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2012
Climate Change made headlines
Countries struggled between turmoil and transition
putting the United Nations to the test
to negotiate peace and define
"A Future we Want" for all.
In SYRIA, violence spiralled out of control.
Fighting and human rights abuses by government
and opposition groups left,
according to some estimates,
over 40.000 people dead
and forced hundreds of thousands to flee.
UN Secretary-General BAN Ki-moon:
"We must stop the violence
and the flow of arms to both sides
and set in motion a
Syrian led transition as soon as possible.
The UN Security Council could not
agree on action to stop the bloodshed.
US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton:
"The international community should say
with one voice without hesitation or caveat
that the killing of innocent Syrians must stop
and a political transition must begin."
But some argued for caution:
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov:
"There is no doubt whatsoever
that the Syrian authorities bear
a huge share of the responsibility for the situation,
but one shouldn't ignore
the fact that for a long time now they've been fighting
not unarmed men but combat units
such as the Syrian Free Army
and extremist groups including Al-Qaeda."
Syria's UN ambassador Bashar al-Ja'afari
accused some council members
of actually fuelling the flames:
"The same countries are undermining my country's sovereignty
by encouraging terrorism and by supplying
and providing all types of logistical
and political support to armed groups in Syria."
The Joint Special Envoys of UN and Arab League,
Kofi Annan and later Lakhdar Brahimi,
presented plans to end the violence and start dialogue,
but the various Syrian parties
failed to reach an agreement
to end the conflict.
The Security Council sent 300 unarmed observers
to investigate alleged massacres
and other human rights violations
and monitor a ceasefire
that never really took hold.
While the violence continues,
the humanitarian needs are escalating
in Syria and beyond.
The World Food Program is scaling up
to feed 1.5 million people in the country.
In GAZA, a new cycle of violence erupted
after months of standstill in negotiations
between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
headed to the region to personally appeal
for a ceasefire.
In late November a great majority
of countries approved a UN General Assembly resolution
to elevate Palestine to
a non-member observer state at the UN.
LIBYA saw its first free and transparent elections
in half a century.
The UN Development Program assisted
in setting up voting booths
and ballot boxes,
while the UN Mine Action Program
removed 180 thousand explosives
all over the country to help
create stability and prevent arms smuggling
across the region.
Instability and turmoil in nearby MALI.
After a military coup toppled the government,
Islamic Jihadists used the power vacuum
to occupy the country's north.
Refugees have flooded the Sahel region,
which is suffering from drought
and pervasive poverty.
The African Union urged
the UN Security Council to endorse
military intervention to free Northern Mali
from the extremists.
African Union's Permanent Observer
to the UN,
Antonio Tete:
"Mali is at a crossroads.
Time is of essence.
We need to act fast
and to send a clear and strong message
(on the resolve of international community
and its support to the African-led efforts.)"
In the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of Congo,
renewed fighting between government forces
and rebel troops
left 2 million people displaced
and a million vulnerable children at even greater risk.
As rebel soldiers advanced
on the city of Goma in late November,
the UN peacekeeping mission deployed attack helicopters
to help the national army protect civilians
amid the violence.
A first Birthday for SOUTH SUDAN
as diplomatic efforts by the UN Security Council
help to ease tensions with neighbour Sudan
over unresolved issues such as
its borders and oil production.
US Ambassador Susan Rice:
"The agreements that were signed last week
in Addis on security, oil, finances, nationality and trade issues
were very important and potentially historic."
Nuclear worries about IRAN
as world leaders continue to question
the country's uranium enrichment programme:
Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu:
"A red line should be drawn right here,
before Iran completes a second stage
of nuclear enrichment necessary to make a bomb."
Iran insisted on the peacefulness of its nuclear program
and President Ahmadinejad
accused the General Assembly of applying double standards:
"The United Nations - which were created
with the purpose of expanding justice
and re-instituting universal rights
- have in practice been engulfed
by discrimination, preparing a supportive ground
for the domination of a few powerful countries.
MYANMAR's Nobel laureate and pro-democracy activist
Aung Sun Suu Kyi
received a hero's welcome at the UN
in Geneva and New York.
Elected to parliament after years of house arrest,
she invited international aid
to build a better future for her country:
"If we all want to achieve genuine democracy for Burma,
we have to learn to work together."
2012 Storms and severe weather left countries ravaged
across the globe
a stark reminder that the
threat of Climate Change is real.
Action on Climate Change was a major topic
at the UN's Rio+20 summit in Brazil,
where 40 thousand people gathered
to discuss developmental strategies for the 21st Century.
"We are on a dangerous road.
We cannot continue to burn and consume
our way to prosperity at the expense
of the world's poor and the global environment.
My message to world leaders is clear:
Sustainable Development is an idea whose time has come."
At the summit 191 countries agreed
on an outcome document, called
"A Future we Want".
A Future that has already started in Indonesia,
where the UN inspired project "Teens go Green"
motivates students from all over the country
to make environmental protection a priority.
"We have to work on changing our mindset.
If teenagers get to know the issues
then we can keep the commitment
to the environment going in the future."
Young people everywhere are contributing to the changes.
But no one more so than the year's youngest
and possibly greatest hero,
Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year old girl from Pakistan,
who survived an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen,
who accused her of promoting education for girls.
"The terrorists showed what frightens them most:
A girl with a book."
2012 will be remembered as complex and challenging year
for the United Nations.
Conflict, poverty, natural disasters, terrorism, climate change and human rights violations
continue to plague humankind.
The United Nations remains the global forum
for discussing and solving some of the worlds most difficult problems.
Carrying the torch for all these issues,
Ban Ki-moon, at the Olympics in London,
implored the world to keep the fire burning,
for tolerance, peace and harmony.
For "The Future we Want".