This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/26/world/europe/pope-francis-united-nations.html

The article has changed 7 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 4 Version 5
Pope Francis Addresses U.N., Calling for Peace and Environmental Justice Pope Francis Addresses U.N., Calling for Peace and Environmental Justice
(about 3 hours later)
UNITED NATIONS — A day after making history as the first pontiff to address Congress, Pope Francis on Friday morning issued a sweeping call to the United Nations for peace and environmental justice, as he placed blame for the exploitation of natural resources on “a selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity.” UNITED NATIONS — With a passionate call from Pope Francis to choose environmental justice over a “boundless thirst for power and material prosperity,” world leaders on Friday adopted an ambitious agenda to reset their own priorities, from ending hunger to protecting forests to ensuring quality education for all.
Standing before the General Assembly in his first speech here, Francis endorsed United Nations efforts to reach a global compact to fight poverty and climate change. He also chided world powers for putting political interests ahead of human suffering in the Middle East. “We want to change our world, and we can,” Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany told a packed General Assembly hall.
He repeated his concern over persecuted Christians and, foremost, demanded that action be taken on behalf of the global poor. The global goals, which emerged after three years of negotiations, are 17 in all. Known as the Sustainable Development Goals, they are not legally binding, and therefore not enforceable. But they carry a moral force of coercion, because they are adopted by consensus by the 193 member states of the United Nations. They apply to all countries, not just poor ones, as was the objective of the last round of ambitions, called the Millennium Development Goals, which expired this year.
“They are cast off by society, forced to live off what is discarded and suffer unjustly from the consequences of abuse of the environment,” Francis said. “These phenomena are part of today’s widespread and quietly growing ‘culture of waste.’ ” “The new agenda is a promise by leaders to all people everywhere,” the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, told the General Assembly.
Francis became the fourth pope to visit the United Nations headquarters, and his appearance brought enormous security precautions and an electric atmosphere. People lined up before dawn to enter the building. Police boats floated along the East River that flows past the United Nations campus in Manhattan. Central to the new set of global goals, which extend to 2030, is the idea of caring for the planet and for the world’s poorest citizens, which was also at the heart of the pope’s address — his first at the United Nations.
The senior United Nations police officer barked into his cellphone at the employee entrance as an army of police, Secret Service and other security officers patrolled the area. “Any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity,” Francis said, later reprising his argument that the poor are the biggest victims of environmental destruction.
For the first time, the flag of the Holy See was raised above the United Nations headquarters. As a “nonmember observer state,” the Holy See has limited rights, but flying the flag was made possible by a resolution advanced by the delegation from Palestine, the only other nonmember observer state.
Francis spoke just before the formal opening of a special summit meeting that formally adopted the Sustainable Development Goals, a broad range of objectives that echo many of his own priorities: uplifting the poor, saving the earth’s forests and seas, and combating climate change.
He was followed world leaders including Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany and Prime Minister Narendra Modi of India, along with heads of state or government from a range of developing countries including Liberia, Namibia and Vietnam. All embraced the themes of raising living standards while protecting the environment.
Ms. Merkel, a strong advocate of efforts to combat climate change, devoted part of her remarks to the migrant crisis that has engulfed Europe because of people fleeing conflicts and deprivation from the Middle East and elsewhere. She asserted that “in the end, there cannot be one solution” to the crisis.
Mr. Modi, whose country will in coming years eclipse China as the world’s most populous, focused on his government’s previous pledge to quintuple India’s use of renewable energy. He said his most important national priority was eliminating poverty.
While the pope’s global agenda on poverty and the environment is already well known, the rostrum of the United Nations gave him a global stage to articulate an agenda that mostly dovetails with the Sustainable Development Goals, and with the program of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
Just as President Obama earlier this week basked in the presence of the popular Argentine pope, Mr. Ban benefited, too.
“In no other hall, from no other platform, can a world leader speak to all humanity,” Mr. Ban declared in announcing the pontiff.
Francis praised the accomplishments of the United Nations and its efforts to resolve conflicts and set human rights principles. Without that, Francis said, “mankind would not have been able to survive the unchecked use of its own possibilities.”
Francis also sharply rebuked the world powers on the Security Council for their failure to agree on a peaceful transition to the wars in the Middle East, apparently referring specifically to Syria and Iraq, where people “have faced the alternative either of fleeing or of paying for their adhesions to good and to peace by their own lives, or by enslavement.”
“These realities should serve as a grave summons to an examination of conscience on the part of those charged with the conduct of international affairs,” Francis said.
Citing the relentless conflicts in Ukraine, Syria, South Sudan and elsewhere, he said in direct reference to the quarreling among the permanent members of the Security Council, “Real human beings take precedence over partisan interests, however legitimate the latter may be.”
By contrast, Francis praised the recent nuclear agreement reached between Iran and world powers as “proof of the potential of political good will and of law.”
For environmentalists, Francis’s visit to the United States has been a boon. He has repeatedly raised his concerns about environment and climate change, as he did Friday morning at the United Nations. Invoking the principles of international law and equality among nations, Francis endorsed the concept of “right of the environment.”
“Any harm done to the environment, therefore, is harm done to humanity,” he said, later reprising his argument that the global poor are the biggest victims of environmental destruction.
“A selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and the disadvantaged,” he said.“A selfish and boundless thirst for power and material prosperity leads both to the misuse of available natural resources and to the exclusion of the weak and the disadvantaged,” he said.
Of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the Holy See has formally objected to only one: gender equality, because of its longstanding reservations on ensuring “universal access to sexual and reproductive health and reproductive rights,” which is one of the targets included in the goals document. The poor, Francis said, are “cast off by society, forced to live off what is discarded and suffer unjustly from the consequences of abuse of the environment. These phenomena are part of today’s widespread and quietly growing ‘culture of waste.’ ”
Francis scolded global financial institutions, calling on them to ensure that countries “are not subjected to oppressive lending systems which, far from promoting progress, subject people to mechanisms which generate greater poverty, exclusion and dependence.” The summit at the General Assembly for the adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals is something of a run-up to the Paris conference later this year, where countries are trying to come up with a global compact to cut their own carbon emissions and to help the most vulnerable countries deal with the ravages of climate change.
The audience responded with loud applause, which permitted him to pause and sip some water. China promised a cap-and-trade policy in 2017. South Africa announced its climate plan on Friday, Indonesia announced its commitments on Thursday, and Brazil was due to reveal its plan on Sunday. The United States, European Union and other big polluters have already said how they plan to cut emissions, leaving India as the major holdout.
The pope’s native Argentina — and, more recently, Greece — fought vigorously for a General Assembly resolution on a set of principles to resolve disputes between financially distressed countries and their lenders. The United States, Japan and Germany were among a handful of countries that voted against it. The resolution passed, although it is not binding and has no real effect. On Friday, Narendra Modi, India’s prime minister, said his country was already on its way to what he called “a sustainable path to prosperity,” enumerating in his speech a list of things that his administration had already announced: ramping up renewable energy, cleaning rivers and imposing a carbon tax. He made no announcements about India’s climate commitments, saving that for when he returns home. India has maintained that its main priority is to overcome poverty. “We have concrete initiatives and time frames,” Mr. Modi said, signaling to his domestic audience that India was not going to bend to outside influence.
Francis also delved into the contested issues of United Nations governance, with a call for “greater equity” on the Security Council, which seemed certain to please developing powers such as India and Brazil, which are not permanent veto-wielding members. Mr. Ban, who met with Mr. Modi, gently nudged him on committing to emissions cuts, a statement by Mr. Ban’s office suggested. “He underlined the tremendous importance of India’s role in renewable energy, and encouraged the prime minister to continue to show strong global leadership on this issue,” Mr. Ban’s statement read.
As soon as Mr. Ban escorted the pope out of the building after the speech, he returned to the hall and spoke about the global development goals, which were adopted by the 193 member states of the United Nations. “It is an agenda for people, to end poverty in all its forms,” Mr. Ban said. “An agenda for the planet, our common home.” The pope, who was the inaugural speaker of the day, was frequently interrupted by applause for his remarks, which included a full-throated endorsement of education for girls. In the balcony of the General Assembly hall, Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who was shot in the head by the Taliban, was among those who clapped.
He added, “It is rooted in gender equality and respect for the rights of all.” Francis praised world powers for reaching an agreement with Iran on its nuclear energy program. He also called for the elimination of nuclear weapons, at which Mohammad Javad Zarif, the foreign minister of Iran, sat up in his seat and applauded.
Before the pope’s speech, Mr. Ban introduced Francis to 350 cheering United Nations employees in the lobby, calling them “the heart and soul of our work.” The pope did not dwell on the church’s notable difference with the global agenda: ensuring access to reproductive health and services. He spoke of “absolute respect for life in all its stages and dimensions.”
For spots to see the pope in the lobby, 4,758 staff members put their names into a lottery. How governments will be held to account for their commitments to the goals remains unclear.
“Dear friends, good morning,” the pope said in English, in his address to the staff shortly before 9 a.m. “The true test of commitment to Agenda 2030 will be implementation,” Mr. Ban told leaders. “We need action from everyone, everywhere.”
“Viva Papa!” came a cheer. Salil Shetty, the secretary general for Amnesty International, speaking after Mr. Ban, said, “People should know exactly what governments have promised and what they have delivered — the right to information.”
He called the United Nations staff members “in many ways the backbone of this organization” and made a joke about “all those who could not be here today,” and with a pause, “because of the lottery.” He, too, scolded many of the powerful in the room, accusing them of hypocrisy.
True to form, the pope thanked not only field staff members and interpreters but also “maintenance and security personnel.” He spoke slowly. He asked the nonbelievers in the audience to “wish me well.” A round of laughter and applause went up. “You cannot lecture about peace while being the world’s largest manufacturers of arms,” he said. “You cannot allow your corporations to use financial and tax loopholes while railing against corruption.”
Once the development summit meeting concludes on Sunday, many of the same presidents and prime ministers are to begin their annual debate in the General Assembly — and in the corridors, talk about war and peace.
The pope rebuked them, particularly “those charged with the conduct of international affairs,” for having failed to put an end to the many conflicts in the world, particularly in the Middle East.
“Real human beings take precedence over partisan interests, however legitimate the latter may be,” he said.
In what appeared to be a specific reference to the conflicts in Syria and Iraq, the pope said people “have faced the alternative either of fleeing or of paying for their adhesions to good and to peace by their own lives, or by enslavement.”
Ms. Merkel also referred to the refugees fleeing violence for Europe, and said peace was a “prerequisite” for development.
Francis also scolded global financial institutions, calling on them to ensure that countries “are not subjected to oppressive lending systems which, far from promoting progress, subject people to mechanisms which generate greater poverty, exclusion and dependence.”
The audience responded with loud applause.
The pope’s native Argentina — and, more recently, Greece — fought vigorously for a General Assembly resolution on a set of principles to resolve disputes between financially distressed countries and their lenders. The United States, Japan and Germany were among a handful of countries that voted against it. It passed, although it is not binding and has no real effect.