Canada’s
Minister of Foreign Affairs, John Baird, delivered his address to the 68th
Session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 30th,
2013 in New York City, New York. Baird
began with an honoring acknowledgment to victims of terrorism, naming terrorism
as an “assault on all people” and setting his theme to be the “oneness of
humankind”. Canada’s intentions and
priorities are revealed throughout the speech, including a strong opposition to
forced marriages, the importance of women’s rights, a peaceful resolution in
Syria without appeasement, support for Israel, and an aggressive interest in
free trade agreements. Ending the
address, Baird reinforced Canada’s call for a “focus on those most in need” and
proceeding with intentions towards universal peace, prosperity and freedom, the
“three universal human priorities”.
As we gather near Ground Zero, site of the World Trade
Center mass murder, I wish first to honour the victims of terrorism:
I honour all victims, everywhere, including those killed
and wounded at the Westgate Shopping Mall in Nairobi…
The crime of terror is an assault on all people.
And, in its wake, the human family is one.
One in pain. One in mourning. One in our resolve that evil
will never triumph.
At this moment of grief, the oneness of humankind is the
theme of my remarks today…
Human beings share from necessity. We cooperate to
survive. We form communities because that is our natural state…
The very first words of the UN Charter make clear that
this organization is a body of, by and for human
beings.
It begins, “We the peoples of the United Nations.”
Not “We the countries.”
Or “We the governments.”
Not “We the political leaders.”
“We the peoples.”
An important reminder of why and on whose behalf we are
here.
Here at the UN, Canada targets its efforts on securing
tangible results for the human family. It is much more important to consider
what the United Nations is achieving than how the UN arranges its affairs.
Canada’s government doesn’t seek to have our values or our
principled foreign policy validated by elites who would rather “go along to get
along.”
The billions who are hungry, or lack access to clean
water, or are displaced or cannot read and write do not care how many members
sit on the Security Council. But they do need to know that their brothers and
sisters in humankind will walk with them through the darkness.
Peace, prosperity and freedom—these are indeed the
conditions that have been sought by human communities from the beginning of
recorded time: To live in peace. To live in prosperity. To live in freedom.
Of these priorities, peace is the foremost objective of
the United Nations.
It is no surprise that the UN Charter mentions the word
“peace” four dozen times.
Sadly, “peace” the word is easier to locate than “peace”
the condition.
Since the moment this organization was created, not a day
has passed without the human family being pained by war somewhere on this
planet.
Almost always, the suffering is felt by the most
vulnerable among us.
And, far too often, this involves women and violence.
In the context of war, rape and serious sexual violence
are war crimes. I have met girls who were victims of this very war crime, and
their stories are horrific. The war criminals involved must be identified, pursued,
prosecuted and punished…
Every year, millions of girls, some as young as age nine,
are forced into marriage.
Since I began these remarks, 100 children have been forced
into marriage; 1,100 per hour; more than 26,000 per day.
The effects of early forced marriage are documented and
beyond dispute. Early forced marriage harms health, halts education, destroys
opportunity and enslaves young women in a life of poverty.
A young woman once recounted her wedding date. She
remembered, “It was the day I left school.”
No country is immune from this scourge.
This is a global problem. A problem for humanity.
Forced marriage is rape; it is violence against women.
Early forced marriage is child rape, violence against young girls. The practice
is abhorrent and indefensible.
We condemn it.
Even though some might prefer that we kept quiet.
The discomfort of the audience is of small concern,
particularly in the context of a crime that calls to heaven for justice.
If this body does not act to protect young girls, who
will?
Another way to protect the vulnerable is to improve the
health of mothers, newborns and children so that we can reduce the number of
deaths.
I am proud that our Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, has
led a global effort—the Muskoka Initiative—to reduce maternal and infant
mortality and to improve the health of mothers and children in the world’s
poorest countries. It’s about half of the world’s population; all of its
potential.
While these efforts—to eradicate sexual violence in
conflict, to eliminate early forced marriage and to improve maternal and
newborn health—are essential, we must do more than react to crises.
We must invest in opportunities for women and girls.
We must ensure that women participate fully in all parts
of our society and in all the countries of these United Nations. This will help
us build a stronger, more secure, more prosperous and more peaceful world.
It is in every nation’s self-interest to ensure every
young girl realizes her full potential.
And it is from the perspective of the human family, one
family, that we must address other threats to peace and security.
Among the most urgent crises remains the violence in
Syria.
Canada’s position is clear. We support the Syrian people,
the innocent people caught up in this senseless violence, and those who work on
their behalf. We will never support a brutal and illegitimate regime that has
unleashed weapons of mass destruction on its own people. Nor will we tolerate
extremism and terrorism as alternatives to Assad’s tyranny.
The people of Canada have been generous in helping those
most in need.
When success is achieved, it is important to recognize it.
The near-impossible work of the UN World Food Program must be applauded, and
Canada has responded by being the second-largest single-country donor in the
world. Their work in Syria is paramount and has not gone unnoticed. I also
commend the work of the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]
in providing assistance to the refugees fleeing this terrible conflict, and the
generosity of Syria’s neighbours in providing safe haven.
Canada joins the entire world in seeking a political
resolution to the conflict. Canada supports a peaceful, democratic and
pluralistic Syria that protects the rights of all communities.
But let us not confuse a peaceful, negotiated outcome with
equivocation or moral uncertainty. There can be no moral ambiguity
about the use of chemical weapons on civilians.
Today, September 30, is a dark reminder of the price of
accommodation with evil.
It is the 75th anniversary of the Munich Agreement, by
which Czechoslovakia’s freedom was sacrificed to appease the Nazi regime. The
appeasers claimed they had won “peace for our time.” In fact, their abandoning
of principle was a calamity for the world.
Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, a Holocaust survivor
who was imprisoned in Auschwitz, has been even more blunt:
“Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence
encourages the tormentor, never the tormented. Sometimes we must interfere.
When human lives are endangered, when human dignity is in jeopardy, national
borders and sensitivities become irrelevant.”
Just as we are not neutral or silent on the crimes being
committed against the Syrian people, neither is Canada neutral on Israel’s
right to exist and to defend itself.
There can be no bargaining over Israel’s existence. While
dialogue is a virtue, there can be no virtuous discussion with anyone wedded to
Israel’s destruction.
Today, the Jewish people are masters of their own fate,
like other nations, in their own sovereign Jewish state. Like other nations,
Israel has the right to defend itself, by itself.
Canada fundamentally believes peace is achievable. That
Palestinians and Israelis and their neighbours can live side by side, in peace
and security.
We, like many nations, wish to see a prosperous
Palestinian state living in peace with its Jewish neighbour.
That’s why, although we sometimes have fundamental
differences on how statehood is achieved, Canada is providing significant
assistance to build the institutions that are vital to the establishment of a
viable future state. In the West Bank, Canada is contributing greatly to
economic, security and justice initiatives.
Recent developments in negotiations between Israel and the
Palestinian Authority are encouraging. I salute the leadership and courage of
the Israeli Prime Minister [Benjamin Netanyahu] and the Palestinian Authority’s
President [Mahmoud Abbas].
I commend U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry for his
leadership in this area, and we must all commit ourselves to this cause, united
by the prospect of peace.
I look forward to the day when Israeli and Palestinian
children can live side by side in peace and security in a Jewish and a
Palestinian state.
Ladies and gentlemen, dialogue is important, yes. But our
dialogue must be a prelude to action. And action must mean achieving results
and making a difference.
Take the recent statements coming from the regime in Iran.
Some observers see encouraging signs, but sound bites do
not remove threats to global security. Kind words, a smile and a charm
offensive are not a substitute for real action.
We will welcome and acknowledge reform, if and when it
comes.
By this we will know when genuine reform has occurred: Has
there been real, measurable, material improvement in the lives of the Iranian
people and in the security of the world?
Not yet!
We will judge the regime on the basis of its action and
results.
The P5+1 [the five permanent members of the UN Security
Council and Germany] has had five rounds of formal negotiations with Iran in
the past two years. While everyone says the meetings have been “productive,”
the fact remains we haven’t seen any change in Iran’s actions.
Next year, nothing would make Canada more pleased than to
see a change in Iran’s nuclear ambitions. A change to its terrible human rights
record. And an end to Iran’s material support for terrorism.
Now is the time for the global community to maintain tough
sanctions against Iran in order that it take a different path on its nuclear
program.
The Iranian people want peace. And the Iranian people are
suffering great hardship because of their government.
Canada wants the Iranian people to be able to access a
life of freedom and prosperity for themselves.
And how do we as a human family achieve and maintain
prosperity?
Through free trade among open societies operating under
transparent, consistent and fair rules.
Canada continues to diversify its markets because it is a
trading nation.
We are aggressively pursuing free trade agreements with
other nations.
Bounded by three oceans, with the second-largest land mass
in the world, Canada literally is open to the world.
We are both deepening existing economic relationships and
building new ones. Whether with China, now Canada’s second-largest trading
partner, or the ASEAN countries, where Canadian trade and investment ties are
dramatically increasing, or the Pacific Alliance, which provides new and
exciting opportunities, or the European Union, where we are negotiating a
comprehensive free trade agreement, Canada and Canadians are supporting market
liberalization. In the process, ordinary lives are becoming enriched, and
entire societies are becoming stronger.
But the quest for prosperity must never come at the
expense of our commitment to freedom.
Prosperity is also inextricably linked to peace. After
all, those who lack security usually lack the means to provide for themselves
and their families.
With economic opportunity, a fruit vendor in Tunisia may
not have felt compelled to end his life seeking the dignity to provide for his
family.
A young man in Afghanistan may never feel compelled to
join terrorist elements simply to raise his children—to ensure their lives are
better than the one he lived.
I will always remember the seven-year old girl I met at
Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan. Her parents had made the difficult decision to
leave their home and to seek refuge in another country—braving hardship because
they were motivated, like all parents, by the desire to keep their family safe.
I asked how she was doing. With tears in her eyes, she
said, simply, “I don’t like it here. I want to go home.”
Heart-wrenching.
And millions of people are in the same tragic
position—millions of members of the human family who cannot even begin to
contemplate prosperity until a more basic need, their need for security, is
addressed.
The global family will never achieve the prosperity that
is our full potential unless we address the peace and security concerns that
shackle human opportunity.
Everyone has an interest in contributing to the solution,
because peace and security ultimately ensure the freedom of the individual.
That’s why we need the people of these United Nations gathered here to promote
this freedom.
For the people of these United Nations, no minority is
more sacred than the individual, and the freedom of the individual.
Freedom from oppression. Freedom from discrimination.
Freedom to worship, to think, to speak, to love, to believe. Freedom to be.
Human freedom can be exercised, and sadly limited, in
countless ways.
Religious persecution continues in too many places.
Since we gathered here last year, the world has witnessed:
bombings of mosques in Iraq and
Pakistan and a Catholic church in Tanzania;
attacks against Hindu, Buddhist and
Muslim places of worship in Burma and Bangladesh;
the
bloody persecution of Christians in Syria;
attacks
on Coptic Christian churches in Egypt;
attacks
on a mosque and on a Catholic church in Sri Lanka;
the
detention of Sri Lankan Muslim leader Azad Sally;
the
murders of Catholic worshippers in Nigeria; and
the
Iranian regime’s ongoing persecution of the Bahá’í.
Canada just this year opened an Office of Religious
Freedom. Its mandate: to promote freedom of religion and belief as a foreign
policy priority. To combat the enslavement into fear, by those who seek to
intimidate and undermine the right to worship freely. In peace—and in harmony.
We reject the pernicious notion that human dignity can be
sliced up, compartmentalized or compromised.
In a pluralistic society it is impossible to protect some
human rights and freedoms while infringing others.
All freedoms are rooted in the inherent dignity of human
beings.
Whether the issue is religious freedom, sexual freedom,
political freedom or any other freedom, some people ask:
What business is it of ours? What interest do we have in
events outside our borders?
Our business is a shared humanity. Our interest is the
dignity of humankind.
Many assaults on human dignity have common roots. I refer
to neo-fascist ideology, masquerading in different forms, and the threat that
it poses to individual freedom.
I spoke earlier of the anniversary of the Munich
Agreement.
What the signatories claimed as a triumph of practical
politics was in fact a craven capitulation that betrayed human dignity and
bankrupted the peace it purported to secure.
It was wrong then to underestimate and to appease fascism,
just as it is now to underestimate its modern incarnation.
Extremism that subjugates human dignity and crushes
individual freedom beneath rigid ideology must be opposed for what it is.
One year ago today, the world lost the great Somali poet
known as Gaarriye. Though his pen has been silenced, the inspiring lyrics
remain.
It was Gaarriye who wrote:
“And tell them this: our purpose is peace; our password
‘Freedom’;
Our aim, equality;
Our way the way of light.”
In other words: Peace. Prosperity. Freedom. Three
universal human priorities.
Like three handles of a mug from which we all drink. Three
values that all humanity shares.
As I close, I cannot help but reflect on three young
girls, and my heart breaks for them:
The child bride: “It was the day I left school.”
The girl who was a victim of rape and sexual violence.
The refugee: “I want to go home.”
We are not here to achieve results for governments or
political leaders.
We are here to protect and defend these three girls and
seven billion other members of the human family. Let us remember this as we
embark on discussions to shape a new global agenda, focusing on those most in
need.
I am confident that everyone here feels the overwhelming
honour and privilege it is to serve our people. It is not without great
challenge and responsibility. But we all must stand up and deliver on this
unique mandate for the people, for it is the people who expect nothing less.
John Baird, Canada’s Minister of
Foreign Affairs, Address by Minister Baird to the 68th Session of the
United Nations General Assembly, New
York City, New York, September 30th, 2013.
--Lexi Gagliardi
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