General themes
Peace and conflict in general at UNGA 81
Raised by 185 of 223 speakers. Read verbatim UN transcript quotes and select a time to hear the speech.
Speeches that raised peace and conflict in general
United States of America · Day 1Donald TrumpEvery leader in this room and your great leaders, many great leaders, I know all of you very well.
But they know that given only a short time to make this world better, safer, and more prosperous for our children, for the people on Earth, we have to take advantage of it.
As president of the most extraordinary nation in history, I have no interest in leaving dangers to grow for another day.
13passages
Secretary-General of the United Nations · Day 1António GuterresMr. President of the General Assembly, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen, The fault lines in our world are widening.
Cracks have become canyons.
Over the last day, over the last decade, wars erupted with devastating consequences and dragged on with despicable cruelty.
8passages
President of the General Assembly (opening) · Day 1Dr. Khalilur RahmanThey have been part of this place since the first stone was laid.
Yet, through it all, the United Nations has persevered, not because it is perfect, but because it is irreplaceable, and because the alternative is simply unfathomable.
The world of 1945 was in peril.
8passages
Brazil · Day 1Luiz Inácio Lula Da SilvaMr. President, this is the tenth time I have opened the general debate of this Assembly.
Since I first took up to this podium in 2003, this is undoubtedly the most critical moment for the United Nations.
The feeling that drives me today is one of indignation.
8passages
France · Day 1Emmanuel MacronToday's challenges, future challenges, ones we do not know about yet, challenges we haven't yet tackled.
I talked about the climate.
It also applies to war and peace, new technologies, and development across all of these areas.
8passages
Jordan · Day 1Abdullah II ibn Al HusseinThat attention has become a scarce asset.
And where we choose to direct it has never mattered more.
And in this chamber, attention is more than a cognitive resource.
7passages
Türkiye · Day 1Recep Tayyip Erdoğanto live together in peace with one another as good neighbors, and to unite our strength to maintain international peace and security, unquote, they declared at the time.
But although it's been 81 years since signing of the treaty, humanity is still eagerly waiting for the day, for the strong determination of that time to actually come to life.
There is no need to look too far.
6passages
Mongolia · Day 1Khurelsukh UkhnaaRather than simply expecting support and assistance, we must remain deeply conscious of our own responsibilities and duties and dedicate our wholehearted efforts to strengthening the United Nations.
It is through trust and hope, dedication and commitment, and engagement and participation of every Member State that we can strengthen the United Nations.
A stronger United Nations, in turn, will deliver more efficiently towards global peace, security, and sustainable development, thereby creating conditions for all Member States to benefit.
6passages
Dominica · Day 1Sylvanie BurtonToo often, humanity and the institutions we have created to serve us have had to concentrate on managing one crisis after another without giving enough attention to the conditions that allow them to persist.
Excellencies, There is no question that managing crisis is necessary.
It brings relief, restores hope, and saves lives.
5passages
Belgium · Day 1Maxime PrévotNot when we agree, but when we no longer do.
Diplomacy is not erasing disagreements, nor about abandoning our principles to secure consensus at any costs.
It is about continuing to speak, continuing to listen, and finding ways to manage our differences without allowing them to lead to a breakdown in relations or to confrontation.
5passages
Qatar · Day 1Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al ThaniI would also like to express our appreciation to the staff of the United Nations system for their efforts amid difficult and complex circumstances.
I stand before you today at a time when our region is going through one of its most dangerous phases.
You are all aware of the dimensions of the crisis in the Gulf and its repercussions on the entire world.
4passages
Finland · Day 1Alexander StubbAnd we've heard that in so many speeches here today.
Conflicts are spreading, bringing suffering, violence, and injustice.
According to some accounts, there are currently 65 active armed conflicts more than at any time since the end of the Cold War.
4passages
Angola · Day 1João Manuel Gonçalves LourençoI'd like to take this opportunity to once again to condemn terrorism in all its forms wherever it occurs.
In addition to terrorism which remains active in some countries, particularly in Africa, the situation of global peace and security has been worsening year after year bringing us to the present moment in which we note with deep concern that the world has taken a course that brings it alarmingly close to a global conflict.
Over the years, Angola has sought to make its contribution to building and consolidation of peace in Africa and the world, but the current situation in no way reflects the aspirations of people for harmony and understanding amongst nations.
4passages
Kyrgyzstan · Day 1Sadyr ZhaparovAlthough our organization brings together all countries of the world and serves as the principal platform for international cooperation, wars and tensions still persist in various regions.
Armed conflicts and humanitarian crises in different parts of the world including Ukraine, Iran, Sudan, and Palestine, demonstrate the complexity of the current international environment and require all of us to work together to strengthen peace, security, and sustainable development.
Kyrgyzstan is a country that believes in the power of dialogue and the peaceful settlement of conflicts.
3passages
Chile · Day 1José Antonio KastThis path will be a Demanding one, Chile is ready and willing to provide the help necessary.
After two decades of tensions, Latin America wants this history to have a happy conclusion.
Delegates, this Assembly cannot remain indifferent to the wars and conflicts that are raging around the world.
3passages
Suriname · Day 1Jennifer Geerlings-SimonsCommon people suffer when food and energy prices rise.
So the quality of life of our people is directly threatened, even by wars in the regions far from their homes.
And we as government, we have to make sure that we try to protect them.
3passages
Bosnia and Herzegovina · Day 1Denis BećirovićJudgments of the highest UN courts have established that genocide was committed against Bosniaks.
They also stand as judgments on the greater state policies that, through a joint criminal enterprise, sought to divide and destroy Bosnia and Herzegovina as an independent, sovereign, indivisible and internationally recognized state.
Ladies and gentlemen, we live in a world of injustice, insecurity and intolerance.
3passages
Croatia · Day 1Andrej PlenkovićFor smaller and medium-sized states, international law is not an abstraction.
It is the line between order and tyranny, between sovereign equality and the rule of force.
The rule of force, such as witnessed by Croatia during the brutal aggression and occupation of more than one quarter of our territory in the 90s, in the war which claimed nearly 20,000 lives, and after which, more than three decades later, Croatia continues to search for 1,725 missing persons, a poignant example that the consequences of war do not end when the weapons fall silent.
3passages
Peru · Day 1Keiko Sofia Fujimori HiguchiThe first major challenge we face is the frontal assault we must wage on organized crime and petty crime.
Peru is located on a continent in which there are no wars between nations.
However, we are faced with another type of war, that is that declared by transnational criminal organizations, organizations that have sowed terror among our people.
2passages
Sierra Leone · Day 1Julius Maada BioThese conflicts differ in origin and circumstance, but they carry a common warning.
Military action may contain a threat, but it cannot by itself build lasting peace.
When hunger, exclusion, and despair deepen insecurity takes root.
2passages
Switzerland · Day 1Guy ParmelinOur experience has also taught us that dialogue is not a sign of weakness.
Engaging in dialogue does not mean glossing over disagreements or abandoning one's principles.
Engaging in dialogue means maintaining contact when positions begin to diverge.
2passages
Seychelles · Day 1Mathew Antonio Patrick HerminieWe are a friend to all and an enemy to none.
Our commitment to non-alignment is not a passive indifference.
It is an active choice for peace.
2passages
Viet Nam · Day 1To LamWhat should concern us is not only how the international order is changing, but where that change will take the world.
Change is inevitable, for it is of the objective course of history.
However, conflict and confrontation are not inevitable.
2passages
Japan · Day 1Takaichi SanaeMadam President, Excellencies, The international order is experiencing a period of great instability.
The free and open international order based on the rule of law that we have fostered is facing difficult challenges on multiple fronts.
Amid a shifting balance of power and intensifying geopolitical competition, innocent civilian lives are being lost around the world every day.
2passages
Morocco · Day 1Nasser BouritaFirst, the escalation of acute and diverse international crises, military, economic, energy related and environmental.
Second, the spread of confrontational tendencies as a key determinant of relations between states.
Third, The difficulty of predicting the outcome of crises.
2passages
Lithuania · Day 1Gitanas NausėdaToday, I am standing here to speak for the same dream that inspired Lithuania in 1991: the vision of the more just, secure, and peaceful world.
Today, I am backing up the principles of the United Nations, which, sadly, are being put under increasing pressure.
Recent years have brought us numerous high-intensity and far-reaching conflicts that dominate the global affairs on a scale not seen in decades.
1passages
Luxembourg · Day 1Guillaume of LuxembourgWe have prospered in the peace that Europe enjoyed for decades after 1945.
And we have never forgotten that the peace could not be taken for granted.
It was built generation after generation by those who chose cooperation over confrontation.
1passages
United Republic of Tanzania · Day 1Deogratius NdejembiMr. President, global peace and security are vital for sustainable socioeconomic development.
The United Nations, through its Charter, has remained central to international efforts to maintain peace and security, uphold international law, promote conditions conducive to development.
However, despite these long-lasting commitments, the persistence of armed conflicts around the world reflect the departure from the purpose and principles of the Charter.
1passages
Trinidad and Tobago · Day 1Kamla Persad-BissessarAnd this is for the first time in more than four decades.
We will carry to the council the commitment on which we sought your support.
We did so and we committed to building consensus for realization of sustainable peace and security.
1passages