29 Sep 2012

GA / PLENARY WRAP

Iceland's Minister for Foreign Affairs Ossur Skarphÿinsson tells Israel, "don’t bomb Iran". UNTV

Posted at: September 29, 2012 4:08 pm

Duration: 04:36

Available in: SD

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Full script

STORY: GA / PLENARY WRAP
TRT: 4.36
SOURCE: UNTV
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS

DATELINE: 29 SEPTEMBER 2012, NEW YORK

SHOTLIST:

FILE – 2011, UNITED NATIONS HEADQUARTERS, NEW YORK CITY

1. Wide shot, exterior United Nations Headquarters

29 SEPTEMBER 2012, NEW YORK

2. Zoom in, General Assembly Hall
3. Wide shot, Iceland's Ossur Skarphÿinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade approaches podium
4. Wide shot, Iceland delegation
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Ossur Skarphÿinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Iceland:
"I listened to Mr. Netanyahu's speech on Thursday, and I have a comment to make on behalf of the Icelandic people: Don't bomb Iran. Not this year, not the next year. Don't start another war in the Middle East. At the same time I say to President Ahmadinejad and the Iranian leadership: Don't build a bomb. Let diplomacy work, not rabblerousing or fear mongering. Let's work for peace together." 
6. Cutaway, US delegates
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Ossur Skarphÿinsson, Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade, Iceland:
"In the recession in Europe we were the first country down, but we were also the first country up. If there is any lesson to be drawn from the Icelandic recovery it is that austerity doesn't work on it's own. Iceland certainly went through her share of austerity, but we also raised taxes, especially on the wealthy, and used the revenue to stimulate growth and ensure the welfare system was intact. Today, we have some of the lowest unemployment in Europe, and robust economic growth. The Icelandic model works."
8. Cutaway, Iceland delegates applaud
9. Wide shot, Anifah Aman, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia approaches podium
10. Cutaway, Malaysian delegation
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Anifah Aman, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia:
"I believe that it is time to dwell deeper into the heart of the problem and the real debate - the relationship between freedom of expression and social responsibilities, duties and obligations. Such actions cannot be defended under the pretext of human rights, freedoms and liberties. A line should be drawn when the prejudicial effect outweighs everything else."
12. Cutaway, Malaysian civil society
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Anifah Aman, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Malaysia:
"When we discriminate against gender, it is called sexism; when African Americans are criticized and vilified, it is called racism; when the same is done to the Jews, people call it Anti-Semitism; but why is it when Muslims are stigmatized and defamed, it is defended as 'freedom of expression'?"
14. Cutaway, delegates
15. Wide shot, Murray McCully, Minister of Foreign Affairs of New Zealand approaches podium
16. Cutaway, New Zealand delegation
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Murray McCully, Minister of Foreign Affairs, New Zealand:
"People in my country ask a very simple question: If 25,000 deaths, countless thousands injured, and many more thousands displaced and homeless, is not enough to get the Security Council to act, then what does it take? What does it take?"
18. Cutaway, Syrian delegate
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Murray McCully, Minister of Foreign Affairs, New Zealand:
"My country was one of those that led the opposition to the veto when this institution
was being established; indeed, it was the only Charter issue that was forced to a
vote. The permanent members argued at that stage that the veto was necessary in order to protect their vital national interests. Yet today, we routinely see the exercise of the veto in circumstances which have little to do with national interests. My request to the five permanent members is simply that they stick with what they said in 1945."
20. Cutaway, New Zealand delegation applauds
24. Wide shot, Murray McCully leaves podium behind
25. Wide shot, GA Hall

STORYLINE:

"Don't bomb Iran. Not this year, not the next year. Don't start another war in the Middle East", Iceland's Minister for Foreign Affairs and External Trade told Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the United Nations (UN) in New York.

Addressing the Plenary of the 67th General Assembly in New York today (29 September) on its fifth day of meetings, Ossur Skarphÿinsson also asked Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and the Iranian leadership, "don't build a bomb".

He also asked both country's leaders, "let diplomacy work, not rabblerousing or fear mongering. Let's work for peace together".

Talking about the European financial crisis and recalling his country's financial breakdown in 2008 Skarphÿinsson said that if there were any lessons to be learned from the Icelandic recovery it was that "austerity doesn't work on it's own". He said that while Iceland went through its share of austerity, "we also raised taxes, especially on the wealthy, and used the revenue to stimulate growth and ensure the welfare system was intact".

Noting that today Iceland had some of the lowest unemployment in Europe, and a robust economic growth, Skarphÿinsson stressed "the Icelandic model works".

Malaysia's Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anifah Aman, while referring to the release of the infamous film "Innocence of Muslims" -which recently caused a widespread wave of protests across the Muslim world- and the publication of offensive caricatures, said that "such actions cannot be defended under the pretext of human rights, freedoms and liberties. A line should be drawn when the prejudicial effect outweighs everything else".

While noting that Human rights needed to be guaranteed by taking into account the cultural and historical sensitivities of a society he said, "when we discriminate against gender, it is called sexism; when African Americans are criticized and vilified, it is called racism; when the same is done to the Jews, people call it Anti-Semitism", and he asked, "but why is it when Muslims are stigmatized and defamed, it is defended as 'freedom of expression'?"

New Zealand's Minister for Foreign Affairs while calling on the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council to give up their veto rights due to their inability to act in Syria said that, "If 25,000 deaths, countless thousands injured and many more thousands displaced and homeless is not enough to get the Security Council to act, then what does it take?".
Murray McCully also recalled how New Zealand was one of the countries that led the opposition to the veto when the UN was being established back in 1945; he said that the five permanent members then used as justification for the veto "their vital national interests".  He added that, "yet today, we routinely see the exercise of the veto in circumstances which have little to do with national interests".

He ten requested the five permanent members that they "stick with what they said in 1945."