STATEMENT

BY H.E. AMBASSADOR LE LUONG MINH

PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF VIET NAM

AT THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY MEETING TO MARK

THE 65^TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE END OF THE 2^ND WORLD WAR

New York, 6 May 2010

 

 

Mr. President,

Mr. Secretary-General,

My Delegation wishes to thank the Russian Federation for the initiative and thank you for convening this meeting to mark the 65^th anniversary of the end of the 2^nd World War, for this event provides mankind with a special opportunity to celebrate the great victory of humanity over the evil forces of fascism and aggression, peace over war, and justice over injustice.

As a nation who through the sacrifice of the lives of millions of its people, 2 million in 1945 alone, had bravely taken part on their homeland and shoulder to shoulder with their comrades in the armies of the anti-fascist coalition in the struggle of the world’s peoples for liberation and who benefitted from the victory of this struggle to rise up to win independence and freedom after nearly a century under foreign domination, we join other peoples in paying deepest tribute to the many millions of people in the world who gave their lives to the fight to bring the disastrous war to an end and to all those who fell victims of this man-made scourge. We would like to pay special tribute to the peoples and the brave soldiers of the former Soviet Union who bore the main brunt of the battles and with their final decisive one contributed to the elimination of fascism.

Mr. President,

While celebrating this great victory of mankind 65 years ago, it is necessary for us to recall that since that victory and since the United Nations Organization was founded in 1945 with the mandate to “save succeeding generations from the scourge of war,” “to reaffirm faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, in the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small,” and “to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom,” many peoples of the world have suffered and are continuing to suffer from war and want and injustice. Many even have never had a day of peace. Mankind continues to face the danger of extinction with the existence of weapons of mass destruction. It is our task today to work harder to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our Organization so that it can truly serve as a protector of international peace and security, and a promoter of friendly and cooperative relations among nations for development and progress. As we celebrate victory and commemorate the victims, it is our task to ensure the sacrifices that our fore-runner generations had made for that victory are not in vain and we shall have no more victims to commemorate.

I thank you, Mr. President!