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US President Biden Addresses in UN General Assembly 2024 | Breaking News
US President Biden Addresses in UN General Assembly 2024 | Breaking News
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00:00Even from the horrors of war, there was a way forward.
00:04Things can get better.
00:07We should never forget that.
00:10I've seen that throughout my career.
00:11In the 1980s, I spoke out against apartheid in South Africa, and then I watched the racist
00:18regime fall.
00:20In the 1990s, I worked to hold Milosevic accountable for war crimes.
00:26He was held accountable.
00:28At home, I wrote and passed the Violence Against Women Act to end the scourge of violence against
00:32women and girls, not only in America, but across the world, as many of you have as well.
00:38But we have so much more to do, especially against rape and sexual violence as weapons
00:44of war and terror.
00:48We were attacked on 9-11 by al-Qaeda and Osama bin Laden.
00:52We brought him justice.
00:55Then I came to the presidency at another moment in a crisis and uncertainty.
01:00I believed America had to look forward.
01:03New challenges, new threats, new opportunities were in front of us.
01:08We needed to put ourselves in a position to face the challenges and to seize the opportunities
01:13as well.
01:14We needed to end the era of war that began on 9-11.
01:20As Vice President to President Obama, he asked me to work to wind down the military
01:25operations in Iraq, and we did, painful as it was.
01:29When I came to office as President, Afghanistan to replace Vietnam as America's longest war,
01:37I was determined to end it, and I did.
01:40It was a hard decision, but the right decision.
01:44Four American presidents had faced that decision, but I was determined not to leave it to the
01:49fifth.
01:50It was a decision accompanied by tragedy.
01:54Thirteen brave Americans lost their lives along with hundreds of Afghans in a suicide
01:58bomb.
02:00I think of those lost lives, and I think of them every day.
02:03I think of all the 2,461 U.S. military deaths over a long 20 years of that war, 20,744 American
02:13servicemen wounded in action.
02:15I think of their service, their sacrifice, and their heroism.
02:19I know other countries lost their own men and women fighting alongside us.
02:24We honor their sacrifices as well.
02:26To face the future, I was also determined to rebuild my country's alliances and partnerships
02:32to a level not previously seen.
02:36We did.
02:37We did just that, from traditional treaty alliances to new partnerships like the Quad
02:42with the United States, Japan, Australia, and India.
02:46I know many look at the world today and see difficulties and react with despair, but I
02:54do not.
02:55I won't.
02:57As leaders, we don't have the luxury.
03:00I recognize the challenges from Ukraine to Gaza to Sudan and beyond.
03:05War, hunger, terrorism, brutality, record displacement of people, a climate crisis,
03:14democracy at risk, strangeness in our societies, the promise of artificial intelligence and
03:21its significant risk.
03:23Well, this goes on, but maybe because of all I've seen and all we have done together over
03:30the decades, I have hope.
03:32I know there is a way forward.
03:36In 1919, the Irish poet William Butler Yeats described a world, and I quote, where things
03:45fall apart, the center cannot hold, mere anarchy is loosed upon the world, end of quote.
03:53One may say those words describe the world, not just in 1919, but in 2024.
04:01I see a critical distinction.
04:03In our time, the center has held, leaders and people from every region and across the
04:09political spectrum have stood together, turned the page, turned the page in the worst pandemic
04:16in a century.
04:18We made sure COVID no longer controls our lives.
04:22We defended the UN Charter and ensured the survival of Ukraine as a free nation.
04:28My country made the largest investment in climate, clean energy ever anywhere in history.
04:34There will always be forces that pull our countries apart and the world apart, aggression,
04:40extremism, chaos, and cynicism, a desire to retreat from the world and go it alone.
04:49Our task, our test is to make sure that the forces holding us together are stronger than
04:56those that are pulling us apart, that the principles of partnership that we came here
05:03each year to uphold can withstand the challenges, that the center holds once again.
05:11My fellow leaders, I truly believe we're at another inflection point in world history.
05:17The choices we make today will determine our future for decades to come.
05:22When we stand behind the principles that unite us, we stand firm against aggression, when
05:29we end the conflicts that are raging today, we take on global challenges like climate
05:35change, hunger, and disease, when we plan now for the opportunities and risk of revolutionary
05:43new technologies.
05:45I want to talk today about each of these decisions and the actions, in my view, we must take.
05:51To start, each of us in this body has made a commitment to the principles of the UN Charter
05:57to stand up against aggression.
05:59When Russia invaded Ukraine, we could have stood by and merely protested.
06:04But Vice President Harris and I understood that that was an assault on everything this
06:09institution was supposed to stand for.
06:13And so, My Direction America stepped into the breach, providing massive security and
06:18economic and humanitarian assistance.
06:21Our NATO allies and partners in 50-plus nations stood up as well.
06:26But most importantly, the Ukrainian people stood up.
06:31I ask the people of this chamber to stand up for them.
06:36The good news is, Putin's war has failed at its core aim.
06:43He set out to destroy Ukraine, but Ukraine is still free.
06:48He set out to weaken NATO, but NATO is bigger, stronger, and more united than ever before
06:54with two new members, Finland and Sweden.
06:58But we cannot let up, the world now has another choice to make.
07:03Will we sustain our support to help Ukraine win this war and preserve its freedom, or
07:10walk away and let aggression be renewed and a nation be destroyed?
07:16I know my answer, we cannot grow weary, we cannot look away, and we will not let up on
07:24our support for Ukraine, not until Ukraine wins with just and durable peace in the UN Charter.
07:40We also need to uphold our principles as we seek to responsibly manage the competition
07:46with China so it does not veer into conflict.
07:51We stand ready to cooperate on urgent challenges for the good of our people and the people
07:54everywhere.
07:55We recently resumed cooperation with China to stop the flow of deadly synthetic narcotics.
08:03I appreciate the collaboration, it matters for the people of my country and many others
08:07around the world.
08:08On matters of conviction, the United States is unabashed in pushing back against unfair
08:15economic competition, against military coercion of other nations in the South China Sea, in
08:22maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits, in protecting our most advanced
08:27technologies so they cannot be used against us or any of our partners.
08:31At the same time, we are going to continue to strengthen our network of alliances and
08:36partnerships across the Indo-Pacific.
08:39These partnerships are not against any nation, they are building blocks for a free, open,
08:46secure, and peaceful Indo-Pacific.
08:49We are also working to bring greater measure of peace and stability to the Middle East.
08:53The world must not flinch from the horrors of October 7th.
08:58Any country, any country, would have the right and responsibility to ensure that such an
09:03attack can never happen again.
09:05Thousands of armed Amos terrorists invaded a sovereign state, slaughtering and massacring
09:12more than 1,200 people, including 46 Americans, in their homes and at a music festival.
09:19Despicable acts of sexual violence, 250 innocents taken hostage.
09:25I've met with the families of those hostages.
09:28I've grieved with them.
09:30They're going through hell.
09:33Innocent civilians in Gaza are also going through hell.
09:37Thousands and thousands killed, including aid workers.
09:40Too many families dislocated, crowding into tents, facing a dire humanitarian situation.
09:47They did not ask for this war that Hamas started.
09:52I put forward with Qatar and Egypt a ceasefire and hostage deal.
09:58It's been endorsed by the U.N. Security Council.
10:01Now is the time for the parties to finalize its terms, bring the hostages home in secure
10:07security for Israel and Gaza free of Hamas' grip, ease the suffering in Gaza, and end
10:14this war.
10:15On October 7th, since October 7th, we've also been determined to prevent a wider war that
10:30engulfs the entire region.
10:32Hezbollah, unprovoked, joined the October 7th attack, launching rockets into Israel.
10:40Almost a year later, too many on each side of the Israeli-Lebanon border remained displaced.
10:47Full-scale war is not in anyone's interest.
10:50Even as the situation has escalated, a diplomatic solution is still possible.
10:54In fact, it remains the only path to lasting security to allow the residents from both
11:00countries to return to their homes on the border safely.
11:04That's what we're working tirelessly to achieve.
11:08As we look ahead, we must also address the rise of violence against innocent Palestinians
11:14on the West Bank and set the conditions for a better future, including a two-state solution
11:20where the world, where Israel enjoys security and peace and full recognition and normalized
11:26relations with all its neighbors, where Palestinians live in security, dignity, and self-determination
11:31in a state of their own.
11:43Progress toward peace will put us in a stronger position to deal with the ongoing threat posed
11:48by Iran.
11:49Together, we must deny oxygen to its terrorist proxies, which have called for more October
11:557th, and ensure that Iran will never, ever obtain a nuclear weapon.
12:01Gaza is not the only conflict that deserves our outrage.
12:05In Sudan, a bloody civil war unleashed one of the world's worst humanitarian crises.
12:12Eight million, eight million on the brink of famine.
12:17Hundreds of thousands already there.
12:19Atrocities are for and elsewhere.
12:22The United States has led the world in providing humanitarian aid to Sudan, and with our partners
12:28who've led diplomatic talks to try to silence the guns and avert a wider famine.
12:35The world needs to stop arming the generals, to speak with one voice and tell them, stop
12:42tearing your country apart, stop blocking aid to the Sudanese people, end this war now.
12:53But people need more than the absence of war.
12:58They need a chance, a chance to live in dignity.
13:03They need to be protected from the ravages of climate change, hunger, and disease.
13:09Our administration as of right has invested over $150 billion to make progress.
13:16It includes $20 billion for food security, over $50 billion for global health.
13:22We've mobilized billions more in private sector investment.
13:26We've taken the most ambitious climate action in history.
13:30We've moved to rejoin the Paris Agreement on day one.
13:34Today, my country is finally on track to cut emissions in half by 2030.
13:42We're on track to honor my pledge to quadruple climate financing to developing nations with
13:48$11 billion thus far this year.
13:52We've rejoined the World Health Organization, donating 700 million doses of COVID vaccine
13:58to 117 countries.
14:00We must now move quickly to face M-PoX outbreak in Africa.
14:05We're prepared to commit $500 million to help African countries prevent and respond to M-PoX
14:12and to donate 1 million doses of M-PoX vaccine now.
14:17We call on our partners to match our pledge and make this a billion-dollar commitment
14:26to the people of Africa.
14:28Beyond the core necessities of food and health, the United States, the G7, and our partners
14:35have embarked on an ambitious initiative to mobilize and deliver significant finance to
14:39the developing world.
14:41We're working to help countries build out their infrastructure, to clean energy transition,
14:47to the digital transformation, to lay new economic foundations for a prosperous future.
14:54It's called the Partnership for Global Infrastructure and Investment.
14:58We've already started to see the fruits of this emerge in Southern Africa, in Southeast
15:03Asia, and in the Americas.
15:05We have to keep it going.
15:07I want to get things done together.
15:10In order to do that, we must build a stronger, more effective, and more inclusive United
15:14Nations.
15:15The U.N. needs to adapt and bring new voices and new perspectives.
15:21That's why we support reforming and expanding the membership of the U.N. Security Council.
15:28Our U.N. ambassador just laid out our detailed vision to reflect today's world, not yesterday's.
15:40It's time to move forward.
15:42The Security Council, like the U.N. itself, needs to go back to the job of making peace,
15:47of brokering deals to end wars and suffering, to stop the spread of the most dangerous weapons,
15:58of stabilizing troubled regions in East Africa, from East Africa to Haiti, to a Kenya-led
16:03mission that's working alongside the Haitian people to turn the tide.
16:09We also have a responsibility to prepare our citizens for the future.
16:14We'll see more technological change, I argue, in the next two to ten years than we have
16:19in the last 50 years.
16:22Artificial intelligence is going to change our ways of life, our ways of work, and our
16:28ways of war.
16:29It could usher in scientific progress at a pace never seen before, and much of it could
16:36make our lives better.
16:38But AI also brings profound risks, from deep fakes to disinformation to novel pathogens
16:46to bioweapons.
16:48We've worked at home and abroad to define the new norms and standards.
16:53This year, we achieved the first-ever General Assembly resolution on AI to start developing
17:01global rules, global rules of the road.
17:05We've also announced a declaration on the responsible use of AI, joined by 60 countries
17:12in this chamber.
17:13But let's be honest, this is just the tip of the iceberg, what we need to do to manage
17:19this new technology.
17:21Nothing is certain about how AI will evolve or how it will be deployed.
17:26No one knows all the answers.
17:28My fellow leaders, it's with humility I offer two questions.
17:33First, how do we as an international community govern AI?
17:39As countries and companies race to uncertain frontiers, we need an equally urgent effort
17:45to ensure AI's safety, security, and trustworthiness.
17:49As AI grows more powerful, it also must grow more responsive to our collective needs and
17:56values.
17:57Benefits of all must be shared equitably, should be harnessed to a narrow, not deepened
18:04digital divide.
18:06Second, will we ensure that AI supports rather than undermines the core principles that human
18:13life has value and all humans deserve dignity.
18:17We must make certain that the awesome capabilities of AI will be used to uplift and empower everyday
18:25people, not to give dictators more powerful shackles on the human spirit.
18:32In years ahead, there may well be no greater test of our leadership than how we deal with
18:40AI.
18:41Let me close with this, even as we navigate so much change, one thing must not change.
18:48We must never forget who we're here to represent, we the people.
18:55These are the first words of our constitution, the very idea of America, that inspired the
19:01opening words of the UN Charter.
19:04I made the preservation of democracy the central cause of my presidency.
19:09This summer, I faced a decision whether to seek a second term as president.
19:15It was a difficult decision.
19:17Being president has been the honor of my life.
19:20There's so much more I want to get done.
19:23As much as I love the job, I love my country more.
19:28I decided after 50 years of public service, it's time for a new generation of leadership
19:33to take my nation forward.
19:36My fellow leaders, let us never forget, some things are more important than staying in
19:42power.
19:44It's your people.
19:45It's your people that matter the most.
20:01Never forget, we are here to serve the people, not the other way around, because the future
20:08will be won by those who unleash the full potential of their people, to breathe free,
20:13to think freely, to innovate, to educate, to live and love openly without fear.
20:19That's the soul of democracy.
20:21It does not belong to any one country.
20:24I've seen it all around the world, in the brave men and women who ended apartheid, brought
20:30down the Berlin Wall, fight today for freedom and justice and dignity.
20:36We saw it, that universal yearning for rights and freedom in Venezuela, where millions cast
20:41their vote for change that hadn't been recognized, but it can't be denied.
20:47The world knows the truth.
20:50We saw it in Uganda, LBGT activists demanding safety and recognition of their common humanity.
20:57We've seen citizens across the world peacefully choosing their future, from Ghana to India
21:02to South Korea, nations representing one quarter of humanity who will hold elections this year
21:09alone.
21:10It's remarkable, the power of We the People that makes me more optimistic about the future
21:16than I've ever been.
21:17Since I was first elected to the United States Senate in 1972, every age faces its challenges.
21:25I saw it as a young man.
21:28I see it today.
21:30But we are stronger than we think.
21:33We're stronger together than alone.
21:37What the people call impossible is just an illusion.
21:42Nelson Mandela taught us, and I quote, it always seems impossible until it's done.
21:48It always seems impossible until it's done.
21:52My fellow leaders, there's nothing that's beyond our capacity if we work together.
21:59Let's work together.
22:01God bless you all, and may God protect all those who seek peace.