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- Jul 30, 2008
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UN Secetary General Ban-Ki Moon
The United Nations has declared point-blank, that the world has reached a defining moment, saying all is changing with the old rules breaking down.We do not know what new order will emerge. Yet we can be confident: the United Nations will be at the fore, the UN secretary general, Mr Ban Ki-moon remarked on Wednesday, in his end of year news conference in New York.
Speaking nearly at the end of his first five-year term as the UN chief, Mr Ban said in September, the UN set out a vision for the next five years - a vision of solidarity for an era of upheaval and uncertainty. He said in his statement made available to The Citizen yesterday that the world was living in an era of uncertainty and inequity. And we need to look at this issue and address this issue from a broader perspective, even political and historical perspectives, he warned.
The UN chief said not only in countries under oppression, but even in the developed world, people were demonstrating out of frustration. Thats why I have been saying that this is quite a generational opportunity for the United Nations to address these issues. These generational opportunities do not come along often, he said.
He said the worst case was in the developed countries like the United States which had been spreading all throughout the developed world, adding that that is in the course of rapid industrialization and globalization where there has been some gap between the peoples.
There have been marginalized people, and there has been inequity between rich and poor and particularly we have not paid much attention to the women and youth groups, he said.He said people were outpacing traditional institutions - in their desire for change - in their demands for democracy, justice, human rights and new social and economic opportunity.
Often, we have been saying that the young people will be the leaders of tomorrow. But they have already taken a leadership role today already, said the UN boss. He said these were the people who were shouting and demonstrating in Tunisia, adding that a young man called Mohammad Bouazizi set himself on fire, provoking and igniting the flame of democratisation.
He was a young, helpless person. But his sacrifice has provoked and ignited this flame of democratization. Therefore, we have a political, moral and historical responsibility, he said.Mr Ban appealed to the media to be part of the democratisation process saying: Without your help, how can their voices be heard to the outside world?
The UN chief said although there were many means of communication, including the social media, yet the views and viewpoints of the media proper could be very helpful in helping this world to bridge the gap of inequity and provide equal opportunities to as many people as possible.
He said one of imperatives for his second five-year term would be helping those countries in transition, particularly those countries that are able to attain their initial aspirations, like Tunisia, Egypt and Yemen. It is very important that their success should be a sustainable one, he said, explaining that the UN has been trying to help to provide technical and logistical support to Egypt and Tunisia in electoral processes.
We played an essential role in the liberation of Libya. We stand ready to continue to help Tunisia and Egypt at their request, he said. He added: ...and we are also discussing with world leaders how we can provide the socio-economic support so that they can provide the good opportunities to particularly young people and women and marginalised groups of people.
This is going to be one of the top priorities.
Mr Ki-moon said the UN will continue to champion the rights of women and children, adding: What we preach to others, we must practice ourselves. Women hold more senior positions than ever in UN history. You will see many more during my second term, not only at the top.
He said the UNs new emphasis on preventive diplomacy and mediation has produced encouraging results in Sierra Leone, Guinea, Kyrgyzstan, Cyprus and Nepal.
In Côte dIvoire, said Mr Ki-moon, Laurent Gbagbo sought to subvert the will of his people but the UN stood firm for democracy and today he is awaiting trial at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
We stood, as well, against Muammar Qaddafi when he vowed to slaughter his people like rats, he said, adding that the UN has scored important victories during the last five years as it stood repeatedly for accountability against impunity.
On the environment, Mr Ki-moon termed climate change as the defining challenge of the moment, saying he was determined to raise it to the top of the global agenda.
Source: The Citizen
