Farwell address: UN’s Ban makes appeal for action on Syria, climate

Calls for an end to fighting and initiation of talks

UNITED NATIONS: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon used his farewell address to the General Assembly on Tuesday to urge world leaders to end the war in Syria and bring the Paris climate deal into force this year.

With just three months to go before he steps down as UN chief, Ban also made a final plea to end the “madness” of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and gave world leaders advice on good governance.

“My message to all is clear: serve your people. Do not subvert democracy, do not pilfer your country’s resources, do not imprison and torture your critics.”

The former South Korean foreign minister is stepping down on December 31 after 10 years in what has been widely described as the world’s most impossible job.

Now in its sixth year with over 300,000 dead, the war in Syria is dominating this year’s gathering of world leaders and stands out as the unfinished business of Ban’s tenure.

“I appeal to all those with influence to end the fighting and get talks started,” Ban said.

Denouncing the “sickening, savage and apparently deliberate attack” on an aid convoy in Syria, Ban said: “Just when you think it cannot get any worse, the bar of depravity sinks lower.”

The UN chief hailed the aid workers on the convoy to Aleppo province as “heroes” and said “those who bombed them were cowards” before calling for accountability for crimes committed in the war.

He blamed all sides for killing innocent people, but “none more so than the government of Syria, which continues to barrel bomb neighbourhoods and systematically torture thousands of detainees.”

Taking a swipe at “powerful patrons” fuelling the conflict, Ban said these governments “in this hall today” had “ignored, facilitated, funded, participated in or even planned and carried out atrocities” in Syria.

The Paris climate deal on curbing greenhouse gas emissions stands out as Ban’s crowning achievement, an ambitious accord that he defended early on in the global push to address climate change.

“We have no time to lose,” Ban told the gathering. “I urge you to bring the Paris Agreement into force this year.”

Published in The Express Tribune, September 21^st, 2016.