UN General Assembly
2015

Our Organization, the United Nations, is celebrating its seventieth anniversary. Immense progress has been made since it was established as an institution entrusted with the task of maintaining peace, which it has managed to do so on many an occasion. Yet, 70 years later dramas and tragedies, conflicts and wars continue to unfold, and the world must yet once again rise up to significant challenges. Among those of today is the flight of hundreds of thousands — even millions — of refugees from the Middle East and Africa, seeking protection or simply to save their lives. Terrorism strikes at civilian populations and no country is immune from this scourge. There are also conflicts, such as that in the Middle East, that have remain unresolved for years and years, and that we all know could intensify at any moment. In the meantime, there are disasters: tsunamis, earthquakes, islands on the verge of disappearing, coastlines washed away, and glaciers melting. That is the reality of climate change.