[United States Statutes at Large, Volume 127, 113th Congress, 1st Session]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

 
PROCLAMATION 9045--OCT. 23, 2013

Proclamation 9045 of October 23, 2013

United Nations Day, 2013
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
In 1945, after two world wars that showed the horrific lethality of
modern conflict, 51 member states came together to create the United
Nations, a bold new organization that sought to build a lasting peace
for the generations to follow. Today, 68 years after the adoption of the
United Nations Charter, we mark United Nations Day by reaffirming our
commitment to its purposes and principles. We celebrate the
organization's challenging and often unheralded work of forging a world
in which every man, woman, and child can live in freedom, dignity, and
peace.
With the aim of sparing their children and grandchildren from the
ravages of war, the members of the United Nations committed ``to unite
our strength to maintain international peace and security.'' In the
nearly seven decades since they adopted these words in the United
Nations Charter, the global threats to international peace and security
have changed, but the need for international cooperation has only
increased. While the United Nations was founded after a period of
cataclysmic war among states, today many of the principal challenges to
international peace and security are rooted in the need to prevent or
address unconscionable slaughter and violence within states. As the
United States works to address challenges old and new, we will continue
our close cooperation with partners across the globe, including at the
United Nations. And recognizing that the path to conflict often begins
with the denial of basic human dignity, we remain committed to realizing
another fundamental principle set forth in the Charter--that no one
should be denied the fundamental freedoms that are their birthright.
As we mark the founding of a body built to pursue peace in an imperfect
world, let us reaffirm that the values set forth in its Charter guide us
still. They remind us that leaders and citizens alike, in the United
States and around the world, will be judged by whether we contributed to
a world that is more peaceful, just, and free. Let us honor the men and
women of the United Nations itself, who work in countries across the
globe, often unseen and uncelebrated, to improve the lives of the
world's most vulnerable people. May we stand firm in our resolve to give
voice to the voiceless and to turn swords into plowshares. And may we
never lose sight of the essential truth that we live in a world where
our fates are bound together as a community of nations, strengthened by
our differences and united by our shared hopes for the future.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of
America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and
the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim October 24, 2013, as
United Nations Day. I urge the Governors of the 50 States, and the
officials of all other areas under the flag of the United States, to
observe United Nations Day with appropriate ceremonies and activities.



[[Page 1385]]


IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twenty-third day of
October, in the year of our Lord two thousand thirteen, and of the
Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-
eighth.
BARACK OBAMA