Ban Ki-moon urges political, financial support for UN priorities

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has called for action to address underlying threats in world hotspots, promote development and to protect the planet, in his first address of the year to the entire United Nations membership, in which he also expressed grave concern at the ‘immoral and irresponsible actions’ of some global leaders. "I will urge world leaders to rise above national interests for our collective future," Ban said in his address to the 193-member General Assembly. "We are capable of this spirit of global citizenship." The Secretary-General stressed that while he is determined to make the UN Secretariat "truly global, modern and effective," Member States must also do their part to "empower the United Nations itself." Briefing on the UN challenges for 2014, Ban decried the continued violence in Syria, South Sudan, the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), among others. He noted that those conflicts are "devastating countries endowed with natural wealth, productive citizens, proud histories and every chance at peace and prosperity." Noting that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of the First World War, whose "senseless cataclysm" led to the establishment of the League of Nations and then the UN, Mr. Ban said the Organization is a "unique platform that helps us all rise above human failings." Just back from a trip to the Middle East, where he chaired a humanitarian donors' conference for Syria in Kuwait, which generated some $2.4 billion in pledges, and where he visited a Syrian refugee camp in northern Iraq, Ban highlighted the humanitarian impact of the conflict. He also stressed the importance of the work underway by the Joint Mission of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the UN on meeting a tight deadline to rid Syria of chemical weapons. The international community must also focus greater attention on the inter-related threats of organized crime, terrorism, piracy, extremism, and trafficking in drugs, people and arms, he said. This includes continuing to strive towards achieving a nuclear-weapon-free world, which could be furthered this year at the Nuclear Security Summit at The Hague. The international community also continues its focus on human rights and the rule of law, particularly given the positive response to the Rights Up Front initiative, designed to promote early action to prevent atrocities and other grave violations. Among other events hosted by the UN this year, the World Conference on Indigenous Peoples "will promote their inclusion and recognition of their valuable knowledge," Ban noted.