Addressing 120 world leaders, he warned about the implications of
the war in Syria, the unresolved Palestinian statehood issue, Israel-
Iran war rhetoric and Islamic fury over an anti-Muslim video.
The leader of the United Nations formally opened its annual
General Assembly with a speech conveying a broad sense of crisis
because of pressing problems including armed conflict in the Middle
East, disruptive climate change and religious intolerance.
"I am here to sound the alarm about our direction as a human
family," said Ban Ki-moon, the U.N. secretary general, beginning six
days of speeches by world leaders.
He warned Tuesday about the implications of the unbridled war in
Syria, the unresolved Palestinian statehood issue, Israel-Iran war
rhetoric and unchecked Islamic fury over an anti-Muslim video.
In his wide-ranging speech, Mr. Ban also said global action on
climate change remained unfinished business and food prices were too
volatile. The economic and political crisis across the band of
Africa just south of the Sahara is not getting sufficient attention,
Mr. Ban said, and North Korea has to do more to denuclearize the
Korean Peninsula.
He pointed to some positive developments, including a halving in
extreme poverty in the past decade; the democratic transition in the
Arab world; and Africa's booming economic growth.
He said one of the most pressing immediate issues confronting the
United Nations is the Syria conflict, which began in March 2011 and
is now causing regional instability. "This is a serious and growing
threat to international peace and security which requires Security
Council action," Mr. Ban said.
The Council remains divided on Syria, with Russia and China
arguing that the opposition needs to be curbed while the West wants
President Bashar al-Assad to step aside.
"We must stop the violence and flows of arms to both sides, and
set in motion a Syrian-led transition as soon as possible," said Mr.
Ban. He noted that "brutal" human rights abuses continue, "mainly by
the government, but also by opposition groups." Criminal prosecution
should be pursued, he said.
On the Israeli-Palestinian dispute, scheduled to be given little
high-level attention this week, Mr. Ban said that when it came to
the two-state solution, "the door may be closing, for good." The
growth of settlements in occupied Palestinian territory "seriously
undermines" efforts toward peace, he said.
Mr. Ban also made an oblique critical reference to the threats
traded between Israel and Iran about a possible war over the
disputed Iranian nuclear program, describing the shrill war talk as
"alarming."
"I also reject both the language of delegitimization and threats
of potential military action by one state against another," he said.
"Any such attacks would be devastating."
Speaking about the outbreak of global rioting in the past few
weeks over an anti-Muslim video, Mr. Ban said, "a disgraceful act of
great insensitivity has led to justifiable offense and unjustifiable
violence."
While endorsing freedom of speech as a fundamental right, he said
it should not be used as a license to incite or commit violence.
Divisions around the world are too often "exploited for short-term
political gain," Mr. Ban told 120 assembled world leaders.
"Too many people are ready to take small flames of difference and
turn them into a bonfire," he said. "Too many people are tolerant of
intolerance."
