a speech about united nations day

Search the United Nations

• UN Observances

Secretary-General's message (2023)

The United Nations is a reflection of the world as it is – and an aspiration of the world we know it can be.  

It is our responsibility to help build that world of peace, sustainable development and human rights for all. 

I know we can do it. The Charter of the United Nations – which entered into force 78 years ago today – points the way.

Above all, it is rooted in a spirit of determination to heal divisions, repair relations, and build peace. 

To expand opportunities, and leave no one behind.  

To ensure justice, equality and empowerment for women and girls. 

To provide life-saving relief to those in need. 

And to be flexible enough to address challenges that did not even exist when the UN was born – from the existential climate crisis to the perils and promise of artificial intelligence.  

The United Nations is guided by timeless values and principles, but it must never be frozen in time. That is why we must always keep strengthening ways of working and applying a 21st century lens to all we do.

On this United Nations Day, let us commit with hope and determination to build the better world of our aspirations. 

Let us commit to a future that lives up to the name of our indispensable organization.  

We are a divided world. We can and must be united nations.

On this United Nations Day, let us commit with hope and determination to build the better world of our aspirations. António Guterres

Video message

Search form

Secretary-general antónio guterres message on united nations day.

The United Nations is a reflection of the world as it is – and an aspiration of the world we know it can be. 

It is our responsibility to help build that world of peace, sustainable development and human rights for all.

I know we can do it. The Charter of the United Nations – which entered into force 78 years ago today – points the way.

Above all, it is rooted in a spirit of determination to heal divisions, repair relations, and build peace.

To expand opportunities, and leave no one behind. 

To ensure justice, equality and empowerment for women and girls.

To provide life-saving relief to those in need.

And to be flexible enough to address challenges that did not even exist when the UN was born – from the existential climate crisis to the perils and promise of artificial intelligence. 

The United Nations is guided by timeless values and principles, but it must never be frozen in time. That is why we must always keep strengthening ways of working and applying a 21st century lens to all we do.

On this United Nations Day, let us commit with hope and determination to build the better world of our aspirations.

Let us commit to a future that lives up to the name of our indispensable organization. 

We are a divided world. We can and must be united nations.

  Find us on Facebook   Find us on Twitter   Find us on YouTube   Find us on Flickr   Find us on Tumblr   Find us on Instagram   RSS feed

Malala Yousafzai: 16th birthday speech at the United Nations

"So let us wage a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism and let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons." {"content":{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"content":[{"data":{},"marks":[],"value":"\"So let us wage a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism and let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons.\"","nodeType":"text"}],"nodeType":"paragraph"}],"nodeType":"document"}}

New York, New York

Bismillah hir rahman ir rahim. In the name of God, the most merciful, the most beneficent.

Honourable UN Secretary General Mr Ban Ki-moon, Respected President General Assembly Vuk Jeremic Honourable UN envoy for Global education Mr Gordon Brown, Respected elders and my dear brothers and sisters; Today, it is an honour for me to be speaking again after a long time. Being here with such honourable people is a great moment in my life.

I don't know where to begin my speech. I don't know what people would be expecting me to say. But first of all, thank you to God for whom we all are equal and thank you to every person who has prayed for my fast recovery and a new life. I cannot believe how much love people have shown me. I have received thousands of good wish cards and gifts from all over the world. Thank you to all of them. Thank you to the children whose innocent words encouraged me. Thank you to my elders whose prayers strengthened me.

I would like to thank my nurses, doctors and all of the staff of the hospitals in Pakistan and the UK and the UAE government who have helped me get better and recover my strength. I fully support Mr Ban Ki-moon the Secretary-General in his Global Education First Initiative and the work of the UN Special Envoy Mr Gordon Brown. And I thank them both for the leadership they continue to give. They continue to inspire all of us to action.

There are hundreds of human rights activists and social workers who are not only speaking for human rights, but who are struggling to achieve their goals of education, peace and equality. Thousands of people have been killed by the terrorists and millions have been injured. I am just one of them.

So here I stand, one girl among many.

I speak not for myself, but for all girls and boys.

I raise up my voice — not so that I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard.

Those who have fought for their rights:

Their right to live in peace. Their right to be treated with dignity. Their right to equality of opportunity. Their right to be educated.

Dear Friends, on the 9th of October 2012, the Taliban shot me on the left side of my forehead. They shot my friends too. They thought that the bullets would silence us. But they failed. And then, out of that silence came, thousands of voices. The terrorists thought that they would change our aims and stop our ambitions but nothing changed in my life except this: Weakness, fear and hopelessness died. Strength, power and courage was born. I am the same Malala. My ambitions are the same. My hopes are the same. My dreams are the same.

Dear sisters and brothers, I am not against anyone. Neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorists group. I am here to speak up for the right of education of every child. I want education for the sons and the daughters of all the extremists especially the Taliban.

I do not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he stands in front of me. I would not shoot him. This is the compassion that I have learnt from Muhammad — the prophet of mercy, Jesus Christ and Lord Buddha. This is the legacy of change that I have inherited from Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This is the philosophy of non-violence that I have learnt from Gandhi Jee, Bacha Khan and Mother Teresa. And this is the forgiveness that I have learnt from my mother and father. This is what my soul is telling me, be peaceful and love everyone.

Dear sisters and brothers, we realise the importance of light when we see darkness. We realise the importance of our voice when we are silenced. In the same way, when we were in Swat, the north of Pakistan, we realised the importance of pens and books when we saw the guns.

The wise saying, "The pen is mightier than sword” was true. The extremists are afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them. They are afraid of women. The power of the voice of women frightens them. And that is why they killed 14 innocent medical students in the recent attack in Quetta. And that is why they killed many female teachers and polio workers in Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa and FATA. That is why they are blasting schools every day. Because they were and they are afraid of change, afraid of the equality that we will bring into our society.

I remember that there was a boy in our school who was asked by a journalist, "Why are the Taliban against education?” He answered very simply. By pointing to his book he said, “A Talib doesn't know what is written inside this book.” They think that God is a tiny, little conservative being who would send girls to the hell just because of going to school. The terrorists are misusing the name of Islam and Pashtun society for their own personal benefits. Pakistan is peace-loving democratic country. Pashtuns want education for their daughters and sons. And Islam is a religion of peace, humanity and brotherhood. Islam says that it is not only each child's right to get education, rather it is their duty and responsibility.

Honourable Secretary General, peace is necessary for education. In many parts of the world especially Pakistan and Afghanistan; terrorism, wars and conflicts stop children to go to their schools. We are really tired of these wars. Women and children are suffering in many parts of the world in many ways. In India, innocent and poor children are victims of child labour. Many schools have been destroyed in Nigeria. People in Afghanistan have been affected by the hurdles of extremism for decades. Young girls have to do domestic child labour and are forced to get married at early age. Poverty, ignorance, injustice, racism and the deprivation of basic rights are the main problems faced by both men and women.

Dear fellows, today I am focusing on women's rights and girls' education because they are suffering the most. There was a time when women social activists asked men to stand up for their rights. But, this time, we will do it by ourselves. I am not telling men to step away from speaking for women's rights rather I am focusing on women to be independent to fight for themselves.

Dear sisters and brothers, now it's time to speak up.

So today, we call upon the world leaders to change their strategic policies in favour of peace and prosperity.

We call upon the world leaders that all the peace deals must protect women and children's rights. A deal that goes against the dignity of women and their rights is unacceptable.

We call upon all governments to ensure free compulsory education for every child all over the world.

We call upon all governments to fight against terrorism and violence, to protect children from brutality and harm.

We call upon the developed nations to support the expansion of educational opportunities for girls in the developing world.

We call upon all communities to be tolerant — to reject prejudice based on cast, creed, sect, religion or gender. To ensure freedom and equality for women so that they can flourish. We cannot all succeed when half of us are held back.

We call upon our sisters around the world to be brave — to embrace the strength within themselves and realise their full potential.

Dear brothers and sisters, we want schools and education for every child's bright future. We will continue our journey to our destination of peace and education for everyone. No one can stop us. We will speak for our rights and we will bring change through our voice. We must believe in the power and the strength of our words. Our words can change the world.

Because we are all together, united for the cause of education. And if we want to achieve our goal, then let us empower ourselves with the weapon of knowledge and let us shield ourselves with unity and togetherness.

Dear brothers and sisters, we must not forget that millions of people are suffering from poverty, injustice and ignorance. We must not forget that millions of children are out of schools. We must not forget that our sisters and brothers are waiting for a bright peaceful future.

So let us wage a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism and let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons.

One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.

Education is the only solution. Education first.

Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani activist, student, UN messenger of peace and the youngest Nobel Laureate. As co-founder of Malala Fund, she is building a world where every girl can learn and lead without fear.

Related Posts

Malala yousafzai: nobel peace prize acceptance speech, malala yousafzai: g7 education and development ministers meeting, sign up to learn how you can help support malala fund and receive the latest updates on our work..

United Nations Day

Today we celebrate the signing of a landmark agreement, the UN Charter of 1945, that has since changed the way the world thinks about global issues and the manner it approaches potential solutions to humanity’s shared challenges.

Happy United Nations Day 2020!

This year’s celebration marks 75 years of existence of this indispensable institution. Throughout these three quarters of a century, the world has contemplated many triumphs in which the UN has played a key role in the form of peace missions in many conflict-stricken countries. The UN is also committed to building a better future for all by establishing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The 75th anniversary of the foundation of the United Nations has come hand in hand with one of the biggest challenges humanity has had to deal with up until now: the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, mainly through the World Health Organization, the UN is hard at work to stop the spread of the virus and to find a suitable vaccine in order to annihilate this important threat. The organisation also launched the so-called Global Dialogue at the beginning of 2020, which aimed to gather information on humanity’s hopes, fears and priorities for the future. The Global Dialogue has ended up in the adoption of a progressive and hopeful political declaration that commits all its Member States to push harder than ever to enhance cooperation between all countries during these trying times.

Let us all get in tune with the UN spirit and values by practising with our wide variety of speeches on this crucial institution. There is a wide selection of public speeches on the Speech Repository, such as:

Additionally, registered users can practise with exclusive speeches provided by the UN in My Speech Repository!

Happy practice!

Your Speech Repository Team

mandatory field

• Skip to main content
• Keyboard shortcuts for audio player

Environment Story Of The Day NPR hide caption

Environment

• LISTEN & FOLLOW

Your support helps make our show possible and unlocks access to our sponsor-free feed.

Transcript: Greta Thunberg's Speech At The U.N. Climate Action Summit

Climate activist Greta Thunberg, 16, addressed the U.N.'s Climate Action Summit in New York City on Monday. Here's the full transcript of Thunberg's speech, beginning with her response to a question about the message she has for world leaders.

"My message is that we'll be watching you.

"This is all wrong. I shouldn't be up here. I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean. Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you!

"You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words. And yet I'm one of the lucky ones. People are suffering. People are dying. Entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of a mass extinction, and all you can talk about is money and fairy tales of eternal economic growth. How dare you!

'This Is All Wrong,' Greta Thunberg Tells World Leaders At U.N. Climate Session

"For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here saying that you're doing enough, when the politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight.

"You say you hear us and that you understand the urgency. But no matter how sad and angry I am, I do not want to believe that. Because if you really understood the situation and still kept on failing to act, then you would be evil. And that I refuse to believe.

"The popular idea of cutting our emissions in half in 10 years only gives us a 50% chance of staying below 1.5 degrees [Celsius], and the risk of setting off irreversible chain reactions beyond human control.

"Fifty percent may be acceptable to you. But those numbers do not include tipping points, most feedback loops, additional warming hidden by toxic air pollution or the aspects of equity and climate justice. They also rely on my generation sucking hundreds of billions of tons of your CO2 out of the air with technologies that barely exist.

"So a 50% risk is simply not acceptable to us — we who have to live with the consequences.

"To have a 67% chance of staying below a 1.5 degrees global temperature rise – the best odds given by the [Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change] – the world had 420 gigatons of CO2 left to emit back on Jan. 1st, 2018. Today that figure is already down to less than 350 gigatons.

"How dare you pretend that this can be solved with just 'business as usual' and some technical solutions? With today's emissions levels, that remaining CO2 budget will be entirely gone within less than 8 1/2 years.

"There will not be any solutions or plans presented in line with these figures here today, because these numbers are too uncomfortable. And you are still not mature enough to tell it like it is.

"You are failing us. But the young people are starting to understand your betrayal. The eyes of all future generations are upon you. And if you choose to fail us, I say: We will never forgive you.

"We will not let you get away with this. Right here, right now is where we draw the line. The world is waking up. And change is coming, whether you like it or not.

"Thank you."

• climate change
• greta thunberg

Mobile Menu Overlay

The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave NW Washington, DC 20500

A Proclamation on United Nations Day,   2023

Seventy-seven years ago, leaders from around the globe gathered for the first United Nations General Assembly. With the horrors of World War II weighing on their hearts and the hopes of humanity resting on their shoulders, they establishedinstitutions that are an enduring legacy of the progress we have made in creating a world where all people can live with dignity.  This United Nations Day, we renew our commitment to sustaining and strengthening those institutions.  As we commemorate the 75th anniversary of theadoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, may we live up to itsfundamental promise by continuing to advance the causes of freedom, justice, and peace in the world.

We are at an inflection point in world history.  From Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine and Hamas’ brutal terrorist attack on Israel to the threat of climate change, we face enormous challenges to the systemsour forebearers fought so hard to create.  The decisions we make now will determine our course for generations to come.  The United States has a duty to lead in this critical moment.  We will continue to join together with international partners undera common vision for the future of the world. This means working together to accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) — 17 goals adopted by all United Nations member states in 2015 as a call to action and clear roadmap for people and the planet. Through the SDGs, we can advance toward a future where extreme poverty does not exist, our children do not go hungry, everyone has access to quality health care, workers are empowered, our environment is protected,entrepreneurs and innovators can access opportunity, conflicts are resolved peacefully, and countries can chart their own course. We will also continue to strengthen the United Nations’ ability to end conflicts, build peace, defend human dignity, and respond to the humanitarian impacts of war.  No nation can meet these challenges alone, and my Administration recognizes the critical role the United Nations plays in bringing about that vision.

Our country stands ready to continuethe charge toward making that vision a reality by seeking a more secure, prosperous, and equitable world for everyone.  We are working across the board to make global institutions more responsive, more effective, and more inclusive.  Working closely with our international partners, we are closing global infrastructure gaps, bolstering the bonds that unite our nations, and unlocking endless opportunities that represent hope and possibility for all people.  Through our Partnership for Workers’ Rights, we are partnering with other United Nations member states around the world to give workers the tools they need to exercise their rights,promote a safe and decent work environment,advance a worker-centered clean energy transition, harness technology, and confront and condemn workplace discrimination in all its ugly forms.  Meanwhile, we will continue working with our international partners to tackle the climate crisis and any other challenges we are confronted with.

When we stand together and recognize the common hopes that bind all humanity, we hold in our hands the power to bend the arc of history.  So often, the work of the United Nations has been a reminder of those hopes, bringing us all closer together andpushing us to recognize one another as human beings worthy of dignity and respect. This United Nations Day, let us rededicate ourselves to supporting the United Nationsin its mission to preserve peace, prevent conflict, and alleviate human suffering.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 24, 2023, as United Nations Day.  I urge the Governors of the United States and its Territories, and the officials of all other areas under the flag of the United States, to observe United Nations Day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.

​IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of October, in the year of our Lord two thousand twenty-three, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and forty-eighth.

                                           JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.

Stay Connected

We'll be in touch with the latest information on how President Biden and his administration are working for the American people, as well as ways you can get involved and help our country build back better.

Opt in to send and receive text messages from President Biden.

• High contrast
• Press Centre

Search UNICEF

"we have learned to love ourselves, so now i urge you to 'speak yourself.'”, remarks by bts' kim nam jun (rm) at the launch of generation unlimited, at the un general assembly.

NEW YORK, 24 September 2018 -   BTS joined United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres; President of Rwanda Paul Kagame; World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim, High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, European Union, Ms. Federica Mogherini; UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore; United Nations Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth Jayathma Wickramanayake; Unilever CEO Paul Polman; and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Lilly Singh, among other global, business, education and youth leaders to launch a new partnership to get every young person into quality education, training or employment by 2030, at the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly. Generation Unlimited will tackle the global education and training crisis currently holding back millions of young people and threatening progress and stability by focusing on three key areas of work: secondary-age education; skills for learning, employability and decent work; and empowerment.

As prepared for delivery

"Thank you, Mr. Secretary General, UNICEF Executive Director, Excellencies and distinguished guests from across the world.

"My name is Kim Nam Jun, also known as RM, the leader of the group BTS. It’s an incredible honour to be invited to an occasion with such significance for today’s young generation.

"Last November, BTS launched the “Love Myself” campaign with UNICEF, building on our belief that “true love first begins with loving myself.”  We have been partnering with UNICEF’s #ENDviolence program to protect children and young people all over the world from violence.

"Our fans have become a major part of this campaign with their action and enthusiasm.  We truly have the best fans in the world!

"I would like to begin by talking about myself.

"I was born in Ilsan, a city near Seoul, South Korea.  It’s a beautiful place, with a lake, hills, and even an annual flower festival. I spent a happy childhood there, and I was just an ordinary boy.

"I would look up at the night sky in wonder and dream the dreams of a boy. I used to imagine that I was a superhero, saving the world.

"In an intro to one of our early albums, there is a line that says, “My heart stopped…I was maybe nine or ten.”

"Looking back, that’s when I began to worry about what other people thought of me and started seeing myself through their eyes. I stopped looking up at the stars at night. I stopped daydreaming. I tried to jam myself into moulds that other people made. Soon, I began to shut out my own voice and started to listen to the voices of others.  No one called out my name, and neither did I. My heart stopped and my eyes closed shut. So, like this, I, we, all lost our names. We became like ghosts.

"I had one sanctuary, and that was music. There was a small voice in me that said, ‘Wake up, man, and listen to yourself!” But it took me a long time to hear music calling my name.

"Even after making the decision to join BTS, there were hurdles. Most people thought we were hopeless. Sometimes, I just wanted to quit

"I think I was very lucky that I didn’t give it all up.

"I’m sure that I, and we, will keep stumbling and falling. We have become artists performing in huge stadiums and selling millions of albums.

"But I am still an ordinary, twenty-four-year-old guy. If there’s anything that I’ve achieved, it was only possible because I had my other BTS members by my side, and because of the love and support of our ARMY fans.

"Maybe I made a mistake yesterday, but yesterday’s me is still me. I am who I am today, with all my faults. Tomorrow I might be a tiny bit wiser, and that’s me, too. These faults and mistakes are what I am, making up the brightest stars in the constellation of my life. I have come to love myself for who I was, who I am, and who I hope to become.  

"I would like to say one last thing.

"After releasing the “Love Yourself” albums and launching the “Love Myself” campaign,  we started to hear remarkable stories from our fans all over the world,  how our message helped them overcome their hardships in life and start loving themselves. These stories constantly remind us of our responsibility.

"So, let’s all take one more step. We have learned to love ourselves, so now I urge you to “speak yourself.”

"I would like to ask all of you. What is your name? What excites you and makes your heart beat?

"Tell me your story. I want to hear your voice, and I want to hear your conviction. No matter who you are, where you’re from, your skin colour, gender identity: speak yourself.

"Find your name, find your voice by speaking yourself.

"I’m Kim Nam Jun, RM of BTS.

"I’m a hip-hop idol and an artist from a small town in Korea.

"Like most people, I made many mistakes in my life.

"I have many faults and I have many fears, but I am going to embrace myself as hard as I can, and I’m starting to love myself, little by little.

"What is your name? Speak Yourself! "

Media contacts

Additional resources.

Additional information and materials

About UNICEF

UNICEF works in some of the world’s toughest places, to reach the world’s most disadvantaged children. Across more than 190 countries and territories, we work for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone.

Follow UNICEF on Twitter and Facebook

Related topics

More to explore, kingdom of saudi arabia pledges us $500 million to protect children around the world from polio and end the disease for good, who and france convene high-level meeting to defeat meningitis.

Acute hunger remains persistently high in 59 countries with 1 in 5 people assessed in need of critical urgent action - Global Report on Food Crises

Global immunization efforts have saved at least 154 million lives over the past 50 years

• Get involved

A Decade of Stagnation: New UNDP data shows gender biases remain entrenched

Lack of progress in the Gender Social Norms Index parallels human rights violations and is socially wasteful

June 12, 2023

Ameni Kharroubi from Tunisia, Arab Youth Leader at the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) Youth Forum in 2019.

New York - The latest Gender Social Norms Index (GSNI) report has revealed no improvement in biases against women in a decade, with almost 9 out of 10 men and women worldwide still holding such biases today. Half of people worldwide still believe men make better political leaders than women, and more than 40 percent believe men make better business executives than women. A staggering 25 percent of people believe it is justified for a man to beat his wife, according to the new GSNI report launched today by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), reflecting the latest data from the World Values Survey.

The report argues that these biases drive hurdles faced by women, manifested in a dismantling of women’s rights in many parts of the world with movements against gender equality gaining traction and, in some countries, a surge of human rights violations. Biases are also reflected in the severe underrepresentation of women in leadership. On average, the share of women as heads of state or heads of government has remained around 10 percent since 1995 and in the labour market women occupy less than a third of managerial positions. The report also sheds light on a broken link between women’s progress in education and economic empowerment. Women are more skilled and educated than ever before, yet even in the 59 countries where women are now more educated than men, the average gender income gap remains a staggering 39 percent in favour of men.

“Social norms that impair women’s rights are also detrimental to society more broadly, dampening the expansion of human development. In fact, lack of progress on gender social norms is unfolding against a human development crisis: the global Human Development Index (HDI) declined in 2020 for the first time on record—and again the following year. Everyone stands to gain from ensuring freedom and agency for women,” said Pedro Conceição, head of UNDP’s Human Development Report Office.

The report emphasizes that governments have a crucial role in shifting gender social norms. For instance, parental leave policies have changed perceptions around care work responsibilities, and labor market reforms led to a change in beliefs around the employment of women.

“An important place to start is recognizing the economic value of unpaid care work. This can be a very effective way of challenging gender norms around how care work is viewed. In countries with the highest levels of gender biases against women, it is estimated that women spend over six times as much time as men on unpaid care work,” said Raquel Lagunas, Director of UNDP’s Gender Team. 

The report emphasizes that despite the continued prevalence of bias against women, the data shows change can happen. An increase in the share of people with no bias in any indicator was evident in 27 of the 38 countries surveyed. The report authors emphasize that to drive change towards greater gender equality, the focus needs to be on expanding human development through investment, insurance, and innovation. 

This includes investing in laws and policy measures that promote women’s equality in political participation, scaling up insurance mechanisms, such as strengthening social protection and care systems, and encouraging innovative interventions that could be particularly effective in challenging harmful social norms, patriarchal attitudes, and gender stereotypes. For example, combatting online hate speech and gender disinformation can help to shift pervasive gender norms towards greater acceptance and equality.

In addition, the report recommends directly addressing social norms through education to change people’s views, policies and legal changes that recognize the rights of women in all spheres of life, and more representation of women in decision-making and political processes.

Access the report at:  https://hdr.undp.org/content/2023-gender-social-norms-index-gsni

About the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)  

UNDP is the leading United Nations organization fighting to end the injustice of poverty, inequality, and climate change. Working with our broad network of experts and partners in 170 countries and territories, we help nations to build integrated, lasting solutions for people and planet.  

About the Gender Social Norms Index:   

The Gender Social Norms Index captures how social beliefs can obstruct gender equality in multiple dimensions— political, educational, economic, and physical integrity. It is constructed based on responses to seven questions from the World Values Survey, which are used to create seven indicators using data from 80 countries and territories, covering 85% of the global population. This report presents an update of the GSNI since it was first calculated in 2019 (with data up to 2010-2014) and includes the most recent data for the period 2017-2022.  

Contact Information:  

Victor Garrido Delgado.  [email protected] . +1 917 995 1687

UNDP launches EWASME to boost women-led rice businesses.

Combatting gender-based hate speech: Certificates for the first generation of trainers from the Human Resources Management Authority

As part of the partnership and collaboration between the Human Resources Management Authority and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Montenegro, a...

UNDP Anti-Harassment Training for the Employees of the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Kazakhstan

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Kazakhstan organized a training session aimed at combating workplace harassment for the employees of the Minist...

Gender Equality Seal for the Public Institutions Officially Launched within the RA Human Rights Defender Office

Invest in women, Accelerate progress

• International edition
• Australia edition
• Europe edition

UN general assembly votes to back Palestinian bid for membership

Assembly votes 143 to nine, with 25 abstentions, signalling Israel’s growing isolation on the world stage

The UN general assembly has voted overwhelmingly to back the Palestinian bid for full UN membership, in a move that signalled Israel’s growing global isolation amid alarm over the war in Gaza and the extent of the humanitarian crisis in the territory.

The assembly voted by 143 to nine, with 25 abstentions, for a resolution that called on the UN security council to bestow full membership to the state of Palestine, while enhancing its current mission with a range of new rights and privileges, in addition to what it is allowed in its current observer status.

The highly charged gesture drew an immediate rebuke from Israel. Its envoy to the UN, Gilad Erdan, delivered a fiery denunciation of the resolution and its backers before the vote.

“Today, I will hold up a mirror for you,” Erdan said, taking out a small paper shredder in which he shredded a copy of the cover of the UN charter. He told the assembly: “You are shredding the UN charter with your own hands. Yes, yes, that’s what you’re doing. Shredding the UN charter. Shame on you.”

The other nations that voted against the resolution were Argentina, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Israel, Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Papua New Guinea. The UK abstained.

The Palestinian envoy, Riyad Mansour, pointed out the vote was being held at a time when Rafah, the southernmost city that is the last haven for many Palestinians in Gaza, faced attack from Israeli forces.

“As we speak, 1.4 million Palestinians in Rafah wonder if they will survive the day and wonder where to go next. There is nowhere left to go,” Mansour said. “I have stood hundreds of times before at this podium, often in tragic circumstances, but none comparable to the ones my people endured today … never for a more significant vote than the one about to take place, a historic one.”

Late on Friday the US government said it was “reasonable to assess” that the weapons it had provided to Israel had been used in ways that were “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law – but found there was not enough concrete evidence to link specific US-supplied weapons to violations or to warrant cutting the supply of arms.

In a highly anticipated report to Congress, the state department said the assurances given by Israel that they had been using US-supplied weapons in accordance with international humanitarian law (IHL) were “credible and reliable”.

The report, which had been held up for several days by debate within the state department, expressed deep misgivings about Israeli compliance with IHL but said the US did not have sufficient evidence about individual cases to recommend that arms supplies be suspended.

It came two days after Joe Biden expressed his own misgivings over the Israeli use of US-supplied weapons, and suggested they underpinned his decision last week to hold up a shipment of particularly powerful US-made bombs .

Friday’s UN resolution was carefully tailored over recent days, diluting its language so as not to trigger a cut-off of US funding under a 1990 law. It does not make Palestine a full member, or give it voting rights in the assembly, or the right to stand for membership of the security council, but the vote was a resounding expression of world opinion in favour of Palestinian statehood, galvanised by the continuing deaths and famine caused by Israel’s war in Gaza.

Even before the vote, Israel and a group of leading Republicans urged US funding be cut anyway because of the new privileges the resolution granted to the Palestinian mission.

The US mission to the UN, which voted against the resolution, said it would use its veto again if the question of Palestinian membership returned to the security council for another vote.

“Efforts to advance this resolution do not change the reality that the Palestinian Authority does not currently meet the criteria for UN membership under the UN charter,” the mission’s spokesperson, Nathan Evans, said. “Additionally, the draft resolution does not alter the status of the Palestinians as a “non-member state observer mission”.

Under the resolution, the Palestinian mission will have the right to sit in the general assembly among other states in alphabetical order, rather than in its current observer seat at the back of the chamber. Palestinian diplomats will have the right to introduce proposals and amendments, they can be elected to official posts in the full chamber and on committees, and will have the right to speak on Middle Eastern matters, as well as the right to make statements on behalf of groups of nations in the assembly.

But the resolution also makes plain that “the state of Palestine, in its capacity as an observer state, does not have the right to vote in the general assembly or to put forward its candidature to United Nations organs.”

Richard Gowan, the UN director at the International Crisis Group, said: “In essence, it gives the Palestinians the airs and graces of a UN member, but without the fundamental attributes of a real member, which are voting power and the right to run for the security council.”

The general assembly resolution was crafted to fall short of the benchmark set in a 1990 US law that bans funding of the UN or any UN agency “which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states”.

The main faction in the PLO, Fatah, now controls the Palestinian Authority, which the Biden administration is backing to govern Gaza, which is currently run by Hamas, after the war is over.

Despite the wording in the resolution making clear Palestine would not have a vote, Israel called on the US to cut funding for the UN, and a group of Republican senators announced they were introducing legislation to do that.

“The US should not lend credibility to an organization that actively promotes and rewards terrorism. By granting any sort of status at the UN to the Palestine Liberation Organization, we would be doing just that,” Senator Mitt Romney said in a written statement. “Our legislation would cut off US taxpayer funding to the UN if it gives additional rights and privileges to the Palestinian Authority and the PLO.”

On Thursday night, Israel’s security cabinet approved a “measured expansion” of Israeli forces’ operation in Rafah, after ceasefire talks in Cairo stalled. The US adamantly opposes the Rafah offensive, and has paused the delivery of a consignment of bombs, and President Biden has threatened further restrictions on arms supplies if Israel presses ahead with the attack.

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, vowed to defy US objections, saying Israel would fight on “with our fingernails” if necessary. On Monday, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) took control of the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing, after ordering civilians in the east of Rafah city to evacuate. Since then more than 150,000 people have fled the area. On Friday, the UN reported intense clashes between the IDF and Palestinian militants on the eastern outskirts of the city. The fighting has cut off aid supplies to Gaza at a time of spreading famine.

Jan Egeland, the head of the Norwegian Refugee Council , said on X that he had been told by NRC workers in Rafah that “the IDF assault is intensifying with continuous, massive explosions. There is no fuel, transportation, nor safe evacuation areas for most of the remaining 1.2 million civilians.”

The UN secretary general, António Guterres, said during a visit to Nairobi that the situation in Rafah was “on a knife’s edge”.

“A massive ground attack in Rafah would lead to [an] epic humanitarian disaster and pull the plug on our efforts to support people as famine looms,” he said.

• United Nations
• Palestinian territories
• Israel-Gaza war
• Middle East and north Africa

Most viewed

Why Spain will recognize a Palestinian state

Several more countries are expected to join the more than 140 U.N. member states that have recognized Palestinian statehood.

You’re reading an excerpt from the Today’s WorldView newsletter. Sign up to get the rest free , including news from around the globe and interesting ideas and opinions to know, sent to your inbox on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

On the ground, there is little sign of a viable Palestinian state. The territories of the West Bank and East Jerusalem — the latter of which is imagined as the seat of a future Palestinian capital — remain under de facto Israeli military occupation , carved up by the security imperatives of the Israeli state and the segregated demands of an ever-expanding cohort of Jewish settlers. The territory of Gaza is a blighted, rubble-strewn war zone , the grave of more than 34,900 Palestinians killed by Israel’s ongoing offensive against militant group Hamas .

There’s no clarity over who will govern Gaza once the fighting stops or, for that matter, how such a destroyed place can be governed and rebuilt. The Palestinian national movement is in a splintered, feeble condition, and the beleaguered Palestinian Authority in its current form will struggle to hold a united front. Hamas may be battered, but it’s hardly vanquished and still fighting Israel in areas of Gaza where it was thought to have been neutralized.

Across the mainstream factions in Israel, from the right-wing camp led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to his more moderate opponents , there is no interest in even talk about Palestinian self-determination or statehood. That was broadly the case before Oct. 7, when Hamas orchestrated the bloodiest day in Jewish history since the Holocaust, and all the more true in its aftermath.

Yet away from the Holy Land, the clamor for a Palestinian state is only getting louder. The United States and Israel’s Arab neighbors see the resurrection of the “two-state solution” as a key element in any postwar peace. And a growing cadre of nations are moving to affirm this scenario in principle, no matter that it doesn’t exist in practice.

One of those countries is Spain. The government in Madrid, alongside its counterparts in Ireland, Malta and Slovenia, is expected later this month to formally recognize Palestinian statehood , joining more than 140 other member states of the United Nations that already do. In an interview, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said the symbolic gesture, long telegraphed by Spain’s left-leaning government, was part of his country’s belief in the necessity of a two-state solution to settle the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and “put an end to the cycle of violence” in the region.

Recognizing a Palestinian state, Albares told me, was “the best tool right now to protect the two-state solution” at a time when there seems little hope for it coming to fruition. Such a measure, along with other forms of diplomatic pressure on Israel such as the sanctions on certain settler entities in the West Bank pushed through by the Biden administration, could help nudge against an untenable status quo, he argued. Albares said that Spain’s decision to formally recognize a Palestinian state would help “steer the conversation” in Europe.

We spoke Friday in Washington, which Albares visited for a one-day trip where he met Secretary of State Antony Blinken. Spain’s top diplomat downplayed the points of divergence with the United States, stressing their shared desire to bring “definitive peace” to the region and praising Blinken’s relentless shuttle diplomacy to the Middle East. But that very day, Spain voted in favor of a U.N. General Assembly resolution that urged new “rights and privileges” to a Palestinian state and called on the Security Council to reconsider Palestinians’ request to become the 194th member of the United Nations. The United States was among a tiny contingent of nine countries to vote against it.

The U.S. view is that full Palestinian membership to the United Nations should not precede successful talks with Israel, but come after. “We have said from the beginning the best way to ensure Palestinian full membership in the U.N. is to do that through negotiations with Israel,” Robert Wood, deputy U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Thursday . “That remains our position.”

But Albares argued the opposite. Given the prevailing forces mitigating against a Palestinian state, international recognition in forums such as the United Nations is one of the few ways to strengthen the cause of Palestinian statehood and back pragmatists within the Palestinian national movement who could help broker peace. “Soon, if we don’t act, it will be completely impossible,” he said. “It will be something for the books of history.”

Humbling to receive from @jmalbares The Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic This is a tribute to all my colleagues at @UNRWA who are dedicated to provide every day lifesaving assistance, #education + primary health care to #Palestine Refugees. Thank you #Spain 🇪🇸 Such… pic.twitter.com/IxYVB1TbP1 — Philippe Lazzarini (@UNLazzarini) April 19, 2024

The Spanish government has been outspoken about the perceived excesses of Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez called for a cease-fire in November and has warned that Netanyahu’s current approach risks Israel’s isolation on the world stage.

Albares condemned the apparent move on Rafah, the southern Gaza city that’s home to more than a million Palestinians, many displaced by the war. “There is already a humanitarian catastrophe going on in Gaza, but this will get out of proportion,” he told me. Spain also was among the first Western nations to push against funding cuts to UNRWA, the U.N. agency for the Palestinians, and last month conferred upon the agency and its director the Royal Order of Isabella the Catholic, the highest honor in Spain.

Pro-Palestinian protests in Spanish universities have not been met with the same suppressive measures seen elsewhere in Europe and in the United States . “Palestine is one of the few issues in which Spain can make progressive foreign policy,” Ignacio Molina, an expert at the Royal Elcano Institute, a Madrid think tank, told Voice of America . “It gives Spain a leadership role in the EU. Spain has a peculiar position internationally with links between the Arab [world] and Latin America which gives it a certain moral authority on this issue.”

Albares concurred, saying the conflict resonated for his nation more “maybe because we are a Mediterranean country, because we know the Arab world well, that it’s a part of our history.” But he added that his government’s view was grounded in an embrace of universal principles that extend well beyond the Middle East and also underscore their approach to supporting Ukraine’s resistance to Russia’s invasion — a belief in the protection of civilians, the defense of international law and the obligation to deliver humanitarian aid to those in need.

“We uphold those things, both in Ukraine and in Gaza,” Albares told me. “When we say let’s stop this war, we want that in Ukraine and we want that in Gaza.”

• Election 2024
• Entertainment
• Newsletters
• Photography
• Personal Finance
• AP Investigations
• AP Buyline Personal Finance
• AP Buyline Shopping
• Press Releases
• Israel-Hamas War
• Russia-Ukraine War
• Global elections
• Asia Pacific
• Latin America
• Middle East
• Election Results
• Delegate Tracker
• AP & Elections
• Auto Racing
• 2024 Paris Olympic Games
• Movie reviews
• Book reviews
• Personal finance
• Financial Markets
• Business Highlights
• Financial wellness
• Artificial Intelligence
• Social Media

Netanyahu uses Holocaust ceremony to brush off international pressure against Gaza offensive

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has rejected international pressure to halt the war in Gaza in a fiery speech marking the country’s annual Holocaust memorial day. Netanyahu told a ceremony that “if Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”

People visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, Sunday, May 5, 2024. The annual Israeli memorial day for the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust of World War II begins at sundown on Sunday. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

• Copy Link copied

Israeli students watch a virtual tour of the concentration and extermination camp Auschwitz-Birkenau at the Testimony House, a Holocaust museum in Nir Galim, Israel, on the eve of Israel’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel holds the day of remembrance each year to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide during World War II. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

People visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial Museum in Jerusalem, Sunday, May 5, 2024. The annual Israeli memorial day for the 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust of World War II begins at sundown Sunday. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli students listen to a lecture at the Testimony House, a Holocaust museum in Nir Galim, Israel, on the eve of Israel’s annual Holocaust Remembrance Day, Sunday, May 5, 2024. Israel holds the day of remembrance each year to remember the six million Jewish victims of the Nazi genocide during World War II. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)

JERUSALEM (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday rejected international pressure to halt the war in Gaza in a fiery speech marking the country’s annual Holocaust memorial day, declaring: “If Israel is forced to stand alone, Israel will stand alone.”

The message, delivered in a setting that typically avoids politics, was aimed at the growing chorus of world leaders who have criticized the heavy toll caused by Israel’s military offensive against Hamas militants and have urged the sides to agree to a cease-fire.

Netanyahu has said he is open to a deal that would pause nearly seven months of fighting and bring home hostages held by Hamas. But he also says he remains committed to an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah , despite widespread international opposition because of the more than 1 million civilians huddled there.

“I say to the leaders of the world: No amount of pressure, no decision by any international forum will stop Israel from defending itself,” he said, speaking in English. “Never again is now.”

Yom Hashoah, the day Israel observes as a memorial for the 6 million Jews killed by Nazi Germany and its allies in the Holocaust, is one of the most solemn dates on the country’s calendar. Speeches at the ceremony generally avoid politics, though Netanyahu in recent years has used the occasion to lash out at Israel’s archenemy Iran.

The ceremony ushered in Israel’s first Holocaust remembrance day since the Oct. 7 Hamas attack that sparked the war, imbuing the already somber day with additional meaning.

Hamas militants killed some 1,200 people in the attack, making it the deadliest violence against Jews since the Holocaust.

Israel responded with an air and ground offensive in Gaza, where the death toll has soared to more than 34,500 people, according to local health officials, and about 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are displaced. The death and destruction has prompted South Africa to file a genocide case against Israel in the U.N.’s world court. Israel strongly rejects the charges .

On Sunday, Netanyahu attacked those accusing Israel of carrying out a genocide against the Palestinians, claiming that Israel was doing everything possible to ensure the entry of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

The 24-hour memorial period began after sundown on Sunday with a ceremony at Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial, in Jerusalem.

There are approximately 245,000 living Holocaust survivors around the world, according to the Claims Conference, an organization that negotiates for material compensation for Holocaust survivors. Approximately half of the survivors live in Israel.

On Sunday, Tel Aviv University and the Anti-Defamation League released an annual Antisemitism Worldwide Report for 2023, which found a sharp increase in antisemitic attacks globally.

It said the number of antisemitic incidents in the United States doubled, from 3,697 in 2022 to 7,523 in 2023.

While most of these incidents occurred after the war erupted in October, the number of antisemitic incidents, which include vandalism, harassment, assault, and bomb threats, from January to September was already significantly higher than the previous year.

The report found an average of three bomb threats per day at synagogues and Jewish institutions in the U.S., more than 10 times the number in 2022.

Other countries tracked similar rises in antisemitic incidents. In France, the number nearly quadrupled, from 436 in 2022 to 1,676 in 2023, while it more than doubled in the United Kingdom and Canada.

“In the aftermath of the October 7 war crimes committed by Hamas, the world has seen the worst wave of antisemitic incidents since the end of the Second World War,” the report stated.

Netanyahu also compared the recent wave of protests on American campuses to German universities in the 1930s, in the runup to the Holocaust. He condemned the “explosion of a volcano of antisemitism spitting out boiling lava of lies against us around the world.”

Nearly 2,500 students have been arrested in a wave of protests at U.S. college campuses, while there have been smaller protests in other countries, including France . Protesters reject antisemitism accusations and say they are criticizing Israel. Campuses and the federal government are struggling to define exactly where political speech crosses into antisemitism.

Follow AP’s war coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war

United Nations proclaims May 25 as World Football Day

Frank Leboeuf and Jurgen Klinsmann give their second leg predictions for Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich. (1:49)

• Associated Press

Football fans around the world will now have a day to celebrate the world's most popular sport every year -- May 25.

The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution Tuesday proclaiming May 25 as World Football Day. The sport is called soccer in the United States.

- Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, more (U.S.)

The day marks the 100th anniversary of the first international football tournament in history with the representation of all regions which took place on May 25, 1924 during the summer Olympic Games held in Paris, according to the resolution.

The 193-member General Assembly adopted the resolution by consensus with a bang of the gavel by its president, Dennis Francis, to applause from diplomats in the assembly chamber. It was co-sponsored by more than 160 countries.

Libya's U.N. Ambassador Taher El-Sonni, who introduced the resolution, told the assembly, "Football or soccer as others call it is the No. 1 game played and followed around the globe."

But he stressed that football is more than just a game played by all ages on streets, in villages, schools and courtyards for fun and in competitions.

Because of its "unparalleled position" in the world of sports, El-Sonni said: "football serves as a universal language spoken across the globe, cutting across national, cultural and socioeconomic barriers."

He said the game has become "a pivotal platform" championing gender equality and social inclusion, "a common ground where individuals from varying backgrounds converge, promoting mutual understanding, tolerance, respect and solidarity."

The resolution acknowledges "the global reach of football and its impact in various spheres, including commerce, peace and diplomacy, and recognising that football creates a space for cooperation."

It also recognises "the fundamental role" of football's international governing body, FIFA, and the important role of regional and national football federations, as well as relevant associations, in promoting the game.

The resolution encourages all countries to support football and other sports as a tool to promote peace, development and the empowerment of women and girls. It also encourages countries to adopt policies and programs to promote football and other sports and physical activities.

On May 25, the resolution "invites" all nations, U.N. bodies, international organisations, academia, civil society and the private sector to observe World Football Day in line with national priorities "and to disseminate the advantages of football for all, including through educational and public awareness-raising activities."

Biden’s speech at the Holocaust remembrance ceremony, annotated

By Zachary B. Wolf and Annette Choi , CNN

Published May 7, 2024

President Joe Biden talked about the documented increase of antisemitism in the United States during the annual US Holocaust Memorial Museum’s Days of Remembrance ceremony at the US Capitol building. Every recent president has made remarks at least once at the event, but Biden’s remarks came as pro-Palestinian protests have disrupted classes and commencements at multiple US universities . At times, rhetoric at those protests has veered into antisemitism, offended Jewish students and sparked a fierce debate about free speech.

Biden talked in-depth about the Hamas terror attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, and the Israeli hostages that remain in captivity . He did not mention Israel’s heavy-handed response, which has not only destroyed much of Gaza and cost tens of thousands of lives but has also driven a wedge between Biden and many progressives, particularly on college campuses. See below for what he said , along with context from CNN.

Thank you. Thank you, thank you, thank you. Thank you, Stu Eizenstat, for that introduction, for your leadership of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum . You are a true scholar and statesman and a dear friend.

Speaker Johnson , Leader Jeffries, members of Congress and especially the survivors of the Holocaust. If my mother were here, she’d look at you and say, “God love you all. God love you all.”

Abe Foxman and all other survivors who embody absolute courage and dignity and grace are here as well.

During these sacred days of remembrance we grieve, we give voice to the 6 million Jews who were systematically targeted and murdered by the Nazis and their collaborators during World War II. We honor the memory of victims, the pain of survivors, the bravery of heroes who stood up to Hitler's unspeakable evil. And we recommit to heading and heeding the lessons that one of the darkest chapters in human history to revitalize and realize the responsibility of never again.

The Days of Remembrance commemoration has been an annual event since 1982. Every US president since Bill Clinton has spoken at least once at a remembrance event.

House Speaker Mike Johnson spoke shortly before Biden and tried to compare the situation on college campuses today with that on college campuses in Germany in the 1930s.

Never again, simply translated for me, means never forget, never forget. Never forgetting means we must must keep telling the story, we must keep teaching the truth, we must keep teaching our children and our grandchildren. And the truth is we are at risk of people not knowing the truth.

That's why, growing up, my dad taught me and my siblings about the horrors of the Shoah at our family dinner table.

Shoah is the Hebrew term for the Holocaust.

That's why I visited Yad Vashem with my family as a senator, as vice president and as president. And that's why I took my grandchildren to Dachau , so they could see and bear witness to the perils of indifference, the complicity of silence in the face of evil that they knew was happening.

Biden visited Yad Vashem , Israel’s Holocaust remembrance site, in 2022 as president.

As vice president, he toured the Nazi concentration camp outside Munich in 2015 with his granddaughter during a trip for an annual security conference.

Germany, 1933, Hitler and his Nazi party rise to power by rekindling one of the world's oldest forms of prejudice and hate — antisemitism.

His rule didn't begin with mass murder. It started slowly across economic, political, social and cultural life — propaganda demonizing Jews, boycotts of Jewish businesses, synagogues defaced with swastikas, harassment of Jews in the street and in the schools, antisemitic demonstrations, pogroms, organized riots.

With the indifference of the world, Hitler knew he could expand his reign of terror by eliminating Jews from Germany, to annihilate Jews across Europe through genocide the Nazis called the final solution. Concentration camps, gas chambers, mass shootings. By the time the war ended, 6 million Jews, one out of every three Jews in the entire world, were murdered.

This ancient hatred of Jews didn't begin with the Holocaust. It didn't end with the Holocaust either, or after, even after our victory in World War II. This hatred continues to lie deep in the hearts of too many people in the world and requires our continued vigilance and outspokenness.

The Holocaust survivor Irene Butter wrote for CNN Opinion in 2021 about Adolf Hitler’s rise and echoes of Nazism in the January 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

That hatred was brought to life on October 7th in 2023. On the sacred Jewish holiday, the terrorist group Hamas unleashed the deadliest day of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

Read mo re about Hamas .

Driven by ancient desire to wipe out the Jewish people off the face of the Earth, over 1,200 innocent people — babies, parents, grandparents — slaughtered in their kibbutz, massacred at a music festival, brutally raped, mutilated and sexually assaulted .

Evidence of sexual violence has been documented. Here’s the account of one Israeli woman who has spoken publicly about her experience.

Thousands more carrying wounds, bullets and shrapnel from the memory of that terrible day they endured. Hundreds taken hostage, including survivors of the Shoah.

Now here we are, not 75 years later but just seven-and-a-half months later and people are already forgetting, are already forgetting that Hamas unleashed this terror. That it was Hamas that brutalized Israelis. It was Hamas who took and continues to hold hostages. I have not forgotten, nor have you, and we will not forget.

On May 7, 1945, the German High Command agreed to an unconditional surrender in World War II, 79 years ago.

And as Jews around the world still cope with the atrocities and trauma of that day and its aftermath, we've seen a ferocious surge of anti s emitism in America and around the world.

In late October, FBI Director Christopher Wray said reports of antisemitism in the US were reaching “ historic ” levels.

Vicious propaganda on social media, Jews forced to keep their — hide their kippahs under baseball hats, tuck their Jewish stars into their shirts.

On college campuses, Jewish students blocked, harassed, attacked while walking to class . Antisemitism, antisemitic posters , slogans calling for the annihilation of Israel, the world's only Jewish state.

Many Jewish students have described feeling intimidated and attacked on campuses. Others have said they support the protests , citing the situation in Gaza.

Last month, the dean of the University of California Berkeley Law School described antisemitic posters that targeted him.

Too many people denying, downplaying, rationalizing, ignoring the horrors of the Holocaust and October 7th, including Hamas' appalling use of sexual violence to torture and terrorize Jews. It's absolutely despicable and it must stop.

Silence. Silence and denial can hide much but it can erase nothing.

Some injustices are so heinous, so horrific, so grievous they cannot be married – buried, no matter how hard people try.

In my view, a major lesson of the Holocaust is, as mentioned earlier, is it not, was not inevitable.

We know hate never goes away. It only hides. And given a little oxygen, it comes out from under the rocks.

We also know what stops hate. One thing: All of us. The late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks described antisemitism as a virus that has survived and mutated over time.

Together, we cannot continue to let that happen. We have to remember our basic principle as a nation. We have an obligation. We have an obligation to learn the lessons of history so we don't surrender our future to the horrors of the past. We must give hate no safe harbor against anyone. Anyone.

From the very founding, our very founding, Jewish Americans , who represented only about 2% of the US population , have helped lead the cause of freedom for everyone in our nation. From that experience we know scapegoating and demonizing any minority is a threat to every minority and the very foundation of our democracy.

As of 2020, Jewish Americans made up about 2.4% of the US population, according to the Pew Research Center , or about 5.8 million people.

So moments like this we have to put these principles that we're talking about into action.

I understand people have strong beliefs and deep convictions about the world .

In America we respect and protect the fundamental right to free speech, to debate and disagree, to protest peacefully and make our voices heard . I understand. That's America.

The complaint of many protesters is that Israel’s response to the terror attack has claimed more than 30,000 lives and destroyed much of Gaza .

But there is no place on any campus in America, any place in America, for antisemitism or hate speech or threats of violence of any kind.

Whether against Jews or anyone else, violent attacks, destroying property is not peaceful protest. It's against the law and we are not a lawless country. We're a civil society. We uphold the rule of law and no one should have to hide or be brave just to be themselves.

To the Jewish community, I want you to know I see your fear, your hurt and your pain.

Let me reassure you as your president, you're not alone. You belong. You always have and you always will.

And my commitment to the safety of the Jewish people, the security of Israel and its right to exist as an independent Jewish state is ironclad, even when we disagree.

My administration is working around the clock to free remaining hostages, just as we have freed hostages already, and will not rest until we bring them all home.

My administration, with our second gentleman's leadership, has launched our nation's first national strategy to counter antisemitism. That's mobilizing the full force of the federal government to protect Jewish communities.

But we know this is not the work of government alone or Jews alone. That's why I’m calling on all Americans to stand united against antisemitism and hate in all its forms.

My dear friend — and he became a friend — the late Elie Wiesel said, quote, “One person of integrity can make a difference.”

Elie Wiesel , the Holocaust survivor, writer and activist, died in 2016.

We have to remember that, now more than ever.

Here in Emancipation Hall in the US Capitol, among the towering statues of history is a bronze bust of Raoul Wallenberg . Born in Sweden as a Lutheran, he was a businessman and a diplomat. While stationed in Hungary during World War II, he used diplomatic cover to hide and rescue about 100,000 Jews over a six-month period.

Read more about Wallenberg , the Holocaust hero and Swedish diplomat who was formally declared dead in 2016, 71 years after he vanished.

Among them was a 16-year-old Jewish boy who escaped a Nazi labor camp. After the war ended, that boy received a scholarship from the Hillel Foundation to study in America. He came to New York City penniless but determined to turn his pain into purpose. Along with his wife, also a Holocaust survivor, he became a renowned economist and foreign policy thinker, eventually making his way to this very Capitol on the staff of a first-term senator.

That Jewish refugee was Tom Lantos and that senator was me. Tom and his wife and Annette and their family became dear friends to me and my family. Tom would go on to become the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to Congress, where he became a leading voice on civil rights and human rights around the world. Tom never met Raoul, who was taken prisoner by the Soviets, never to be heard from again.

Read more about Lantos , the longtime congressman and Holocaust survivor who died in 2008. Lantos worked for Biden early in his career.

But through Tom's efforts, Raoul’s bust is here in the Capitol. He was also given honorary US citizenship, only the second person ever after Winston Churchill. The Holocaust Museum here in Washington is located in a road in Raoul’s name.

The story of the power of a single person to put aside our differences, to see our common humanity, to stand up to hate and its ancient story of resilience from immense pain, persecution, to find hope, purpose and meaning in life, we try to live and share with one another. That story endures.

Let me close with this. I know these days of remembrance fall on difficult times. We all do well to remember these days also fall during the month we celebrate Jewish American heritage, a heritage that stretches from our earliest days to enrich every single part of American life today.

There are important topics Biden did not address. He referenced the October 7 attacks on Israel but not Israel’s controversial response, which has drawn furious protests. He failed to mention Gaza, where Israel’s military campaign has killed so many, and which has led the World Food Programme to warn of a “full-blown famine .”

A great American — a great Jewish American named Tom Lantos — used the phrase “the veneer of civilization is paper thin.” We are its guardians, and we can never rest.

My fellow Americans, we must, we must be those guardians. We must never rest. We must rise Against hate, meet across the divide, see our common humanity. And God bless the victims and survivors of the Shoah.

May the resilient hearts, the courageous spirit and the eternal flame of faith of the Jewish people forever shine their light on America and around the world, pray God.

Thank you all.