The world has never felt more insecure, at least not in my lifetime. Three years ago, when I first spoke from this rostrum (see A/69/PV.15),
I was concerned about three serious challenges. First, violent conflict had returned to Europe with the crisis in and around Ukraine. Secondly, with the succe…
I belong to a generation that was born into a globalized world. For us, globalization is not a threat — it is a fact of life. As Kofi Annan once said, arguing against globalization is like arguing against the laws of gravity. Let us be clear: the fact that the world has grown closer together has bro…
Seventy years ago, the United Nations was founded as the collective answer to war and genocide, which had cost the lives of millions of people. The principal idea of the United Nations was to prevent war, to uphold respect for international law and human rights, and to promote social and economic pr…
First of all, let me thank the Russian presidency for having convened this important debate. Not since the Second World War have we seen such large numbers of people desperately fleeing conflict areas to save their lives. Nearly 60 million people worldwide are on the move. In 2014 alone, 13.9 millio…
First of all, I would like to thank you, Sir, for convening this very important debate. At the moment, we are witnessing a dramatic
rise in extremism in the name of religion. Tensions among different religious communities within our societies are increasing. A brief look at Facebook shows that espe…
It is with great respect that I stand at this rostrum for the first time as Austrian Foreign Minister. Many eminent world leaders have stood here before me and laid out their visions on international challenges and crises. As many may be able to tell, probably even from the last row, I look a bit yo…
