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The 69th annual General Debate of the UN General Assembly -- the one body in which all nations have a voice -- got underway Wednesday in the shadow of terrorism, a nearly universal topic.
"This year, the horizon of hope is darkened," said UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon in his welcoming remarks to leaders of the 193 member states. "Our hearts are made very heavy by unspeakable acts and the deaths of innocents."
"Cold War ghosts have returned to haunt our times," he said, referring to the conflict in Ukraine where Russia backs separatists and the West supports the government.
"We have seen so much of the Arab Spring go violently wrong," said the UN chief in reference to the turmoil that has hit several Middle East nations.
"Not since the end of the Second World War have there been so many refugees, displaced people and asylum seekers," he said, referring in part to the flood of refugees from Syria. "Never before has the United Nations been asked to reach so many people with emergency food assistance and other life-saving supplies."
"Diplomacy is on the defensive, undermined by those who believe in violence," Ban said. "Diversity is under assault by extremists who insist that their way is the only way. Disarmament is viewed as a distant dream, sabotaged by profiteers of perpetual warfare. It may seem as if the world is falling apart, as crises pile up and disease spreads."
"But, leadership is precisely about finding the seeds of hope and nurturing them into something bigger," he told world leaders who gathered in the great GA Hall. "That is our duty. That is my call to you today."
After Ban spoke, the president of the General Assembly, Sam Kutesa of Uganda, welcomed the delegates and reminded them the target date for the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) would be reached during the term and post-2015 agenda would have to be adopted.
Then leaders of a number of countries took turns to mount the hall's dark green marble podium to discuss not only terrorism and conflicts, but also a raft of issues of concern to them, without forgetting the Ebola epidemic in Africa.
President Barack Obama of the United States acknowledged terrorism was not new to the world, but said that already in this century, "We have faced a more lethal and ideological brand of terrorists who have perverted one of the world's great religions."
"With access to technology that allows small groups to do great harm, they have embraced a nightmarish vision that would divide the world into adherents and infidels -- killing as many innocent civilians as possible; and employing the most brutal methods to intimidate people within their communities," he said.
"I have made it clear that America will not base our entire foreign policy on reacting to terrorism," Obama said. "Rather, we have waged a focused campaign against al Qaeda and its associated forces -- taking out their leaders, and denying them the safe- havens they rely upon."
He called for a collective action "against those who would divide us along fault lines of tribe or sect; race or religion."
President Abdel Fattah Al Sisi of Egypt saw the need for each nation facing terrorism and extremism to instill "the principles of equality of all citizens, and respect for the rule of law, based on a social contract and a national consensus, while ensuring the enjoyment by all of all rights, especially the right to development. This will safeguard societies from exploitation and prevent them from succumbing to extremism."
He also called for "a decisive confrontation with the forces of extremism and terrorism, as well as with any attempt to impose opinions by intimidation and violence, or to force exclusion through rejection in all its forms."
President Michelle Bachelet of Chile, the former head of UN Women, said "counter-terrorism measures .. must respect rigorously the rule of law and comply with the obligations derived from human rights law and, refugees and international humanitarian law."
"It is essential to deal with situations that encourage their propagation," said Bachelet. "These include prolonged unresolved conflicts, absence of the rule of law, human rights violations, discrimination on grounds of ethnicity, nationality or religion, political exclusion, socioeconomic marginalization and lack of good governance."
"The underlying causes must be tackled," she said. "The most effective tools include education, elimination of inequalities and work with the most disadvantaged groups of society. In other words: greater social inclusion. This is undoubtedly a long-range endeavor of prevention, on which we must embark without delay."
President Park Geun-Hye of the Republic of Korea appeared more concerned with alleged threats from the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and tension in Northeast Asia relations rather than discussing terrorism in general.
Those tensions surround "issues of history, territory and maritime security," she said, lamenting the region's lack of a regional, multilateral, consultative body.
"It is against this backdrop that I am seeking to advance a Northeast Peace and Cooperation Initiative that is aimed at building an order of trust and cooperation in the region," Park said. "In my view, building up habits of cooperation in practical areas, such as climate action, disaster relief, nuclear safety, and tackling transnational crime, can materialize into a multilateral process of cooperation along the lines of what we see in Europe."
"In this context, I have also proposed creating a Northeast Asia nuclear safety consultative body to discuss nuclear safety issues - a topic of shared interest for the countries in the region," she said.
Park had recalled the Democratic People's Republic of Korea ( DPRK) was the only nation to conduct a nuclear test in this century. While ROK is concerned about nuclear arms to its north, Pyongyang has long been critical of Seoul's alliance with the United States and its nuclear weapons in the region and on the peninsula.
