September 25, 2001
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the UN General Assembly on Monday that "malicious and heartless " terrorist attacks in the United States were also a strike against everything that the UN stood for.
He cautioned against any rash action the world could not understand, and said that only the United Nations could give global legitimacy to a "long-term struggle against terrorism."
In the short term, Mr Annan said:"No effort should be spared in bringing the perpetrators to justice, in a clear and transparent process that all can understand and accept."
He told the opening session of UNGA: "Let us uphold our own principles and standards, so that we can make the difference unmistakable, for all the world to see, between those who resort to terrorism and those who fight against it.
" Peace, freedom, tolerance, human rights and the very idea of a united human family," Mr Annan said as he presented to the assembly the annual report on the work of the organization. "It struck at all our efforts to create a true international society, based on the rule of law.
"Let us respond by reaffirming, with all our strength, our common humanity and the values that we share," he said at the outset of the debate, in which representatives of over 60 countries are expected to take part.
" We shall not allow them to be overthrown."
Mr Annan noted the need for a vigorous response to terrorism, which the General Assembly will address in greater detail on Oct 1. He also underscored the need for reaffirming the rule of law, saying:"No effort should be spared in bringing the perpetrators to justice, in a clear and transparent process that all can understand and accept."
He warned, however, that responding to the attacks should not distract the UN from the rest of its work and that instead of resorting to violence, cooperation and partnership should be the only route that offered any hope for a better future for all of humanity, with the United Nations squarely in the centre of any such efforts.
" The United Nations must provide a framework of shared values and understanding, within which their free and voluntary efforts can interact, and reinforce each other, instead of getting in each other's way," Mr Annan said.
He called for strengthening of international trade system to ensure that its benefits were available to all, specially the developing countries. He also encouraged the assembly not to see the attacks as setbacks to pledges made in last year's Millennium Declaration on reducing the number of people who lived on less than $1 a day, ensuring universal primary education for all children, or halting and beginning the reversal of the spread of HIV/AIDS.
" Let us reject the path of violence, which is the product of nihilism and despair," Mr Annan said. "Let us prove by our actions that there is no need to despair; that the political and economic problems of our time can be solved peacefully; and that no human life should be sacrificed, because every human being has a cause to hope."
Russia called upon the United States to build an international coalition before undertaking the campaign against terrorists.
Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, in his speech said that any "unilateral action" would only erode the rule of law. He chided Washington for its go-it-alone approach on issues ranging from weapons in space to global warming.
" A state's prestige among the nations should be measured not by its military or economic might, but rather by its ability to responsibly fulfil its international obligations," Nr Ivanov added.
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