The most hopeful thought about the United Nations is the name itself. During the high-level general debate of the fifty-sixth session of the General Assembly, Member States and Observer groups affirmed that hope - speaking in one voice - against terrorism and the conditions that spawn it. The debate, usually held for two weeks in September, was compressed to a week and rescheduled to 10 to 16 November.
As the United States mourned its innocent dead, and as the world united in condemnation of the terrorist acts, Secretary-General Kofi Annan, in his opening remarks, said:
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“When a family is under attack, it is in their common house that its members gather to decide what to do. One is tempted to say that we must focus all our energies on the struggle against terrorism. Yet, if we do so, we should give the terrorists a kind of victory. … In short, my friends, the agenda of peace, development and human rights set forth in the Millennium Declaration is no less pressing. If anything, it has taken on a new urgency.”
Here, the UN Chronicle reproduces excerpts from the speeches delivered at the week-long session. Among the speakers were 42 heads of State or Government, 9 Deputy Prime Ministers and 96 Foreign Ministers.
Click on the links below to read the quotes. |
