President Bush's Remarks to the UN General Assembly

Tuesday, September 25, 2007 <br> Draft #20 -- Mr. Secretary General ... Mr. President ... distinguished delegates ..ladies and gentlemen: Thank you for the opportunity to address the General Assembly of the United Nations.

Sixty years ago, representatives from 16 nations gathered to begin deliberations on a new international bill of rights. The document they produced is called the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and It stands as a landmark achievement In the history of human liberty. It opens by recognizing "the inherent dignity" and the "equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family" as "the foundation of freedom, justice, and peace in the world." And as we gather for this 62nd General Assembly,the standards of the Declaration must guide our work in the world.

Achieving the promise of the Declaration requires confronting longterm threats – and it also requires answering the immediate needs of today.

The nations in this chamber have our differences. Yet there are some areas where we can all agree. When innocent people are trapped In a life of murder and fear, the Declaration is not being upheld. When millions of children starve to death or perish from a mosquito bite, we are not doing our duty in the world. When whole societies are cut off from the prosperity of the global economy, we are all worse off. Changing these underlying conditions is what the Declaration calls the work of "larger freedom" – and It must be the work of every nation In this assembly.

This great institution must work for great purposes – to free people from tyranny and violence ... hunger and disease ... illiteracy and ignorance ... poverty and despair. And I call on every member of the United Nations to join In this mission of liberation.

First, the mission of the United Nations requires liberating people from tyranny and violence. The first article of the Universal Declaration begins, ."AII human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights."

This truth is denied by terrorists and extremists who ki11 the innocent with the aim of imposing their hateful vision on humanity. The followers of this violent ideology are a threat to civilized people everywhere. And all civilized nations must work together to stop them – by sharing intelligence about their networks ... choking off their finances ... and capturing or killing their operatives.

In the long run, the best way to defeat the extremists is to defeat their dark ideology with a more hopeful vision – the vision of liberty that founded this body. The United States salutes the nations that have recently taken strides toward liberty – including Ukraine, Georgia, Kyrgyzstan [KEYRgeez-stan], Mauritania [moor-EH-tain-ee-a], Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Morocco. In the Palestinian Territories, moderate leaders are working to build free institutions that fight terror, enforce the law, and respond to the needs of the people. The international community must support them, so that we can advance toward the vision of two democratic states, Israel andPalestine, living side-by-side in peace and security. Brave citizens In Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq have also made the choice for democracy – and the extremists have responded by targeting them for murder. This is not a show of strength It Is evidence of fear. The extremists are doing everything in their power to bring down these young democracies. The people of Lebanon, Afghanistan, and Iraq have asked for our help. And every civilized nation has a responsibility to stand with them.

Every civilized nation also has a responsibility to stand up for the people suffering under dictatorship. In Belarus, North Korea, Syria, and Iran, brutal regimes deny their people the fundamental rights enshrined In the Universal Declaration. Americans are also outraged by the situation in Burma, where a military junta has imposed a 19-year reign of fear. Basic freedoms of speech, assembly, and worship are severely restricted. Ethnic minorities are persecuted. Forced child labor, human trafficking, and rapeare common. And the regime is holding more than 1,000 political prisoners –