Media Home
UN Web TV
UN Audiovisual Library
UN PhotoGeneral Assembly
Assembly Marks 70th Anniversary of End of WWII, Commemorates Victims - part 1
Sixty-ninth General Assembly, 87th Meeting (AM)
Several Speakers Call for Security Council Reform to Address Present Challenges
The lessons of World War II — on whose ashes the United Nations was founded — must continue to guide the Organization’s work, even as it adapted to meet the evolving challenges of the modern world, delegates commemorating the seventieth anniversary of the end of the war told the General Assembly today.
“We must never forget the international community’s responsibility to stand up to tyrants, despots and all those that attempt to suppress the enduring nature of the human spirit,” said Sam Kutesa (Uganda), Assembly President. Having survived the catastrophe of the Second World War, humankind sought to embrace new means to prevent the recurrence of such tragic events.
To that end, he said, the Organization was established to ensure unity and harmony among nations. As envisaged in the United Nations Charter, it was founded to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”. Over the last seven decades, the war had not only shaped the Organization’s mission, but its lessons continued to guide its work around the world.
The representative of the Russian Federation, on whose initiative the Assembly met today, said that the long struggle of the Soviet people against Nazism had made a decisive contribution towards the common victory of the “anti-Hitlerite” countries of the Second World War. It was the duty of all to revere and preserve the gains won in that war, because too much was paid for them, and too much was at stake for succeeding generations.
“We know the evil that man is capable of and we know that some things are worth fighting for,” said Israel’s representative. For his country, World War II was synonymous with the Holocaust, during which one third of the Jewish people were murdered. Today, freedom was once again under attack. The radical Islamists marching across the Middle East and North Africa were every bit as determined and dangerous as the Nazi forces that had marched across Europe, he said.
A number of other speakers stressed that today’s challenges – including extremism, terrorism and rebounding intolerance and xenophobia – required both the wisdom of the past and a new vision for the future. In that regard, several delegations called for the reform of the United Nations, especially the Security Council, which they said would make the United Nations better “fit for purpose” in the modern era.
In that connection, India’s delegate said that most of the fundamental structures created after World War II by the victorious Powers remained unchanged until the present day. That had led to “structural deficiencies” in the architecture for global security, which needed to be urgently addressed, he said.
The representative of France agreed that the United Nations must adapt to reflect today’s realities. His country was in favour of a reformed Council with both categories of membership — permanent and non-permanent — expanded. However, credibility remained a core issue, with the Council unable to act in the face of a war in Syria that had claimed more than 220,000 lives to date.
“We should be as ambitious as the statesmen who once conceived a new global order based on universal values,” said Brazil’s representative, stressing that reform — particularly of the framework for maintaining international peace and security — was critical to renewing the world’s commitment to the principles of the Organization.
Emphasizing that remembrance was a debt owed to those who had lost their lives in World War II, the representative of Belarus said that today, tolerance and restraint continued to be considered as signs of weakness in world policy, and the use of violence and sanctions was praised; those values were not in line with the lessons of the war, he stressed.
In other business, the General Assembly unanimously adopted the Political Declaration on Strengthening Cooperation between the United Nations and Regional and Subregional Organizations (document A/69/L.60). Upon the adoption, Mr. Kutesa called the Declaration timely as it reaffirmed the Assembly’s commitment to strengthening international cooperation to address persistent challenges related to sustainable development as work continued on crafting the post-2015 development agenda.
Also speaking today were the representatives of Tajikistan (on behalf of the Collective Security Treaty Organization), Estonia (also on behalf of Latvia and Lithuania), Poland, Romania, United States, China, United Kingdom, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Germany, Ukraine, Japan, Turkmenistan, Cuba, Greece, South Africa, Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Venezuela, Argentina, Iran, Azerbaijan, Croatia, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Slovenia and the Republic of Korea, as well as the European Union.
Opening Remarks
SAM KUTESA (Uganda), President of the General Assembly, said that the seventieth anniversary of the end of World War II held particular importance for the United Nations, whose founding took place on the ashes of that ferocious war that claimed millions of lives. The war was a time of unspeakable atrocities, of lost faith and devastated humanity, he said in honour of the countless victims that lost their lives. Today’s special session afforded an opportunity to recall the Assembly’s firm desire to make every possible effort to prevent and mitigate the human suffering that resulted from war.
“We must never forget the international community’s responsibility to stand up to tyrants, despots and all those that attempt to suppress the enduring nature of the human spirit,” he said. Having survived the catastrophe of World War II, humankind sought to embrace new means to prevent the recurrence of such tragic events. To that end, the Organization was established to ensure unity and harmony among nations. As envisaged in the Charter, it was founded to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war”. Over the last seven decades, the war had not only shaped the Organization’s mission, but its lessons continued to guide its work around the world.
Today Member States stood in solidarity under the guiding principles upon which the Organization was founded, including non-aggression, the peaceful settlement of disputes and the need to protect human rights, among others, he said. The war was also a time when the world witnessed extraordinary bravery. Through the collective, heroic efforts of countless men and women, victory was claimed over tyranny and evil, he concluded in remembrance of those who lost their lives.
