United Kingdom, 2011

It is an honour

to address the General Assembly for the first time, and

it is a particular honour to do so as such momentous

events unfold in the Arab world. Last week I was in

Tripoli and Benghazi. I saw the hunger of a people

eager to get on with reclaiming their country, writing

themselves a new chapter of freedom and democracy.

This has been the most dramatic episode of what has

been called the Arab Spring.

My argument today is that Libya and the Arab

Spring show that the United Nations needs a new way

of working, because the Arab Spring is a massive

opportunity to spread peace, prosperity, democracy

and, vitally, security, but only if we really seize the

opportunity.

So the events of this year present a challenge to

all of us — a challenge to Europe to show it can reform

its aid and trade strategy to be truly progressive; a

challenge to the African Union, to meet the

opportunities of this century with the same courage

that won liberation in the last; a challenge to the

Israelis and Palestinians, to take the bold steps to come

to the table and make lasting peace; a challenge to Iran

and to Syria, to give their peoples the freedoms they

deserve; and a challenge to the United Nations.

One can sign every human rights declaration in

the world, but if one stands by and watches people

being slaughtered in their own country when one could

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act, then what are those signatures really worth? The

United Nations has to show that we can be not just

united in condemnation, but united in action, acting in

a way that lives up to the United Nations founding

principles and meets the needs of peoples everywhere.

The peoples of the Arab world have made their

aspirations clear. They want transparency and

accountability of Government, an end to corruption,

the fair and consistent rule of law, the chance to get a

job and to have a stake in how their country is run, the

freedom to communicate and the chance to participate

in shaping society as citizens with rights and

responsibilities.

No one says that achieving those ambitions will

be easy. There will be false starts and wrong turns

along the way, not least where countries have inherited

sectarian and regional divisions, weak political parties,

State institutions enfeebled by misuse and a politics

distorted by the false choice between repression on the

one hand and Islamist extremism on the other.

The long process of developing a new and

accountable Government is just beginning. And across

the region, we cannot guarantee that the process of

reform is irreversible. But let us be clear. These

developments present a great opportunity for many

who have long been sold short by their Governments,

and there is an opportunity and responsibility for all of

us, too.

Just as after 1989 we helped those who tore down

the Berlin Wall to build robust democracies and market

economies, just as in 1994 we welcomed South Africa

back into the commonwealth of nations when it chose

the path of reconciliation and democracy instead of

racial conflict, so now in 2011, as people in North

Africa and the Middle East stand up and give voice to

their hopes for more open and democratic societies, we

have an opportunity, and, I would say, a responsibility

to help them.

Now the mistake we often make in the West is to

think that because the people in this region want

democracy, they will want it in the same way and with

the same outcomes that we do. We should not be trying

to impose Western values or a single template on the

region. Democracy is a process, not an event.

Participatory Government involves so much more than

just the simple act of voting. The Assembly heard not

long ago from President Ahmadinejad. He did not

remind us that he runs a country where they may have

elections, of a sort, but they also repress freedom of

speech. They do everything they can to avoid the

accountability of a free media. They violently prevent

demonstrations. And yes, they detain and torture those

who argue for a better future. So we should never

pretend that having elections is enough. The building

blocks of democracy have to be patiently developed

from the grass roots up. The process will be different in

every country. And it is not for us to dictate how Arab

nations should respond to those challenges, or to

lecture them about how to do it. But there is an

important opportunity for us to help, and we must seize

it.

There are important lessons from what has

happened in Libya. The Libyans liberated themselves.

Ordinary Libyans from all walks of life came together

and showed incredible resilience and bravery as they

rose up and drove out Al-Qadhafi. The people of

Benghazi, the brave fighters of Misurata, the people of

Zawiyah, the warriors from the Nafusa Mountains, all

of them showed incredible courage in liberating their

country. The National Transitional Council, which

demonstrated great leadership, not least as Tripoli fell,

urged people to avoid reprisals and to look to the

future — a message that still holds true today.

That revolution truly belongs to the Libyan

people. The United Nations played a vital role

authorizing international action. But let us be clear; the

United Nations is no more effective than the nation

States that come together to enforce its will. And on

this occasion a coalition of nations across the Western

and Arab world had the will to act. In doing so, they

stopped Benghazi from joining Srebrenica and Rwanda

in history’s painful roll call of massacres that the world

failed to prevent. Today, Tripoli and Benghazi are

cities transformed. Where there was fear, now there is

hope and an optimism and belief that are truly

inspiring.

But there are challenges ahead, not just in Libya

but all across the region. Economies in the region have

underperformed when compared with their peers. In

1960, Egypt’s gross domestic product per capita was

comparable with Korea’s. Today it has fallen to around

just one fifth of the size. Across the region, some

countries dependent on oil revenues, and others held

back by heavy State control have failed to diversify

and create jobs in productive new sectors and failed to

connect themselves to the economies of the region and

the wider world.

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Indeed, less than four per cent of North African

trade is within the region, making it the least integrated

neighbourhood in our world. And the promise of

economic reform has not been fulfilled. Too often

people were told economic reform would bring them

market economies with greater freedom to start up

businesses, to trade, to grow and to create wealth. But

it did not. It brought them corrupt and crony

capitalism. Now the future is for the people of this

region to determine, but I would urge them not to reject

something they have never had — a genuine, open, fair

and transparent market economy, which has proved the

world over to be the best way to create jobs and

wealth. And the need for economic success is vital,

because this is a region where 60 per cent of the

population is under 25, and youth unemployment is

nearly double the world average.

It is a region that must create 50 million new jobs

by 2020 just to keep pace with its population; that

means 700,000 new jobs every year in Egypt alone.

And these jobs should not be just for men. Let us be

honest. It is not just the men of the region who want a

job and a voice. The unemployment rate for Egyptian

women is more than three times that of men. And it is

not only the economy where they are denied the chance

to play a fuller role. It is society and politics and

culture too. But look at the crowds in Freedom Square

and we see it is the women too, finding their voices,

showing clearly that they want to play a part in

building their future.

So, in this historic period, when the voice of this

region is finally being heard, there is now a unique

opportunity for women to fulfil their ambitions too.

This is not just in the interests of women. It is in the

interests of those countries as a whole. Let us be clear.

You cannot build strong economies, open societies and

inclusive political systems if you lock out women. So

the Arab Spring will not succeed if the opportunities

that are opening up are denied to half of the

population.

Now, of course, the actions we take to support the

people in each country must be tailored to that country,

with respect for its particular culture, history and

tradition. What is right for Libya will not necessarily

be right for everywhere else. But the international

community has found its voice in Libya, and we must

not now lose our nerve. We must have the confidence

to speak out and act as necessary to support those who

seek new freedoms.

In the European Union, it is time to ensure that

the billions of euros we spend in this region each year

are used to support reform that will meet the

aspirations of the people. And there should be no more

excuses for denying the people of the region fair access

to our markets, including in agriculture. Here at the

United Nations, we have a responsibility to stand up

against regimes that persecute their people. We need to

see reform in Yemen. And above all, on Syria, it is time

for the members of the Security Council to act. We

must now adopt a credible resolution, threatening

tough sanctions.

Of course we should always act with care when it

comes to the internal affairs of a sovereign State. But

we cannot allow this to be an excuse for indifference in

the face of a regime that, week after week, arrests,

intimidates, tortures and kills people who are

peacefully trying to make their voices heard.

The voice of the African Union is vital too. Africa

has rightly challenged the world to meet its aid

commitments. I am proud that Britain will meet its

commitment to spending 0.7 per cent of gross national

income from 2013. And all the countries that made

promises at Gleneagles and elsewhere must meet those

promises too. In the case of Britain, it means we have

been able to provide £124 million of emergency aid to

3 million people facing starvation in the Horn of

Africa. But at the same time, Africa must meet its

responsibilities too.

Many will find it hard to understand why

countries in southern Africa which fought so hard to

throw off oppression themselves, have been so slow to

respond to the Arab Spring. Of course, I recognize that

many have long been committed to non-intervention.

But my argument is that where action is necessary,

legal and right, to fail to act is to fail those who need

our help. So it is welcome that the African Union is

taking steps to recognize the National Transitional

Council in Libya, as many African countries have

already done. Africa’s responsibility now is to embrace

and support Libya’s new, inclusive and democratic

future. And this must include ensuring that those

wanted for serious crimes are brought to justice, and

that the wealth stolen from the Libyan people is

returned to them.

We all have a responsibility to the Palestinians

too. A key part of the Arab Spring is the right of

Palestinians to have a viable State of their own, living

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in peace, alongside a safe and secure State of Israel.

And I strongly support this. There has been much

speculation about what will happen here this week. Let

us be clear about one fact. No resolution can, on its

own, substitute for the political will necessary to bring

peace. Peace will only come when Palestinians and

Israelis sit down and talk to each other, make

compromises, build trust and agree. So our role must

be to support this, to defeat those who embrace

violence, to stop the growth of settlements and to

support Palestinians and Israelis alike to make peace.

But the opportunity in Libya and elsewhere in the

region is not just about achieving a more open society,

prosperity and the building blocks of democracy for

their own sake — it is about security too. Some have

argued that stability in the Arab world can only be

achieved by the tight control of strong authoritarian

regimes and that reform is a threat to stability. In fact,

the opposite is true. Reform is the basis of long-term

stability. Authoritarianism threatens it.

While there is never a justification for resorting

to terror, if people’s hunger for a job and a voice are

denied, there is a real risk that the frustration and the

alienation they feel will cause them to be drawn to

more violent and extremist responses. That is not just a

problem for one region. It is a problem for all of us.

Here, in this great city, where 10 years ago, people of

90 different nationalities were killed in the most

horrific terrorist attack in history, we must recognize

that political and economic reform in the Middle East

is not just good in its own right, but that it is also a key

part of how, in the end, we will defeat Al-Qaida.

Of course, we must meet terrorist activity with a

strong and resolute security response. Al-Qaida and its

offshoots must know that they will have no safe hiding

place to plot or recruit young men to train as terrorists.

But in the long term, we must defeat not only the

terrorists, but the extremist ideology that feeds them.

Al-Qaida’s poisonous ideology has thrived on

repression. Democracy is what it fears most. People are

not in Tahrir Square in Cairo and Freedom Square in

Libya for an Islamist caliphate, but for a job, a voice

and a future. And we must heed their call, for their

freedom and for the security of us all.