Creating a sense of security--and hope: Jacinda Ardern addresses the UN GeneralAssembly.

• Author: Ardern, Jacinda

The world has changed. Over time we have become increasingly inter-dependent. We see more and more often domestic decisions that have global ramifications. Our inter-dependence, our connection, runs so much deeper than merely responding to physical challenges. Experiences in recent years should lead us to all question whether any of us ever truly operate in isolation anymore. This is a question that we, the remote but connected nation of New Zealand, have been grappling with this year, especially since the tragic events in Christchurch. Our greater reliance on one another has collided with a period of greater tribalism.

Ko nga tangata katoa, e manaakitia ana te whenua, o te Ao Whanui To all those who care for the lands of the wide world Ko nga kaitiaki, e riterite ana, nga whenua, huri rauna, i te Ao To the guardians of sustainability around the world Me tu tatou ki te werohia I nga wero Stand and challenge the challenges I te ingoa o te tika o nga mea katoa In the name of what is right with all things. Tena koutou katoa Greetings to you all I greet you in te reo Maori, language of the tangata whenua, or first people, of Aotearoa New Zealand. I do so not just because it is the same way I would begin an address if I were at home, but because there are challenges we face as a world that I know no better way to express. Maori concepts like kaitiakitanga--the idea that each of us here today are guardians. Guardians of the land, of our environment and of our people. There is a simplicity to the notion of sovereign guardianship.

For decades we have assembled here under the assumption that we narrowly co-operate only on the issues that overtly impact on one another; issues like international trade rules, the law of the sea or humanitarian access to war zones. The space in between has, essentially, been left to us.

We, the political leaders of the world, have been the authors of our own domestic politics and policies. Decisions have been our own, and we have lived with the consequences. But the world has changed. Over time we have become increasingly inter-dependent. We see more and more often domestic decisions that have global ramifications.

Physical events have taught us that in obvious ways: oil spills that show no respect for maritime boundaries; nuclear accidents and testing, the impacts of which are never confined to the exact location in which they occur. But our inter-dependence, our connection, runs so much deeper than that, and experiences in recent years should lead us to all question whether any of us ever truly operate in isolation anymore. This is a question that we, the remote but connected nation of New Zealand, have been grappling with this year.

There are things that we in New Zealand are well known for. Green rolling hills, perfect you might say for hobbits to hide and for plenty of sheep to roam. We are known for manaakitanga, or the pride we take in caring for our guests, so much so that it even extends to our most entrenched sporting rivals. And now we are known for something else: 15 March 2019--the day an alleged terrorist undertook the most horrific attack on a place of worship, taking the lives of 51 innocent people, devastating our Muslim community and challenging our sense of who we are as a country.

There is no changing a nation's history, but we can choose how it defines us. And in Aotearoa New Zealand, the people who lined up outside of mosques with flowers, the young people who gathered spontaneously in parks and open spaces in a show of...