New York, Oct 19 2010 9:10AM
The United Nations and European Union are natural allies in tackling the multiple crises facing the world, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told the European Parliament today as he called for three-fold joint action to fight poverty, confront climate change and eliminate nuclear weapons.
At the same time he warned the legislators in Strasbourg, France, against a new politics of polarization over immigration, with Muslim immigrants a primary targets, a message against intolerance and discrimination that he highlighted in an earlier address today to the Council of Europe on the 60th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights.
In what he called "a light bulb moment around the world," Mr. Ban stressed the growing understanding of the need for solidarity in the face of global challenges. "Country after country, leader after leader, is coming to recognize that the best way to address our challenges is by taking them on together," he told the European Parliament.
"No nation, no group, no region can do it alone. If we share in the burden, we will share in the benefits," he said, reciting a litany of concerns and fears of real people. "Jobs are scarce. Tensions are high. People are hurting, angry, disillusioned. That has led to an erosion of trust in institutions, in leaders, and among neighbours.
Outlining the "three great goals" for joint action, he noted that major progress has been made in combating extreme poverty and hunger, but achievements are uneven, with world trade talks stagnating and locking in place harmful subsidies and an unfair regime that deny developing countries new opportunities, and rising prices putting essential medicines out of reach of many of the neediest.
"I ask all of you to support the United Nations where action is especially urgent," he said. "We must focus on employment-centred growth – decent work. Investment in clean and renewable energy is crucial for jumpstarting jobs and innovation."
On climate change, he noted that scientists warn that recent extreme weather in many countries, such as raging fires in Russia and epic floods in Pakistan, could be the opening act on our future.
"We must always be careful about linking specific weather events to climate change," he declared. "But neither should we avert our eyes from what is plain to see. The message is clear: the more we delay, the more we will pay – in competitiveness, in resources, in lives."
He called on all on all parties to show flexibility and on developed countries to provide their fair share of the $30 billion in fast-track financing pledged at the climate conference in Copenhagen for 2010-2012 to help developing countries adapt to climate change.
"Europe has been a historic engine of growth and change," he said. "Now, when governments are not moving … when the train has hit the buffers in our talks on climate change or other issues – Europe can be the locomotive, driving it forward. You can push, you can pull, you can get the train back on track. You can keep us moving in the right direction."
On the third goal of achieving a nuclear weapons-free world, he cited a new momentum in fulfilling disarmament commitments.
"This progress will continue if, and only if, the voices of the people are fully reflected in national and regional policies, and if the half billion voices in the European Union speak out in harmony on this issue, joined by voices from other regions," he added. "Let us move beyond our over-armed and under-developed age to a more secure world for all."
Turning to immigration, he lamented that the situation in Europe has not improved since his predecessor, Kofi Annan, stood before the same Parliament and made an impassioned call for Europe to seize the opportunities presented by immigration, and to resist those who demonized these newcomers as 'the other.'
"Immigrants today suffer a disproportionate share of ills – unemployment, discrimination, unequal opportunities in schools and the workplace," he said. "But an even more dangerous trend is emerging, a new politics of polarization. Some seek to invoke liberal values for illiberal causes. They tempt otherwise reasonable people into being governed by fear, or falling prey to siren songs of suspicion.
"They hide behind citizenship to accuse immigrants of violating European values, when too often it is the accusers who are subverting these values and thus the very idea of what it means to be a citizen of the Union. Europe's darkest chapters have been written in language such as this. Today, the primary targets ate immigrants of Muslim faith. Europe cannot afford stereotyping that close minds and breeds hatred. And the world cannot afford a Europe that does."
In his address to the Council of Europe, Mr. Ban cited evidence of a backsliding on civil and political rights and a growing anxiety in many developed countries over migration and economic hard times that are used to justify policies of discrimination and exclusion.
He appealed to all to seize every opportunity to reaffirm the universality and indivisibility of human rights, without selectivity, citing democratic countries that choose not to ratify certain international conventions or reinterpret those to which they have subscribed.
He regretted that none of Europe's largest and most wealthy powers had signed or ratified the Convention on the Rights of Migrant Workers 20 years after it was adopted. "In some of the world's most advanced democracies, among nations that take just pride in their long history of social progressiveness, migrants are being denied basic human rights," he said.
He commended the Council of Europe for speaking out strongly and welcomed its convening of a meeting tomorrow to discuss the integration of the Roma people in Europe.
"We must respect cultural diversity, while never compromising our fundamental principles and never tolerating intolerance," he declared. "Lasting social change, including respect for human rights, and particularly women's rights, cannot be planted from afar. It must take root within societies."
He cited the Universal Declaration of Human Rights' proclamation of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family. "That is our basic line," he said. "That is our standard. There are no exceptions. In a complicated and connected world, this mission is essentially simple – and simply essential."
Oct 19 2010 9:10AM
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