Date:2023/10/01
UN Photo/Cia Pak Ambassador Robert Rae of Canada addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s 78th session
No time for finger pointing; we must work together to tackle pressing challenges, says Canada
The health of our planet, its people, institutions, and the global economy are at serious risk, and such deep challenges cannot be tackled in isolation, Robert Rae, Ambassador of Canada to the United Nations, told the General Assembly’s annual high-level debate on Tuesday.
Robert Rae, Chair of the Delegation of Canada, addresses the general debate of the 78th Session of the General Assembly of the United Nations (New York, 19 - 26 September 2023).
Canadian Ambassador Robert Rae said, “We are going to do everything we can to support Ukraine as it continues to defend itself - its people, its identity, its sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Ambassador Rae today (26 Sep) spoke at the General Assembly’s annual general debate.
He said that the war in Ukraine is “not legal. And it is the war that is fundamentally immoral, and it is a war that has been started by Russia and Russia can end it. Russia could end it right now.”
The Canadian Ambassador also said, “We support the self-limitation of the veto by all permanent members in situations where civilians risk committing atrocious crimes. We also support efforts that seek to increase the number of elected members of the Council, in order to guarantee fair representation of a large number of developing countries around the world.”
He also said, “we challenge all the permanent members to accept more fully and more publicly, the need to become more effective, more inclusive and more transparent. It is the time for reform.”
On Haiti, Ambassador Rae said, “a comprehensive approach - one that supports Haitian led solutions and one that includes urgent care measures in the field of security, humanitarian assistance and development.”
He also said, “We cannot bend the rules of State-to-State relations for political expedience, because we've seen and continue to see the extent to which democracies are under threat through various means of foreign interference. But the truth is if we don't adhere to the rules that we've agreed to the very fabric of our open and of our free societies may start to tear.”
On climate change, Ambassador Rae said, “we believe strongly that reducing emissions is a duty that is shared but so is the need to ensure something else and that is the access to capital on longer terms, and with more favorable rates to help in the green transformation of the global economy.”