Sweden, 2009

In the beginning, there

were 51 nations committed to international peace and

security, sharing the common goal of developing

friendly relations among nations, and promoting social

progress, better living standards and human rights.

Today, the 51 nations of the first session of the General

Assembly have become 192. Today, the General

Assembly really is the town hall meeting of the world.

On behalf of the 27 States members of the

European Union (EU), I bring a message of

cooperation and partnership — a message that our

Union is open to the outside world.

Globalization is good. Through globalization,

hundreds of millions of people have been lifted out of

poverty; information, ideas and inventions shared;

goods and services provided. It all moves quickly from

one country to another. We prosper from this. It

enlightens us. It helps us to understand the ways of

other parts of the world.

At the same time, globalization means that one

nation’s problems will also come knocking at the doors

of other nations. Pandemics, food crises, organized

crime, trafficking in drugs and humans, terrorism and

violent ideologies are no longer limited by borders and

no longer only one nation’s problem. And so, we have

to manage the risks and threats that follow.

In this work, we need the United Nations broad-

based legitimacy for international actions and norms to

coordinate our efforts. And the United Nations, for its

part, has to adapt in order to stay relevant and to be

able to address the issues before us. The European

Union wishes to contribute to these efforts.

We welcome the declared wish of the United

States to work together with others in multilateral

institutions. This opens the door to a promising new

era in international cooperation.

We are facing one of the biggest challenges of

our generation. Our world has a fever, and the fever is

rising. In the most vulnerable of the world’s nations,

the consequences of climate change will be alarming.

Starvation, severe flooding and climate migration will

be a reality even if we keep to the two-degree target set

by the United Nations.

No doubt, developed countries will have to lead

the fight against climate change. By 2020, we will have

to reduce emissions by 25 to 40 per cent from 1990

levels. But if emissions are to peak by no later than

2020, to be reduced by at least 50 per cent by 2050 and

to continue to decline thereafter, our efforts alone will

not be enough. The developing countries need our help.

They need our help to pay the bill that we, through our

emissions, have contributed to.

That is why the European Union last week agreed

to start discussions on how much climate financing is

needed in developing countries. That is why we are

taking concrete steps. That is why we are putting one

more brick into the negotiations, and urge other

developed countries to do the same.

At the meeting of the leaders of the G-8 and the

Major Economies Forum in Italy this summer, there

was agreement on the two-degree target. Now, we need

to see increased commitment and concrete mid-term

targets from developed as well as developing countries.

If we want our children and their children to

experience nature as we know it, we must act now. And

every nation or group of nations has to do its part.

The EU is willing to do its part. We will reduce

our emissions. We will promote low carbon growth,

contribute our fair share of financing and support

adaptation worldwide. And we will remain committed

to playing a lead role in bringing about a global and

comprehensive climate agreement in Copenhagen in

December.

What started out as the pursuit of easy money,

unhealthy risk-taking and, in some cases, pure greed

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escalated this past year into a financial roller coaster.

The effects on both human security and development

have been severe. The European Union will continue to

promote global financial stability and sustainable

world recovery, firmly committed to taking

comprehensive, targeted and coordinated action to

support developing countries, especially the poorest

and the most vulnerable; determined to reach a

comprehensive agreement at the Doha Round, making

sure it contains elements of real value for developing

countries, particularly the poorest; and continuing its

efforts to lift more people out of poverty in reaching

the Millennium Development Goals and to achieve our

respective official development assistance targets.

Human rights are universal. Human rights are

indivisible. The European Union is a voice for human

rights. We believe in democracy. We believe in the rule

of law. The European Union will continue to call for

the worldwide abolition of the death penalty in all

cases and under all circumstances. We will continue to

stand up for the empowerment of women and gender

equality. Without that, it will be impossible to draw on

all those talents that are needed for a nation to move

from poverty to development and prosperity.

To uphold those fundamental values, we need

security. We cannot let war crimes, genocide or crimes

against humanity go unpunished. Therefore, the work

of the International Criminal Court is fully supported

by the European Union. We cannot allow anyone, by

threat or use of force, to act against the territorial

integrity or political independence of any State. The

rules of international law apply equally to all States,

large and small.

The European Union stands ready to continue

working with the United Nations in peacekeeping and

peacebuilding. We also conduct our own peacekeeping

efforts, often in close cooperation with the United

Nations. The transfers of responsibilities in Chad and

in Kosovo are examples of that.

Twenty years after the end of the cold war, peace

and security are still threatened by the proliferation of

weapons of mass destruction and by the fact that those

weapons risk falling into the wrong hands. We strongly

urge the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to

renounce nuclear weapons, and we stand ready to

engage in that matter. We also welcome the global

nuclear security summit that will take place next year.

Europe and Africa are close in geography, but

also through globalization and strong partnership. The

European Union provides support to Africa when

needed. Our naval operation Atalanta, off the coast of

Somalia, protects vessels delivering humanitarian aid

and provides support to the African Union Mission in

Somalia. We have for many years cooperated with the

United Nations in the Democratic Republic of the

Congo.

We speak out on injustice on the African

continent. The use of sexual violence as a weapon of

intimidation and terror is appalling. The attacks on

women and girls in eastern Congo and other places are

unacceptable. To protect we must empower; and so, to

empower women in conflict situations, Security

Council resolutions 1325 (2000) and 1820 (2008) have

to be implemented.

We wish to see a free, democratic and prosperous

Africa. That is especially true in the case of Zimbabwe.

The Global Political Agreement and the formation of

the Government of National Unity were important

steps forward. However, implementing the Agreement

requires commitment. It requires a spirit of

cooperation. In that regard, much remains to be done.

Europe is a union of many cultures. Our openness

to the world around us is evident in the fact that

Christians, Jews and Muslims, those who believe in

God and those who do not, can live side by side in

mutual respect. The European Union wishes to enhance

its interaction with the Muslim world through the

Alliance of Civilizations and through cooperation in

education and development by providing opportunities

for the young. In that way, we can create an

environment that will allow us to focus on what we

have in common rather than on our perceived

differences.

Afghan children show the same curiosity as

children all over the world, including my own, longing

for knowledge, wanting to take part and full of

excitement over what life has to offer. In order to

invest in the future of Afghanistan and in human

development, we cannot let their light be shut out. As a

friend of the people of Afghanistan, the European

Union is committed to assisting them in stabilizing,

democratizing and developing their country. Education,

also for young girls and women, is indispensable. In

the years ahead, we need to do more to ensure that this

is the way forward for Afghanistan.

49 09-52179

As a partner of Pakistan, we know that what

happens in Pakistan influences not only the Pakistanis,

but the development of the region as a whole.

Therefore, it is crucial to continue to assist Pakistan in

its efforts to develop the rule of law and to build a

more stable and more democratic society.

As a friend of the people of Israel, we tell the

Israeli Government to reach out for peace, to end

occupation, to respect international law, to work for a

two-State solution, to immediately end all settlement

activities on occupied land, including East Jerusalem,

and to end the isolation of Gaza.

As a friend of the Palestinians, we expect them to

stop all violent acts against Israel, to continue to build

viable State institutions and to develop democracy and

the rule of law. We will continue both to provide

financial support to the Palestinian Authority and to

assist in capacity-building on the ground. In that

regard, the European Union fully supports the United

States efforts to resume peace negotiations and to stand

ready to actively contribute to their success. The future

of both Israel and Palestine lies in that cooperation.

As a friend of the people of Iran, we are

concerned about the deteriorating human rights

situation and the violent crackdown on popular

protests. The Iranian nuclear issue represents a major

challenge to international peace and security, to

regional stability and to the non-proliferation regime.

Iran must regain the trust of the international

community, comply with relevant Security Council

resolutions and contribute to peace in the Middle East.

As a friend of the people of Burma/Myanmar, we

will tell the military leaders that only democracy and

human rights can bring peace and stability to the

people that they say they represent.

The Swedish statesman and former United

Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld once

said that the pursuit of peace and progress, with its

trials and its errors, its successes and its setbacks, can

never be relaxed and never abandoned. That was true

then and it is true today. The people of the world need

to know that uniting nations is a work not of the past,

but of the future, carried forward by shared values and

by mutual respect and ever more relevant with

increased globalization.

In that common endeavour, the European Union

will remain a reliable partner on security, development

and human rights, always contributing actively to

improving and strengthening the United Nations,

always continuing to refine the instruments needed to

deal with opportunities and threats alike, and always

willing to do its part in helping to create a better world

to live in for future generations, everywhere.