EDMONTON, Canada -- When the U.N. General Assembly opened its 58th annual session on Sept. 19 with a moment of silence in memory of the U.N. staff killed and injured as a result of the terrorist attack in Baghdad last month, its 191 member governments renewed their pledge to uphold the principles of the U.N. Charter and international law.
The new president of the assembly, Julian Hunte from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, opened the session by stating: "I have high hopes that the General Assembly is ready to break new ground and to record significant accomplishments during the 58th session. To do so, however, requires us to choose principle over expediency, precision over ambiguity, objectivity over bias, and creative thinking over inflexibility. Above all we need action over inaction."
The assembly seems to have paid attention only to a part of what the assembly president had to say. In calling for an emergency special session, immediately, to deal with the tragic and violent events that have taken place throughout the occupied Palestinian territory since September 2000, the assembly demonstrated its willingness to take action with respect to this problem. However, in its haste to choose "action over inaction," the assembly seemed to have forgotten Hunte's advice "to choose principle over expediency" and "objectivity over bias."