United States, 2010

It is a great honour to address

this Assembly for the second time, nearly two years

after my election as President of the United States. We

know this is no ordinary time for our people. We each

come here with our own problems and priorities. But

there are also challenges that we share in common as

leaders and as nations.

We meet within an institution built from the

rubble of war, designed to unite the world in pursuit of

peace. And we meet within a city that for centuries has

welcomed people from across the globe, demonstrating

that individuals of every colour, faith and station can

come together to pursue opportunity, build a

community and live with the blessing of human liberty.

Outside the doors of this Hall, the blocks and

neighbourhoods of this great city tell the story of a

difficult decade. Nine years ago, the destruction of the

World Trade Center signalled a threat that respected no

boundary of dignity or decency. Two years ago this

month, a financial crisis on Wall Street devastated

American families on Main Street. These separate

challenges have affected people around the world. Men

and women and children have been murdered by

extremists from Casablanca to London, from Jalalabad

to Jakarta. The global economy suffered an enormous

blow during the financial crisis, crippling markets and

deferring the dreams of millions on every continent.

Underneath these challenges to our security and

prosperity lie deeper fears: that ancient hatreds and

religious divides are once again ascendant; that a world

which has grown more interconnected has somehow

slipped beyond our control.

These are some of the challenges that my

Administration has confronted since we came into

office. And today, I would like to talk to the Assembly

about what we have done over the last 20 months to

meet these challenges; what our responsibility is to

pursue peace in the Middle East; and what kind of

world we are trying to build in this twenty-first

century.

Let me begin with what we have done. I have had

no greater focus as President than rescuing our

economy from potential catastrophe. And in an age

when prosperity is shared, we could not do this alone.

So America has joined with nations around the world

to spur growth and the renewed demand that could

restart job creation.

We are reforming our system of global finance,

beginning with Wall Street reform here at home, so that

a crisis like this never happens again. And we made the

Group of 20 the focal point for international

coordination, because in a world where prosperity is

more diffuse, we must broaden our circle of

cooperation to include emerging economies —

economies from every corner of the globe.

There is much to show for our efforts, even as

there is much work to be done. The global economy

has been pulled back from the brink of a depression

and is growing once more. We have resisted

protectionism and are exploring ways to expand trade

and commerce among nations. But we cannot — and

will not — rest until these seeds of progress grow into

a broader prosperity, not only for all Americans but for

peoples around the world.

As for our common security, America is waging a

more effective fight against Al-Qaida’ while winding

down the war in Iraq. Since I took office, the United

States has removed nearly 100,000 troops from Iraq.

We have done so responsibly as Iraqis have

transitioned to lead responsibility for the security of

their country. We are now focused on building a lasting

partnership with the Iraqi people while keeping our

commitment to remove the rest of our troops by the

end of next year.

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While drawing down in Iraq, we have refocused

on defeating Al-Qaida and denying its affiliates safe

haven. In Afghanistan, the United States and our allies

are pursuing a strategy to break the Taliban’s

momentum and build the capacity of Afghanistan’s

Government and security forces so that a transition to

Afghan responsibility can begin next July. And from

South Asia to the Horn of Africa, we are moving

towards a more targeted approach — one that

strengthens our partners and dismantles terrorist

networks without deploying large American armies.

As we pursue the world’s most dangerous

extremists, we are also denying them the world’s most

dangerous weapons and pursuing the peace and

security of a world without nuclear weapons.

Earlier this year, 47 nations embraced a work

plan to secure all vulnerable nuclear materials within

four years. We have joined with Russia to sign the most

comprehensive arms control treaty in decades. We have

reduced the role of nuclear weapons in our security

strategy. And here, at the United Nations, we came

together to strengthen the Treaty on the Non-

Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT).

As part of our effort on non-proliferation, I

offered the Islamic Republic of Iran an extended hand

last year and underscored that it has both rights and

responsibilities as a member of the international

community. I also said — in this Hall — that Iran must

be held accountable if it failed to meet those

responsibilities. And that is what we have done.

Iran is the only party to the NPT that cannot

demonstrate the peaceful intentions of its nuclear

programme, and those actions have consequences.

Through Security Council resolution 1929 (2010), we

made it clear that international law is not an empty

promise.

Now let me be clear once more: the United States

and the international community seek a resolution to

our differences with Iran, and the door remains open to

diplomacy should Iran choose to walk through it. But

the Iranian Government must demonstrate a clear and

credible commitment and confirm to the world the

peaceful intent of its nuclear programme.

As we combat the spread of deadly weapons, we

are also confronting the spectre of climate change.

After making historic investments in clean energy and

efficiency at home, we helped forge an accord in

Copenhagen that — for the first time — commits all

major economies to reduce their emissions. We are

keenly aware this is just a first step. And going

forward, we will support a process in which all major

economies meet our responsibilities to protect the

planet while unleashing the power of clean energy to

serve as an engine of growth and development.

America has also embraced unique

responsibilities that come with our power. Since the

rains came and the floodwaters rose in Pakistan, we

have pledged our assistance, and we should all support

the Pakistani people as they recover and rebuild. And

when the earth shook and Haiti was devastated by loss,

we joined a coalition of nations in response. Today, we

honour those from the United Nations family who lost

their lives in the earthquake and commit ourselves to

stand with the people of Haiti until they can stand on

their own two feet.

Amidst this upheaval, we have also been

persistent in our pursuit of peace. Last year, I pledged

my best efforts to support the goal of two States, Israel

and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security,

as part of a comprehensive peace between Israel and all

of its neighbours. We have travelled a winding road

over the last 12 months, with few peaks and many

valleys. But this month I am pleased that we have

pursued direct negotiations between Israelis and

Palestinians in Washington, Sharm el-Sheikh and

Jerusalem.

Now I recognize that many are pessimistic about

this process. The cynics say that Israelis and

Palestinians are too distrustful of each other, and too

divided internally, to forge lasting peace. Rejectionists

on both sides will try to disrupt the process with bitter

words and with bombs and gunfire. Some say that the

gaps between the parties are too big; the potential for

talks to break down is too great; and that after decades

of failure peace is simply not possible.

I hear those voices of scepticism. But I ask the

Assembly to consider the alternative. If an agreement

is not reached, Palestinians will never know the pride

and dignity that comes with their own State. Israelis

will never know the certainty and security that comes

with sovereign and stable neighbours who are

committed to coexistence. The hard realities of

demography will take over. More blood will be shed.

This Holy Land will remain a symbol of our

differences, instead of our common humanity.

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I refuse to accept that future. We all have a choice

to make. Each of us must choose the path of peace. Of

course, that responsibility begins with the parties

themselves, who must answer the call of history.

Earlier this month, at the White House, I was struck by

the words of both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “I came here today to

find an historic compromise that will enable both

peoples to live in peace, security and dignity”.

President Abbas said, “We will spare no effort and we

will work diligently and tirelessly to ensure these

negotiations achieve their cause”.

These words must now be followed by action,

and I believe that both leaders have the courage to do

so. But the road that they have to travel is exceedingly

difficult, which is why I call upon Israelis and

Palestinians — and the world — to rally behind the

goal that these leaders now share.

We know that there will be tests along the way,

and that one test is fast approaching. Israel’s settlement

moratorium has made a difference on the ground and

improved the atmosphere for talks.

And our position on this issue is well known. We

believe that the moratorium should be extended. We

also believe that talks should press on until completed.

Now is the time for the parties to help each other

overcome this obstacle. Now is the time to build the

trust — and provide the time — for substantial

progress to be made. Now is the time for this

opportunity to be seized, so that it does not slip away.

Now, peace must be made by Israelis and

Palestinians, but we each have a responsibility to do

our part as well. Those of us who are friends of Israel

must understand that true security for the Jewish State

requires an independent Palestine — one that allows

the Palestinian people to live with dignity and

opportunity. And those of us who are friends of the

Palestinians must understand that the rights of the

Palestinian people will be won only through peaceful

means — including genuine reconciliation with a

secure Israel.

I know many in this Hall count themselves as

friends of the Palestinians. These pledges of friendship

must now be supported by deeds. Those who have

signed on to the Arab Peace Initiative should seize this

opportunity to make it real by taking tangible steps

towards the normalization that it promises Israel.

And those who speak on behalf of Palestinian

self-government should help the Palestinian Authority

politically and financially, and in doing so help the

Palestinians build the institutions of their State.

Those who long to see an independent Palestine

must also stop trying to tear down Israel. After

thousands of years, Jews and Arabs are not strangers in

a strange land. After 60 years in the community of

nations, Israel’s existence must not be a subject for

debate.

Israel is a sovereign State, and the historic

homeland of the Jewish people. It should be clear to all

that efforts to chip away at Israel’s legitimacy will be

met by the unshakeable opposition of the United

States. Efforts to threaten or kill Israelis will do

nothing to help the Palestinian people. The slaughter of

innocent Israelis is not resistance; it is injustice. And

make no mistake: the courage of a man like President

Abbas, who stands up for his people in front of the

world under very difficult circumstances, is far greater

than those who fire rockets at innocent women and

children.

The conflict between Israelis and Arabs is as old

as the United Nations. And we can come back here

next year, as we have for the last 60 years, and make

long speeches about it. We can read familiar lists of

grievances. We can table the same resolutions. We can

further empower the forces of rejectionism and hate.

And we can waste more time by carrying forward an

argument that will not help a single Israeli or

Palestinian child achieve a better life. We can do that.

Or we can say that this time will be different —

that this time we will not let terror or turbulence or

posturing or petty politics stand in the way. This time

we will think, not of ourselves, but of the young girl in

Gaza who wants to have no ceiling on her dreams or

the young boy in Sderot who wants to sleep without the

nightmare of rocket fire.

This time we should draw upon the teachings of

tolerance that lie at the heart of the three great religions

that see Jerusalem’s soil as sacred. This time we should

reach for what is best within ourselves. If we do, when

we come back here next year, we can have an

agreement that will lead to a new State Member of the

United Nations — an independent, sovereign State of

Palestine living in peace with Israel.

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It is our destiny to bear the burdens of the

challenges that I have addressed — recession and war

and conflict. And there is always a sense of urgency,

even emergency, that drives most of our foreign

policies. Indeed, after millennia marked by wars, this

very institution reflects the desire of human beings to

create a forum to deal with emergencies that will

inevitably come.

But even as we confront immediate challenges,

we must also summon the foresight to look beyond

them and consider what we are trying to build over the

long term. What is the world that awaits us when

today’s battles are brought to an end? And, that is what

I would like to talk about with the remainder of my

time today.

One of the first actions of the General Assembly

was to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human

Rights in 1948. This Declaration begins by stating that,

“recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal

and inalienable rights of all members of the human

family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace

in the world”.

The idea is a simple one — that freedom, justice

and peace for the world must begin with freedom,

justice and peace in the lives of individual human

beings. For the United States, this is a matter of moral

and pragmatic assessment. As Robert Kennedy said,

“the individual man, the child of God, is the touchstone

of value, and all society, groups, the state exist for his

benefit”.

So we stand up for universal values because it is

the right thing to do. But we also know from

experience that those who defend these values for their

people have been our closest friends and allies, while

those who have denied those rights — whether terrorist

groups or tyrannical Governments — have chosen to be

our adversaries.

Human rights have never gone unchallenged —

not in any of our nations, not in our world. Tyranny is

still with us — whether it manifests itself in the

Taliban killing girls who try to go to school, a North

Korean regime that enslaves its own people, or an

armed group in Congo-Kinshasa that use rape as a

weapon of war.

In times of economic unease, there can also be an

anxiety about human rights. Today, as in past times of

economic downturn, some put human rights aside for

the promise of short-term stability or the false notion

that economic growth can come at the expense of

freedom. We see leaders abolishing term limits, we see

crackdowns on civil society, we see corruption

smothering entrepreneurship and good governance, we

see democratic reforms deferred indefinitely.

As I said last year, each country will pursue a

path rooted in the culture of its own people. Yet

experience shows us that history is on the side of

liberty; that the strongest foundation lies in open

economies, open societies, and open Governments. To

put it simply, democracy, more than any other form of

government, delivers for our citizens. And I believe

that truth will only grow stronger in a world where the

borders between nations are blurred.

America is working to shape a world that fosters

this openness. For the rot of a closed or corrupt

economy must never eclipse the energy and innovation

of human beings.All of us want the right to educate our

children, to make a decent wage, to care for the sick,

and to be carried as far as our dreams and deeds will

take us. But that depends upon economies that tap the

power of our people, including the potential of women

and girls. That means letting entrepreneurs start a

business without paying a bribe and Governments that

support opportunity instead of stealing from their

people. And that means rewarding hard work, instead

of reckless risk-taking.

Yesterday, I put forward a new development

policy that will pursue these goals, recognizing that

dignity is a human right and global development is in

our common interest. America will partner with nations

that offer their people a path out of poverty. And

together, we must unleash growth that powers by

individuals and merging markets in all parts of the

globe.

There is no reason why Africa should not be an

exporter of agriculture, which is why our food security

initiative is empowering farmers. There is no reason

why entrepreneurs should not be able to build new

markets in every society, which is why I hosted a

summit on entrepreneurship earlier this spring, because

the obligation of Government is to empower

individuals, not to impede them.

The same holds true for civil society. The arc of

human progress has been shaped by individuals with

the freedom to assemble and by organizations outside

of government that insisted upon democratic change

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and by free media that held the powerful accountable.

We have seen that from the South Africans who stood

up to apartheid, to the Poles of Solidarity, to the

mothers of the disappeared who spoke out against the

Dirty War, to Americans who marched for the rights of

all races, including my own.

Civil society is the conscience of our

communities and America will always extend our

engagement abroad with citizens beyond the halls of

Government. And we will call out those who suppress

ideas and serve as a voice for those who are voiceless.

We will promote new tools of communication so

people are empowered to connect with one another

and, in repressive societies, to do so with security. We

will support a free and open Internet, so individuals

have the information to make up their own minds. And

it is time to embrace and effectively monitor norms

that advance the rights of civil society and guarantee

its expansion within and across borders.

Open society supports open government, but it

cannot substitute for it. There is no right more

fundamental than the right to choose your leaders and

determine your destiny. Now, make no mistake: the

ultimate success of democracy in the world will not

come because the United States dictates it; it will come

because individual citizens demand a say in how they

are governed.

There is no soil where this cannot take root, just

as every democracy reflects the uniqueness of a nation.

Later this fall, I will travel to Asia. And I will visit

India, which peacefully threw off colonialism and

established a thriving democracy of over a billion

people.

I will continue to Indonesia, the world’s largest

Muslim-majority country, which binds together

thousands of islands through the glue of representative

government and civil society. I will join the Group-of-

20 meeting on the Korean peninsula, which provides

the world’s clearest contrast between a society that is

dynamic and open and free, and one that is imprisoned

and closed. And I will conclude my trip in Japan, an

ancient culture that found peace and extraordinary

development through democracy.

Each of these countries gives life to democratic

principles in its own way. And even as some

Governments roll back reform, we also celebrate the

courage of a President in Colombia who willingly

stepped aside, or the promise of a new constitution in

Kenya.

The common thread of progress is the principle

that government is accountable to its citizens. And the

diversity in this Hall makes clear — no one country

has all the answers, but all of us must answer to our

own people.

In all parts of the world, we see the promise of

innovation to make government more open and

accountable. And now we must build on that progress.

And when we gather back here next year, we should

bring specific commitments to promote transparency;

to fight corruption; to energize civic engagement; to

leverage new technology so that we strengthen the

foundations of freedom in our own countries, while

living up to the ideals that can light the world.

This institution can still play an indispensable

role in the advance of human rights. It is time to

welcome the efforts of UN Women to protect the rights

of women around the world.

It is time for every Member State to open its

elections to international monitors and increase the

United Nations Democracy Fund. It is time to

invigorate United Nations peacekeeping, so that

missions have the resources necessary to succeed, and

so atrocities like sexual violence are prevented and

justice is enforced — because neither dignity nor

democracy can thrive without basic security.

It is time to make this institution more

accountable as well, because the challenges of the new

century demand new ways of serving our common

interests.

The world that America seeks is not one we can

build on our own. For human rights to reach those who

suffer the boot of oppression, we need your voices to

speak out. In particular, I appeal to those nations that

emerged from tyranny and inspired the world in the

second half of the last century — from South Africa to

South Asia; from Eastern Europe to South America. Do

not stand idly by, do not be silent, when dissidents

elsewhere are imprisoned and protesters are beaten,

recall your own history. Because part of the price of

our own freedom is standing up for the freedom of

others.

That belief will guide America’s leadership in

this twenty-first century. It is a belief that has seen us

through more than two centuries of trial, and it will see

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us through the challenges we face today — be they war

or recession; conflict or division.

So even as we have come through a difficult

decade, I stand here before you confident in the

future — a future where Iraq is governed by neither a

tyrant nor a foreign Power, and Afghanistan is freed

from the turmoil of war; a future where the children of

Israel and Palestine can build the peace that was not

possible for their parents; a world where the promise of

development reaches into the prisons of poverty and

disease; a future where the cloud of recession gives

way to the light of renewal, and the dream of

opportunity is available to all.

This future will not be easy to reach. It will not

come without setbacks, nor will it be quickly claimed.

But the founding of the United Nations itself is a

testament to human progress. Remember, in times that

were far more trying than our own, our predecessors

chose the hope of unity over the ease of division and

made a promise to future generations that the dignity

and equality of human beings would be our common

cause.

It falls to us to fulfil that promise. And though we

will be met by dark forces that will test our resolve,

Americans have always had cause to believe that we

can choose a better history; that we need only to look

outside the walls around us. For through the citizens of

every conceivable ancestry who make this city their

own, we see living proof that opportunity can be

accessed by all, that what unites us as human beings is

far greater than what divides us, and that people from

every part of this world can live together in peace.