Speaking at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Thursday, British Prime Minister David Cameron urged the UN to founding principles and responsibility "to stand up against regimes that persecute their people."
“You can sign every human rights declaration in the world. But if you stand by and watch people being slaughtered in their own country, when you could act, then what are those signatures really worth?”
"The UN has to show that we can be, not just united in condemnation, but united in action, acting in a way that lives up to the UN's founding principles and meets the needs of the people."
Drawing on recent events, Cameron stated that the "Libya and the Arab Spring shows the UN needs a new way of working."
Singling out Syria and Yemen, Cameron stressed the need to "now adopt a credible resolution threatening tough sanctions."
Cameron added,
"Of course we should always act with care when it comes to the internal affairs of a sovereign state."
"But we cannot allow this to be an excuse for indifference."
“My argument is that where action is necessary, legal and right, to fail to act is to fail those who need our help.”
