He said
that for two months, they turned San
Francisco's War Memorial into a 'Peace Palace.'
More than three thousand women and men took
part. One of them was Ellen Magnin Newman,
a high school senior at the time. She was
a Spanish interpreter – and helped everyone
speak the universal language of peace, he
said welcoming Ms. Newman to the ceremony.
With the adoption of the Charter, a world
in rubble found a path to renewal, the Secretary-General
went on to say, recalling that while he had
been born just months before the UN, it did
not take long for the Organization to change
his world for good.
“When
the Korean War ravaged my country, I lost
my home, my school, all I knew. Help came
bearing the United Nations flag: sacks of
grain from UNICEF, textbooks from UNESCO,
and many young soldiers from 21 nations, including
the United States. The United Nations showed
us we were not alone,” said Mr.
Ban. “Today, when I travel to refugee
camps and conflict areas around the world,
I tell young people: you are not alone. I
made it. You can, too. The United Nations
will stand with you,” said the
UN chief, underscoring that every day, the
UN feeds the hungry, shelters refugees and
vaccinates children against deadly disease.
“Every day, we defend human rights
for all, regardless of race, religion, nationality,
gender or sexual orientation,”
and in that regard, he welcomed the decision
of the Supreme Court of the United States
that paves the way for gay and lesbian Americans
to have their relationship legally recognised,
no matter which part of the United States
they are living in.
Continuing,
he said the United Nations had led the charge
in dismantling colonialism, bringing freedom
to millions. It had mobilized the world to
defeat apartheid. Its peacekeepers are on
the frontlines of war; our mediators bring
warriors to the table of peace. “Yet
tragedy has also been with us every step of
the way. Genocide, war and a thousand daily
indignities and abuse plague far too many
people, especially women'” he said,
explaining that conflict has forced more people
to flee their homes today than at any time
since the Second World War.
Strongly
condemning the terrorist attacks carried out
separately today in Tunisia, Kuwait and France,
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
underscored that, far from weakening the world’s
resolve, the heinous incidents will only strengthen
commitment to defeating all forms of terrorism.
In a statement released by his spokesperson
in New York, Mr. Ban condemned in the strongest
terms the terrorist attacks in Tunisia, Kuwait
and France, and stressed, “those responsible
for these appalling acts of violence must
be swiftly brought to justice.” In a
separate statement, the UN Security Council
condemned the incidents equally strongly,
laying out the specific circumstances of the
attacks: against a chemical products factory
in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, France, triggering
an explosion and killing at least one through
a gruesome beheading while injuring others;
a bomb attack in a Shiite mosque in Kuwait
City, Kuwait, killing at least 24 and injuring
many more; and gunmen attacking a tourist
hotel near Sousse, Tunisia, killing at least
37 and injuring many others. (Photo
UN Press)