis

resolution and conflict prevention, the Millennium

Development Goals, a new trade deal, climate

change they call for all our resources. Military

intervention is never the whole solution, but sometimes

a solution cannot be found without armed force.

Development budgets are necessary, but the developing

world needs a growth plan, not just an aid plan.

Diplomacy needs to bridge differences between

nations, but also to reach out to civil society and

business.

The United Kingdom is proud not just of its

bilateral relations with the countries represented in the

Assembly, but also of its commitment to multilateral

institutions, which can be a force for good in the world.

But international institutions need to reflect the world

as it is, not the world as it was. The United Kingdom

therefore welcomes the prospect of intergovernmental

negotiations at this session to achieve agreement on

reform of the Security Council. We support permanent

membership for Germany, Japan, India and Brazil and

permanent representation for Africa. We are not

wedded to a single model of reform. Achieving

effective change is what matters.

In a world where more than a billion people are

online, where companies have bigger turnovers than

countries and where global non-governmental

organizations have memberships that are bigger than

national populations, our international institutions must

look inwards to internal reform, but also outwards to

broader popular movements for change.

In the last phase of globalization, in the

nineteenth century, the emergence of new Powers and

the breakdown of the international order resulted in

conflict that scarred the whole of the twentieth century.

Unless we can build trust and reciprocity between

nations and embody them in durable and robust

international institutions that reconcile differences and

nurture common values, the latest phase of

globalization could be another false dawn.

Globalization is not just something to which we

must adapt; it is something that we can and must shape

for the achievement of our own goals. It must be put to

use spreading power, wealth and opportunity. For my

Government, this mission is driven by both moral

purpose and national interest. We must address the

insecurity and inequality that exist beyond our borders

if we are to enhance security and prosperity within our

borders.

We live in a more prosperous, more peaceful and

more democratic world than ever before. Let us

commit ourselves to living in a more equal world.