United Nation Events

September 23, 2009 | Climate, United Nation, Weapon

General Secretary of Inited Nation Ban Ki-moon challenged world leaders on Wednesday to cleanse the globe of nuclear weapons, tackle the threat of catastrohic climate change and combat growing poverty from the global financial crisis, warning presidents, prime ministers and diplomats from the U.N.’s 192 member states that “no nation, large or small, can violate the human rights of its citizens with impunity.”

He called for greater efforts to achieve peace in Darfur and Somalia. He urged a revival of negotiations to achieve a Mideast peace with Israel and Palestine live side-by-side in peace. And he pledged to see the Afghans “through their long night” and stand as well with the people of Pakistan.

“Amid many crises — food, energy, recession and pandemic flu, hitting all at once — the world looks to us for answers,” Ban said in the the opening address to the General Assembly’s 64th ministerial session.

“If ever there were a time to act in a spirit of renewed multilateralism, a moment to create a United Nations of genuine collective action, it is now.”

A day after about 100 heads of state and government, in the largest-ever summit on global warming, exchanged views on how to reach a new global accord to combat climate change, Ban again exhorted the leaders to “rise to the greatest challenge we face as a human family.”

“This year I have traveled from the ice rim of the Arctic to the steppes of Mongolia,” Ban said. “I have seen, first-hand, the effects of climate change on our planet and its people.”

General Assembly President Ali Treki, of Libya, echoed the need for international unity.

“The international community has learned from experience that transnational threats and the multiple crises facing the world today can only be addressed through responsible international cooperation,” he told the audience in the assembly chamber that included about 120 world leaders.