UN General Assembly
2015

We return this year, on the seventieth anniversary of the Organization, to reaffirm the values we committed to in 1973 when we subscribed to the Charter of the United Nations — from democracy, the rule of law, the protection of the weak and vulnerable to the elimination of all forms of discrimination. Each year at this time we join the struggle anew to fight to uphold those values. Tonight, I pause to reflect on the progress we have made in some areas. This year, for example, marks the thirtieth year since the Nassau Accord was agreed and signed by the Heads of Government of the Commonwealth of Nations in our capital city, in October 1985. That Accord led to a comprehensive set of sanctions on the apartheid regime of South Africa and helped free Nelson Mandela and establish full democracy in the Republic of South Africa.