Freedom from Violence, Tyranny Tops U.S. Agenda for U.N. Meeting
24 September 2007
Nations must also work together to fight disease, poverty, climate change
Washington -- Freedom from violence and freedom from tyranny will be the major themes the United States will promote during the opening meetings of the 62nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York beginning September 25, says Mike Kozak of the National Security Council.
“President Bush considers freedom from violence and freedom from tyranny to be universal values to which every human being aspires and to which every human being is entitled,” Kozak said during a White House briefing September 24.
"But he also believes that disease, poverty and lack of education prevent human beings from realizing their aspirations for freedom and that the international community has an obligation and an interest in liberating people from these constraints," Kozak continued.
AFRICA
According to Kozak, Bush’s September 25 remarks to the General Assembly will highlight multilateral efforts the United States is leading to combat disease, illiteracy, tyranny and poverty more broadly throughout Africa.
In a separate press conference, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizations Affairs Kristen Silverberg said Bush will highlight the need for rapid deployment of a joint United Nations-African Union peacekeeping force to Darfur, as well as stepped-up diplomatic engagement to urge Sudan to speed implementation of the May 2006 Darfur Peace Agreement and the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement between Khartoum and rebels in southern Sudan.
The United States has been a leading force in calling global attention to the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Sudan’s Darfur region, which will be the subject of a special meeting of the heads of state session of the United Nations Security Council, chaired by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. (See Darfur Humanitarian Emergency.)
MIDDLE EAST
While in New York, Bush will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, as well as former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, who now serves as envoy of the Quartet for Middle East peace.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, recently returned from the region, will join her counterparts in a special session of the group, which consists of the United States, the United Nations, the European Union and Russia, to take stock of recent developments in the region and progress toward a “two-state solution.” (See The Middle East: A Vision for the Future.)
“The president sees the broader Middle East as a major center in the struggle for freedom in all of its aspects -- freedom from violence, tyranny, disease and poverty,” Kozak said.
Bush also will meet with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, as well as with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, to assess progress in Iraq and to consider ways that the United Nations can leverage its recently expanded assistance mandate and its role in the Compact for Iraq to further political reconciliation among its political leaders and build support among its neighbors.
With respect to democracy-building in general, Bush will be convening a roundtable on democracy promotion with leaders from 20 countries for an update on the U.N. Democracy Fund, a U.S. initiative providing grants to projects around the world aimed at building strong democratic institutions.
On October 1, Rice also will attend the launch of the Partnership for Democratic Governance, a new partnership of interested countries and international and regional organizations, including the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and U.N. Development Program, to help weak democracies and fragile states build capacity to govern and deliver basic services.
CLIMATE CHANGE
Climate change will be another issue under discussion during the U.N. meetings, according to U.S. officials.
Bush will take part in a meeting on climate change hosted by U.N. Secretary-General Ban September 24. He also will participate in another conference on the issue September 27-28 in Washington hosted by Secretary of State Rice and chaired by Jim Connaughton, chairman of the White House Council On Environmental Quality.
Connaughton, who spoke at the White House press conference, said the United States will focus on five points during the September 27-28 meeting, formally known as the Major Economies Meeting on Energy Security and Climate Change:
• reaching agreement on a long-term global goal for reducing emissions;
• achieving a common understanding of the current national strategies among major economies for achieving energy security and emission reduction goals;
• advancing technology and sharing new practices to reduce greenhouse gases;
• financing for energy and associated systems and services; and
• creating a harmonized system of emissions accounting.
White House Economic Adviser Dan Price, who also participated in the White House press conference, said confronting climate change is key to successful economic development, which, in turn, is essential to allowing those in the world’s developing countries to realize the benefits of freedom.
Price also stressed the importance of laying out "common, differentiated responsibilities."
"The president's central proposition is really this: tackling global climate change requires all major economies -- developed and developing -- to work together; and it requires each to make a contribution consistent with its national circumstances," he said. (See Climate Change and Clean Energy.)
A transcript of Kozak, Price, and Connaughton’s briefing is available from the White House Web site. A transcript of Silverberg’s briefing is available from the Department of State Web site.
For more information on UNGA, see The United States and the United Nations.
(USINFO is produced by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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