PGA remarks at the 10th Emergency Special Session (resumed)

Friday, 10 May 2024, 10:00 am, GA-Hall

[As Delivered]

 

Excellencies,

Distinguished Delegates,

 

Decades ago, the situation in the Middle East marked the first significant crisis for the newly established United Nations.

 

Since then – for almost the entire lifespan of this Organisation – peace in the region, and for the people of Palestine in particular, has remained elusive.

 

Today, this untenable situation continues to deteriorate at alarming speed – bringing countless innocent victims into its deadly fold and pushing the region further to the brink of full-scale catastrophe.

 

While numerous diplomatic efforts and United Nations resolutions have been deployed – regrettably, none have yet quelled the current cycle of death and destruction.

 

Yet, this is not a moment for the international community to falter or to look away.

 

If anything, the horrendous events of the last seven months have only hastened the urgency of achieving a just, comprehensive, and lasting peaceful solution to the situation in the Middle East.

Excellencies,

 

Today, let us remember the legacy from which we hail.

 

We stand proudly upon the shoulders of those who – many decades ago – recognized their ultimate responsibility to forge a peace that would “banish the scourge and terror of war for many generations”. [1]

 

Those who knew full well the undesirable role that war and violence played in their own lives.

 

And who made no apologies for imagining – and indeed building – a more peaceful world beyond it.

 

They understood the value of international cooperation and sought the active participation of all nations – large and small – giving voice to common principles on which they dared to anchor mankind’s hopes for a better future.

 

As today’s United Nations, we cannot, and must not, lose sight of the history we inherit – or the bold proposition that brought our Organisation into being:

 

Peace for all.

 

I repeat: Peace for all.

 

Excellencies,

 

This General Assembly is convoked today to pronounce itself within its powers and mandate – and to uphold the functions and responsibilities bestowed upon it by the United Nations Charter, including under Article 4.

 

I therefore call upon the membership to purposely assess the situation before us with nothing else in mind, but a commitment to peace as our utmost ambition.

 

Most immediately, I urge the parties to this conflict – with the support of those with leverage – to do their utmost to secure an agreement of ceasefire that will end the suffering, end the bloodshed, free all hostages, protect innocent civilians and ensure immediate, unhindered access of humanitarian aid, without conditions, I repeat: without conditions, for all who are in dire need.

 

In closing, it is true that “lost time is never found.”

 

It is also true that we have lost much time.

 

We are, once again, called upon to work for humanity – and we the peoples, without exception.

 

To believe in “the essential goodness” of others – as Ralph Bunche put it decades ago – in the understanding that “no problem of human relations is insoluble.” [2]

 

I appeal to all Member States to so comport themselves during the debate as to maintain the dignity of this Chamber and of the Organisation.

 

Ultimately, to help bring lasting peace, to save lives and to end violence – to which we have all dedicated ourselves in the service of the people.

 

I thank you.

 

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[1] https://www.un.org/es/node/44721

[2] https://www.un.org/en/about-us/nobel-peace-prize/ralph-bunche-1950