Blair urges UN to ‘come of age’

Prime Minister Tony Blair has urged the United Nations to “come of age” and tackle the global problems of terrorism and poverty.

Speaking at the 2005 United Nations Summit in New York, Mr Blair said that the UN had the chance to “make a difference” on terrorism, trade and the environment.

The Prime Minister said: “The UN must come of age. It must become the visible and credible expression of the globalisation of politics. The modern world insists that we are dependent on each other. We work with each other or we suffer in isolation.”

The UN is meeting to discuss possible reforms. Earlier Mr Blair had tabled a resolution requiring action against those who encourage and support terrorism, as well as those who practice it.

During his speech on Thursday, the Prime Minister said that the UN “must give leadership” on terrorism. He said: “The terrorist attacks in Britain on July 7 have their origins in an ideology born thousands of miles from our shores.

“There is not and never can be any justification, any excuse, any cause that accepts the random slaughter of the innocent. Wherever it happens, whoever is responsible, we stand united in condemnation.”

Mr Blair also said that more needed to be done to halt the spread of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons.

“The proliferation of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons will never be halted outside of an international consensus to do so.”

The Prime Minister also said that the UN should be “the instrument of achieving the global will of the people.” He said: “The United Nations Peace-building Commission must become the means of renewing nations, where war and the collapse of proper systems of government have left them ravaged and their people desolate.

“For the first time at this summit, we are agreed that states do not have the right to do what they will within their own borders, but that we, in the name of humanity, have a common duty to protect people where their own governments will not.”

The Prime Minister also urged the UN to tackle poverty. “When we look with revulsion, as we should, at the misery of the millions who die in Africa and elsewhere through preventable famine, disease and conflict, the urgency to act is driven not just by conscience but by an inner sense that one day, if we refuse to act, we will reap a dire reward from our refusal.”

Mr Blair said that the Millennium Development goals to tackle poverty and disease were “stalking this summit, like a spectre”.

“The struggle against global poverty will define our moral standing in the eyes of the future. If we did what we have agreed on doubling aid, on opening up trade, on debt relief, on HIV/AIDS and malaria, on conflict prevention… There would be more democracy, less oppression. More freedom, less terrorism. More growth, less poverty,” said Mr Blair.

(KMcA/SP)