September 14, 2005

Speech at United Nations General Assembly (I)

In the Name of God, who based His creation of the heavens and earth on the principle of justice, and who founded the sustentation and propriety of human affairs on it; the God who commanded human beings to cooperate in the path of righteousness and betterment and avoid ill-will, transgression and enmity; the God who guided great prophets, including Moses and Jesus and the last of the prophets, Mohammad (peace be upon them all) as well as all God-seeking and well-intentioned reformers to strive to establish justice and exalt the human status.

Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen

At the outset, I wish to express my pleasure at participating in this august gathering of colleagues, distinguished Heads of States and Governments and esteemed delegates. May I also register my deepest grief over the tragic incidents in Kadhemieh (Iraq) and hurricane Katrina, and also express my condolences and sympathies to the victims and their loved ones.

The United Nations must be the focal point of reliance, hope and participation for all peoples and governments, and a forum for dialogue, understanding and cooperation to achieve peace and tranquility throughout the globe. Attainment of this objective requires:

1. Justice must reign supreme in the Organization, and in accordance with its Charter, all Member-States must have equal rights. Greater power or wealth should not accord expanded rights to any member.

2. The principles of democracy and ethics should prevail in all organs and functions of the United Nations, so that the Organization could become a manifestation of the prevalence of these two commonly shared values.

3. The United Nations should endeavor to fulfill its responsibility to promote and institutionalize justice at the international level.

4. The host country should not enjoy any right or privilege over the rest of the membership and the Organization and its headquarters must be easily accessible for all.

In recognition of these principles, the following will become essential:

1. The greatest challenge of our age is the gradual spiritual depravation of human beings brought about by the distancing of the prevailing order from morality and unity of monotheism. The United Nations should lead in promotion of spirituality and compassion for humanity. Only through this, uniting of nations can in fact be realized.

2. Acceptance of unilateralism is exactly the negation of the United Nations and its raison d'etre. Therefore, the United Nations, in its entity, should confront this vicious malady.

3. Today, the physical and psychological security of peoples and nations is ever more endangered. Unilateralism, production and use of weapons of mass destruction, intimidation, resort to the threat or use of force and imposition of destructive wars on peoples for the sake of security and prosperity of a few powers have indeed redoubled the historic responsibility of the United Nations to resolutely endeavor to institutionalize justice in all aspects of global interactions in the interest of human tranquility. In our view, it is impossible to achieve security, peace, stability, prosperity and progress in parts of the world at the expense of instability, militarism, discrimination, poverty and deprivation in others.

4. The raison d'etre of the United Nations is to promote global peace and tranquility. Therefore, any license for pre-emptive measures -- which are essentially based on gauging intentions rather than objective facts and are in fact a modern manifestation of interventionist and war-mongering tendencies of the past -- is in blatant contradiction to the very foundations of the United Nations and the letter and spirit of its Charter.

5. The composition of the Security Council must gain a logical and democratic balance. If permanent membership is accepted for some, then an acceptable mix of representatives of all continents and major civilizations must acquire permanent seats in the Council. I wish to underline our deep dismay that over fifty Islamic countries encompassing more than one 1.2 billion people do not have a permanent seat in the Security Council, nor does Africa with its huge capabilities and potentials, and that the vast continent of Asia with its ancient civilizations has only one permanent seat.

6. The United Nations must have the possibility to enable all governments, civil society organizations and NGOs from all over the world to freely travel to its headquarters without the selective hindrances of the host country and to engage without any fear in serious dialogue.

Mr. President, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

In our view, these concerns can only be met if the prevailing discourse in international relations is transformed from one based on violence, discrimination and domination to a discourse of peace and global stability based on justice and spirituality through dialogue, compassion and respect for human beings. The exalted Prophet of Islam says: "the highest state of wisdom, after faith in God, is seeking friendship with people and extending a helping hand to all fellow human beings." These words of wisdom underline the fact that the entire globe is but one body and the pain and ailment of each part disturbs the tranquility of all. In the words of a famous Iranian poet of the thirteenth century:

All human beings are members of one frame
Since all, at first, from the same essence came.
When time afflicts a limb with pain
The other limbs cannot at rest remain.

Source

2 comments:

Taskeen said...

In the era where we sunnis are sitting with our hands on our bellies , this man is speaking like a True Leader. Kudos to Ahmadinejad!!!
May The Almighty Allah give us the strength to stand against these bullies and may he show all the muslims the right path...Aameen...

Stock Master said...

Without doubt the best speech from the right leader the Muslims need at this time. We need to put our differences of sunni and shia aside and work for the betterment of community. Remember religious differences are personal however faith is communal. Whether shia or sunni is perceived as Muslim on world stage so we have to behave at one.