Background:

Dr. Buṭrus Buṭrus Ghālī, Secretary General of the United Nations, is addressing the European Parliament on the 50th anniversary of the United Nations’ founding in Strasbourg. His speech is mainly about democracy, European values and model and how the UN sees the future of the international community in the field of democracy. 

Side A:

Dr. Klaus Hänsch, President of the European Parliament, thanks Buṭrus Buṭrus Ghālī, Secretary General of the United Nations, for addressing the European Parliament on the 50th anniversary of the United Nations’ founding. He introduces the Secretary General, his recent actions and the UN origins and challenges.

Dr. Ghālī express his admiration of the European Union model and values, he thinks that the United Nations should be inspired by this model. The United Nations while it celebrates the 50th anniversary of its founding, its members States are not only affirming their strong attachments to its Charter but they are also aware of the new challenges that the international community is facing such as the protection of the environment, regulating migration, maintaining the demographic boost under control, fighting crimes, etc.

Democracy is one of the main challenges and the UN is dedicated to such challenge through multiple actions as for instance the peacekeeping operations and electoral assistance the UN attributes for States on their demand. According to Dr. Ghālī, democracy can come in different and several forms. He believes that there is absolutely no need to copy a certain model of democracy and to apply it rigidly everywhere. He insists that democracy is and can be adaptable to different societies with different cultural realities.

Thus, Dr. Ghālī explains how the United Nations collaborate with multiple regional organizations such as the Commonwealth of Independent States, the African Union, the Arab League, the European Union, the NATO and many others as a way to decentralize the international action and collaboration in several aspects. In addition to such organization, Dr. Ghālī expresses that the UN strongly believes in the role of Non-Governmental Organizations in guarantying democracy in societies as well as the role of private and transnational corporations in promoting democratic actions all over the globe.

After the speech, Hänsch thanks Ghālī for the tableau of ethic challenges he presented and for emphatically pleading for democracy as a global principal for human rights and preserving peace. He cites Ghālī’s demand for the European Union to occupy a place in crisis management, especially in Europe and former Yugoslavia, and recalls the important role Ghālī attached to the work of NGOs.