My
fellow delegates, the United Nations consists of 193 member nations
representing all the recognized nations on Earth. This is an
opportune time to recall the purposes of the United Nations:
- To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;
- To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
- To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
- To be a center for harmonizing the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.
All UN member nations signed
onto these goals when joining the UN. However, any honest evaluation
of the state of the world today, almost 75 years after the UN was
created, would conclude that these original UN goals have not yet
been achieved on a world wide basis. We have ongoing wars, conflicts,
and terrorism. Respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms for
all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion are
still lacking in many nations today.
How can we make this world a
much better place for all human beings and achieve our UN goals?
First, let's start with the commonality of all the 7 billion people
in the world. Too often, we see each other as different by skin
color, by facial differences, by language, and by nationality.
However, science has proven that all 7 billion people on Earth are
one and the same human species. Also, all of us can be traced back to
originating from Africa. Humans have several common blood types
common across all nations and can help save other humans who are
medically distressed, no matter their skin color or facial features,
through human blood transfusions and organ transplants. If our skin
colors or facial features designated different species of humans,
this would not be possible. Bottom Line – we are all the same ONE
human family. It greatly behooves us to recognize that fact and
therefore consider every human being on Earth as our family member.
Next, let us examine the
history of human wars. Why did they occur? Two different reasons
stand out:
The first reason for wars is
“control and power”. Often, kings and dictators not only wanted
to totally control the people of their own nation, they also wanted
to expand their “empire” to include other nations and
territories. They were willing to go to war, killing thousands, and
even millions of people, to achieve their often insatiable “power”
cravings.
The second reason for wars
has been religion. Religious leaders believed that their religion was
the only true religion and all people who believed different must be
forcibly converted to their religion or killed if they refused. In
many ways, religious wars are just a subset of the first reason for
wars – power and control.
Today, those same horrible
traits still exist.
Nations still squabble over
territory and are trying to expand their borders. As an example,
China captured the free nation of Tibet in the 1950s, and today is
illegally building man made islands in the China Sea on the
internationally recognized territory of other nations. Why? Because
so much of the international shipping traffic utilizes that sea way
and China wants to control and profit from it.
A sizable percentage of
Muslims want to forcibly convert the world to their religion or kill
the non-believers. The result has been wars and terrorism. Even some
peaceful Muslim nations are unwilling to give women the same freedoms
of men, treating them as a lower form of human being compared to men.
All this, despite the fact, that Muslims also believe in the old and
new Testaments and therefore the 10 Commandments. One of those
Commandments is “Thou Shalt Not Kill”. 4 very simple to understand
words. “Thou shalt” - stands for you and me. “Not” -
something that we must not do. “Kill” - one word, so that their
can be no ambiguity about its meaning. Since Muslims, Christians, and
Jews all believe firmly that God makes no mistakes – their can be
no debate that wars and terrorist acts violate this most sacred of
God's commandments.
Thousands of years of human
history – and we are still struggling with the same problems
causing wars, misery, and conflict. Think how much better this world
would be for all of us if we could only learn from our past and
achieve the goals in our UN Charter. Without wars and conflict, the
world would be a richer place. A great and relatively recent
historical example exists from which we can learn much.
World War 2 resulted in an
astounding and totally unacceptable 70 million people killed. The
destruction of cities and nations during that war was enormous. Why
did it happen? Power and Control. Germany and Japan wanted more land
and natural resources, regarded other people as inferior, and were
willing to start a war to achieve their goals through military means.
Fortunately, both Germany and Japan, lost World War 2. Their nations
endured enormous military destruction.
However, the ultimate lesson
here is to look at those two nations today. Living in peace for over
70 years and without the territories they had sought to capture and
control during World War 2, Germany and Japan are among the
wealthiest nations in the world. Their people enjoy both freedom and
a very high standard of living.
In other words, war and
conflict make nations, especially the aggressor nations poorer and
much worse off. Peace and freedom does the opposite – making those
nations and their people wealthy with a high standard of living for
their people. It also makes the other nations on Earth, not having
suffering the cruelty and destruction of war, wealthier too.
Therefore, achieving the
worthy goals on the UN Charter, is the only logical and historically
accurate means of achieving national wealth and well being for their
people. That leaves us with one last question – Are we, the nations
of the Earth, the bastions of so called intelligent life on earth,
smart enough to learn that simple lesson so that we can improve the
lives of all human beings?
