UN General Assembly
2009

applied within this Organization. It is a matter of the very legitimacy of the United Nations. As the world’s second most populous continent, Africa should not be excluded from initiatives that concern it. A/64/470 09-53756 4 We support the demand of the President of the African Union and several member States to grant it the right to a permanent seat on the United Nations Security Council with all the associated prerogatives. We are here to mark the way for future generations and to make concrete our desire to promote dialogue among cultures and civilizations. Let us hold fast to the principles we unanimously adopted in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights that “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” Allow me to salute all the efforts undertaken to date, at all levels of our international community, for this cause that is dear to us. Nevertheless, much