|
Terrorism brings home role of United Nations
by
H. E. MURARI RAJ SHARMA
Vice President, United Nations General Assembly
These excerpts are from the address given on Oct. 24, United Nations Day, at the University of Bridgeport by Ambassador Murari Raj Sharma, vice president of the General Assembly and permanent representative of Nepal to the United Nations.
 he
horrendous terrorist attacks on New York and Washington
were a nerve-racking wake-up call informing us in no
uncertain terms that no one, even the most powerful
nation on earth, is immune from the scourge of terrorism.
The onslaught killed nearly 5,000 people from more than
60 countries, affecting the entire humanity. It also
destroyed 100 billion dollars worth of property and
business, hurling an already slumping U.S. economy into
recession. Its tumultuous ripples have sent the global
economy into a downward spiral, its gravest blow falling
on poor countries, where it will result in the death
of an additional 40,000 children and in increased poverty
for 10 million people.
 |
| U.N. Vice President and Nepal’s
permanent Ambassador to the U.N. Murari Raj Sharma
and his wife, Nila Adhikary, to right of center,
and UB President Neil A. Salonen, center, and his
wife Rebecca, join with many of UB students from
Nepal at the U.N. Day ceremony |
None of us had ever imagined that terrorist
atrocities could be so catastrophic, and civilian jetliners
could turn into the most disastrous missiles ever fired.
Now we shudder to think that next time it could be weapons
of mass destruction devouring human civilization, something
we thought was behind us with the end of the Cold War.
Let us hope that the on-going anthrax scare is not yet
another act of terrorism. Before it unleashes an Armegeddon,
we must destroy the entire tree of terrorism: the leaves,
twigs, trunk and root. But we must water the tree here
on the university grounds dedicated to the United Nations.
Although terrorism is an old as human civilization
itself, it could neither be justified nor condoned on
any grounds....
Every country has the right to defend itself and I
unequivocally support the U.S. campaign against the
Al-Quaeda network and its main sponsor, the Talibans
in Afghanistan....
Severing the network's financial umbilical chord, disrupting
its communications, and destroying its assets and isolating
its other benefactors ought to proceed simultaneously....
Winston Churchill has said the price of greatness is
responsibility. It is the judicious use of power to
fulfill its global responsibility that has made America
great and what has earned it more respect than fear....
Amidst the unprecedented plenty the world enjoys today,
abject poverty for one-fifth of humanity and hunger
for 800 million is morally unacceptable. The widening
gap between the rich and poor only fuels a sense of
injustice and resentment in the global power and wealth
hierarchy. In the developing world, conflict and poverty
reinforce each other in a vicious circle, creating political
instability, economic dislocation, and social disharmony.
Indigence, ignorance, illness, and lack of opportunities
make people susceptible to the sophistry of the forces
of tyranny, repression and terrorism. We must change
it collectively.
A more prosperous and peaceful world will be in America's
advantage and the reverse can be just as true. The United
States will have created new and expanded markets for
its goods and services as well as an enormously enhanced
wealth of goodwill by helping poor countries develop.
And developing countries will witness better standards
of living and improved quality of life for their people,
with increased choices. Stakes are tremendously high
both for the United States and for poor countries and
yet the investment that is necessary to ensure them
is surprisingly affordable....
Developing countries need better access to markets
in the North, a favorable external economic environment,
a development round of trade negotiations and more voice
in the international financial architecture. These measures
are critical to reduce the untenable dependency of poor
countries on development aid to enhance global justice,
and to mainstream them into the global economy....
We now live in a global village where the fire of discontent
in one corner of the hamlet may engulf quickly the entire
village....
The U.N. system is the principal source of unconditional
development funding, a key advocate of sustainable and
just development, the primary dispenser of humanitarian
assistance, and the foremost promoter of human rights
and orderly international relations.
It is but a truism that the United Nations needs the
United States as much as the other way around is true.
For the United Nations, America is the foremost contributor
and moral force in the pursuit of its goals. For America,
the United Nations has been one of the principal instruments
of promoting its foreign policy objectives at a much
less cost and with much more legitimacy than otherwise
it would be able to do....
UB
student Diana Vaptzarova of Bulgaria receives certificate
as a fellow from UB president Salonen, and UN Vice
President Sharma on UN day. Vaptzarova was made
an International College fellow for her work on
behalf of the college. She is a member of Bulgaria’s
Olympic team in synchronized swimming. |
U.N. Vice President and Nepal’s permanent Ambassador to the U.N. Murari Raj Sharma and his wife, Nila Adhikary, to right of center, and UB President Neil A. Salonen, center, and his wife Rebecca, join with many of UB students from Nepal at the U.N. Day ceremony. |
