UN ideals point the way to solving the world's crises: Barack Obama

“There are those who argue that the ideals enshrined in the UN charter are unachievable or out of date – a legacy of a post-war era not suited to our own,” he told the General Debate on the opening day of the high-level segment of the Assembly’s 70th annual session.

He was citing what he referred to as Russia’s annexation of Crimea and the call by some to support “tyrants like Bashar al-Assad, who drops barrel bombs to massacre innocent children,” since the alternative is worse.

“Effectively, they argue for a return to the rules that applied for most of human history and that pre-dated this institution: the belief that power is a zero sum game; that might makes right; that strong States must impose their will on weaker ones; that the rights of individuals don't matter; and that in a time of rapid change, order must be imposed by force,” he said.

“But I stand before you today believing to my core that we, the nations of the world, cannot return to the old way of conflict and coercion. We live in an integrated world – one in which we all have a stake in each other's success, and we cannot turn those forces back,” he stressed.

“It is this international order that has underwritten unparalleled advances in human liberty and prosperity. It is this endeavour that has brought about diplomatic cooperation between the world's major powers, and buttressed a global economy that has lifted more than a billion people from poverty," he added.

UN Photo/Loey Felipe